it still it amazes me about a government that seems to put more value on a animal over human life, i think the wayward animal should have been killed as soon as possible(before 16+ humans). as most here are hunters and armed, they would have been ready to kill the animal as soon hey could with out asking any government permision . and please keep the stories coming, thank you.
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If only government officials of third world countries thought like you. After the Wildlife Conservation Act-1973 (courtesy of pressure from U.K and India) was passed, killing Royal Bengal tigers became a criminal offense (carrying a 14 year prison sentence). After ‘73, only 4 man eating Royal Bengal tigers were legally killed in the Sundarbans (the last being in 1989).
Every year, an average of 55 locals are still killed by man eating tigers around the Sundarbans. If more Death Orders for hunting the man eaters were issued, then so much human life would never be lost. But what do fat officials in expensive suits & ties sitting in their air conditioned city offices care about locals?
Back in those days that I’m writing about (1973-1989), the standard policy for contending with man eating tigers was this:
Step 1- The first course of action to be attempted, was to try and frighten the Royal Bengal tiger away from the locality which it was terrorizing.
Step 2- The second course of action to be attempted, was to attempt to capture the Royal Bengal tiger alive and either release it into an isolated part of the forest (where no human beings were around) or to put it in a zoo.
Step 3- If all non lethal methods of attempting to subdue the tiger were exhausted, then a Death-Order was issued by the Ministry of Forests from the government itself. And the Ministry of Forests would only agree to issue such a Death Order, if the Chief Conservator of Forests approached them and showed them that EVERY POSSIBLE NON-LETHAL MEANS of contending with the man eater had been attempted without yielding successful results.
Off the record, my belief is that the Ministry only issued Death Orders not out of any altruistic reasons… But because the government was losing serious revenue due to the man eaters and their depredations (by killing government appointed wood cutters and fishermen).
As mentioned above, the Ministry of Forests only did this 4 times in the last 50 years. And the last time (the tiger that I shot in ‘89), the Chief Conservator basically refused to approach the Ministry at all. He was pressurized into doing it by a very influential Brigadier General and Major Poton Khan (who used to be a forum member here). They aspired to hunt down that tiger with their men. But they failed (for various reasons) and then, I ended up getting him (through pure luck when I crossed paths with him randomly while patrolling the creeks in a department speedboat).
By the way, LOVE your collection. Is that a Winchester Model 12 “Duck” I see ? Also, what’s the lovely side by side in the middle rack ?
