Madhya Pradesh: Tiger wanders into the village, causing panic; journalist attacked.

Morena is about 117 km from Kuno National Park where eight cheetahs were translocated from Namibia on September 17. Kuno also has about 50 leopards

Two, including a youth and a journalist, came under attack by a tiger on Thursday, in the Runipur village in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, forest officials of the Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary said.

“The tiger was spotted in Narsinghpura village on October 22. Later, its pug marks were found in Sarseni village, and on Thursday the big cat attacked two including a journalist, who went to Runipura village to cover it,” said Ravindra Dixit, divisional forest officer, Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary.

According to officials, the tiger T-136 went missing from the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan more than a month ago but was recently spotted in the villages of Jaura tehsil in Morena.

Dixit stated that teams from Kuno and Madhav National Parks will arrive soon to monitor the tiger’s movements.

Spotting of the tiger so close to Kuno is a concern for Madhya Pradesh forest officials, who plan to release cheetahs into the wild in four to six months.

Divisional forest officer, Sheopur, Prakash Verma said, “There is a corridor between Sheopur and Ranthambore which is being used by the tigers for movement but luckily they never made it their territory. Now, if the tiger stays, we have to make a plan for cheetahs accordingly.”