Human–Wildlife Conflict

For the past few weeks, Maharashtra has witnessed a stand-off between wildlife activists and the state government and villagers in Ralegaon over a reportedly man-eating tigress. The activists had approached the Supreme Court when the forest department decided to shoot the tigress who has two cubs. The Court refused to stay the shooting.

The state forest department may end up shooting the tigress if efforts to capture her fail. The issue of non-humans killing people is always clouded with both disbelief and panic. This is exacerbated if the perceived cause of the casualty or damage is a large, well-recognised animal like a tiger. Wildlife activists point out that it is difficult to ascertain that an animal is a man-eater—as this is a rare occurrence—and whether a particular tiger is the concerned killer. At the other end of the spectrum is the very real fear that the locals may feel when living close to a dangerous animal.