Lazy Ike said:
Curiously, all these "maneaters" all seem to achieve even number totals 200, 400, 2000 kills. In the context of the day, when actual census #'s for actual population figures did not exist, it's curious that such exact #'s for actual humans killed are so readily available. Could it be that the source of these numbers perhaps engaged in artist license?
Having just read 3 of his books I can tell you that, the numbers are quite accurate. In fact if anything the tallies are under what the totals fatality counts should have been. The government of the time under enormous pressure to rid the areas affected by maneaters would offer rewards to people who reported cases of maneater attacks. Therefore the movement of the animal in question could be narrowed down from the large territory that it inhabited to where it had just recently been so that men that were willing enough to undertake the task of hunting them could investigate and increase their chances of killing it.
"The first human kill credited to the man-eating leopard of Rudraprayag is recorded as having taken place at Bainji village on 9 June 1918, and the last kill for which the man-eater was responsible took place at Bhainswara village on 14 April 1926. Between these two dates the number of human kills recorded by Government was 125... I do know that the figure given is not correct, for some kills which took place while I was on the ground have not been shown in the records... The procedure laid down by Government in all case of human beings being alleged to have been killed by man-eaters is for the relatives or friends of the deceased to lodge a report with the village patwari as soon after the occurrence as possible. On receipt of the report the patwari proceeds to the spot, and if the body of the victim has not been found before his arrival he organizes a search party, and with their aid endeavors to find the victim... the patwari holds an inquiry on the spot, and when satisfied that it is a genuine kill by man-eater, and not a case of murder... The kill is duly recorded in his register against the man-eater and a full report of the occurrence submitted to the Deputy Commissioner - who also keeps a register in which all the man-eater's kills are recorded. In the event, however, of the body, or any portion of it, not being found - as sometimes happens, for man-eaters have an annoying habit of carrying their victims for long distances - the case is held over for further inquiry, and the man-eater is not credited with the kill. Again when people are mauled by a man-eater and subsequently die from their injuries, the man-eater concerned is not credited with their deaths. It will thus be seen that though the system adopted for recording kills of man-eaters is as good as it can be, it is possible for one of these abnormal animals to be responsible for more human kills than he is finally credited with, especially when his operations extend over a long period of years."
"During the winter Ibbotson had organized a very efficient intelligence service throughout the area in which the man-eater was operating. If in this area if a dog, goat, cow or human being was killed, or an attempt made to force open a door, news of the occurrence was conveyed to us by the service, and in this way we were able to keep in constant touch with the man-eater. Hundreds of false rumours of alleged attacks by man-eater were brought to us, entailing endless miles of walking, but this was only to be expected, for in an area in which an established man-eater is operating everyone suspects their own shadows, and every sound at night is attributed to the man-eater."
"The intelligence system introduced by Ibbotson was working splendidly. Under this system of cash rewards, on a graduated scale, were paid for information about all kills in the area in which the man-eater was operating. These rewards, starting with two rupees for a goat and working up to twenty rupees for a human being, were keenly contested for, and so ensured our receiving information about all kills in the shortest time possible."
- what rifle are you bringing to this big showdown?
