Maneating tigress of Moradabad

[a_kamal]

The pugmark from 2002 , smaller is my cats .

since both the cats left for happy hunting grounds , this is a sort of relic for me .

[skeetshot]

Good work a_kamal !

Unfortunately, our Forest Department would not say if Harnandi Suman was killed by the Tigress or some other tiger, either because they could not identify the pug marks or willfully chose to hide this information.

In todays day of age, we have the DIGITAL PUGMARK TECHNIQUE, and this was not used to identify the killer.

"Digital pugmark technology (DPT) is another new terminology based on the theory of pugmark technology. The method is used for estimating the specific individual species using statistical approach. Each animal leaves a particular set of pugmark while walking.

For analysis, the pugmark is clearly photographed in a serial way, GPS (Global Positioning System) location are taken from the first sight, stride and straddle measurements, where an animal walked in a normal gait. Stride is the distance between two successive pugmarks on the same side while straddle is the perpendicular distance between the left and right hind pugmarks. The data is then calculated with the help of software "pugmark 1.0" which totally eliminates human error.

The data calculates the values of several variables from the photographs. Statistical analysis of the data creates a new profile of the animal, which can be used to identify it from the pugmarks (The technology is already applied in tiger calculation work, not applicable for high rainfall environment).

For best result, Pugmark Impression Pads (PIPs) were made where animal frequently walks (roads, trails), for getting the clear mark of pugmarks. PIPs consists of an area approximately 6m long and as wide as the road ( nearly 2.5 m) where the soil is finely pulverized to an optimal soil depth of 0.5- 1 cm in order to provide the best possible surface for recording pugmark impressions. " -- Rahul Ashem

[a_kamal]

Hi skeetshot,

My experience with the goverment departments in general is that corruption & ignorance are inveresely proportional while corruption runs from bottom to top , ignorance rus from top to bottom , and any new technology which means learning and more work is a taboo and is left to the few dedicated inviduals who are looked upon as eccentrics by the department.

Today scientist can tag and monitor whales and sharks , what is stopping us to tag our tigers with chips (instead of radio collars - which can be tracked by poachers also)

[brihacharan]

Hi skeetshot,
My experience with the goverment departments in general is that corruption & ignorance are inveresely proportional while corruption runs from bottom to top , ignorance rus from top to bottom , and any new technology which means learning and more work is a taboo and is left to the few dedicated inviduals who are looked upon as eccentrics by the department.

Today scientist can tag and monitor whales and sharks , what is stopping us to tag our tigers with chips (instead of radio collars - which can be tracked by poachers also)

What is stopping us to tag our tigers with chips...
> With ignorance & apathy percolating from top to bottom...
> I won't be surprised if someone were to ask - "Is there a precedence"? (a backlash from our erstwhile law makers) to tagging tigers with chips
> Its high time our government wakes up to protect the few tigers that are left...
Briha

[Sakobav]

Hope it ends well - if its a maneater than competent hunters need to be assigned -- not sure why Maneka is stirring the pot although isnt hers or juniors constituency near by/

Cheers

[prashantsingh]

The tigress made another kill today.
There were a number of "scholars" who believed that the tigress had gone back to her "home" and would subsequently return to her natural diet.
Obviously this has not happened ....... and I am not at all surprised.

[Kittu]

The tigress made another kill today.
There were a number of "scholars" who believed that the tigress had gone back to her "home" and would subsequently return to her natural diet.
Obviously this has not happened ....... and I am not at all surprised.

a maneater will be maneateter alwayes.one such meneatear is at bhiwani joo who ate his feeder

[a_kamal]

Hi Prashant,

The kill was human or animal and how it is verified that same tigress was the killer , what is the reaction of forest department and the permit holders for hunting of the maneater , were they not allowed to follow the animal within corbett buffer zone .

[a_kamal]

Maneater will be Maneater ? this we will discuss in another thread

The current news is that a man has been killed in Mooradabad and forest department thinks it is a second tiger on the prowl , however no one saw the animal only pugmarks seen and they do not compare to those of tigress.

And there is news of another Tiger/Leopard attack , A man was suuposedly attacked and killed by big cat near lakhimpur near dudhwa buffer , here there are three conflicts.
1. was it tiger
2. was it leopard (more probably)
3. was it foul play (police thinks so-cannot be ruled out)

But it is amazing ( considering all reports on face vlaue ) that currently 6 maneaters are on prowl and 3 of them are Tigers

[prashantsingh]

A man was suuposedly attacked and killed by big cat near lakhimpur near dudhwa buffer , here there are three conflicts.

Here is a funny one.
When I joined my friends in Afzalgarh to look for this tigress. We picked up a local news paper (15th January "Hindustan") and read a news which said that the a man had been killed by a Big Cat.
His blood and shoes had been found but the body had gone missing.
This had taken place some 10 kms away from the spot where a woman had been killed (inside Corbett) the same evening (14th Jan) at around the same time.
Did not make sense.
Later in the day we came to know that the man (who had supposedly been killed the previous evening) had returned home safe and sound. In his drunken state (the previous evening) he had picked up a fight with someone (which explained the blood) and spent the rest of the night sleeping in some corner of the village.
Can't really trust the news papers everytime.

As for a "maneater will be a maneater". I would really like to know your views on it.

[a_kamal]

Hi Prashant,
Funny indeed, though it happens around the world but no one matches the Indian tamasha.

Maneater will be Maneater - this is a debatable subject with both sides open to conjecture , I do not have much field experience, nither i have studied animal behaviour, However i have lived close to nature and had a few opportunities to walk on the trail of Tiger .

I have tried to make up for this want by reading a hell lot of books on Hunting /Conservation and have read expert views on the subject both FOR & AGAINST

My personal impression is AGAINST ie The term (maneater will be maneater) is as misleading and demeaning as the term (Blood Thirsty as Tiger) so Talking only about TIGER folowing are the points i can say and hopefully you will agree.

1. Tiger maneater or not will kill only for food - once full will not bother man or animal .
2. Tiger becomes maneater under extreme circumstance , some major factors are(oldage, injury, Tigresses with cubs, loss of territory, lack of prey)
3. Tiger is a solitary and shy animal and has a inherent respect/fear of human race thus avoids a direct contact when possible (80% of Sundervan residents have never seen a wild tiger - though they hear about them everyday).
4. Maneating almost allways starts accidently ,
5. Once an accidental encounter takes place the animal loses its fear of human.
6. With falling prey base and increasing no. of cattles usually the first step is cattle killing ,
7. Usually male Tigers are allways on move doing rounds of their territory , thus they do not pester a particular area for too long and as they grow old are killed in fight with young blood baying for the throne. thus less no. of male tigers were found to be maneaters .
8. so for a healthy tiger supplied with game to have , one or two encounters where they kill and eat a human flesh does not make them habitual mankiller.
9. The unfortunate accidental contact with human resulting in the death of human - gives tiger the idea that what he feared the most is actually meakest of all and easiest to kill,

10. SO, it is the ease to secure a human for dinner than a buffalo or sambhar, which can be a cause of repeated attacks on humans by a animal who has no more strength to kill normal prey , and also it is not that they take a liking for human flesh ( unlike the popular idea - tiger will scavenge on dead animals if required - especially when they are looking for easy meals).

in the last case of "Tiger in City" in Lucknow the forest department very wisely chose to feed the tiger in the patch of cover where it was spotted , approximately a dozen buffalo calves were fed to it before capture , the upside was that the tiger having food and water did not wander and this avoided possible conflict with people.

so for me if there is a ready startegy to deal with the advent of a maneater and political will the cases of Tiger becoming one and being declared maneaters will be reduced.

It is high time governments start to find proper farsighted solutions , whith shrinking forests and increasing population , knee-jerk reactions will further endanger the Specie "Royal Bengal Tiger"

[prashantsingh]

I agree with all the points you have put up kamal.

But that still doesn't explain if a maneater who has killed and eaten human flesh would go back completely to it's natural prey once it returns to it's home range.

I personally feel that a maneater would always go on killing humans till it is terminated / captured. Specially in a country like India with it's ever growing human population.
Simply because of the human activity within forests . Be it cattle grazing within forest areas / people entering the jungles to collect fodder / firewood or even tourists and forest officials within the reserves. I remember a tigress in Lakhimpur Khiri more than 20 years ago whose first three kills were forest guards......and this was at a time when their habitat was in a much better state than what it is today. She went on to kill 6 more people before she was shot and killed -- after almost 2 years.

On the other hand a maneater relocated in the African / Argentinan / BC (Canadian) wilderness "MAY" go back to it's natural diet simply because of lack of humans around it.

Sundarbans is a totally different terrain where I would consider all tigers as "maneaters or potential maneaters".

But what an amazing and versatile animal this is:
From the deserts of Rajasthan, to the swamps of Sundarbans. From the dense Saal jungles of Madhya Pradesh to the freezing cold of Siberia. From the Equitorial Sumatra to the foothills of the Himalaya. The largest of all cats . One who has adapted itself to all weathers and terrains over centuries, but whose survival today depends on us (humans).

[a_kamal]

Hi Prashanth ,

By mentioning Sundarbans you have allready answered your own Question

"Sundarbans is a totally different terrain where I would consider all tigers as "maneaters or potential maneaters".


The question whether the Tiger will go back to its normal diet of wild aimals or atleast cattles is YES for me they will given following conditions are met.

1. the health of the individual Tiger
2. Prey base
3. Enough cover to avoid human contact
4. Temperament- of a particular specimen - as tiger like humans have a individual characteristics and ideosynchraices - Most of them are Gentlemen

Sundervan tigers have humans on their menu and will take them as an when opportunities arrive due to following reasons ,
1. Tigers of sundervan are not fully suited to the enviroinment there , heavy entangled forest give the wild prey a upper hand.
2. Prey base is also not upto the mark.
3. Humans going in forest move animal fashion under thick growth or climbing trees .
4. Tigers having such close contact with humanity know that this is the easiest prey a prey which advertises its presence in the jungle by the sounds it makes (singing, whistling, joking, talking , axing, sawing, coughing ) stalking a human is far easier than stalking wild game ..

In sundervan the rate of attacks have gone down dramatically after NGOs started teaching people how to behave in the forest , and by keeping packs of dogs trained to bay and push out a tiger if it comes in village , it looks like tigers are falling back on natural prey .

however in our subcontinent the relationship with wildlife is complex if not precarious.

[HereditaryHunter]

A kill has been made by the tigress today at noon

[a_kamal]

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... -maneater/

This article by Anirudh Ghosal covers all aspects of this mystery maneating tigress while giveing her activities since her advent as a maneater , highlighting the complex geographical limitations , the highly ill equipped forest departmenet overburdoned with the added costs of the combing operations .

Most interestingly, assuming that the trackers are following the same animal tracks all the time, the route taken by this tigres is higly haphazard and unpredictible across the fields over state hioghways , crossing railway lines ,adding to the mystery and problems ,

Lastly three more tigers/tigresses are active in the same area making even veteran hunters vary of losing a bullet on the wrong animal .

The only hope seems to be identfication of the pugs where it is deduced that right hind leg is injured and tigress moves with a limp and this is the cause of her turning maneater as there is no other reason for a 4 year or tigress to turn to a diet unnatural to it.