Tiger as prey

The tiger is known to be one among the five big animals or beasts that are hunted in Asia. Tigers were hunted more during the earlier period of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and it was considered as a well-acknowledged and popular game by the British in colonial India and also a favorite sport of the maharajahs and noble aristocratic class of the then rich kingdoms of India before independence. Tigers were hunted by poachers who went to forests by walk while some hunters sat up on machans as they tied a goat or buffalo to trick the tigers and make them fall into the trap; and some other hunters went for the sport riding on elephants.

Man-eating tigers

Tigers attack human beings for prey and it is found that most numbers of people have been killed by the tiger when compared with other large cat species like lion etc. especially in the regions where people have inhabited in huge numbers, logging, and also where agricultural activities are being carried on by people. All those tigers that are known to be man-eaters are quickly caught, shot, or poisoned. These man-eaters are found to be a major threat to the people in India and Bangladesh, especially in Kumaon, Garhwal and the Sundarbans mangrove swamps of Bengal, as more numbers of these large beasts are found to live and hunt human beings. The reason for tigers hunting humans is the destruction of their habitat due to climatic changes.

A female tiger named Tatiana was reported to have fled from her dwelling place in the San Francisco Zoo, where it killed one person and two others were badly injured after which it was shot dead by the police. It had escaped because its cave had walls that were too low which made it easy for the tiger to elope.

 

 

Traditional Asian medicine

The Chinese believe that the body parts of tiger have great medicinal values that can be used as pain killers and aphrodisiacs. However it has not yet been proved by science. Using the parts of tiger for preparing medicines and drugs has been termed as illegal and against the law by the Chinese government and that poaching of tigers is a punishable offence that would even result in a death penalty if practiced. Though there exists, numerous places in this country where the tigers are farmed to be sold for profit. It has been calculated that until now about 5,000 to 10,000 species of tigers are being captive-raised in these farms.