Shepherd injured in tiger attack in Mancherial

Hyderabad: A 63-year-old shepherd was attacked by a tiger in a forest area near Oddagudem village in Mancherial district on Thursday. Enumula Shankar, a resident of Oddagudem in Vemanapally mandal, suffered a deep injury on his shoulder.
He was treated at a private hospital in Chennur. Shankar had taken his herd of sheep for grazing in the forest area when the big cat pounced on him at around 3 pm. He told forest officials that he saw a tiger prey upon his sheep.He said he defended himself against the tiger with an axe as the wild animal escaped into the forest area.
Shankar, who raised an alarm, ran back to the village and collapsed. He was first rushed to a primary health centre. Villagers said Shankar reported to them twice in the past that he had spotted a tiger and that he had managed to escape from being attacked.
Initially, forest officials ruled out the possibility of a tiger attack. On Friday however, the officials confirmed that it was indeed a tiger which attacked Shankar.
“It’s a tiger as we have seen the pugmarks in the field. However, it didn’t seem like an attack but an unfortunate encounter of a man-animal conflict,” Shivani Dogra, district forest officer, Mancherial, told TOI.