IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19010, 5 November 1923, Page 11

IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

MANY KILLED BY WILD BEASTS. The toll of the Indian jungle does not grow less. Figures for last year show that 3265 people were killed by wild animals, tigers being responsible for 1603, leopards for 509, wolves for 460, bears for 105, elephants for 55, hyenas for nine, wild boars and pigs for 90, and crocodiles and alligators for 225. The mortality from snake bite rose to 20,090. During the year 23.268 wild animals were destroyed, including 1766 tigers, 6108 leopards, 3188 bears, 1629 wolves, and 58,370 snakes. Rewards paid totalled a lakh (£6666) of rupees. Calcutta is at present- in the grip of an unprecedented epidemic of dengue fever. Nearly 40 per cent. of. the population is suffering. Business firms are seriously affected, in many instances -30 per cent, of office staffs being off duty. One largo employer lias remarked: “We are a prostrate city.” The fever in most cases lasts four or five days, but the after effects are often worse than the actual disease, patients lacing afflicted with stiffened joints, weakness, dizziness, and shooting muscular pains. Medical authorities attribute the epidemic to the unusual prevalence of tiger mosquitoes, which is believed to be largely the result, of the abolition by the corporation, as a measure of economy, of the. mosquito brigades until recently employed in treating the breeding- places of these disease carriers.