DELHI: Environmental officials in northern India have issued an order for a tiger that has attacked and killed three women to be shot on sight.
A specialist team has been dispatched to track down the animal in the world-famous Corbett national park, seven hours' drive north of Delhi.
There have been angry protests by local people at the gates of the park, an increasingly popular tourist destination, since the body of the tiger's most recent victim was found.
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Devki Devi, 35, was attacked earlier this week when she and 12 other women went out to collect cattle fodder near their village, the vice-chairman of the Uttarakhand forests and environment advisory committee, Anil Baluni, said. The others managed to get away.
Such attacks are rare but periodic occurrences in India, where repeated drives to preserve the country's tiger population have failed to stem poaching and deaths from natural causes linked to pressure on the animals' habitat.
The number of tigers in India is disputed, but is thought to be about 1500, half of what it was 20 years ago. About 150 live in or around the Corbett national park, which lies on plains at the foot of the Himalayas.
The fact that the tiger, a female, killed two other women in separate incidents last month and appears to have eaten much of the body of its latest victim will have been important in convincing authorities to issue the order to use lethal force, a former deputy director of the park, Samir Sinha, said. ''These kinds of decisions are never easy and never taken lightly. It is only when human life is threatened. Shooting will be the last resort.''
Guardian News & Media
A specialist team has been dispatched to track down the animal in the world-famous Corbett national park, seven hours' drive north of Delhi.
There have been angry protests by local people at the gates of the park, an increasingly popular tourist destination, since the body of the tiger's most recent victim was found.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Devki Devi, 35, was attacked earlier this week when she and 12 other women went out to collect cattle fodder near their village, the vice-chairman of the Uttarakhand forests and environment advisory committee, Anil Baluni, said. The others managed to get away.
Such attacks are rare but periodic occurrences in India, where repeated drives to preserve the country's tiger population have failed to stem poaching and deaths from natural causes linked to pressure on the animals' habitat.
The number of tigers in India is disputed, but is thought to be about 1500, half of what it was 20 years ago. About 150 live in or around the Corbett national park, which lies on plains at the foot of the Himalayas.
The fact that the tiger, a female, killed two other women in separate incidents last month and appears to have eaten much of the body of its latest victim will have been important in convincing authorities to issue the order to use lethal force, a former deputy director of the park, Samir Sinha, said. ''These kinds of decisions are never easy and never taken lightly. It is only when human life is threatened. Shooting will be the last resort.''
Guardian News & Media
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