Maneaters on loose around Corbett park ?

About this time last February, the Corbett National Reserve declared a tiger a maneater. The big cat had killed a woman in the buffer zone. It was yet another testimony in blood to a rise in the man-animal conflict. Last Friday, the reserve again awoke to the news of a tiger attack on humans. Three local youths had been walking along the park boundary when they were attacked. One of them was wounded and is undergoing treatment at the Forest Hospital in Haldwani. The reserve was already neck deep in questions raised by the mysterious death of four tigers within one-and-a-half months. Friday's attack has added another to the long list: Was there a maneater on prowl? Tigers are recorded to have killed more people than any other big cat. But unlike leopards and lions, maneating tigers rarely enter human habitations in order to acquire prey. The majority of victims are reportedly in the tiger's territory when the attack takes place. Ranjan Kumar Mishra, the director of the Jim Corbett National Park, said it cannot yet be termed a deliberate attack on humans. "The tiger must have been on the prowl when the three went into the forest," he said. But the recovery of a body on Saturday, apparently mauled by a wild animal, has deepened doubts. "It seems some wild animal had attacked the man. Flesh had been eaten off his back. But we believe it was a leopard that had attacked as pugmarks found next to the body indicated," a forest official said. Early on Monday, blood stains were found on a pathway in the park. This raised fears that a third attack had taken place, although officials said they were "not necessarily human blood stains". According to wildlife enthusiast Ajay Suri, the attacks were the result of a rise in human incursion into animal territory. "Five star hotels have come up around the area. Such structures have blocked the movement of wild animals. ...Four tigers have died and the authorities still don't know why they died," said Suri who was shooting for a film on tigers in the reserve. Forest officials said they were trying to ascertain why the tigers had died. "Of the four tiger deaths, only one is suspicious. Three tigers seem to have died of natural causes -- old age or fights. In the fourth case, though, we are awaiting the results of the viscera examination. Poisoning or other reasons cannot be ruled out in that case," an official said. Mishra could not be contacted for his comments on the fourth case, but other officials confirmed that viscera of the dead tigers had been sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareilly. "It normally takes IVRI about a month to prepare their reports. We are awaiting their reports," a Corbett official said.

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