BENGALURU: In the wake of Friday’s incident where a 52-year-old farmer was killed by a tiger, forest officials and experts said, it is too early to call it a man-eater.
“The animal has dragged the farmer for a distance of around 100 metres to the border area. There are clear dragging marks, there are blood stains around, and a piece of flesh from the farmer’s thigh is also missing. The animal needs to be captured,” said Bandipur Tiger Reserve Director S Prabhakaran.
“The identity of the tiger needs to be established, and it has to be confirmed that the earlier human deaths have been caused by the same animal. We are tracking the movements. The distance between each incident also needs to be accounted for,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, PC Rai said.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 2007 issued a series of directions across India, on the criteria for declaring big cats as man-eaters.
“If a tiger/panther begins to seek out, stalk and wait for human beings and after killing one, eaten the body, it is established beyond doubt that the animal has turned into a man-eater,” it said.
The NTCA also stated that there are several circumstances under which human beings are attacked. Such circumstances are, a man approaching an area where a tigress is sheltering her cubs; approaching a sleeping tiger/tigress; or a bent-in posture, when tiger consider them as to be an animal and attacks.
If the tigress is with cubs and is confined to a limited area with a shortage of natural prey, she is more prone to eat the dead body.
Praveen Bhargav, Trustee, Wildlife First, said, There is a difference between intentional killing and incidental killing. Proper evidence now needs to be established with photographic proof; there is also a need to understand if the animal is injured.