Give Science and Technology a chance- Lessons from the saga of the ‘Man-eater of Masinagudi’- MDT 23

MDT-23 at Mysuru Zoo rescue centre- Recuperating 

Prologue 

On the 29th July 2021, the International Tiger Day, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri.Narendra Modi declared thus: “… we reiterate our commitment to ensuring safe habitats for our tigers and nurturing tiger-friendly eco-systems”. Ironically, only ten days before that clarion call, on the 19th July a tiger pounced and killed a tea estate worker in the far flung Gudalur area of the Nilgiris. As a retired forest administrator, I have attempted to piece together all the subsequent developments connected with this tiger, code named as MTR-23. Here is the story.

Doesn’t it rhyme like the R.K.Narayan’s legendary “Man-eater of Malgudi”? Be it in reel life (recall Vidhya Balan fame Hindi film Sherni) or in real life, man-eating tigers of Indian jungles inspire awe and strike terror in every one’s mind. India occupies the pride of place by being home to 2,967 tigers in 2018, accounting for 70 per cent of world tigers’ in the wild (Tiger Census Report 2019). Despite being the charismatic, national animal, the big cats uniformly face the onslaught of human ingress into its known home range across the country. Faced with the challenge of managing the fragmented habitats of tigers in their territories in the midst of an ocean of human development, forest and wildlife administrators are in a catch-22 situation. As a former forest and wildlife administrator, I consider that human-wildlife conflict resolution has emerged as the most challenging management concern across the country in the new millennium. The saga of an alleged man-eater identified as ‘Mudumalai Division Tiger-23 (MDT-23) in Tamil Nadu, recently captured and interned at the Mysuru zoo’s rehabilitation centre reinforces the above dilemma. I attempt to recount the chronological events in this episode for better appreciation of the issues connected with the conservation of this majestic species. 

Why and when a tiger turns to hunting man or his domestic animals? 

Tiger is a powerful and efficient predator with an anatomy designed for hunting. In normal course, this opportunistic hunter indulges in preying on large mammals such as deer (chital, sambar, barasingha), water buffalo, bison, blue bull and the medium-sized species like wild boar, and rarely hog deer, muntjac deer and grey langur. Tiger, as characteristic of any wild animals, is wary of human presence and generally avoids people. Tiger attacking human is prompted by its defensive biological instinct, that is when a mother tries to defend its young ones or when a sleeping or feeding tiger is taken by surprise in a chance encounter with man. Tiger can also attack human in a case of "mistaken identity" (for example, if a human gets too close in a crouching posture while collecting firewood, or cutting grass). Its’ inability to hunt its natural prey due to advancing age, failing health, falling incisors (canine) or a debilitating injury too might force a tiger to resort to mauling or killing a human being. At the time of its capture on the 15th October 2021, Mudumalai Division Tiger 23 (MDT-23) of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in Tamil Nadu, a 13 year old male reportedly bore several injury marks and was suffering from (live) active wounds all over its body, which he would have sustained from a fight with some young tiger- probably a case of an aged animal getting evicted from its home territory. 

Can mere killing of a man by a tiger for one or more of the above reasons confer the animal with the title ‘man-eater’? Incidents relating to human deaths by a tiger reveal that a ‘man-hunting tiger’ doesn’t always turn into a ‘man-eater’. Most often, the human carcass is left behind with no attempt from the killer to devour the flesh or bones as a meal. Conservationists argue that a distinction should be made between ‘human kill’ due to chance encounters and ‘habituated man-eaters’, which is provided for in the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) rule book. An old or injured tiger going after tame cattle, which are easy prey, might attack a human, who got in the way. Such a tiger need not necessarily be a man-eater and the rules put the onus on the Forest Department to verify the available evidences closely. However, when feeding on the human body by the tiger is noticed, then it becomes a matter of grave concern. Such a tiger might kill human beings intermittently for a meal, since man fall an easy prey. In the case of MDT-23, the tiger for the first time consumed a portion of flesh from its last human victim on 01st October 2021 apparently after starving for two days. It is difficult to surmise the exact reasons why a tiger turns ‘a man-eater’. Fortunately, a tiger intentionally turning to human prey is extremely rare. National level scenario would confirm this. In a year, less than 85 people are killed or injured - accidentally or otherwise -by tigers. Many times more people die of snakebites or rabies. Yet, the tiger remains the most dreaded killing machine in public perception. Chance encounters or intentional hunting by MDT- 23 Ever since its notoriety came to be reported, four human deaths and killing of over a score of cattle were attributed to MDT- 23. 

 

Date	Name	Age	Condition of carcass
August 2020		Female, Estate worker
19 July 2021	Kunjikrishnan,V.	Male, 49, Tribal villager	Didn’t devour human flesh
24 September 2021	Chandran, V.	Male, 56, Estate worker	Didn’t devour human flesh
01 October 2021	Basavan, M.	Male, 82, Tribal villager	Consumed a portion of the third victim after starving for two days

 To begin with, the attack and killing of a woman estate worker in Devarshola tea field in Gudalur area in the month of August 2020 was assigned to this tiger. But it is apparent that this death had been coincidentally back-referenced to MDT-23 after the killing of a male estate worker was recorded on the 24th September 2021 almost at the same location as that of August 2020 incident. Strangely, this tiger turned a gentle-man animal by going into lull and calm and not harming any human for almost a year since August 2020. On the 19th July 2021, MDT-23 pounced on its second human victim, this time a male in the Muduguli settlement in the core area of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. How this long gap of 11 months between two human killings by an alleged human-killer can be explained scientifically? Either the August 2020 incident was a freak encounter with MDT- 23, resulting in the death of the woman worker or it was some other wild animal that was responsible for the death. Meanwhile, sporadic preying on village cattle by the tiger was reported from the region. Including the July 2021 incident, this animal has been credited with the killing of three people and at least 10 cattle within a gap of three months between mid-July and mid-October 2021. MDT-23 occupied landscape.

Except for the death of a tribal villager from a settlement located within the core area of MTR, MDT-23 stalked the other human victims within human-dominated landscape or along the fringe of the notified forests. All four persons that the tiger is believed to have killed were herders grazing livestock. Two things emerge from this sequence of events. Firstly, tigers occupying high density tiger habitats such as Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (which supports a population of 103 animals in over 689 sq.km, averaging 15 tigers per 100 sq.km) against the national average of 3.8 tigers per 100 sq.km) are spilling to tiger reserve-abutting non-forest areas with intense human presence-possibly to tide over carrying capacity constraints. Densely packed tiger forests often lead to young and old tigers straying outside. Such wandering tigers are more likely to come into conflict with people. This concept is reinforced by the fact that at national level tigers colonized 25,706 sq.km new areas as per the 2018 census results. (Tiger Census Report 2019) Secondly, this issue takes us to the question as to whether human or tiger has precedence over the lands outside forests in a forested landscape. The case in point is that incidents of human attack by wild animal occurs mostly in the non-forest areas within the landscape, interspersed with forest fragments, where wildlife in the recent times have been pushed to the corner in their own turf. This situation is often compounded by intense human activities dominating a predominant wilderness area, heavily intersected by markers of human progress, such as plantation estates, agriculture fields, domestic animal rearing, crisscrossing roads, housing, and other developmental infrastructure. 

Gudalur region in the Nilgiris is one such landscape. Situated at the junction of three tiger-centric protected areas, namely Karnataka’s Bandipur Tiger reserve, Kerala’s Wayanad- Silent Valley sanctuary, and Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger reserve, Gudalur valley is an important tiger corridor. Maintenance of integrity of this corridor is crucial for the wellbeing of these endangered big cats in their home range. Unfortunately, this area is beset with the prevalence of huge non-forestry enterprises. Nearly half of the 80,000 acres of the original rainforests, called the Janmam lands were developed into tea, coffee and cardamom estates over a century ago, leaving broken parcels of natural jungles in the midst of plantation crops. Despite the enactment of the 1969 Gudalur Janmam Abolition Act, Government takeover of the land has been stalled by legal battle, launched by the estate owners and the encroachers. Proper forest and wildlife conservation and management efforts are hemmed by this peculiar position. 

Is the department in pursuit of the correct animal? Science and technology comes to aid. 

Instances allegedly involving repeated human killings by a tiger usually generate a demand from the affected locals that the particular problematic animal is eliminated or at least captured and taken away from the locality. Typical human psyche ‘Not in My Backyard Syndrome' (NIMBY) surfaces immediately. People backed by political and social outfits’ clamour for the blood of the suspected animal. Important question arises as to whether the forest department is pursuing the correct animal. As the human killing is rarely sighted live by any witness, the department will have to rely on tell-tale evidences left by the killer or track the same- post the killing event. Science-based enquiry and technological tools offer solution to this need. Every effort must be made to ensure that the correct tiger is identified and track its movements, using camera traps and pug impressions. The NTCA guidelines suggest in addition, the use of DNA profiling, employing hair and skin left behind at the kill site to ensure without a doubt that the tiger is indeed the killer. Trackers in pursuit of a suspected animal lift pug marks from the scene of occurrence and its vicinity. Pug impressions- a standard and practical method capable of near mathematical accuracy- help to identify individuals. Features in a pugmark, e.g the shape and relative size of the right, left or bottom lobe of the pad, the top edge of the pad, the relative sizes and placing of the toes with respect to the pad and several other features vary from tiger to tiger. An individual can be identified from a study of a combination of these features unique to itself through frequent tracings of pugmarks in the field. In the new millennium, deployment of camera trap has emerged as a more reliable tool in tiger census, providing conclusive proof in identification of an individual tiger - because each tiger sports a pattern of stripes and facial markings unique to itself. It will be useful to know that about 83 per cent of the estimated tigers in the wild during 2018 assessment had been photographed (Tiger Census Report 2019). Therefore, such a scientific assessment provides the department with robust and fail-safe methods to track the correct animal and obviously, the trackers couldn’t go wrong. In the instant case too, movement of MDT-23 during the three week period of pursuit from 25th September 2021 was tracked by a combination of pug-mark traces and camera trap recordings. Drones were also engaged to locate MDT-23 in relatively open patches of buffer zone of MTR around Masinagudi. 

What influenced the Forest Department’s decision in the case of MDT-23? 

From the images caught in the cameras, age of MDT-23 was estimated to be around 13 years. Bengal tiger has an average lifespan of 8 to 10 years in the wild, with the maximum longevity of 15 years. Very few tigers reach that age in the wild because they eventually lose much of their physical agility and sometimes fangs become too weak to hunt large animals. Under the circumstances, ecological principle of natural selection like ‘survival of the fittest’ comes to play. Wildlife experts opine that since such weak animals would not last too long in the wild anyway, it makes no difference to conservation, if they are killed or sent to zoos. Naturally, MDT-23 became more dependent on domesticated animals at his advanced age. Even as pressure from local people mounted on the department to do something with the problematic tiger following the killing of a tea estate worker on the 24th September 2021 and taking cognizance of the fact that the tiger was resorting to continuous preying of livestock since July 2021, the Chief Wildlife Warden of Tamil Nadu issued an order to capture the tiger identified as MDT-23 under Section 11 (1) (a) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. 

A verbatim reproduction of the legal provision is both relevant and useful to understand the issues involved: 

Section 11: Hunting of wild animals to be permitted in certain cases (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force and subject to the provisions of Chapter IV, (a) the Chief Wild Life Warden may, if he is satisfied that any wild animal specified in Schedule I has become dangerous to human life or is so disabled or diseased as to be beyond recovery, by order in writing and stating the reasons therefore, permit any person to hunt such animal or cause such animal to be hunted. Provided that no wild animal shall be ordered to be killed unless the Chief Wild Life Warden is satisfied that such animal cannot be captured, tranquilised or translocated. Provided further that no such captured animal shall be kept in captivity unless the Chief Wild Life Warden is satisfied that such animal cannot be rehabilitated in the wild and the reasons for the same are recorded in writing. 

As per the orders, special teams were formed for capture of the tiger and five cages were set up in various locations on 25th September. Field staffs numbering over 75 were monitoring the movement of the tiger by using camera trap images. An expert wildlife rescue and management team from Wayanad forest division of the Kerala Forest department was roped in. As tiger is a nocturnal animal, hiding and sleeping during the day, sighting the same becomes more difficult. Though the team came close to it in the Gudalur area, it did not succeed in capturing it. The presence of thick tea bushes and other vegetation, inclement weather, challenging terrain and disturbances by local public rendered the capture operation very difficult. Meanwhile, MDT-23 played hide and seek, continued to remain elusive and indulged in preying on livestock in the Devan estate area of Gudalur division. In between the animal was noticed briefly in the Mayfield estate on the 29th September. A week into the operation, camera traps spotted the movement of MDT-23 into Singara buffer zone area of MTR around Masinagudi, almost about 32 km from Devan estate. With reference to the inputs on sighting and camera traps, I tried to trace the approximate track of the tiger during the crucial period of September-October 2021 on Google Earth. The computed data reveals that MDT-23 moved in an area of about 240 sq.km with the track perimeter of about 80 km (Map attached). Given the usual territorial range of 100 sq.km for an adult male tiger and availability of relatively high prey base in MTR, MDT-23’s movement signaled a wandering pattern typical of any invalid tiger. 

Approximate track of MDT-23

MDT-23 condemned to death 

Even while the department’s all-out effort for a week to capture MDT-23 alive proved futile, the tiger claimed his next human victim in the periphery of Kurumbarpadi hamlet in the buffer zone area of MTR on the 1st October 2021. Unusually this time, certain part of the flesh from the carcass was found eaten by the killer. Agitated over the killing, people in and around Masinagudi took to the road, obstructed the removal of the corpse from the scene of occurrence for postmortem. They blocked the traffic for more than three hours. The Field Director of MTR and officials from district administration had to intervene with the promise of prompt action to eliminate the killer tiger to restore normalcy. Evidence of MDT-23 tasting the human flesh for the first time came to the fore. It was felt that prompt action on the affected peoples’ demand alone will send the right message and assuage their feeling. To quote from statements of some well known tiger researchers will be contextual. "Once confirmed, a 'man-eater' has to be dealt with promptly. Any delay is risky and this angers local people. This may undermine public support for conservation of tigers as a species," argues tiger biologist Dr Ullas Karanth. Conservationist Valmik Thapar insists that "If it is established that a confirmed man-eater is too dangerous to be rehabilitated in the wild, it should be put down rather than made to serve a life term in a zoo". Echoing the same sentiment, Dr. George Schaller, the acclaimed field biologist affirms "Any confirmed 'man-eater' should be eliminated, though not a tiger that accidentally kills someone in self-defence. Zoos already have far too many tigers". 

Under the changed circumstances, the department had to take a U-turn in the matter. The Chief Wildlife Warden after briefing the NTCA about the ground situation and as to how the tiger has become a threat to human safety issued an order on the 1st October 2021 authorizing the Field Director, MTR to hunt down the tiger identified as MDT-23 under the provisions of Section 11 (1) (a) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. For this purpose the forest department personnel have to be engaged with strict adherence to the provisions of the section and the guidelines of the NTCA. India's strong animal welfare lobby jumped guns and wildlife activists raised their concern over the orders to hunt MDT-23 and insisted on capturing the animal alive at any cost. Human-wildlife conflict management, thus, is amounting to handling a double-edged weapon- with the managers forced to balance between the whims of wildlife enthusiasts and the crying calls from the affected public. 

Madras High Court to the rescue of MDT-23 

Meanwhile, Public Interest petitions were moved in the Madras High Court by a People for Cattle in India and a Delhi-based animal welfare activist Sangeeta Dogra against the hunting order issued by the Forest department and on the ground that due procedures were not followed while issuing the hunting order. After hearing the parties and noting the averment made by the Forest department counsel that their intention is not to kill the tiger and all the efforts are being made to capture the tiger alive, the Hon’ble High Court’s Chief Justice Bench directed the Tamil Nadu forest department "not to go for the kill directly as the tiger might not be a man-eater and the forest department should ensure that the least number of people intrude into the forest to capture the tiger, as it will disturb the natural habitat and the department is let free to deal with the relevant Tiger T-23 for its treatment and for ascertaining its conduct and behaviour”. In tune with the position stated in the High Court, Chief Wildlife Warden declared that the teams involved in the operation have been instructed to capture MDT-23 alive. The crux of the matter here is that an order issued by the competent authority under the provisions of a legal enactment after careful examination of the position on ground came under judicial review that led to the same authority taking a diametrically opposite view, though better for the tiger in question. And, this gave the Forest department an opportunity to try and attempt capture of MDT-23 with the fond hope of extending the life of the tiger. 

The vigil on ground was augmented by deploying teams to different areas for collecting and analysing data including pugmarks, the scent of urine, animal's alarm calls like that of langur, deer, nearby cattle. Monitoring was intensified since 1st October with the use of camera traps, drones and sniffer dogs from Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, and Karnataka Forest department. Kumki elephants were used to navigate difficult terrain and carry the forest personnel with the tranquilizer guns. Based on inputs from tracking teams, the department erected machan (a platform erected in a tree) in four strategic locations, with three experts in each. Each team was also equipped with darter for tranquillization. Rapid Response Team (STF) too was kept in readiness with armours. Initially, at least 120-150 forest, STF and RRT personnel were involved for combing the areas. The strategy was to encircle the location and move the teams into the area, once alert on the movement is received. All operations were simultaneously photographed and video-recorded.

Camera trap image of MDT-23

What are the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in case of operations involving an alleged man-eater? 

For operating the legal provisions of permitting hunting of wild animals in certain cases, detailed guidelines were brought about by the NTCA during 2013. Among other things, the guidelines elaborate the procedure to be followed before declaring a tiger as a man-eater. A committee first needs to be formed as soon as there are reports of a man-eater in the area. This committee should include a nominee of the Chief Wildlife Warden, a nominee of the NTCA, a veterinarian, a local NGO representative and other Panchayat representatives. Every effort must be made to ensure that the correct tiger is identified and it is indeed the man-eater without a doubt. Once it is confirmed, efforts must be made to immobilize the identified tiger and use trap cages to hold it alive. Operations connected with the capture are to be undertaken from dawn to dusk (6.30 am to 6 pm). The captured animal must then be sent to a zoo nearby and not released again into the wild. Elimination of the protected animal should be the last option, according to the NTCA rules. 

Is the Tamil Nadu Forest Department equipped for the requirements? 

Quoting activists, some online postings in the past alleged that the Forest Department in Tamil Nadu is being forced to kill tigers at will in Nilgiris with little equipment, lots of politics, and zero science. This indictment was borne out of the reason that three alleged man-eating tigers were shot dead in three consecutive years since 2014 in Niigiris district- first in Kundachappai village around Dodabetta in the Nilgiri plateau in January 2014 and other two in Gudalur area in April 2015 and February 2016, respectively. Though the intention of the department on each occasion was to trap the animal alive, men of Special Task Force gunned down the animal every time with the hail of bullets, apparently in self defense. 

Episodes of captures involving various ‘confirmed man eating tigers’ completely differ from each other due to reasons of the particular animal’s health status, location specific issues etc. No two incidents are similar and therefore, the sequence of events connected with the attempts in capture need not follow a pre-determined pattern, as evidenced by the flow of incidents with MDT-23. 

Reportedly T23 was elusive for nearly two weeks after the human kill on the 1st October, evading direct sighting by scores of men from the tracking team or dozens of camera traps set in all its known tracts of movement in the past fortnight. Pug marks noticed at the site of a feral buffalo kill in the Mandradiar avenue in between Singara and Masinagudi in the first week of October matched that of MDT-23. To corroborate the find, samples of the buffalo’s carcass and strand of tiger’s hair were sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad for lab tests.

In between, the big cat's presence was detected once in the Singara area of MTR buffer zone. Studies tell us that an adult tiger in the wild can survive without food for about two weeks before starvation could take a toll of the animal. So, what was this guy doing all the two weeks since the fourth human kill on the 1st October 2021 for his survival? At the time of capture on the 15th October, MDT-23 was in an obvious prime state and fine and roaring after recovery from sedation, as vouched by the forest officials after inspection of the animal. This suggested that the feral buffalo and cattle kills made by the big cat in the intervening period probably sustained it. 

On October 12, the tiger was recorded in a camera placed near Ombetta lake in Mudumalai Reserve. When the forest department personnel fired a dart at MDT-23, it gave a slip and disappeared into a bush. By this time, strength of operation teams was brought down to 30 personnel. From camera footage, it was found moving in the areas around Moyar, Theppakkadu and Mudumalai. The animal was later sighted on the 14th evening near the Masinagudi-Theppakadu road and when officials tried to tranquilize, it managed to escape into the forest. MDT-23 was again spotted on 15th October afternoon at Kootuparai view point near the Masinagudi forest check post, located on the Gudalur- Kallati- Ooty road. Traffic was temporarily suspended around the Gudalur-Masinagudi area. The forest officials tranquilized MDT-23 with three darts at this point around 2.00 PM and finally captured the animal. The tranquilized tiger was taken to Theppakadu Elephant camp of the reserve for treatment. For the people of the region, it was a great relief and for the team engaged in the mission, it was a day for celebration. The redeeming feature in the whole sequence of events is that the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and the Chief Wildlife Warden as head of the Tamil Nadu Wildlife Wing stood solidly behind the team and guided the members all through the operations. 

MDT-23 after tranquilization

At the camp, veterinarians checked the vitals of the tiger and MDT-23 was administered with intravenous glucose at the camp. With due permission from the NTCA and conforming to the protocols, MDT-23 was shifted to the rehabilitation centre of Mysuru zoo in Karnataka. The reason is that the centre has one of the finest facilities for handling injured/disabled wild animals. Furthermore, Mysuru, located within easy access from Mudumalai makes transfer of the captured animal less traumatic. As the tiger had several injury marks and live wounds and a falling hemoglobin level, Tamil Nadu Forest department officials discussed the course of treatment with the veterinarians and rescue officials at Mysuru zoo. By the 16th morning, treatment was started and the animal fed with beef. Under the nursing care of the zoo staff, MDT-23 is fast recovering and is regaining his health. Meanwhile, discussions are on between the forest departments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in consultation with the NTCA, as to whether MDT-23 could find his new home at the Vandalur Zoological Park or at Mysuru itself. The silver lining is that MDT-23 has been given a new lease of life-albeit far away from his original jungle home. 

Principal Secretary (Forests) and Chief Wildlife Warden cheering the team

Lessons learned 

The story of MDT-23 gifted the society with many lessons 

• Each human life is precious. In forest dwelling and fringe communities, people must become more aware of the lurking dangers from forest animals and respond by respecting the right of passage for the wild denizens. After all, forest is their home and men are only recent entrants. 

• Rationalistic thinking in decision making must be allowed to override sentimental push in such critical endeavours, as in a welfare State, the Forest department as guardian of country’s natural resources has to take a balanced view in matters relating to human-wildlife conflict. 

• Scientific and technological tools have to form the bed-rock for conflict resolution than resorting to ad-hoc, quick-fix solutions. 

 • Tamil Nadu Forest department has capabilities, skills and required infrastructure to effectively handle such crisis situations. 

 • Under dynamic leadership, the entire team gets highly motivated and committed to the tasks assigned to the members and strives to reach the goal—rain or shine. 

Epilogue 

When I started drafting the story of MDT-23, I thought the script may run to 5-6 pages. But the very many twists and turns that unfolded in quick succession with each passing day and my intention to not miss out any essential link in the chain of events made the text to a fairly lengthy one than I intended. This posting, I am sure, will give some exposure to the intricacies of wildlife conservation and kindle your concern for the wild cries from the dumb denizens. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our Nation once said ‘The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated’. In current context, we may need to extend this empathy to the country’s wildlife fellow beings.