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Maneaters are dangerous because they make it a habit of killing and eating humans. It is ok to support such animals from an 'armchair' perspective - sitting far away - when you are not impacted. But how would a father or mother feel if their daughter has been picked up by a leopard when she was coming from school?
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Please don't see man-eating as a disease, it is not.. There were man-eaters, there are man-eaters and as long as there are human settlements in and around forests / protected areas, there will be man-eaters -whether there is enough prey or not. If they get the taste of humans, they start seeing humans as a part of their natural menu. Since we are the easiest "prey" to catch, it is nothing but natural for the animal to go for a human. It doesn't mean that humans are the only "prey" they'd eat once they become a man-eater, but if an opportunity presents itself, it will take a human. Again, the Tiger doesn't all of a sudden turn evil if it kills and eats a man - it is just doing what it needs to do to survive.
Regarding the armchair & losing a loved one comment - yes, I did lose someone very, very close to me. It was my dog Bruno (a dog lover would know how he feels about his dog), and it was taken by a Leopard right from the foot of my bed and I was unfortunate enough to wake up and see Bruno getting carried out of the door hanging from the jaws of the leopard. I don't blame the leopard for that - I was at fault there and I paid the price with the life of someone I loved so much. Happened in the late 80s in Western Ghats, but I won't bore you with that story.
Let us talk nrs here -
There were 18 human kills made by the cats in Western Ghats in 2011
There were 515 human deaths caused by Elephants in the same region in 2011
33,000 deaths due to traffic related accidents in the Southern states of India
Now out of the 18, 3 were city folks who decided to go into the jungle, to "explore" the jungle. 12 were Tribals living off the land and 3 were forest officials.
How many cats were killed in 2011 by humans? 38 in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu alone.
The best way to "save" the humans from the "man-eaters" would be to get the humans away from the jungles or the fringes. I know it is easier said than done, but when we encroach into their territory, you are bound to have man-animal conflict. It is not just the case in India, same is the case with the hippos, the lions, the wolves, the bears, the pumas - happens everywhere.
Just a bit about myself, I am someone who is foolishly in love with the wilderness - especially the Western Ghats and I do write articles in The Hindu once in a while. (Now you know where I got the nrs from!). It pains me when the animals are portrayed as villains (man-eaters or not). In 99.9% of the cases, we "superior" humans are to be blamed and at the end of the day for the loss of precious human life and guess who takes the flak!
I think I have shared all I had to share on this topic, so this will be my last post on this thread. As mentioned in the earlier post - these views are not meant to hurt or to belittle anyone.