Like most other predators, tigers tend to attack humans only while hunting or when they feel threatened. If a human comes too close and surprises a sleeping or feeding tiger, or a tigress with her cubs, the tiger is prone to respond with aggression. Tigers have also been known to attack humans in cases of "mistaken identity" (for example, if a human is crouching while collecting firewood, or cutting grass) and sometimes when a tourist gets too close. Some also recommend not riding a bicycle, or running in a region where tigers live, so as not to provoke their instinct to chase. Peter Byrne wrote about an Indian postman who was working on foot for many years without any problems with resident tigers, but was chased by a tiger soon after he started riding a bicycle for his work.[3]
While in modern times there are on average fewer than 85 people killed and injured by tigers worldwide each year, India has seen sharp increases in absolute numbers of tiger attacks in recent years, as was the case in 2014 and 2015, as a result of human population growth and the expansion of human settlements into the tiger's natural habitat.[4] Many human fatalities and injuries are due to incidents at zoos, or to the man-eating tigers in certain parts of South Asia.
In some cases, tigers will change their natural diet to become man-eaters. This is usually due to a tiger being incapacitated by a gunshot wound or porcupine quills, or some other factors, such as health issues and disabilities. In such cases, the animal's inability to hunt traditional prey forces it to stalk humans, which are less appetizing but generally much easier to chase, overpower, and kill. This was the case with the man-eating tigress of Champawat, which was believed to have begun eating villagers at least partially in response to crippling tooth injuries.[5] As tigers in Asia often live in close proximity to humans, tigers have killed more people than any other big cat species. Between 1876 and 1912, tigers killed 33,247 people in British India.[6]
Man-eating tigers have been a recurrent problem in India, especially in Kumaon, Garhwal and the Sundarbans mangrove swamps of Bengal. There, even otherwise healthy tigers have been known to hunt humans. However, there have also been mentions of man-eaters in old Indian literature, so it appears that after the British occupied India, built roads into forests and brought the tradition of shikar, man-eaters became a much bigger problem. Even though tigers usually avoid elephants, they have been known to jump on an elephant's back and severely injure the mahout riding on the elephant's back. Kesri Singh mentioned a case when a fatally wounded tiger attacked and killed the hunter who wounded it while the hunter was on the back of an elephant. Most man-eating tigers are eventually captured, shot or poisoned.[7]
According to various sources, cases of man-eating tigers in the Russian Far East were always rare or not recorded at all over long periods.[8]
During war, tigers may acquire a taste for human flesh from the consumption of corpses which have lain unburied, and go on to attack soldiers; this happened during the Vietnam and Second World Wars.[5] 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.[5]
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.[9]
It is extraordinary how very cautious every man-eater becomes by practice, whether a tiger or panther and cowardly too. Invariably, it will only attack a solitary person, and that too, after prolonged 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.[10]
Tigers are sometimes intimidated from attacking humans, especially if they are unfamiliar with people. Tigers, even established man-eating tigers will seldom enter human settlements, usually sticking to village outskirts.[5] Nevertheless, attacks in human villages do occur.[5]
Most tigers will only attack a human if they cannot physically satisfy their needs otherwise. Tigers are typically wary of humans and usually show no preference for human meat. Although humans are relatively easy prey, they are not a desired source of food. Thus, most man-eating tigers are old, infirm, or have missing teeth, and choose human victims out of desperation. 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 would make capturing stronger prey extremely difficult. Only upon reaching this stage did she attack a workman.[5]
In some cases, rather than being predatory, tiger attacks on humans seem to be territorial in nature. In at least one case, a tigress with cubs killed eight people entering her territory without consuming them at all.[11]
The Bengal tigers of the Sundarbans, 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 100 tigers live in this region,[12] possibly the largest single population anywhere in the world.[13] The kill rate has dropped significantly due to better management techniques and now only about three people lose their lives each year [citation needed]. Despite the notoriety associated with this area, humans are only a supplement to the tigers' diet; they do not provide a primary food source.[5]
Tigers and locations known for attacks
The Champawat Tiger
The Champawat Tiger was a man-eating tigress which purportedly killed some 200 men and women before being driven out of Nepal. She moved to Champawat district in the state of Uttarakhand in North India, and continued to kill, bringing her total human kills up to 436. She was finally tracked down and killed in 1907.[14] She was known to enter villages, even during daylight, roaring and causing people to flee in panic to their huts.
The Champawat Tiger was found and killed by Jim Corbett after he followed the trail of blood the tigress left behind after killing her last victim, a 16-year-old girl. 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."[5]
The Tiger of Segur
Body of the Tiger of Segur, killed by Kenneth Anderson on the banks of the Segur River
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 Division of Uttarakhand in Northern India over an area spanning 1,500 square miles (3,900km2). 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.[15]
Thak man-eater
The Thak man-eater was a tigress from Eastern Kumaon division, who killed four human victims, but was the last hunt of the hunter, conservationist and author Jim Corbett. Corbett called her up and killed her during late twilight, after he lost all other means to track her down. Postmortem revealed that this tigress had two old gunshot wounds, one of which had become septic. This, according to Corbett, forced her to turn from a normal predator hunting natural prey to a man-eater.[citation needed]
Tiger of Mundachipallam
The Tiger of Mundachipallam was a male Bengal tiger, which in the 1950s killed seven people in the vicinity of the village of Pennagram, four miles (6km) from the Hogenakkal Falls in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. Unlike the Segur man-eater, the Mundachipallam tiger had no known infirmities preventing him from hunting his natural prey. His first three victims were killed in unprovoked attacks, while the subsequent victims were devoured. The Mundachipallam tiger was later killed by Kenneth Anderson.[citation needed]
Man-eater of Bhimashankar
A story was discovered by Pune-based author Sureshchandra Warghade when he ran into an old villager in the Bhimashankar forest which lies near Pune. The villager explained to the author how a man-eating tiger terrorized the entire Bhimashakar area during a span of two years in the 1940s. He was a police constable in that area and he had been responsible for dealing with the formalities surrounding the deaths (missing person reports and death certificates) and other jobs such as helping the hunting parties. During this time the tiger supposedly killed more than 100 people, but it was apparently very careful to avoid discovery; only 2 bodies were ever found. Several hunting parties were organized, but the only one to succeed was an Ambegaon-based hunter named Ismail. During his first attempt, Ismail had a direct confrontation with the tiger and was almost killed. He later called Kenneth Anderson. They returned and killed the tiger. The tiger predominantly killed the villagers who slept outside the huts.
The authenticity of the story told by the villager was confirmed when Warghade examined official reports, including a certificate given by the British authorities for killing the man-eating tiger.[16]
Tara of the Dudhwa National Park
While the Sundarbans are particularly well known for tiger attacks, Dudhwa National Park also had several man-eaters in the late 1970s, with 32 people killed over a period of four years in the Kheri region of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The first death was on 2 March 1978 when a Forest Corporation of Satiana employee, identified in the press as Akbar, was attacked while taking a bathroom break.[17] A death from a tiger attack had not been recorded in India since 1962,[17] but authorities concluded that three different tigers (at Satiana, Goia and Sarada) had attacked people in the state. Other deaths followed on 15 March, 3 April and 27 April. The Satiana tiger was shot and killed on 14 August 1978 by a wildlife warden.[17] A tigress who had killed 13 people in Goia was killed on 28 May 1979, but as of 1982, the third tiger at Sarada was still at large [17] and 90 people had been killed since the 1978 attack.[18]
The population demanded action from authorities. The locals 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 had also been carried out on leopards with some success.
Experts 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 that Tara had taken to easier prey and become a man-eater. A total of 24 people were killed before the tigress was shot. Singh also joined the hunt with the intent of identifying the man-eater, but firm confirmation of the identity of the tiger was never found.
The debate over the tiger's identity has continued in the years since the attacks. Singh's supporters continue to claim that the tiger was not Tara, and the conservationist has produced evidence to that effect. However, officials maintain that the tiger was definitely Tara.[5]
Other man-eaters from Dudhwa National Park have existed,[5] but this tiger was potentially the first captive-bred tiger to be trained and released into the wild. This controversy cast doubt on the success of Singh's rewilding project.
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. On average, two villagers are attacked at Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve each year. These attacks generally occur during the monsoon season when the locals enter the reserve to collect grass.[5]
Tigress of Moradabad
In February 2014, reports emerged that a tigress had killed 7 people near the Jim Corbett National Park. The tigress was later called the man-eater of Moradabad, because she was hunting in the Bijnor and Moradabad region. The tigress could not be traced by about 50 camera traps and an unmanned aerial vehicle.[19][20] In August 2014, it was reported that the tigress had stopped killing humans. Her last victim was killed in February, with a total of 7 victims. The animal remained untraced.[21]
Tigress of Yavatmal
Between 2016 and 2018, a tigress known as T-1 was said to have killed 13 people in Yavatmal district, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.[22] The tigress was shot dead after a major hunt in November 2018.[23][24] The tigress was killed in self-defence, after charging those attempting to tranquillise her.[25]
The hunt for the tigress included more than 100 camera traps, bait in the form of horses and goats tied to trees, round-the-clock surveillance from treetop platforms and armed patrols. Drones and a hang glider were also used to try and locate T-1.[26] Wildlife officials also brought in bottles of the perfume Obsession for Men by Calvin Klein, which contains a pheromone called civetone, after an experiment in the US suggested that it could be used to attract jaguars.[27]
Tigers of Bardia National Park, Nepal
In 2021, the four tigers killed ten people and injured several others in Bardia National Park of Nepal. Three of the tigers were captured and transferred to rescue centers. One of the tigers escaped from its cage and is yet to be captured.[28][29]
The tigers were identified and captured from Gaidamachan on 4 April, from Khata on 18 March and from Geruwa on 17 March. The tigers were found with broken canine teeth, possibly due to fighting between two males.[28] After the capture, one of the tigers escaped from the iron cage and went back to the forest in Banke district.[30] Two were housed at the rescue facility in Bardia National Park in Thakurdwara and Rambapur.[28] One was transferred to the Central Zoo in Jawalakhel, Kathmandu.[29][31]
Measures to prevent tiger attacks
Various measures were taken to prevent and reduce the number of tiger attacks with limited success. For example, since tigers almost always attack from the rear, masks with human faces were worn on the back of the head by the villagers in 1986 in the Sundarbans, on the theory that tigers usually do not attack if seen by their prey. Apparently, this did in fact decrease the number of attacks for a short while. Mask-wearing fell out of use after a short time, as the local tiger population reportedly became aware of the technique. Other means to prevent tiger attacks, such as providing the tigers with more prey by releasing captive bred pigs to the reserve's buffer zones, or placing electrified human dummies to teach tigers to associate attacking people with electric shock, did not work as well and tiger attacks continue. Many measures were thus discontinued due to lack of success.[32]
Tiger attacks have also happened in zoos and as exotic pets. Attacks by captive tigers are not that rare. Between 1998 and 2001 there were seven fatal tiger attacks in the United States and at least 20 more attacks that required emergency medical care.
In 1985, a pair of Siberian tigers at the Bronx Zoo attacked and killed one of their keepers in an enclosure that was part of the Wild Asia exhibit.[33]
In 2003, trainer and performer Roy Horn was attacked by a Siberian white tiger during a live stage performance, disabling Horn and prompting the permanent closure of the show.
In 2005, a 17-year-old girl was killed by a captive Siberian tiger at the Lost Creek Animal Sanctuary in Kansas, while taking her high school graduation photo with the animal.[34]
In 2006, Cynthia Lee Gamble was killed by one of her tigers, Tango.[35]
In 2006, a zookeeper at the San Francisco Zoo was bitten on the arm by a tiger during a public feeding. In 2007, the same tiger killed one person and injured two others. Police officers intervened, shooting and killing the tiger.
In 2007, a 32-year-old Canadian woman was killed when her pet Siberian tiger grabbed her leg through the cage and mauled her, causing her to bleed to death.[36]
In 2009, at the Calgary Zoo, Vitali, a male Siberian tiger, injured a man trespassing in his enclosure.[37] A handler was also killed by a white tiger in Zion Lion Park.[38]
On 31 July 2012, Kushalappa Gowda (36), a zookeeper at Pilikula Nisargadhama in Mangalore, India, was killed by an ailing tiger named Raja after he entered the squeeze cage in spite of warnings.[39] The tiger died of a heart attack in May 2015.[40]
On 24 May 2013, Sarah McClay, a 24-year-old woman who had been working at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria, United Kingdom, was mauled by a tiger during public feeding time and suffered serious injuries to her head and neck. She died later the same day.
In July 2014, an 11-year-old boy was attacked by a tiger in a zoo from Paraná, Brazil. His arm was amputated as a result of his injuries.
In 2016, a 38-year-old woman was killed by Hati, a 13-year-old male tiger, in an enclosure at the Palm Beach Zoo.[44]
In May 2017, zoo-keeper Rosa King was killed by a Malayan tiger named Cicip at Hamerton Zoo Park in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. A metal gate meant to separate the workers from the tiger was open when Rosa went to clean the enclosure, leaving her in the same space as the animal, where she was subsequently attacked.[45]
In 2019, Patty Perry, a conservationist, was attacked at her animal sanctuary in Moorpark, California by two tigers during a donor event.[46]
In 2020, a 55-year-old female zookeeper was killed by Irina, a Siberian tiger, in an enclosure at Zurich Zoo.[47]
On 3 December 2020 a volunteer was bitten and seriously injured by a tiger named Kimba at Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary in Florida.[48]
On February 5 2021, two Bengal tigers escaped from Sinka Zoo in the city of Singkawang, Indonesia, after their enclosure was damaged by a landslide caused by heavy rain. Feri Darmawan, a 47-year-old zookeeper, was killed by the two tigers. On February 6 2021, police succeeded in capturing one tiger, while the second was shot dead after a tranquilizer gun proved ineffective.[49]
In June 2021, a Siberian male tiger killed a Seaview Predator Park employee and another tiger in Gqeberha, South Africa.[50]
In August 2021 a Bengal tiger killed Catalina Fernanda Torres Ibarra, a 21-year-old female zookeeper, at a safari park in Rancagua, Chile.[51]
On 29 December 2021, an 8 year old Malayan tiger named Eko at Naples Zoo in Florida was killed after a cleaner breached barriers after hours and entered an unauthorized area of the tiger enclosure, resulting in the tiger biting his arm. After unsuccessfully attempting to free the man, a deputy shot the tiger.[52]
The tiger is a large cat and a member of the genus Panthera native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is traditionally classified into nine recent subspecies, though some recognise only two subspecies, mainland Asian tigers and the island tigers of the Sunda Islands.
The Bengal tiger or Royal Bengal tiger is a population of the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late Pleistocene for about 12,000 to 16,500 years. Its historical range covered the Indus River valley until the early 19th century, almost all of India, western Pakistan, southern Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and southwestern China. Today, it inhabits India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and southwestern China. It is threatened by poaching, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation.
Kenneth Douglas Stewart Anderson was an Indian writer and hunter who wrote books about his adventures in the jungles of South India.
The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies Panthera tigris tigris native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inhabits mainly the Sikhote-Alin mountain region in southwest Primorye Province in the Russian Far East. In 2005, there were 331–393 adult and subadult Siberian tigers in this region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals. The population had been stable for more than a decade because of intensive conservation efforts, but partial surveys conducted after 2005 indicate that the Russian tiger population was declining. An initial census held in 2015 indicated that the Siberian tiger population had increased to 480–540 individuals in the Russian Far East, including 100 cubs. This was followed up by a more detailed census which revealed there was a total population of 562 wild Siberian tigers in Russia. As of 2014, about 35 individuals were estimated to range in the international border area between Russia and China.
Edward James Corbett was an Anglo-Indian hunter, tracker, naturalist and author. He was frequently called upon by the Government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh to kill man-eating tigers and leopards that were attacking people in the nearby villages of the Kumaon and Garhwal Divisions. He recounted his hunts and experiences in books like Man-Eaters of Kumaon, which enjoyed critical acclaim and commercial success. He was also an avid photographer and spoke out for the need to protect India's wildlife from extermination. In his honour, the Indochinese tiger subspecies has the scientific name Panthera tigris corbetti.
Man-Eaters of Kumaon is a 1944 book written by hunter-naturalist Jim Corbett. It details the experiences that Corbett had in the Kumaon region of India from the 1900s to the 1930s, while hunting man-eating Bengal tigers and Indian leopards. One tiger, for example, was responsible for over 400 human deaths. Man-Eaters of Kumaon is the best known of Corbett's books, and contains 10 stories of tracking and shooting man-eaters in the Indian Himalayas during the early years of the twentieth century. The text also contains incidental information on flora, fauna and village life. Seven of the stories were first published privately as Jungle Stories.
The Leopard of Rudraprayag was a male man-eating leopard that measured to about 7'6" long, reputed to have killed over 125 people. It was eventually killed by hunter and author Jim Corbett.
Tigers in India constitute more than 70% of the global population of tigers. Tigers have been officially adopted as the National Animal of India on recommendation of the National Board for Wildlife since April 1973. In popular local languages, tigers are called baagh, puli or sher. The Bengal Tiger is the species found all across the country except Thar desert region, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Kutch region. These can attain the largest body size among all the Felidae, and therefore are called Royal Bengal Tigers. Skin hides measuring up to 4 meters are recorded. The body length measured from its nose to the tip of the tail can reach up to 3 meters and it can weigh up to 280 kilograms, with males being heavier than females. Their average life expectancy is about 15 years. However, they are known to survive for up to 20 years in wild. They are solitary and territorial. Tigers in India usually hunt chital, sambar, barasingha, wild buffalo nilgai and gaur and other animals such as the wild pig for prey and sometimes even other predators like leopards and bears. There are instances of Elephant calves hunted by tigers.
Nandankanan Zoological Park is a 437-hectare (1,080-acre) zoo and botanical garden located in Baranga village, Odisha, India. It is 10 km to south of Cuttack and 10 km north of Bhubaneswar. Established in 1960, it was opened to the public in 1979 and became the first zoo in India to join World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) in 2009. It also contains a botanical garden and part of it has been declared a sanctuary. Nandankanan, literally meaning The Garden of Heaven, is located in the environs of the Chandaka forest, and includes the 134-acre (54 ha) Kanjia lake.
The Indian leopard is a subspecies of the leopard widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent. It is threatened by illegal trade of skins and body parts, and persecution due to human-leopard conflict and retaliation for livestock depredation.
A man-eating animal or man-eater is an individual animal or being that preys on humans as a pattern of hunting behavior. This does not include the scavenging of corpses, a single attack born of opportunity or desperate hunger, or the incidental eating of a human that the animal has killed in self-defense. However, all three cases may habituate an animal to eating human flesh or to attacking humans, and may foster the development of man-eating behavior.
Two tiger attacks occurred at the San Francisco Zoo, in 2006 and 2007, both involving a female Siberian tiger named Tatiana. In the first incident, a zookeeper was bitten on the arm during a public feeding. In the second incident, one person was killed and two others were injured before police shot and killed Tatiana on the scene.
Tiger attacks in the Sundarbans, in India and Bangladesh are estimated to kill from 0-50 people per year. The Sundarbans is home to over 100 Bengal tigers, one of the largest single populations of tigers in one area. Before modern times, Sundarbans tigers were said to "regularly kill fifty or sixty people a year".
Man-Eater of Kumaon is a 1948 American adventure film directed by Byron Haskin and starring Sabu, Wendell Corey and Joanne Page. The film was made after the success of the Jim Corbett book Man-Eaters of Kumaon, published by Oxford University Press in 1944.
The Chuka man-eating tiger was a male Bengal tiger responsible for the death of three boys from Thak village in the Ladhya Valley in 1937. It was shot by Jim Corbett in April 1937 who noted that the animal had a broken canine tooth and several gunshot wounds in various parts of his body.
The Bachelor of Powalgarh also known as the King of Powalgarh, was an unusually large male Bengal tiger, said to have been 10 feet 7 inches long. From 1920 to 1930, the Bachelor was the most sought-after big-game trophy in the United Provinces. British hunter Jim Corbett shot and killed the Bachelor in the winter of 1930, and later told the story in his 1944 book Man-Eaters of Kumaon.
Leopard attacks are attacks inflicted upon humans, other leopards and other animals by the leopard. The frequency of leopard attacks on humans varies by geographical region and historical period. Despite the leopard's extensive range from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, attacks are regularly reported only in India and Nepal. Among the five "big cats", leopards are less likely to become man-eaters—only jaguars and snow leopards have a less fearsome reputation. However, leopards are established predators of non-human primates, sometimes preying on species as large as the western lowland gorilla. Other primates may make up 80% of the leopard's diet. While leopards generally avoid humans, they tolerate proximity to humans better than lions and tigers, and often come into conflict with humans when raiding livestock.
The Mini Zoo is located on Grand Trunk Road near Pipli bus stand in Kurukshetra, Haryana, India.
The Tilyar Mini Zoo, Rohtak is located inside the Tilyar Lake complex on Delhi Road in Rohtak, Haryana, India. This Zoo was built in year 1987.
T-24, also called Ustad, was a tiger who lived in Ranthambore National Park, India, killed four humans and sired four tigers.
Video 6:12 'Tigers Kill Men!' A short film on rising Man and Tiger conflict and its consequences. The video depicts an encounter of human civilization with the wildlife around the conserved forests at Kaziranga.
Man-eaters – Comprehensive site covering man-eating tigers.
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