Rampaging tiger claims ninth victim

AFP/Dehradun

Since December 29, the same big cat is believed to have been on a killing spree in a densely forested area near Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.

Salil Shukla, an official in the district of Bijnor, said the partly eaten body of a young farmer had been found yesterday.

“The victim was missing since Thursday and had gone into the jungle to locate his cattle,” he said. “This is the ninth victim of the man-eater.”

While tiger-hunting has long been illegal in India, the state government has licenced six hunters to either capture or kill the tigress who has terrorised local villagers.

India is home to half the world’s dwindling tiger population which now stands at around 3,000.

A loss of their natural habitat has brought man and beast into closer proximity across the subcontinent.

Even conservationists say that once a tiger has tasted human flesh more than once it is almost impossible to rehabilitate it and that killing the animal is the only responsible option.

Although the latest spate of attacks is serious by recent standards, conservationist Belinda Wright from the Wildlife Protection Society of India said that the tigress was nothing compared to some of the legends of the past.

Jim Corbett, a colonial-era hunter-turned-conservationist after whom the Jim Corbett National Park is named, tells in his best-selling book the Man-eaters of Kumaon of tigers and leopards that killed hundreds.

“They do get a taste for humans,” Wright explained. “But I think (attacks happen) more because we’re very easy prey. As a tiger gets older, or is disabled in some way, we’re just very, very easy as we bumble around on our two legs.” She said that conflicts between tigers and local people who live in densely populated settlements around wildlife sanctuaries “is only going to get worse.”

In late January, forest officials in southern India shot dead a tiger suspected of killing three people, ending a three-week reign of terror which forced dozens of schools to close.

Some 200 tigers live in Jim Corbett park but locals say this is the first time they can remember one of them attacking villagers.

The hunters have employed a variety of tricks to lure their prey, including traps and even a live goat as bait. Forest officials armed with tranquilliser guns have ridden on elephants to follow its trail through the forest.

AFP visited the area at the weekend and found villagers desperate for an end to the traumatic series of killings.