The Chowgrath Tigress

[MA-Caver]

Found this article on a hunter of maneaters. This story hair-raising in of by itself has a little more to it than the average hunter turned prey.

A Large-Hearted Gentleman
Written by Jason Bellows on April 29th, 2008 at 11:58 am
From DamnInteresting.com

Corbett and the Powalgarh Man-eaterCorbett and the Powalgarh Man-eaterA cool breeze blew over the lush Indian forest. Jim Corbett was being hunted. The tigress that stalked him was already credited with at least sixty-four human kills, and Corbett hoped that he was targeted to be next. Jim leaned against the rocky slope of a nearby hill and lit a cigarette. The Chowgrath Tigress had already sneaked up on him once in this grove, and he tried to give her the chance to do so again. As the afternoon waned, however, Corbett decided that she was too canny to try the same trick twice.

He opted to lay one last trap for his adversary before the sunlight failed. He led a buffalo into the grove, and tied it up securely as it grazed. If the tigress took the bait she would be able to kill the animal, but would be unable to drag it off. His intent was to circle behind the nearby hill, climb to the top, and give watch to the grove below. It would be a shot of over two hundred yards, but over the years he had felled many a beast from such distances. Even if his long-range shot only managed to wound the man-eating tigress, he would at least be left with a blood-trail to track, and therefore end his months-long hunt.

He set off at a quick pace, anticipating that the tigress would observe his departure and take the opportunity to prey upon the buffalo. As he rounded the hill in a dry riverbed his pace wasn't so hard as to shut out all distraction: in a shallow depression there rested a pair of Rock-jay eggs. As an amateur oölogist, or egg collector, Corbett could not pass up these unusual specimens. He used some moss to wrap them up, and carried the eggs delicately against his belly with his rifle crossed over his chest. He continued briskly along the sand, hoping to make it to the hilltop before the tigress finished her buffalo feast. As he squeezed past a large boulder which blocked most of the riverbed, something in his peripheral vision gave him pause: something orange and black, with a predator's eyes, poised behind the boulder and ready to pounce. In that instant he knew he had been outmaneuvered. With his hands full of Rock-jay eggs, and his rifle hugged against his body, there wasn't much he could do to deflect the imminent attack. He turned his step into an anti-clockwise spin, set the rifle butt against his hip, and managed to fire a single shot.

Read rest of the story: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=954#more-954

When I read the entire story I could understand the title of the article.
Still there's a kind of Zen to this tale. In ridding the villages of the region of a dangerous maneater the hunter was also doing the animal a favor by killing it.
Read on.
And yeah that was a very big kitty! (see photo below)

 

[Kacey]

Interesting!

 

[naneek]

what an interesting life he led, truly amazing

 

[Jade Tigress]

Interesting read. When I went to the full article my initial thought was confirmed. Tigers don't typically hunt humans unless they are sick or injured, as this tigress was.

A few weeks ago I watched a fascinating program about man eating tigers in the Sundarbans. They have put together a program to train the stray dogs in villages to protect people from the tigers.

Sundarbans man-eaters kill 50 people every year January 2009. Stray dogs in Bangladesh are being trained to deter prowling tigers from village borders as part of an innovative conservation scheme.

Following the tragic news that three people were killed last week in the Sundarbans by tigers, conservationists from the Zoological Society of London are hoping that dogs can play a role in saving human life, and tigers too. For the first time, humans' canine companions are being used to help protect man from tigers, and therefore, tigers from man.

Field staff from ZSL working on tiger conservation and research in the Bangladesh Sundarbans have a tough job persuading the locals to protect endangered Bengal tigers, as they gained a formidable reputation as a man-eater.

Read more here.

 

[still learning]

Hello, Very interesting reading indeed!

Wild cats...do change there eating habits...to easier prey...NOT neccessary better tasting ones....

Aloha,