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- Indian authorities are searching for a tiger that has claimed its eighth victim in the space of two years.
- RT1 recognises any traps that are set up for him, only eats after dark and uses his instincts cleverly.
- A 70-year-old farmhand named Maroti Pendor was the latest victim of the vicious tiger.
- Tigers have killed 225 people between 2014 and 2019 across India, including 31 in Maharashtra in 2020 alone.
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Indian authorities are searching for a man-eating tiger that has claimed its eighth victim in the space of two years.
On October 5, a 70-year-old farmhand named Maroti Pendor went into the forest to gather firewood. When he didn’t come back, his family and other villagers from Khambada, Maharastra, went out looking for him.
They found his clothes barely 200 meters beyond the treeline, then his leg, his head, and part of his shredded torso as they got deeper into the forest but the rest of his body was gone, The Times reported.
He had become the latest person to be mauled to death by Rajuri Tiger One (RT1), an 8-year-old male who prowls the Tadoba National Park forests in the Chandrapur district, home to 175 tigers.
Also known as the Tiger of Rajura, he has killed eight people and injured three others since January 2019, most of whom were also farm workers who had gone looking for firewood, according to the Daily Mail.
It has brought the total of fatal tiger attacks in the district up to 27 as human settlements and industry encroach into the tigers' natural habitat and creating conflict, the Hindustan Times reported.
Hunters armed with tranquilizers have not yet been able to capture RT1 despite urgent calls from politicians, including a seven-day ultimatum from Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Subhash Dhote.
Village Head, Malesh Atram, said: "The forest department has four teams but only two shooters; the lack of shooters means it is taking too long to capture the tiger," The Times reported.
Nitin Kakodka, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) also renewed calls for the capture of the Tiger of Rajura for the fourth time since January this year.
However, Bandu Dhotre, a district wildlife warden and founder of the conservation group Eco-Pro said that officials ignored calls from locals to kill the tiger rather than trapping him, according to The Times.
He said: "This animal is so intelligent that he recognizes the trap set-up. He eats only after dark and uses his instincts cleverly. Villagers are panicked, traumatized by this tiger. The situation is like an unofficial lockdown.
"The tracking teams are really working very hard. On many days, they have to even go without a bath. An urgent meeting should be held to decide how to put an end to RT1's killing spree. It is proving to be very difficult to catch."
In 2018, a female tiger named Avni who killed at least 13 people was dramatically shot dead in a highly publicized case despite appeals against the order being lodged with the country's Supreme Court.
More recently, in June, a tiger responsible for the death of three people was captured and sent to a zoo in the state of Madhya Pradesh after officials said it was too dangerous for it to roam freely, according to the Jakarta Post.
Meanwhile, a leopard was shot dead this week after killing two children in Teri Gharwal, Uttarakhand, a northeasterly state which has seen over 10 people killed in leopard attacks over the last two months, the Hindustan Times reported.
India is home to 70% of the world's tigers and 50 tiger reserves established in 1973 by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to protect the endangered species.
The main problem now is the increasing conflict between humans and tigers.
Tigers killed 225 people between 2014 and 2019 across India, according to the country's tiger census, including 31 people killed in 2020 alone, the highest amount in a decade, the Hindustan Times reported.
The state government has since created an 11-member committee that will look into measures to reduce conflict between tigers and humans and submit their findings by December 31, 2020.