Posted by on 30th July, 2016.
India has around 1700 tigers residing in different regions of the country and they have always been portrayed as scary huge animals. As a statistical fact tigers have killed the maximum number of humans than other member of the cat family like lions or leopards.It is true that Tigers are carnivores, which is a good reason for them to feed on humans. However, their natural diet doesn’t include Homo sapiens. Now the question that arises is, why would they go against their nature and natural diet, only to be called ‘The Hunter’?
There are probably various theories and reasons as to why a tiger turns into a man-eater. Although, one of the main reason is because of the loss of their natural habitat. Wild forests are continuously being cleared down because of the increasing demand for human settlement. Thus, tigers are forced to invade villages and hunt people. Maybe, it is a way for them to react against the human actions. Second explanation might be, when a tiger is gravely injured or wounded.Even when a tiger is old and fragile, it turns towards humans. During this time, tigers become incapable of chasing and hunting their prey due to their decreased physical agility. Humans become easy targets for a wounded tiger, as they are comparatively easy to chase and catch.
Every tiger has its own story, like any other human. The tigress of Champawat district which killed around 436 humans had broken canines thus diverting her to kill humans and not the meat that she would prefer. Most of the times the attacks by tigers on humans are a coincidence because of humans walking in the tiger’s territory and being mistaken for its prey. Hence, becoming the target.In some cases it has also been reported that during floods or other disasters all the human corpses are not buried and thus tigers living in that region may develop a taste of human flesh. This trend has mostly recorded in the Sunderbans region.
The concerned forest authorities or the wildlife conservation authorities take appropriate measures to catch the man-eating tiger. However whether to kill the man-eating tiger or capture it in a cage, has always been an issue of debate. It is easy to kill a tiger with a gunshot, rather than tranquilizing it. The feeding and raising of a captive tiger is also rather expensive. These may be easy options for the authorities but does this give us the right to decide whether a tiger should live or not?
After all, it is as much a part of natural environment as humans, and helps maintain the balance of nature.