The restrictions on the beef industry in many parts of India could be making the situation even more dangerous. India’s Hindu nationalist governing party, the B.J.P., has cracked down on the slaughter of cows, an animal Hindus revere.
This has created enormous herds of mangy, unproductive, unwanted cattle that the herders don't dare to kill, either because of specific cow protection laws that vary state by state or because they are terrified of being lynched by Hindu extremists.
In several tiger areas, more prey now lives outside the tiger reserve than inside. That may be luring tigers out.
“As soon as the tiger comes out, he sees a lot of cattle,” explained Bilal Habib, an ecology professor and tiger researcher. So the tiger decides to stick around, Mr. Bilal said, catalyzing a whole cycle of conflict and death.
In the case of the man-eating tiger, researchers are at a loss to explain why she started attacking humans. She has also killed some cows and horses.
The rangers call her T-1. They have been keeping track of her since she was a cub; when she was young, they say, her mother was electrocuted. This is another growing problem, as farmers all over India string up crude electric fences to keep wild pigs out of their crops.
T-1 never lived in a dedicated tiger reserve; 30 percent of India’s tigers don't.
Her first victims were farmers weeding their fields at the forest edge. In this part of India, everything is so packed together that even the people who live here aren't sure where the agricultural land ends and the protected forests begin.
According to charts that forestry officials have been keeping, T-1 has eaten the flesh of about half of her victims. She gnawed off one woman’s leg cleanly at the kees, almost like a chain saw. She chewed into one man’s back, leaving his spinal column exposed.
The rangers took swabs of tiger saliva from the wounds and sent them to labs for DNA analysis. Over several months, as the results came in, they began to piece together what they were facing.
In January, forestry officials applied for the shoot order. But an animal-rights activist from Mumbai who objected to killing T-1 helped to block it. Then T-1 gave birth to two fuzzy tiger cubs, which meant any action taken against her could jeopardize them, too.
So the rangers equipped themselves with nets and tranquilizer guns and fanned out into the jungles, full of pungent lantana bushes, old gnarled teak trees and clouds of dragonflies hovering in the thick, humid air. Four times, they tried to capture T-1.
“But she’s very wild,” said Mrs. Abharna, the forestry official. “And she’s very clever.”
Each time, she either hid in the tangle of lantana bushes or raced away.
The villagers who live in T-1’s area, which covers about 60 square miles, haven't been especially helpful. Furious that the rangers won't simply shoot the tiger, they have blocked access to the jungle. Others devised disturbing plans of their own.
Every time a tiger kills someone, the authorities pay compensation to the victim’s family, sometimes as much as $14,000. It's part of a government program to assuage grieving relatives so they don't try to take revenge against endangered tigers.
During a capture operation, an older man who could barely walk positioned himself right next to a cage that the rangers had baited with fresh buffalo meat.
“When we asked him what in the world he was doing,” said Mrs. Abharna, he replied:
“If I die, will you give my family the money?”
As the forestry officials wrestle over what to do, wildlife activists keep returning to court to block shoot orders.. The activists say the tiger is simply defending her cubs, and that the victims ventured into her territory. They are trying to compel the forestry department to tranquilize T-1 and move her to another area. The Supreme Court may hear the case within days.
Meanwhile, the elephants, which rangers say are better for such an operation than any four-wheel-drive truck, are expected to arrive any day. The people living near Pandharkawada are losing patience. And they are becoming increasingly terrified.
“Just kill it,” said Rashika Vishal, the daughter of the herder who was mauled by the highway. “There's nothing beautiful about this animal. It ate my father and we need to kill it before it kills someone else.”
As she spoke, tears in her eyes, a dozen other people crowded into the family’s dark little shack and nodded vigorously in agreement. Tiger attacks, they said, were never an issue in the past.
“When I was a kid, we used to walk around the jungle at night, no problem,” said C.S. Meshram, a village elder. “I don't know where these tigers are coming from. But they keep coming.”
