Authorities shot and killed a man-eating tiger on Nov. 2 that terrorized a jungle area in India that was linked to the killings of 13 people.
The female tiger, called T-1 by forest rangers, was blamed for the killings of more than a dozen villagers in Maharashtra, said the Maharashtra Forest Department on Nov. 3.
Hunters waited for several hours before identifying the tiger and shooting her with a tranquilizer dart, the officials said. After she was hit with the dart, the tiger charged the vehicle, and a hunter fired a lethal shot at the animal, killing it.
“In a reflex action of self-defense, the shooter fired from a distance of 8 to 10 meters [26 feet to 33 feet]. The tigress died on the spot,” according to the statement from the Maharashtra Forest Department, reported press agency DPA.
The tiger was lured out with the help of Obsession for Men, a Calvin Klein cologne popular in the 1990s, The New York Times reported. The cologne was tested with success on jaguars at the Bronx Zoo.
Officials had hoped to take the animal alive as it had two 10-month-old cubs. The Supreme Court of India refused to suspend a shoot-on-sight order for the tiger that triggered protests and online petitions.
Wildlife activists complained online over the weekend after the big cat was killed, DPA reported. They said rangers could have captured it instead of killing it.
“Avni [a local name for the tiger] was killed illegally satisfying a hunter’s lust for blood,” said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to DPA. It said the killing should be “investigated and treated as a wildlife crime.”
But the tiger was linked to at least 13 killings in the area, the Times reported. DNA tests taken from tiger’s saliva and DNA from the corpses, images from camera traps, tiger tracks, and a number of sightings connected the animal to the deaths.
It is believed that the tigress was about 5 years old, the Times reported.
Man Gets Dangerously Close to Zoo Tiger
A man was filmed jumping over a barrier near a tiger cage at the Oakland Zoo in Oakland, California, in October.
The tiger was seen prowling near the outer edge of its cage at the zoo as the man stood outside the fence (as seen in the top video).
“He was on a viewing deck, and it has a 42-inch rail,” said Joel Parrott, CEO and president of the Oakland Zoo, ABC7 reported. “The chain-link fence keeps the tiger in, but then sometimes they think they can pet the tiger in which case the fingers go through the mesh and that’s when it can get dangerous for the public.”
“You cannot design for irresponsible and stupid behavior,” concluded Parrott.
From The Epoch Times
