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ABOVE Tigers are naturally equipped to hunt fl eet-footed prey like chital deer.
TOP An aerial photo of a nilgai killed by a tiger in a sugarcane fi eld near the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve
in August 2017.three-to fi ve-year-old male had a
broken canine and severe cataract in
his right eye. He had probably been
pushed out by resident tigers from
the richer forest patches, after
which he survived by eating cattle
and other livestock and feral animals.
By this time his cataract had perhaps
begun obstructing his sharp binocular
vision and he began mistaking
crouching humans as prey and
attacking them. With extended bouts
of hunger, he would have soon realised
that these creatures could also be
hunted and eaten.
This ‘theory of infi rmity’ can also
be extended to individuals with poor
experience in hunting, like cubs that
have been separated from their mother
too early. The case of the man-eater
‘Mallu’ from the Deoria region of
Pilibhit exemplifi es this. When Mallu
was captured he had no deformity
of any sort that could have impaired
his skills at hunting fl eet-footed
prey. He seemed more like a young,
inexperienced tiger who had discovered
and decided to stick to fast food!
Mallu had killed seven people by the
time he was captured on February 11,
- He had begun attacking and killing
humans back in November 2016, but
the nature of his attacks at the time
showed no clear intent and little fi nesse.
Towards the end of his free-ranging
tenure, however, he made four attempts
on human lives within a month, all when
victims were sleeping on cots inside
mosquito nets, and despite livestock being
present on the scene as an alternative. He
had grown audacious by then, and adept
at lifting people from their homesteads;
45-year-old Manjeet Kaur, the only
survivor of his attacks, recalled how he
had refused to back away even as her
family members screamed, beat at him
with sticks and pelted him with stones.
He even made a bold second lunge
at her, injuring her grievously before
disappearing into the night.
Several such meticulously
documented cases in the Dudhwa-
Pilibhit landscape strengthen the
understanding that man-eaters are a
rarity, and that many tigers that are
not man-eaters can and do occasionally
consume human fl esh. Thus, every
instance of human fl esh consumption
does not give birth to a recalcitrant
man-eater; only detailed information
gleaned from pugmark dimensions,
camera trap and other photographs,
situational details of attacks, nature of
wounds infl icted on the victims, and
regular movement patterns during
confl ict situations can help piece
together case studies, and possibly
through them the motive of the animal.
Such insights can greatly inform
confl ict management strategies
and decisions. To ensure detailed
documentation and aid in confl ict
management on the ground,
communities can be integrated into
the process in the form of well-trained
and equipped Primary Response Teams
(PRTs), such as those formed by WTI
in Uttar Pradesh. These PRTs and thespecialised RRTs, working in unison, can
constitute a major confl ict mitigation
support to state Forest Departments
across tiger landscapes in India.
Finally, positive media engagement
at multiple levels is crucial to
ensure that factually correct, less
sensationalised media reports are
published, and that the tiger’s
long-term image is not
caricatured into that of a
white-fanged creature
with bloodshot eyes, out
to get you and me. tMAYUKHCHATTERJEE/WTIMAYUKHCHATTERJEE/WTIThe author is Head, Human-Wildlife
Confl ict Mitigation, Wildlife Trust of India.t
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