ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

MAN-EATERS

a - Korea

Yesterday, I started a thread on man-eating big cats. Some posts on man-eating tigers will be posted in this thread as well.

I'll start with a link to an article I posted at AVA some years ago. It was published in 2007. If interested, I would advice to print it. You never know when it will be deleted. The article is on Korean tigers:

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=359115&rel_no=1

The first picture is from the article. The other two are not. My favorite is the second, but the third one (Kishi Naguti) is one of the most striking:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

b - Saugur Island

The letter below (from Brig.-Gen. R.G. Burton) was published in the JBNHS (Vol. 27). Both incidents (in 1787 and 1792) happened on Saugur Island, which was often used by merchant ships in those days.

The first incident (underlined in green) was a bit strange. The male tiger who killed and took poor Monro did so with a lot of intimidation. Rather untypical for an experienced man-eater, I thought. The men apparently disturbed a courting couple for quite some time. The place was shot over and the men made a lot of noise. At some stage, the male tiger had had enough. He ignored 4 Europeans, 8-10 natives and a blazing fire when he struck. The tiger rushed towards the forest with the young man he selected, but apparently succumbed to his wounds (he was shot on the beach as a result of sheer luck). When Monro staggered out of the forest, the men immediately left the island. When they were rowing towards the ship, the tigress, " ... almost raging mad ... ", made her appearance.     

The second incident (underlined in orange) happened a few years earlier (1787). This time, the tiger acted like a typical man-eater in that he struck and left with a man before the other realized what had happened. The man he took was found partly eaten next day. This tiger too ignored a fire and two armed men.

Saugur Island (now Sagar Island) is about 54 nautical miles from Calcutta, in the mouth of the Ganges (Sunderbans). I don't know if it has tigers today, but it definitely had a few centuries ago. And they were anything but shy. Or small. The first male was described as a large animal. His head " ... appeared as large as an ox's ... ":      

*This image is copyright of its original author

Talking about large heads. One of the three below was shot in the Sunderbans. I don't know which one it was, but all three heads are quite impressive. It again shows tigers rapidly dwarfed in the Sunderbans in the last century: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

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