Ooty: The partly eaten body of farmhand Maghu Hora was found near about his house in the labour quarters of Wood-briar tea estate in Devarshola near Gudalur early Saturday, Estate workers found his body torn to pieces among the tea shrubs about 500 mtrs from his house early morning.
While the head portion with injuries on the side and both the legs from the hip were found at the spot, the stomach and chest portions were missing.
Small pieces of flesh and his blood-stained T-shirt were also found there, indicating that a carnivore had killed him.
Since the villagers had noticed a tiger moving in the area and killing a couple of cattle in recent past, they concluded that the same beast had killed Hora for a meal. Besides, the foresters found some tiger pug marks near the place of the kill. They set up 24 camera traps and placed some cages with bait hoping to get the animal.
“Cameras captured the image of a tiger, which was limping due to a wound on its left hind leg. This is the first break for us. We are hopeful of getting the killer tiger. Foresters, police and volunteers from wildlife organisations are closely monitoring the situation. Locals have been warned to be careful”, Pushpakaran said.
