NEW DELHI (thesun): Tigers are among some of the world’s most vicious predators – and often human are unlucky enough to find themselves at the end of their claws.
Estimates say that between 50 and 250 people are killed by tigers every year – and the have been known to rip off faces and limbs in truly savage attacks as man clashes with nature.
ENTIRE VILLAGE DEVOURED
At least 22 villagers were killed and eaten in a string of tiger attacks over a 12 month period in 2018.
Residents in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of northern India’s Uttar Pradesh were targeted by around a dozen tigers in the region’s sugar cane fields.
Distressing images at the time showed mangled and half-eaten bodies lying in the undergrowth.
One picture appeared to show a headless corpse while another revealed a man’s leg had been gnawed to the bone.
A tiger reserve was started in June 2014 near the city of Pilibhit but local villagers claimed their lives had been drastically altered ever since.
In places the buffer between the reserve and nearby farms is just 30ft and most villagers are too poor to pay for protective fencing to be put up.
A man had his face torn apart when a tiger attacked him while he slept on a boat docked in a forest canal in Bangladesh in August 2016.
Hashmot Ali was left horribly disfigured after the beast dragged its claws across his face, tearing it apart with a single stroke.
As the man screamed in pain, the tiger tried to pull him from the boat waking his colleagues.
The men managed to scare the tiger off by making a lot of noise with their paddles.
It took them six hours to row to the mainland where Hashmot was taken to hospital.
Doctors though said it was too late to give the 20-year-old proper treatment and simply covered his wounds with plasters.
BOY’S ARM RIPPED OFF
An 11-year-old boy had his right arm ripped off by a tiger after his dad let him get into a restricted area of a Brazilian zoo.
Vrajamany Fernandes da Rocha’s father was arrested after he ignored the warning signs and warnings from other visitors at Cascavel Zoo in Parana in July 2014.
Reports said the boy had stroked the beast through the bars and fed it some meat before it attacked.
The tiger, called Hu, then pounced and mauled the boy’s arm, shredding it to the bone as zookeepers and other visitors ran to his aid.
The youth screamed “I’m going to die, I do not feel my arm” as he was helped by paramedics.
The boy was rushed to hospital where surgeons amputated part of his arm.
Vrajamany has now developed a passion for swimming and hopes to represent Brazil as a Paralympian in the future.
THREE TIGER ATTACK
A tourist was mauled to death by three tigers while his wife and child watched in horror at a Chinese zoo in January 2017.
The visitor to Ningbo Younger Zoo is said to have climbed into the enclosure while the animals were being fed.
Distressing footage showed the tigers leaping on the man, leaving him writhing around on the ground in agony as they passed him between their massive paws.
Zoo keepers used firecrackers and water canons to frighten the animals away, but they were unsuccessful.
The animals then bit into his head and neck and ripped off his clothes, leaving him face down on the ground in just his pants, reports said at the time.
One tiger was then seen dragging the man’s blood-soaked body by his foot.
One witness told the South China Morning Post : “I saw the tiger mauling the person, whose face was covered with blood. Every time he sat up, the tiger pushed him down again.”
BLOODY BATTLE
A man lost an arm and leg as he fought a bloody battle a tiger for half an hour before he managed to kill it.
The beast is thought to have a poultry farm in Barapur Village near Corbett, India, in November 2015 and killed about 30 chickens and other animals before it was spotted.
A farmer worker was going about feeding the animals when the tiger charged at him.
The man, only known by his surname Singh, managed to grab his spear and tried to fight off the ferocious animal.
In the 30 minute battle the man was badly wounded and lost one of his arms and legs but despite his severe injuries he carried on, eventually killing the tiger.
GRABBED BY THE NECK
A female zookeeper was grabbed by the neck and killed in front of terrified visitors in July 2020.
Staff at Zurich zoo rushed to help the 55-year-old woman but were unable to save her.
Horrified sightseers raised the alarm after female tiger Irina attacked the zookeeper inside the big cat enclosure.
Blick TV in Switzerland quoted one horrified eyewitness who said that it took about eight to nine minutes for help from the zoo staff to arrive.
“The tiger had grabbed the woman by the neck,” he said.
The zoo said in a statement the woman’s death was “extremely tragic and Zurich Zoo is deeply affected.
“Nevertheless, the zoo notes that the tiger is a wild animal.
“A person in their facility is an intruder into their territory. In her reaction, she only followed her natural instincts.”
The zoo confirmed the animal would not be euthanised.
A zookeeper had his neck snapped by a Siberian tiger after it scaled a 12ft electric fence at a predator park in South Africa.
David Solomon, 52, died after he was bitten several times and had his neck snapped by a rogue tiger at the Seaview Predator Park in Port Elizabeth in June 2021.
Jasper, an aggressive male Siberian tiger, scaled the electric fence while the power was down to get at Solomon, who was on the other side.
Noticing the giant 675lb predator coming after him, Solomon desperately tried to climb another fence but was dragged down.
After mauling his former carer, Jasper then jump another fence to get to a rival male called Judah and killed him in a bloody big-cat fight.
A former employee said Solomon had worked with tigers for 15 years and had known Jasper since he was a cub.
“Just last March David was part of a team who moved Jasper and his sibling Jade into their new enclosure to meet the public for the first time after they were tranquilised for the move,” she said.
“Jasper was a very big tiger and you had to be careful around him and I heard he had attacked a human before but David had cared for him since he was a cub and loved him.”
