Lakhimpur (UP), Jan 7 (IANS): A 42-year-old man was mauled to death by a tigress inside a buffer forest area of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) in Lakhimpur Kheri district, officials said.

This is the fourth human death in a tiger attack in Singahi range of forests.

Forest officials suspect that a tigress with two cubs killed the victim, Preetam, when he entered the forest to collect firewood along with three other people on Tuesday afternoon.

Anil Patel, divisional forest officer, Dudhwa (buffer), said: "Despite our warning, the locals entered the forest and one of them was killed by a tigress which is raising its cubs in the area. The tigress had killed the man but did not feed upon the body. The tigress is aggressive because of its cubs."

Earlier, the forest department had installed camera traps in the area after three people were killed in tiger attacks there.

Within days, the images of a tigress with two cubs were captured. Since then, villagers had been warned not to enter the forest.

The victim, Preetam, of Khamaria village was a marginal farmer and was working near the forest area when a tigress lurking amid the bushes suddenly pounced on him and dragged him inside the forest.

The forest field staff did not find any tiger pugmarks outside the forest. However, at a spot in the forest area, they discovered pugmarks and blood clots suggesting that the attack took place there.

It may be recalled that in October last year, one Gyaan Singh was killed by a tiger and his remains were recovered three days later in the forest area.

Barely four days later, the partially eaten body of a 60-year-old farmer, who took his cattle for grazing inside the forest area, was recovered inside the forest area.

In the same month, Avadhesh Yadav, 34, who was grazing cattle near forest area, was mauled to death in the presence of several people.