DEATH TOLL OF MAN-EATERS IN INDIAN JUNGLE

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6755, 7 November 1928, Page 8

DEATH TOLL OF MAN-EATERS IN INDIAN JUNGLE

2000 Killed Yearly NEARLY 20,000 FATAL CASES OF SNAKEBITE The toll of life exacted from the human race every year by man-eaters of the jungle is appalling. And in this boasted age of civilisation it is amazing to think that so little has been done to preserve man from the ravages of the animal world. It is true that Government bounties are paid as rewards for such efforts as are made to clear the forests of their terrors, but still lions, tigers, snakes and crocodiles continue their deadly work with staggering effect. Eeports show that no fewer than 2285 people were killed by wild animals in British India alone during 1927, while 19,069 died from snakebite. In the native States, with their population of some 90 millions, for which no records are available, the number of victims must be enormous. In Nopal every year numbers perish through the attacks of tigers. Out of the 2255 deaths reported, tigers were responsible for 1033 victims; leopards, 218; wolves, 465; bears, 78; elephants, 56; hyenas 12; crocodiles, 136; wild pig, 85, and jackals, 41. The worst depredations of tigers and leopards were committed in Madras, of wolves in the United Provinces, of bears in Bihar and Or/ssa, and of elephants in Assam. The man-eater is the ever-present terror of the Hindu villager. Perhaps a village will go in peace for 10 or li years, forgetting the ravages of former years caused by one of these monsters. Possessed by a false sense of security, the men of the village will go on - with the old occupations, taking no precautions against a possible incursion. Suddenly they are aroused from their state of forgetfulness by the loss of some of their loved ones, snatched away in the peace of the night from the bosoms of their families. Tiger’s Fifty Victims. Cases have been known where-one of these man-eaters has devoured over 30 people within the short space of 48 hours. In one district a tiger terrorised 12 villages for over three months, until a hunting party of 2000 armed men was organised to put an end to his deadly work. Even then they failed in accomplishing their purpose and he killed upwards of fifty people before he met his death. Crocodiles are another source of terror in India. One crocodile is reported to have devoured 30 people iff less than two months. This, be it understood, occurred in two-,villages cbmprising not more than 2SO people all told.

In order to destroy as many wild animals and snakes as possible, the Government offers rewards to native sportsmen, and last year 139,153 rupees were, paid for the shootir.g of 25,612 man-eaters, including 1368 tigers, 4390 leopards, 2739 bears, 2439 wolves. The total number of snakes killed was 57,116, and for their destruction 1241 rupees were paii as rewards.

But India is not the only country afflicted with the man-eater. The Uganda man-eating lions are a growing menace to life. The Chief Games Warden reported recently that during a reign of terror which existed in the vicinity of Sanga, one lion alone was responsible for 84 deaths, and that another had more than 40 human “kills” to its credit before it was destroyed.

Tainted Lions. When lions collectively take to mankilling, the taint in their blood is naturally passed on to their offspring, though the new generations may not necessarily display man-killing tendencies from birth. The taint, however, is lying dormant awaiting an opportunity to display itself. In a single year the lions in Ehodesia are reported to have had 119 victims to their credit; those of West Portuguese Africa accounted for more than 200 people, including three European hunters. A werl-kuown explorer calculates that in Independent Congo the mean annual tribute paid by the natives amounts to 600 lives, but that estimate is much too small considering that figures are only available in cases known to the comparatively small number of officials who govern the, country.

So terrorised were some districts of Central Africa that some , time ago there was added to the Litany prayer against “battle murder and sudden death” the words “and wild beasts,” which had become a very real dangeJ. China, thanks to her long history, has been able to rid herself of most dangerous wild animals; but in Korea a local species of tiger, perhaps the largest and fiercest in the whole family, annually kills 2000 peasants. Siberia, again, is affected by the ravages of at least one wild animal, scientifically known as Tigris Onurionsis /which is remarkable for its great size, the beauty of its skin, and, above all, its insatiable lovo for human flesh.

Exact figures as to its ravages are impossible to obtain; but official estimates have been made ,ono of which states that during four months the tigers in the Trans-Vaikal province devoured 12 natives, 27 Russian subjects, including two officers and eight soldiers, and 132 Chinese immigrants, making a total of 171 victims for a territory which includes approximately one-fifth of the whole area inhabited by this redoubtable beast. Not for Centuries. Even these figures, however, fade into insignificance besides the total number of deaths attributed to wolves and bears in Siberia. These run into

thousands. A report published some time ago by the Administrator of Water and "Forests in that country stated that 5234 people (native peasants and convicts) succumbed in o,nc year to the attacks'of these beasts. The question natufaily arises as td how man is to be protected against the animal world. Sooner or later the end will come, but present indications show that it will be a'matter of’ centuries. It took England four centuries to eliminate the wolf, and elsewhere progress has been no more rapid.

In Capo Colony, the Transvaal, aid the rest of the Union where lions were still numerous during the latter half of the last century, they have been practically exterminated; and the bears which formerly ravaged JapaA, have been finally isolated in the north island of Yezo, in an uninhabitable region.