Somewhere near the Sundarbans, a teenager cancelled a Royal Bengal tiger‘s dinner plans. Using nothing more than a row boat oar, she kept the ferocious cat at bay for ten minutes. Unbelievable. Or maybe it isn’t. I’ve heard of mothers lifting cars off of their trapped children in order to save them. Maybe when the person in danger is a loved one…anything is possible. Via the BBC:
A woman in Bangladesh…fended off a Royal Bengal tiger which was attacking her husband, police say…
Eighteen-year-old Nazma Akhter and her husband Anwarul Islam, 25, were fishing for shrimp on Sunday in a canal on the fringes of the Sundarbans…
After biting Akkhter’s husband, the tiger tried to abscond with him, as Bengals are wont to do with their quarry; that’s when the fierce animal had to reckon with a fiercer woman.
Police chief ASM Zahid said…”This woman is extraordinarily courageous, because she alone fought the tiger and saved her husband,” he told the BBC.
“I salute her for her courage.”
Approximately 20 people are killed by tigers each year in Bangladesh; last week alone in the Sunderbans, two women died because of attacks from the lethal carnivores.
Local newspapers reported that such was the beating it received from the paddle that it was forced to beat a retreat into the forest.
Such a beating!
I had guessed that pressures from humans impinging on the Royal ‘hood were the cause for all of these deaths by Tiger, but apparently, there’s another reason:
Some scientists argue that they may also have become more aggressive because of the high salt content in water of the area which affects their mental stability.
Salt-crazed cats!
In the wild, Bengal tigers – one of the largest and most numerous of the tiger sub-species – are pure carnivores and hunt medium-sized animals, such as rabbits, badgers, water buffaloes, deer and goats…
They are able to consume up to about 40 pounds (18.18 kg) of meat at a time and then go without eating for days.
Oh, that tiger starved all right– because it got carried. This story reminds me of that unforgettable scene in the final LoTR, when that terrifying Nazgul dies at the hands of Eowyn; it’s amazing and somehow fitting that the only thing which could save Anwarul Islam from a man-eating tiger was his woman.
Brilliant. Love it. Love is an amazing bond especially between family. I’m glad I’ve been tested to understand what I can and can’t do. For the rest of my life I intend to hold it over my brother’s head that I got my ass kicked big time trying to save him from a crazy fight. 🙂
I remember watching a documentary on the Sunderbans that described how the residents tried to protect themselves against tiger attacks:
Vikram, I knew about the masks, but I had no idea that the tigers had figured it out! I knew they were smart, but…yowza.
Anna: The big predators like tigers and lions are pretty adaptive and intelligent:
The film “The Ghost And the Darkness” is based on that story. Om Puri played one of the Indian workmen.
Vikram, That movie was amazing. The cats were brilliant. They knew they were being hunted and started to hunt the hunter. I saw this show either on Discovery or Travel Channel where this crew went looking for tigers in the Sundarbans and they seemed so unmoved by humans it’s as if they are used to them. It’s a lot like the pigeons in NYC. You trip over them but they won’t move out of your way and they don’t even bother to fly. They just walk!
Jane:
Jim Corbett chronicled his experiences hunting man eating tigers and other big cats in India in a series of books:
Though I daresay far more tigers, leopards and lions have been killed by man than vice versa.
Will have to check out the books. They are killing man because man has taken over their space. We are supposed to protect them and preserve their land. Eventually they’ll be like the Indians. We’ll stick them on “reservations” and call them “free”.
they seemed so unmoved by humans it’s as if they are used to them.
I personally have been within a feet of pride of 10 lions/ lionesses in Botswana. Just don’t move and startle them, then you are OK. Even leopards. The big cats are oportunitistic animals, and one should never show vulnerability and panic.
One morning I was on foot, they were fresh paw marks of lions, it did not bother us. But elephants or hippo it is a different story. The closest I have got to an elephant is 100 meters on foot.
I think in the not too distant future, at the current extinction rate, all of earth’s fauna will be reduced to storage refrigerators of DNA vials from which a select few species will be bred for populationg zoos.
1) recent evidence suggests that big cats have been eating hominids for a while now (in fact, there is a nice book out i’m reading, man the hunted, which hits this topic).
2) I think in the not too distant future, at the current extinction rate, all of earth’s fauna will be reduced to storage refrigerators of DNA vials from which a select few species will be bred for populationg zoos. there is a joke in microbiology: at the rate of growth of the numbers of bacteria early on in a chemostat projected over weeks soon enough the ‘ball’ of microbes would be expanding out into the universe at a rate faster than the speed of light. so beware of “rates” 🙂
why oppose women and tigers? some of the coolest women are tigers.
some like it fierce!
My cat, Jameson, is the stalking lion today. I accidently stepped on his tail(before he he and I bought jumped a few feet in the air), and he is not happy. He is also going out of his way to let me know that he’s not happy. I’m glad he’s 12 inches tall and weighs less than 30lbs.
I thought humans were unique in that we hunt for game, not just sustenance. In The Ghost and the Darkness the scariest part was when the hunters (Douglas & Kilmer) find scores of skeletons in the the lions’ den and Douglas’ character remarks, “Lions don’t do this. Lions… never had a lair like this. They’re doing it for the pleasure.” ::hair stands on end::
that’s a substantial cat, tarana! maine coon, perhaps?
note to self: must find excuse to launch a cat thread sometime soon.
This video was posted at pickled politics. It scarred me and made me love dogs that much more. Dogs would never ever become salt crazed, ever 🙂
These stories of elemental courage are so fascinating coz we imagine ourselves in that adrenaline-fuelled situation, I suppose.
The topic of why tigers become man eaters has been discussed, diagnosed etc., way back during the Jim Corbett days.
Apart from the humans-encroaching-on-tigers ecosystem-theory, there is another reason. In their old age, most tigers develop arthritis and also have natural loss of muscle strength etc., So, it becomes harder for them to hunt down deer, rabbit and other fast moving animals (even wild buffalo).Humans are easier targets for hunting. So, out of desperation and hunger, a tiger may first try to hunt and kill a human. And then steadily get used to the taste, and start attacking outskirts of villages, to drag people away from their beds into the forest.
God – the poor tiger – we haven’t even got hardly any left! why on earth couldn’t the silly couple have gone fishing somewhere else.
I thought that was another MIA link 😉
Chinese astrology says that I am totally compatible with a Tiger woman. Heh heh, now I know what that means!
OMG I cant believe Sonia has said why cant the people go somewhere fishing, yeh its understandable thinking that humans hace taken over tiger territory, but with more humans in this world you have too think what would happen if the tigers were not controled..
Tigers attaking humans is also a psychological thing like the old school have always said if the animal senses fear it will attack..
Come our little bengali lady normally the husband probs would hav taken the fame woo hoo..
er… my bad. That was supposed to be 10 lbs. ::glances at Jameson to make sure he didn’t notice::
Maybe then I’ll get the answers as to why my Taiji (in India) screams like a white woman every time she sees a kitten or a cat…
Do you realize how much crap her husband is going to get because his wife beat up the tiger for him?
=)