Pune: Tiger attacks have caused more human deaths in Maharashtra in the past few years than by any other big cats, including leopards , a state forest department data showed. In 2023-24, 39 people died in tiger attacks and 15 in leopard attacks. In 2022-23, there were 18 deaths due to leopard attacks and 81 owing to tiger attacks.
Similarly, in 2021-22, there were 26 deaths due to leopard attacks and 53 due to tiger attacks. "Most of these cases occur when people living in the vicinity of forests encroach upon wildlife space and do not follow the safety instructions before entering the animal territory. Most of these attacks are accidental, with only a few exceptions.
If animals are in favourable conditions, their population inevitably increases, such as in sugar cane farms. We can reduce animal-human interface and fatality by following precautionary measures," former principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Sunil Limaye told TOI. While tigers are more common in the central parts of the state and not visible in the western regions, leopards are found all across the state, most commonly in grassland areas, where agricultural land use has extended into wildlife territory.
Tiger attacks have been observed the most in Chandrapur district and the villages surrounding it, many times in the fringe areas of Tadoba Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary, and in Bramhapuri. Villagers enter the buffer zone of the sanctuary to collect items for making local cigarettes (beedis) and end up in.