Image used for representational purposes only.
In the second such incident in past 12 hours, a man was killed by a wild boar, swept in by flood waters, at Ghoksadanga in Cooch Behar's Mathabhanga in the early hours of Wednesday.
Experts said stress-induced hormonal changes in the herbivores after the floods may have led to back-to-back deaths in wild boar attacks in flood-hit zones.
Ecologists said herbivores like wild boars possess sharp elongated canines or tusks and teeth that function as grinders due to their continuous feeding habits. These are fatal to humans when attacked by wild boars.
Tranquilliser teams and elephant squads of forest dept are searching for the wild boars.
On Wednesday, 65-year-old Kashikanta Barman, a resident of Bhelakopa village, was fishing in the Torsa. In the morning, villagers found his mutilated body on the riverbank. On Tuesday afternoon, Dhiren Barman, 50, was killed by a wild boar on the banks of Jaldhaka at Simulguri Tetlichhora.
Ecologist Arkajyoti Mukherjee said: "During floods, wild boars experience stress from habitat loss and food scarcity, triggering surges of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
Comment: About half an hour earlier in the same general region of southeast Asia: Major 7.4 magnitude earthquake in the Philippines leaves two dead and causes chemical spill - aftershock of mag. 6.7 recorded