Man-eaters of Kumaon

Description

The presence of a man-eating tiger in the impoverished rural community of Nainital spread fear and panic among the terrified locals. This tigress had already devoured over 460 victims by the time Jim Corbett was approached to track and kill her in 1907. These ten thrilling and moving tales are Corbett's first-hand accounts as he expertly tracks and kills many tigers and two leopards which had become man-eaters, driven to this by injury or extreme old age. No one understood the signs of the jungle better than Corbett. A skilled tracker, Corbett preferred to hunt alone and on foot, sometimes accompanied by his small dog Robin. He derived intense happiness from his observations of wildlife and was an important conservationist as well as a tracker and ace shot. He empathised with the impoverished people amongst whom he lived, in what is today Uttrakhand, and he established India's first tiger sanctuary there. Corbett's writing is as immediate and accessible today as it was when first published in 1944. AUTHOR: Jim Corbett was born in 1875 in the Himalayas to Irish parents, one of 16 children. His father was the postmaster there. Roaming daily from his home, Jim was fascinated as a young boy by the surrounding jungle and its flora and fauna. He refused bounties and lived simply. He retired with his sister to Kenya where he died aged 79.

Jim Corbett (1875-1955) was born in Naini Tal, northern India, the eighth child of Christopher and Mary Corbett. His father was postmaster there. Jim as a youth spent all his spare time in the surrounding jungle, mesmerised by its rich flora and fauna. Few local people owned guns and were helpless in the face of the occasional man-eating tigers which marauded at intervals across miles of mountainous jungle in what is today Uttarakhand, killing hundreds of poor land-workers. Jim devoted three decades to stalking and despatching these tigers on their behalf. He later established India's first tiger sanctuary at Naini Tal. On retirement he moved with his sister Maggie to Kenya where he died at the age of 79.