India: Brave woman fights off tiger to save toddler son

A 25-year-old woman from a village in Madhya Pradesh showed exemplary courage and saved her 15-month-old son from the jaws of a tiger.

The two are currently undergoing treatment in a hospital for the injuries they received in the incident, which took place in Umaria district’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, on Sunday morning.

District officials said that they were trying to trace the tiger, and would take steps to ensure the safety of people living in forest areas.

The woman, identified as Archana Choudhary, said that she had taken her son Raviraj with her, when she had gone to a field to relieve herself. It was from there that the tiger appeared, attacked him, and held him by its jaws.

When she tried to save her son, the feline attacked her also.

Choudhary said she kept making efforts to save her child.

She also raised an alarm, bringing some villagers there, who helped chase away the carnivore, which fled into the forest, leaving the child behind.

Choudhary’s husband Bhola Prasad said his wife received waist, hand and back injuries, and that their son was hurt on the head and back.

After the attack, the woman and her son were immediately taken to a health centre in Manpur, and later to the district hospital in Umaria for treatment, forest guard Ram Singh Marko said.

A forest department team was trying to track the tiger which attacked the child and his mother, he said.

Umaria Collector Sanjeev Shrivastava met the woman and her son in the district hospital.

He said that the two had been directed to a hospital in Jabalpur for further treatment.

The collector also said he would hold a meeting with forest department officials to ensure the safety of villagers residing in such forested areas.

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