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The Man-eater of Kyari - Page 4
by Gideon
Egger
The town of Gebuwa-dol where a man was killed
and partially eaten.
© Gideon Egger 2004. Taken February 2004
After the meeting with the villagers of Kyari we drove toward the village of Gebuwa-dol where the man had been killed and eaten by a tiger. We didn't actually enter the village as Mr. Rasaily felt that sentiments in Gebuwa-dol were so hostile towards the Forest Department that he could not guarantee our safety. We stopped at a fence where we could see the village past a field and I took a picture. We returned to the Corbett Foundation and where he reiterated to me his frustration with the situation, his desire that all should be resolved peacefully without further harm to human or cat, but also his pride in the great work of his Range Officers, especially Tiwari.
The next day I left Corbett headed for Delhi, then London, and finally back to New York City. A few days later I wrote to Mr. Rasaily to see if there was any news about the tigress, whether or not she had been successfully trapped and he replied:
The maneater of Kyari is behind bars. Condemned to life imprisonment for a crime it does not know it has committed. Medical examination has revealed that it was suffering from deep wounds on its head and neck. One of its upper canine teeth is missing too … it had come to our doors begging for help. It was in much pain and distress. All that it was begging us was for a little bit of pity and patience. No wonder it never once snarled or snapped at us. But we failed to understand. The only saving grace for us today is that it is being looked after by a dedicated group of keepers and a vet at the Nainital Zoo. I visited it twice. There is a lot of improvement in its condition. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief today when we found that it had finished off 5 kgs. of mutton last night. The Queen of the Kumaon Forests is (alive yet) dead. Long Live the Queen.
I asked him if they had been able to determine if the tigress was indeed the same animal that had killed the man at Gebuwa-dol. He answered:
After removing her from the area, there has been no more trouble in any of the villages where this tigress had become a menace. So it is safe to believe that it is the same tigress that killed the sambar. I am of the firm belief that the human kill was an accidental kill but had we not been able to remove her, there were chances that she would have become [a man-eater] sooner or later.
A few weeks later I wrote to Mr. Rasaily again to find out if there were any updates and to ask his permission to put this story on the web site. He replied:
Those days when the Kyari tigress was on my back I used to feel that God was perhaps punishing me for some misdeed of mine but now I feel that it was no punishment that God had sent my way. It was God's way of teaching me so many new things in life. The Kyari Man Eater episode was such a learning experience for me. Now I feel confident enough to handle, God forbid, similar incident in the future."
Yes the tigress survived and is doing very well in the Nainital Zoo. We felt honoured when the keepers at the zoo commented that she was the healthiest trapped animal that had ever been sent to the zoo. My experience in the same zoo during my earlier assignment came in handy but the credit goes to my staff who literally stood in between the hostile public and the innocent tigress to save its life. That is courage that comes out of real conviction and genuine love for wildlife. You are free to mention the story in the Forever Tigers web site but please don't forget to mention the best compliment that I received after we caught the tigress. When I telephoned the good news to my wife my five year old said, "Now Papa can come home."
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Gideon Egger
Gideon Egger is the Founder and President of Forever Tigers.
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2004 Forever TigersWeb site design by Gideon Egger and
Cliff Schwartz Web Design