Tiger attack

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Because many of the south Asian subspecies of tiger, particularly the Bengal tiger in India, reside in areas of high and growing population density, farmers and loggers have a long and continuing history of encroaching on tiger habitat and increasing the probability of confrontation.

Although humans are not regular prey for it, the tiger has killed more people than any other cat. Between 1800 and 1900, it is estimated that tigers had killed over 300,000 people in India alone, coinciding with the wave of British settlement. However now, Man-eaters are mostly old and injured tigers, and almost all tigers that are identified as man-eaters are eventually captured, shot or poisoned. Man-eaters have been a recurrent problem for India, especially in Kumaon, Garhwal and the Sundarbans mangrove swamps of Bengal, where some healthy tigers have been known to hunt humans.

Contents 1 Reasons for attacking 2 Tigers and locations known for attacks 2.1 Champawat Tiger 2.2 Tigers of Chowgarh 2.3 Tiger of Mundachipallam 2.4 The Sundarbans 2.5 Tara of the Dudhwa National Park 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Reasons for attacking

Tigers are sometimes intimidated from attacking humans, especially if they are unfamiliar with people and have not learnt how easy humans are to catch and kill. Unlike man-eating leopards, even established man-eating tigers will seldom enter human settlements, usually sticking to village outskirts.^[1] Nevertheless, attacks in human villages do occur.^[2]

Tigers are typically wary of humans and have shown no preference for human meat. However, once a taste is acquired, humans are relatively easy prey. Thus, most man-eating tigers are old, infirm or missing teeth. In one case, a post-mortem examination of a killed tigress revealed two broken canine teeth, four missing incisors and a loose upper molar, handicaps which make capturing more standard prey extremely difficult. Only once reaching this stage did she attack a workman.^[1]

Taste for human flesh may be acquired by the consumption of corpses which have lain unburied. During the Vietnam and Korean wars, soldiers became the victims of tigers who had acquired a taste for human flesh in this way.^[1] Tigers will stalk groups of people bending down while working in a field or cutting grass, but will lose interest as soon as the people stand upright. Consequently, it has been hypothesized that some attacks are a simple case of mistaken identity.^[1]

Tigers typically surprise victims from the side or from behind: either approaching upwind or lying in wait downwind. Tigers rarely press an attack if they are seen before their ambush is mounted.^[3]

Kenneth Anderson once commented on man eating tigers;

“It is extraordinary how very cautious every man-eater becomes by practise, whether a tiger or panther, and cowardly too. Invariably, it will only attack a solitary person, and that too, after prolongued and painstaking stalking, having assured itself that no other human being is in the immediate vicinity... These animals seem also to possess an astute sixth sense and be able to differentiate between an unarmed human being and an armed man deliberately pursuing them, for in most cases, only when cornered will they venture to attack the latter, while they go out of their way to stalk and attack the unarmed man.”

—“The Man-Eater of Segur”, from Nine Man-Eaters and One Rogue, Kenneth Anderson, Allen & Unwin, 1954

[edit] Tigers and locations known for attacks

[edit] Champawat Tiger

One notorious man-eating tigress known as Champawat killed some 200 men and women before being driven out of Nepal. She moved to another location, this time in India, and continued to kill bringing her total up to 436 before she was tracked down and killed in 1907.^[4] She was known to enter villages at night or even during daylight, roaring and intimidating people to flee in panic to their huts.^[5]

The Champawat tigress was, as man eaters usually are, extremely cunning, and she was only found by Jim Corbett because he managed to follow the trail of blood the tigress left behind after killing her last victim, a 16-year-old girl.^[5] Later examination of the tigress showed the upper and lower canine teeth on the right side of her mouth were broken -- the upper one in half, the lower one right down to the bone. This permanent injury, Corbett claimed, "had prevented her from killing her natural prey, and had been the cause of her becoming a man-eater."^[1]

[edit] Tigers of Chowgarh

The Tigers of Chowgarh were a pair of man-eating Bengal tigers, consisting of an old tigress and her sub-adult cub, which for over a five year period killed a reported 64 people in eastern Kumaon over an area spanning 1,500 square miles. The figures however are uncertain, as the natives of the areas the tigers frequented claimed double that number, and they do not take into account victims who survived direct attacks but died subsequently. Both tigers were killed by Jim Corbett.

[edit] Tiger of Mundachipallam

The Tiger of Mundachipallam was a male Bengal tiger which killed 7 people in the vicinity of the village of Pennagram, four miles from the Hogenakkal Falls. Unlike the Champawat man-eater, the Mundachipallam tiger had no infirmities preventing it from hunting it's natural prey. It's first three victims were killed in unprovoked attacks, while the subsequent victims were devoured. The Mundachipallam tiger was later killed by Kenneth Anderson.

[edit] The Sundarbans

Main article: Tiger attacks in the Sundarbans

The Bengal tigers of the Sundarbans (translation: 'beautiful forest'), bordering India and Bangladesh, used to regularly kill fifty or sixty people a year. This was strange given that the tigers were usually in prime condition and had adequate prey available. Approximately 600 tigers live in this region, possible the largest single population anywhere in the world.^[6] The kill rate has dropped significantly due to better management techniques and now only about three people lose their lives each year. Despite the notoriety associated with this area, humans are only a supplement to the tiger's diet; they do not provide a primary food source.^[1]

[edit] Tara of the Dudhwa National Park

While the Sundarbans are particularly well-known throughout the world for its tiger attacks, Dudhwa National Park was severely affected by man-eaters some 20 years ago. The first one was on the 2nd March, 1978; this was closely followed by 3 further kills.

The population demanded action from authorities. As is usual in cases of this type, the natives wanted the man-eater shot or poisoned. The killings continued, each one making headlines. Officials soon started to believe that the likely culprit was a tigress called Tara. Conservationist Billy Arjan Singh had taken the British born cat from Twycross Zoo and raised her in India, with the goal of releasing her back into the wild. His experiments were also carried out on leopards with a respectable element of success.

Experts always felt that Tara would not have the required skills and correct hunting techniques to survive in the wild and controversy surrounded the project. She also associated men with providing food and comfort which increased the likelihood that she would approach villages.

Officials later became convinced Tara had taken to easier prey and become a man-eater. A total of 24 people were killed before the tigress was shot. Billy Arjan Singh joined in with the hunt, but firm confirmation regarding the correct identity of the tiger never came.

Despite many years having passed, this debate still rages. Supporters of Billy Arjan Singh continue to claim that the tiger was not Tara and the conservationist has produced evidence to that effect. Meanwhile, officials continued to maintain the tiger was definitely Tara.^[1]

There were other renowned man-eaters from Dudhwa National Park^[1], but Tara remained the most famous man-eater of Dudhwa Tiger reserve because she was the first captive-bred tiger to be trained and released into the wild. Tara becoming a man-eater seems to imply that Billy Arjan Singh's tiger rewilding project has failed.

Problems at Dudhwa have been minor in the past few years. Occasional tiger attacks still occur, but these are no higher than at other wildlife reserves. For instance, on average, two villagers get attacked at Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve each year. This happens most commonly during the monsoon season when the locals enter the reserve to collect grass.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Man-eaters - Comprehensive site covering man-eating tigers.