The Champawat
Tiger was a female Bengal tiger responsible for an estimated 436 deaths
in Nepal and the Kumaon area of India, mostly during the 19th century. Her attacks have been listed
in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest number of fatalities from a tiger. She
was shot in 1907 by Jim Corbett.
An Alleged Picture of Champawat Man-eating
Tigress after it was shot dead. Man with hat kneeling down dead tigress is Jim
Corbett.
A RARE PICTURE OF
STUFFED HEAD OF MAN-EATING TIGRESS OF CHAMPAWAT. (FIRST EVER MAN-EATER SHOT BY
JIM CORBETT IN 1907).NOTE BROKEN CANINE TEETH ON RIGHT SIDE, UPPER ONE IN HALF
& LOWER ONE RIGHT DOWN TO TOOTH.THIS PHOTO IS FROM THE BOOK: JIM CORBETT OF
KUMAON BY DC KALA (1979)
HISTORY
The tiger began her
attacks in a region of Nepal close to the Himalayas during the late 19th century, with
people being ambushed by the dozen as they walked through the jungle. Hunters
were sent in to kill the tiger, but she managed to evade them. Eventually,
the Nepalese Army was
called in. Despite failing to capture or kill the tiger, soldiers managed to
force the tiger to abandon her territory and drive her across the border
(river Sarda)
into India, where she continued her killing activities
in the Kumaon District. She eventually grew bolder, and began killing people in broad
daylight and prowling around villages. Life across the region grew paralyzed,
with men often refusing to leave their huts for work after hearing the tiger's
roars from the forest.
In 1907, the tiger was
killed by British hunter Jim Corbett. The tiger had killed a 16-year-old girl in
the town of Champawat,
and left a trail of blood and limbs, which Corbett followed. Corbett found the
tiger and shot her dead the next day, a dramatic feat confirmed by about 300
villagers. A postmortem on the tigress showed the upper and lower canine teeth
on the right side of her mouth were broken, the upper one in half, the lower
one right down to the bone. This injury, according to Corbett, probably
prevented her from hunting her natural prey.
I first read about this and other maneaters in the 1980s, when I read a book entitled "Death in the Long Grass," by Peter Hathaway Capstick, an American game hunter. It covered this maneater, the Lions of Tsavo, and many other maneaters and I found it to be a fascinating read. Incidentally, Capstick penned a few other maneater books, though not as fascinating were very enlightening : if I recall correctly, one book covered all known animals to have eaten humans.
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