Fatal Tiger Attacks Spark Curfew Across Dozens of Villages

Two fatal tiger attacks have occurred in the same area in India in under a week, sparking a curfew across dozens of villages.

The half eaten body of Ranveer Singh Negi, 75, was found discarded in the bushes about 160 yards from his home in the Rikhnikhal block of Uttarakhand’s Pauri district on Sunday, the Deccan Herald reported.

The man had not been answering his phone, and relatives became concerned, asking local villagers nearby to go and see him. That is when his body was discovered.

Negi’s home is located in the Simli village, which is very close to the Corbett Tiger Reserve, which is a wildlife sanctuary known for its population of Bengal tigers.

Following this incident, the local District Magistrate (Pauri) Ashish Chauhan imposed a strict curfew on 25 villages in the surrounding area, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., the Deccan Herald reported.

This is because it is not the first fatal tiger attack to occur recently.

Another man, 72-year-old Birendra Singh, had been harvesting crops in the Dalla village on April 13 when he was mauled to death by a tiger, the newspaper reported.

It is not certain whether it is the same tiger responsible for both attacks. Tigers do not usually hunt humans and they will only usually attack if they feel provoked.

Kota Ullas Karanth, an India-based conservation zoologist and tiger expert, previously told Newsweek that while most tigers fear humans and avoid them, there are occasional exceptions. Occasionally, tigers so develop a taste for humans. These animals are known as man eaters.

“During my field research of 30 years, I have seen them on foot at close quarters and they have always slunk away. However, specific individual tigers show aberrant behavior, of losing this natural fear, and become persistent predators on humans whenever there is an opportunity. These specific types of animals are colloquially called man-eaters,” Karanth said. “This is very different from tigers cornered by mobs, or seriously injured, attacking humans in self-defense.”

Bengal tigers are endangered however the only way to deal with a man eating tiger is to shoot it, Karanth said. Forest officials have set up a cage to catch the man eating tiger.

It is not the first time a tiger has ventured from the Corbett Tiger Reserve and killed a person.

Last July, two friends— Afsarul Un Ahmad and Mohammad Anas—had been riding a motorcycle along a highway near the tiger reserve when a tiger leapt from the bushes. The predator dragged Ahmad into the bushes and he was never seen again. A few days later rescuers found just two severed hands.

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