India hosts approximately 1,700 tigers left in the wild. It is threatening that in the past five weeks, 17 people in four states have been killed by tigers.
In the country which is home to the world’s largest population of tigers, few things swing public opinion more sharply than a “man-eater” does. With 17 people killed by tigers in the past five weeks in the four Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, angry residents of affected areas are threatening to take the law into their own hands as they have decided to kill tigers found lingering around.
Drawing a blank
The argument is that the Tiger have killed two people in Maharashtra’s Tadoba region. A tiger that killed three people since 4 January in Dodabetta has been confirmed as a “man-eater”. In Uttar Pradesh, a wandering tigress from Jim Corbett National Park has killed seven people since Christmas. Another five people have been killed by a tiger in Karnataka. While two “man-eating” tigers – and one who killed livestock – have been captured in Karnataka since last month, forest authorities in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have so far drawn a blank.
In fact, most attacks on people are chance encounters gone wrong. Victims of such accidental attacks are rarely dragged away as prey or actually eaten. But a series of attacks on people in quick succession is a telltale sign of a man-eater at work.
Facts about Tigers:
Common Name: Tiger
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata (Vertebrata)
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Pantherinae Panthera
Species: tigris
Tigers are some times known as the Largest of the big cats (Amur tigers can weigh up to 700 lbs; lions typically only weigh up to 500 lbs.), the tiger is also one of the best-known large mammals. Reddish-orange to yellow-ochre coat with black stripes and white belly. Males have a ruff – especially in the Sumatran sub-species. Tigers love the water, and will spend much of a hot day soaking. They will also readily enter the water to kill prey. Tigers are by nature solitary animals (as are all cats except lions, which are the only true social cat), but at CPT they have adjusted to life with a mate. This is possible due to having enough food (the primary reason to be solitary).
