New Delhi: Eight people, including a forest guard, were injured by a tiger after terrified villagers tried to scare away the animal which had taken refuge in a bamboo thicket near Orang National Park in Upper Assam on Monday.

The tiger was sighted in the wee hours of December 9 by villagers living in areas contiguous with the Kopati Tea Garden, about four km from the boundary of Orang National Park. Officials of the sanctuary were alerted around 6.30 am. The 10-member protection party of the forest department reached the spot about three hours later.

The director of Orang National Park, Mr SP Vashishtha, told WTI that about 500 villagers had gathered in the area and were trying to scare away the tiger from the bamboo thicket where it had sought shelter. This, he said, enraged the tiger which attacked the crowd. The tiger, which had kept to itself all this while was provoked into attacking the villagers who used slingshots and stones to attack the animal.

The panicky villagers, however, paid little heed to the wildlife officials. Just as the they were trying to convince the villagers to leave the area and leave it to them to tackle the tiger, some members of the crowd threw a few stones at the animal. This time, the tiger charged at the crowd. In the melee that ensued, the tiger clawed a forest guard who was frantically trying to clamber up a betelnut tree.

The guard, Bishnu Kalita, under strict instructions not to fire at the tiger, was seriously bitten on the left leg. He was later rushed to the Mangaldoi District Hospital from where he was taken to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital. All medical expenses of the injured forest guard would be taken care of by the Wildlife Trust of India. All guards of Orang National Park are covered by the supplementary insurance scheme run by WTI.

In all, eight people were injured in the incident, two of them seriously, according to Mr Vashishtha. The tiger’s action was more in self-defence, he maintained. It launched a counter-attack only because it was disturbed by villagers who wanted the big cat to leave the area come hell or high water.

Mr Vashishtha said a week back, a tigress and cub had been sighted in the region by labourers of the adjacent tea gardens. This was ascertained from the pugmarks found in the area. He said this tiger, a male, was in all probability on the lookout for the tigress.

The tiger left the area the same evening, and in all likelihood had made its way back to Orang National Park.