A MAN-EATING PANTHER 



panther takes to man-killing, he becomes a far more terrible 

 scourge than even the more famous man-eating tiger. 



One of the worst examples of a man-eating panther I 

 have come across was on one occasion when I was en- 

 camped at Wagra, a small Bhil hamlet consisting of a few 

 huts, in the Bharwana State. A large panther had carried 

 off a child, in broad daylight, who was playing with other 

 children within a stone's throw of the village. The same 

 animal had also, it appeared, killed and eaten a woman, 

 collecting fire-wood, a short time before, but her body 

 was never found. 



It was late in the afternoon when I heard of the animal's 

 latest victim, and going at once to the spot, I took up the 

 tracks along a deep nullah which skirted the village, and 

 presently came upon the body of the child. There were 

 the usual fang-marks on the throat, and a portion of the 

 chest and abdomen had been eaten. 



After much persuasion the relatives of the dead child 

 yielded to my request to leave the corpse where it lay in 

 order that I might sit up near it, in the hope that the 

 panther might return, when by shooting it I could, as I 

 pointed out to them, rid the village of the pest. 



There was no suitable tree on which I could build a 

 machan, so I concealed myself behind a bush, adding a few 

 branches as a further protection, but so arranged that I 

 could look through them. 



I decided to sit alone as my Havildar-cum-Shikari, 

 though very keen to watch with me, had unfortunately a 

 bad cough at the time, and I was afraid lest an untimely 

 paroxysm occurring, he should scare the beast away. 



In my previous remarks on man-eaters I have pointed 

 out that the rapidity and uncertainty of their movements 

 make it most difficult to locate them, and that they are very 

 wary and cautious in approaching a kill. I therefore took 

 every precaution to prevent myself being seen or heard ; 

 and in addition to my Rigby rifle had also a D.B. 10-bore 

 loaded with slugs. 



It was a bright moonlight night, and the intense still- 

 ness of the jungle, plus the ghastly object over which I was 

 watching, had a none too pleasing effect on my nerves, 

 and as the night drew on I felt distinctly " creepy." 



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