Word: raju
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Unfortunately, tens of thousands of people like Raju live within five miles / of the park and its riches. Residing in a relatively prosperous agricultural region, Raju is far better off than India's desperate poor. Even so, temptation led him to supplement his income by poaching other animals for years before he shot the tiger. Says C. Srinivasan, Nagarahole's deputy wildlife warden: "It's like trench warfare. We can never relax...
...elephant. Celebrated in prints and woodcuts, this blood sport looked manly but carried with it about as much risk as watching a professional football game from a skybox, since the cats wouldn't attack an elephant. Today the typical tiger killer is more like an Indian man named Raju: a diminutive, ragged farmer who does not even own a gun. Nonetheless, as a member of the Jenu Kuruba tribe, Raju knows how to hunt the big cats. In 1993 he downed a tiger in Nagarahole Park with a borrowed shotgun...
...owner, a local landlord named Mahadeswara, had hired Raju to poach deer and other game favored in local feasts. Gun owners often hire tribesmen as shooters because of their knowledge of the forest. One evening last spring, Raju, the landlord and two other poachers hid near a water hole. At dusk a tiger approached within a few yards. Raju claims he was reluctant to shoot it, but the landlord insisted. He promised, but never delivered, payment of 110 lbs. of millet -- worth...
Using a shotgun shell loaded with six slugs, Raju fired. So well hidden were the hunters, Raju says, that he had no fear of the tiger's turning on them if the shot missed. It did not; it hit the animal under its shoulder. Mortally wounded, the great cat tried to run but, after 20 yds., collapsed. The poachers skinned it on the spot...
...news of the tiger kill spread through nearby villages, informants quickly led police to Raju. Mahadeswara hid but was arrested two months later. While Indian justice guarantees neither swift nor sure punishment, tiger specialist Ullas Karanth believes the shame and inconvenience of interminable court proceedings deter villagers, who lack the resources of wildlife traders. Raju says he regrets what he did and hopes to assist with antipoaching patrols...