Nepalgunj, November 10

A woman died after a tiger attacked her at Kohalpur in Banke today.

The deceased has been identified as Kali Basnet, 65, of Kohalpur Municipality, said police.

Police said that the tiger attacked Basnet while she was collecting firewood in the buffer zone of Banke National Park at around 4:00pm today.

Nirak Bahadur Shahi, a local, said the villagers headed towards the jungle after Basnet did not return home for a long time. He said that Basnet was found dead as the wild animal had attacked her on the way.

Tiger attacks have increased in Banke and Bardiya of late. As many as five persons lost their lives in tiger attacks in the last seven months in Banke and Bardiya.

The locals have been in fear after tigers entered human settlements and attacked people in the buffer zone of Banke and Bardiya national parks.

It is said that the tigers entered the human settlements in search of food. With the tiger population increasing in the parks, food has become scarce, forcing the wild cats to enter human settlements and attack people.

Shahi said that human-animal conflict had increased after the number of wild animals increased in the national parks.