ATTACKS BY WILD TIGERS | Facts and Details

TIGERS THAT ATTACK HUMANS

Tigers have killed more people than any other big cat species but wild ones kill fewer people than they used because there are so few of them. In the 1990s about 30 to 60 people died each year in India alone from tiger attacks. Worldwide, tigers kill far fewer people than elephants or crocodiles. In most years even hippos kill more people than tigers. Snakes are the No. 1 people killer by a large margin. They kill around 20,000 people a year in India alone.

Most human injuries and fatalities come from captive animals. The natural reaction of wild tigers when encountering a human is to run away. Tigers that kill people often kill their victims the same way they do other animals: they leap on the person's shoulders, bring the victim to the ground with a swat from the fore paws, and kill him with a crushing bite to the neck or head.

Most killings by tigers writes Ward, "are still simple case of mistaken identity — accidents. Since long before the advent of firearms, tigers seem to have been innately wary of humans on foot...Human beings walking upright and sticking to forest roads are relatively safe, then; it is when they wander off into the undergrowth and lean over, cutting grass or collecting firewood, so that they lose their distinctively human look, that the likelihood of tragic error seems to intensify." The silhouette of a hunched over man from a short distance looks surprisingly like a browsing deer.

Some tiger attacks on humans occur when a tiger is cornered or surprised while it is eating its kill but tigers have also been observed stalking humans. Ward witnesses a big male tiger stalking a bullock cart with a man. "Whether it was the bullocks that had caught his eye or the old man who drove, them," he wrote, "we will never know, for our presence ruined the tiger's stalk: He finally stopped, glared at us, glared at his retreating prey, then turned off into the forest.” [Source: Geoffrey Ward, National Geographic May 1992]

In Southeast Asia, some people believe that the ghost of a tiger attack helps the tiger choose his next victim and is particularly apt to attack anyone who reveals information of the man-eater’s movements. For this reason people who live in areas of Southeast Asia where man-eaters are active are reluctant to talk about them.

Many more people were killed by tigers in the past. In the late 1800s and early 1900s around 1,000 people a year were killed by tigers in India that British raj government knew about. Tigers killed 500 people and 20,000 cattle in a single district of Bombay in 1822. In 1769, the town of Bhiwapur was abandoned after more tan 400 people were killed by tigers.

In the 1850s, more than 600 people a year were killed in Sumatra and Java. In areas were tiger attacks frequently occured, villages were either abandoned or turned into fortresses. During the Vietnam War, tigers ate bodies left on the battlefield, and aquired a taste for human flesh and attacked living soldiers.

Websites and Resources on Animals: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; BBC Earth bbcearth.com; A-Z-Animals.com a-z-animals.com; Live Science Animals livescience.com; Animal Info animalinfo.org ; World Wildlife Fund (WWF) worldwildlife.org the world’s largest independent conservation body; National Geographic National Geographic ; Endangered Animals (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) iucnredlist.org

Environmental Factors and Tiger Attacks

A number of attacks occur outside parks and reserves for tigers. These parks are usually too small for the tigers, and have villages located inside them. In parks where all the territory is claimed by older tigers, young tigers without territory have been forced to look for prey outside the parks where fatal encounters with humans are more likely. There is also a problem with tigers, especially mother’s with cubs, whose normal hunting ranges have been disrupted and they have to turn to other sources for food. These tigers are more likely to go after livestock than humans.

Many tiger attacks occur where people encroach on tiger habitats. About 20 people are killed by tigers in the Kheri district of India each year. Up until 1947 this region was covered by dense forests and malarial swamps, perfect habitats for tigers but forbidding ones for people. After India became independent the swamps were drained to make room for settlers and some of those who settled in tiger territory were killed.

Many tiger attacks also occur at Dudwa National Park, created when a conservation-minded farmer asked that a 200-square-mile forest adjoining his farm be declared a national park, and problems developed when the number of people living around the park exploded. In 1977 there were 21 villages on the periphery of Dudwa, now there are more than 100. Dangerous encounters between tigers and humans.

Some attacks occur where villagers enter tiger territory to cut grass, collect firewood or plant sugar cane. Sugar cane grows like a tall grass and tiger females regard it as an ideal place to raise their young. When the villages come to cut the sugar cane, the tiger regards it as a provocation and attacks the villagers. The death rate outside is so extraordinarily high at Dudwa because cane fields that begin at the edge of the park.

"Mixed use doesn't works," one ranger told National Geographic. "Tigers are naturally fearful of human beings, but familiarity breeds contempt — and tragedy." The forest corridors that wildlife officials had hoped to establish to prevent encounters between humans and tigers have yet to materialize.

Protection from Tigers

If confronted by a wild tiger you are supposed to stand your grown, and shout aggressively. You are not supposed to turn your back or run because that triggers the hunting and killing instinct in a tiger. With that said, even animal specialists who know the procedure find it difficult to put into practice. Describing an encounter with a tiger 30 feet away, primatologist Russ Mittermeier said, "It turned towards us and the guy with me started to run. I told him you're not supposed to run away from cats and then I ran like hell myself. I went right past him."

Some people who are around tigers a lot keep a can of pepper spray, a cattle prod, or a broom handy. Arjan (Billy) Singh, a famous tiger conservationist, carries a short, carved "tiger stick" when he tracks tigers. Most researchers and conservationists either have a gun or a vehicle nearby.

Tigers rarely attack an animal or a person that is facing them. To reduce the number of deaths in the Sundarbans, swampy area between India and Bangladesh famous for aggressive tigers, villagers wear clay masks on the back of their head to make the tiger approaching from behind think that the person is facing them. Masks on the back of the head worked for about two years before the tigers wizened to the trick, and attacked anyway.

In another effort to protect villagers in the Sundarbans, clay dummies dressed as farmers, woodcutters and fisherman were electrically wired to household batteries and even car batteries that gave attacking tigers a 230 volt jolt when they jumped the dummies. The plan eventually turned out to be unmanageable. It was too time consuming and dangerous to change the batteries.

Tiger Attacks in Indonesia

In January 1998, AP reported: “Frightened villagers have trapped a rare Sumatran tiger they believe killed four people last year, and officials were awaiting money for tranquilizer darts so they could transport it to a zoo. While some villagers has asked police to kill the Sumatran tiger, Indonesia's last surviving tiger species, the animal is protected under Indonesian law because of its endangered status. Residents of the village of Fajar Bulan on the island of Sumatra, about 190 miles northwest of Jakarta, captured the wild tiger in a nearby jungle by ensnaring its left leg with a lasso-like trap, police Lt. Suharto said. The tiger was being held until local officials could buy tranquilizer darts to subdue the animal and take it to a zoo, police said. [Source: Associated Press, January 2, 1998]

Three of the four victims in last year's tiger attacks were plantation workers, the Indonesian Observer reported. A fourth was a farmer who was mauled to death by a tiger soon after a herd of wild elephants trampled through his rice fields. Suharto said police still had not established whether the tiger trapped Thursday had attacked anyone. Deforestation is a major problem in Sumatra, where wildfires raged last year and forced normally timid wildlife into populated areas. The World Wide Fund for Nature has estimated that just 500 Sumatran tigers remain on the island.

Tiger Attacks in Thailand and Malaysia

In January 1998, AP reported: “A starving tiger was shot and killed in a Thai wildlife sanctuary after attacking and seriously injuring two forest rangers. The tiger, estimated to be about 15 years old, was apparently desperate for food and made two forays into the staff living area at Khao Yai, 130 miles northeast of Bangkok. Ranger Khammual Thongtam, 21, said the tiger appeared while he was washing his clothes on a balcony. The tiger leaped three feet onto the balcony and attacked him, biting and clawing his arms. Another ranger came to his aid and was badly mauled. The tiger fled when their screams attracted more help. [Source: Associated Press, January 15, 1998]

"Tigers usually just run away when they smell humans, except when they are hurt or starving,'' Khammual said Thursday. However, the tiger returned in the middle of the night and was shot by another ranger. The animal had an old bullet in its right frong leg, which rangers said probably left it unable to hunt for food in the jungle.

In January 1999, Associated Press reported: “A tiger pounced on a villager in an eastern Malaysia rubber estate, but the man fought back and survived, a newspaper reported today. Mahat Awang, 26, was checking a trap for wild boars when the tiger leapt out of the bushes, the English-language New Straits Times daily said. Mahat said he shouted to his companion to run while he struggled but failed to reach for his hunting knife. "I tried to fight back but got bitten on my hands and back of my head," the man was quoted as saying. "After attacking me, the tiger ran into the bushes and disappeared," he said. Mahat required 50 stitches. No explanation was offered for why the tiger changed its mind. [Source: Associated Press, January 18, 1999]

In Thailand, Tiger Kills Two People in One Week

In December 2012, AFP reported: “Terrified Thai villagers were hunting a tiger suspected of killing two people in less than a week after a woman was mauled to death in a rubber plantation near the site of an earlier attack. Pranee Mahasuk, 43, was slashed on the face and back in front of her husband as the pair tapped rubber shortly before midnight on Monday, said Urupong Chanakul, deputy chief of Betong district in Thailand's southern Yala province. He said the woman's husband had tried to help her by shooting at the big cat, but had been forced to climb a tree for safety. "He spent the whole night up the tree. He said the tiger came back to eat his wife after he shot at it, so he fired at it again and it ran off," Urupong told AFP. [Source: AFP, December 4, 2012 +++]

A few days before “the footprints of an adult and young tiger were seen near where 44-year-old Hyaya Seng was found headless with deep scratches across his body at another plantation in Yala near the border with Malaysia. "It is likely that the same tiger killed the victim last week," Urupong said, adding the latest incident was 10 kilometres (six miles) away from the previous one. He said authorities and about 200 villagers had launched a search for the tiger, adding that the aim was to push the creature further into the remote mountainous border area rather than kill it. +++

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Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated January 2025