How to ward off tigers*

“You must keep an eye on the tail – before a big cat leaps it will brush its tail softly on the ground, that’s how it measures the distance to the prey. Then you just jump from wherever you are.”

Many years ago a forest warden took me through the basic moves on how to ward off a tiger attack. I was selected from general public applications invited for transparency in a tiger census survey conducted by the forest department in the Thekkady Wildlife Sanctuary. But the warden didn’t tell me for how long I was to keep well, jumping.

*“Look at it this way,” he said. “You’d have nothing to lose anyway.”

Sure, easier said. Then so are the other ‘tactical’ measures suggested by different resources on the internet on making it back alive after a teeth-a-teeth with the man-eater. You might still want to go through these, after last week’s tragedy in the Delhi Zoo where a lad, a case of cafard, was mauled to death by a tiger – the latest in a spate of similar accidents/incidents over the years.

1) If the tiger hasn’t spotted you, hide and be absolutely still. Stop breathing if possible. The big cat might just turn and walk away.

2) Now if you have been spotted – a high likelihood if you have wound your way into his cage or enclosure – do not turn and run! Instead, hold your ground and face the tiger.

3) Though it looked funny in the classic comedy ‘The gods must be crazy’ one way of scaring away a tiger is by appearing bigger than the big cat. Take a cue from the movie still here.

4) Make as much noise as you can: Scream, stomp, jump, shriek. It might also attract attention to your situation and bring help. A reason attributed to the attack in Delhi Zoo was the racket raised by the watching public. Now this would have further angered the animal who was anyway irritated by an infringement of his territory. The threat has to come from the prey.

5) If it’s a no-go and the tiger is aiming for a fight, give it all you got. Arm yourself with anything you can find – rocks, branches or your own boots if it’s a sturdy pair.

6) They say it has been done before: Wedge the tiger’s mouth open with whatever you have on you and yank out the tongue. It’s agonizing for the tiger but you will be saved. (Maybe you can come back later and tend to it? From a distance, of course.)

The Delhi Zoo incident (pix from Hindustan Times)

The tragedy saw many questions being bandied about over the safety-preparedness of zoos and related training imparted to the staff. Both were a yawn. Fact remains that zoos are ill-equipped to handle such emergencies and the security personnel can only blow their whistles louder. So what would be the really sensible thing to do to save that limb/life? Leave the animals alone! Remember that we are in their backyard – we are the ones who should behave.

‘You sneak into my house, you tease me and taunt my mates, pal you should be real lucky if you live to tell the tale.’ Somebody should have asked Vijay, the tiger, his take on the incident. Vijay was patrolling his territory, taking care of his house and his people. His behaviour was in no way abnormal for any animal, given the circumstances. The incident is truly unfortunate but it still doesn’t change the fact that the man was at fault. I really hope the zoo authorities will not cage Vijay nor shrink the size of his enclosure.

With no concrete answers forthcoming on the duration of my look-at-tail-and-leap routine, in Thekkady I used to request an armed tracker to accompany me everywhere I went.

Even to the bushes.

Wanderink recommends: Most of the derring-do is committed by drunks, like a couple of them who tried to garland a tiger many years ago after a festival; one was killed. If somebody is found to be drunk, he should be made to leave the zoo premises immediately, fined possibly. Likewise those who scale first perimeter wires or walls – this lot should ideally be arrested.