The forests of the Sunderbans, which are part of the world’s largest delta covering 4264 sq.km in India alone, are home to the famous Bengal tiger.
The tigers have adapted very well to their saline environment as they are expert swimmers and even drink salt water.
Project Tiger was launched in 1973 by the Indian Government to ensure the preservation of the Bengal tiger under a wildlife management scheme with the Sunderbans being declared a Tiger Reserve. At the last census there were said to be 274 tigers living in the forests but it must be accepted that it is very difficult to be accurate in this vast area of mangrove swamps.
The tiger’s main prey is the spotted deer and they will also eat wild boar and fish from the creeks. But the Sundarban tigers have made their reputation as man-eaters. Given that there is an abundance of natural food available to them it is surprising that the tigers have a taste for human flesh. It is thought that this has been developed by tigers feeding on the bodies of victims of hurricanes and cyclones which have been washed up on the shore. Perhaps the tigers consider man an easier catch than the main prey and this is likely to apply to the old and infirm tigers
The tigers seem to have developed an uncanny knack of knowing when people in the jungle are unarmed and usually attack a person who is on their own. It is difficult to say just how many people are killed by the tigers. Few people survive an attack – they just disappear – and most who do survive then die because the attack has taken place so far from a hospital. One report claims that the tigers kill between 50 and 250 people every year. These figures reflect the tiger’s fearsome reputation and the probable figure is likely to be in single figures. Attacks are usually a surprise and it takes a tiger only a few seconds to snatch a person from a boat and drag them into the forest. As well as fishermen honey gatherers find themselves an easy target as they search deep into the forests. As the tiger will only attack from behind the honey gatherers wear a mask on the back of their heads to try to trick the tiger.
There is no doubt that the tiger lives in the local people’s psyche and is regarded as a spiritual being – an encounter with a tiger is accepted as fate. The local people’s most pressing concern is the fact that rising sea levels have forced tigers closer to the more populated areas of the Sunderbans. It is only a short step from taking a villager’s goat to taking a villager.
The Bengal tiger has become a major tourist attraction with thousands of people visiting the Sundarbans each year hoping to see a tiger. But very few do- at least the ones who live to talk about it !