Stray Royal Bengal Tiger Kills Cow in Rayagada District  

Rayagada: A Royal Bengal Tiger allegedly killed a cow in Rayagada district. This stray tiger is reported to be moving in the Rayagada district for the last few days.

A cow owned by a villager of Ambakhula under the Padampur forest range went missing on Sunday morning. Suspecting that the cow may have fallen prey to the tiger, the villagers contacted the local forest officials.

During the search operation, forest officials reportedly located two severed legs of a cow in the forest near the village. Pug marks of a tiger were found at the spot. It is suspected that the big cat might have killed the cow and dragged it into the forest to eat it.

According to forest officials, this tiger has been found moving in the forest areas under the Gudari, Padampur, Muniguda and Gunupur ranges in the Rayagada district. It had killed a calf near Tembaguda village on December 12.

The forest department has fixed trap cameras, but the tiger has not been captured yet in any camera so far.

This tiger is said to have strayed into Odisha from Maharashtra.  It was earlier roaming in forests of Gajapati district before entering the Rayagada district.