https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Champawat_TigerChampawat Tiger - Revision history2026-07-31T06:00:04ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Champawat_Tiger&diff=111243&oldid=prev>Citation bot at 12:24, 16 May 20212021-05-16T12:24:39Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Bengal tigress responsible for over 400 deaths}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2017}}<br />
The '''Champawat Tiger''' was a [[Bengal tigress]] responsible for an estimated 436 deaths in [[Nepal]] and the [[Kumaon division|Kumaon]] area of [[India]], during the last years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17630703 Tiger and leopard attacks in Nepal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024163440/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17630703 |date=24 October 2018 }} BBC News (11 July 2012)</ref> Her attacks have been listed in the [[Guinness Book of World Records]] as the highest number of fatalities from a tiger.<ref name="guinness97">{{cite journal|journal=[[Guinness World Records]]|title=The Guinness Book of Records 1997|publisher=[[Bantam Books]]|date=1997|isbn=9780553576849|last1=Young|first1=Mark C.|last2=Matthews|first2=Peter|last3=McWhirter|first3=Norris|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofre00youn}}</ref> She was shot in 1907 by [[Jim Corbett]].<ref>{{cite book<br />
| title = Tiger<br />
| author = Stephen Mills<br />
| page = 99<br />
| year = 2004<br />
| publisher = Firefly Books<br />
| isbn = 978-1-55297-949-5<br />
| oclc = 57209158<br />
}}</ref><br />
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==History==<br />
According to Peter Byrne, [[professional hunter]] and author from Nepal, the tiger began her attacks in a [[Rupal, Nepal|Rupal]] village in western [[Nepal]], [[Himalayas]].<ref>Peter Byrne, Shikari Sahib, Safari Press, 2007</ref> 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 organised a massive [[Patrol|beat]] and managed to force the tiger to abandon her territory and drive her across the border (river [[Sarda river|Sarda]]) into [[India]], where she continued her killing activities in the [[Kumaon District]]. The tiger would adjust her hunting strategy so as to best hunt and evade humans; traveling great distances between villages (as much as 32 kilometers in a day) in her new territory both to claim new victims and evade pursuers; her behavior becoming more like a Siberian tiger in her habits and creating a larger territory to encompass multiple villages in the Kumaon area, with Champawat being close to the center of her territory. Most of her victims consisted of young women and children, as they were the ones most at risk due to their routine of going into the forest to collect resources for feeding livestock, collecting firewood, and crafting.<ref>{{cite book|last=Huckelbridge|first=Dane|title=No Beast So Fierce|date=2019|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|location=New York, New York|isbn=9780062678843|pages=157–194}}</ref> All her kills happened during the daylight (as Corbett writes, he is not aware of a single case of a man-eating tiger killing a human during the night). 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://listverse.com/2010/10/16/top-10-worst-man-eaters-in-history/|title=Top 10 Worst Man Eaters In History|work=Listverse|date=16 October 2010|access-date=12 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506085705/http://listverse.com/2010/10/16/top-10-worst-man-eaters-in-history/|archive-date=6 May 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><br />
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In 1907, the tiger was killed by British hunter [[Jim Corbett]]. The tiger had killed a 16-year-old girl, Premka Devi, in the village of [[Fungar]],<ref> Premka Devi, the Last Victim of Champawat Man-Eater, by Preetum Gheerawo, from the book "Behind Jim Corbett's Stories" Logos, 2016</ref> near to the town of [[Champawat]], and left a trail of blood, which Corbett followed. After nearly getting ambushed by the tiger while investigating the remains of its victim and scaring her off with two shots from his rifle, Corbett had to abandon the hunt, deciding to use villagers and to organize a beat the next day in the Champa River gorge.<ref>{{cite book|last=Huckelbridge|first=Dane|title=No Beast So Fierce|date=2019|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|location=New York, New York|isbn=9780062678843|pages=208–209}}</ref> <br />
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With the help of the [[tehsildar]] of Champawat, the beat was organized with about 300 villagers, and the next day, about noon, Corbett shot the tigress dead. Corbett's first shots hit the tigress in the chest and shoulder, and his last shot, made with the tehsildar's rifle to keep it from charging him after he ran out of bullets, hit the cat in the foot, causing it to collapse {{convert|6|m|ft|abbr=on}} from him. <ref>{{cite book|last=Huckelbridge|first=Dane|title=No Beast So Fierce|date=2019|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|location=New York, New York|isbn=9780062678843|pages=222–225}}</ref> <br />
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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, a result of an old gunshot, according to Corbett, probably prevented her from hunting her natural prey, and hence, she started to hunt humans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/maneating5.html|title=Man-eaters. The tiger and lion, attacks on humans.|author=Loadstar|publisher=|access-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721045231/http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/maneating5.html|archive-date=21 July 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Further examinations made by Corbett during his hunt for the tiger indicated that the cat was in healthy condition physically (other than her teeth), and that she was between 10 and 12 years old.<ref>{{cite book|last=Huckelbridge|first=Dane|title=No Beast So Fierce|date=2019|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|location=New York, New York|isbn=9780062678843|page=154}}</ref><br />
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"After bringing down the Champawat Tiger, Jim Corbett acquired a reputation as the leading hunter of man-eaters. This ability served him well, at a time when deforestation and diminishing prey were driving more and more tigers and leopards to hunt humans for food."<ref>HUCKELBRIDGE, DANE. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1124895588 No Beast so Fierce]. the Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History. NEW YORK: WILLIAM MORROW, 2020. </ref><br />
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==Champawat town==<br />
In [[Champawat]], near the Chataar Bridge and on the way to [[Lohaghat]], there is a "cement board" marking the place where the tigress was finally brought down. The details about the Champawat Tigress and how she was brought down can be found in the book ''[[Maneaters of Kumaon]]'' (1944), written by Corbett himself.<br />
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==In popular culture==<br />
The video game ''[[Guild Wars 2]]'', features a tiger-themed legendary weapon and accompanying quest series named "[[Chuka man-eating tiger|Chuka]] and Champawat".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/april-19-2016/ |title=Spring 2016 Quarterly Update |publisher=GuildWars2.com |date=April 19, 2016 |access-date=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501130635/https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/april-19-2016/ |archive-date=1 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Bachelor of Powalgarh]]<br />
* [[Tiger attack]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* {{cite book<br />
| title = No Beast so Fierce<br />
| last = Hucklebridge<br />
| first = Dane<br />
| year = 2019<br />
| publisher = William Morrow<br />
| oclc = 1124895588<br />
}}<br />
* {{cite book<br />
| title = Tiger<br />
| last = Mills<br />
| first = Stephen<br />
| year = 2004<br />
| publisher = Firefly Books<br />
| isbn = 978-1-55297-949-5<br />
| oclc = 57209158<br />
}}<br />
* {{cite book<br />
| title = Man-Eaters of Kumaon<br />
| last = Corbett<br />
| first = Jim<br />
| year = 1944<br />
| publisher = Oxford University Press<br />
| location = Bombay<br />
| url = https://archive.org/details/maneatersofkumao029903mbp<br />
}}<br />
* {{cite book<br />
| title = The world's most dangerous animals<br />
| last = Mason<br />
| first = Paul<br />
| year = 2007<br />
| publisher = Raintree<br />
| location = Chicago<br />
| isbn = 978-1-4109-2485-8<br />
}}<br />
* {{cite book<br />
| title = Bones of the Tiger: Protecting the Man-Eaters of Nepal<br />
| last1 = Mishra<br />
| first1 = Hemanta<br />
| last2 = Ottaway, Jr<br />
| first2 = Jim<br />
| year = 2010<br />
| publisher = Globe Pequot<br />
| isbn = 978-1-59921-491-7<br />
}}<br />
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{{Man-eating tigers}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Individual tigers in India|Champawat Tiger]]<br />
[[Category:History of Uttarakhand|Champawat Tiger]]<br />
[[Category:Deaths due to tiger attacks|Champawat]]<br />
[[Category:Champawat]]<br />
[[Category:1907 animal deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Man-eaters of India]]<br />
[[Category:Individual wild animals]]<br />
[[Category:World record holders]]</div>>Citation bot