Early on Wednesday, when the runaway ‘maneater’ from Corbett National Park was captured, it was taken to Nainital Zoo. But just a few days ago, there was a death warrant on the head on the big cat, which had killed a woman in Dhikulin earlier this month. A letter from the Centre directing the Uttarakhand government not to shoot the animal is what saved its life. Four other tigers may not get such a reprieve. In an unprecedented man-animal conflict situation, four tigers (not counting the Corbett one) have been branded ‘maneaters’ in the terai belt, home to the densest tiger population in the world.

The four tigers still on the loose, are currently being tracked by the UP Forest Department — if capturing them ifails, they are willing to kill these big cats. Shoot-at-sight orders had been given for the Corbett tiger and another near Faizabad. But shooting orders or not, villagers are up in arms against the ‘maneaters’. So far, eight people have died in various incidents.

“When there is a disturbed tiger in an area, the problem is not just of capturing it. It is a security issue that needs to be dealt with in a curfew-like manner,” says National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) member secretary Rajesh Gopal. Unfortunately, the forest departments in two of the richest tiger states, have failed to create such conditions.

Instead, UP has granted several licenses to private individuals to kill a ‘maneater’at Faizabad and has declared “capture or kill” orders for the animal at a speed that has outraged conservationists. “On one hand, we promote tiger tourism, and on the other, we don’t hesitate to condemn them to death," said tiger conservationist Belinda Wright.

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