Hunting for a tiger kill 2 – Gory pictures

The tiger kill is still intact ( or it was when I checked it day before ). Because of the weekend rush, Haven’t had time to check out the place again. The body has started to rot, so looks like it will mostly remain that way. Finally had time to upload few of the pics.




This was our first breakthrough in the find. Few drops of blood (relatively fresh) on a rock in a small clearing.
All around this place were also lot of bent and broken bushes. Normally we would have ignored it as just a path
left by an elephant, however in this case with the we knew this was where the tiger pounced on the
sambar and the eventually the tiger dragged the kill to some other place.


After almost another hour of searching, we suddenly came across this in a small passage in middle of thorny bushes.
I framed this with my feet in the shot, so you can get an idea of the size of the animal. We were amazed to see the back of the animal
neatly cut open by the tiger. I guess the tiger was not too hungry and just went for a easy kill. It just nibbled on
some flesh and went off. Rest of the body was totally intact expect for a broken bone in its front foot.


I guess it was a painful death for this animal. His eyes were still open and I am ready to bet that the tiger
started to feast on the animal while it was still alive. I didn’t feel too good looking at this guy in the eye.
We left after spending some 5 min with the animal. Was a tough walk back.


We got back the next day to see if the tiger had come to eat the carcass or if some other animal had touched it.
The body was totally intact. Expect that now it had started to rot and the smell was just unbearable. I almost
pucked but somehow managed to go near the carcass. The person in the picture is one of the local sholiga tribe named
Narayana and he could not take the smell either.


Notice the head carefully in this one and the third picture above. You will notice that the eye has turned white and now
it’s almost about to pop-out.


Close up of the face.

26 Comments

  1. coreid · January 23, 2005 Reply

    pretty cool pictures if one can say so 🙂 is it quite humid and hot there for the body to start decomposing quickly?

  2. admin · January 23, 2005 Reply

    Yep. The temperature crosses 30 degrees C during the day. I’m pretty sure the animal will fully rot in 2 -3 weeks.

  3. tariquesani · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Also are there no scavengers around – Dogs, vultures wont they come and eat the kill….

    Can you legally keep the skull/antlers?

  4. yathin · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Yep, I’m surprised it’s untouched as well. Dogs and Bears have a keen sense of smell, wonder what’s keeping them away.

    I think the carcass is probably not visible to the vultures, since it’s in the thick undergrowth.

  5. admin · January 24, 2005 Reply

    I expected wild dogs to come. but they didn’t and am pretty sure they will not now. Not too many vultures in this area and no other well known scavengers either. Also this one is right in middle of thich vagetation, so no animals will really come in.

    Though the antlers fall off everyday year, they are still protected under the wildlife protection act and hence its illegal to posses them. Even if you find them on the road, it’s illegal to pick them up and the law actually makes sense.
    If people start to collect them, the demand goes up and with demand, people will start to kill animals to sell them.

    Infact its even illegal to posses the feathers of a peacock 🙂

  6. admin · January 24, 2005 Reply

    I’m yet to see a vulture here 🙁

  7. tariquesani · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Yeah I know about the law and about the peacock feathers as well – was just wondering if forest officials have any exceptions for the fact that antlers/featers should not be lying around… but I guess you are right – no exceptions make more sense here

  8. admin · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Yep. However the local tribes still sell them for 50 rupees a pair to make quick buck 🙂

  9. deepsan · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Those eyes

    Those eyes(in the third photo) have something about them that can’t be put in words.

  10. tariquesani · January 24, 2005 Reply

    hmmm…. I guess you can’t really blame them either, considering the conditions they live in

  11. dhempe · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Excellent pictures and story Kallu. Good work !

  12. shitiz · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Amazing !!!!!!!!! good work pal… by the way .. isn’t that true that the tigers guard their kill… or were they the leapords.. cheetas … Ugh… i’m not sure but i remember watching something like that on Discovery…

    tel me wat is that i have to do … so that i cud get my hands into something like this…

    i wud surely enjoy…. i hope 😉

  13. bluesmoon · January 24, 2005 Reply

    I think tigers kill their prey by suffocation.

  14. shradha · January 24, 2005 Reply

    feel sorry for the animal. but guess that’s just how life works in the jungle…*sigh*

  15. kalyancreddy · January 24, 2005 Reply

    I feel sorry for the animal, esp after looking at its eyes in the pics, but, thats life I believe.

  16. ravi · January 24, 2005 Reply

    The ones I knew used to preach “GNU/Linux, not Linux” and godamn, was it effective, or what?!

  17. nivcan · January 24, 2005 Reply

    the last pic is totally heart-rending. Great job though !

  18. Anonymous · January 24, 2005 Reply

    nat eo

    hi kalyan,gr8 to see ur work in the wild,why dont u do a documentary on wildlife.Hope to see Kallu soon on National Geographic Channel with Braddy Barr

  19. drkishoremurthy · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Re: nat eo

    u are doing a good job … kudos Kallu !!!

    I do have a question though and I think somebody had asked it in u’r previous post – u don’t have to report this or do u guys just let it be or ok …how does it work dude ?????

  20. drkishoremurthy · January 24, 2005 Reply

    Re: nat eo

    oops! I replied to u instead of the post (sorry:)

  21. jagtesh · January 25, 2005 Reply

    Its a hard sight..

    …Even for a gamer, such as myself. About the eyes, well..my sister is a doctor. During the MBBS course, they were made to experiment on the eyes of animals (typically sheep, lambs). Im sure she won’t find this gore.

    But there is something captivating about deer eyes, the eye-lashes. Very human. Very innocent. Thanks for introducing me to reality 😉

  22. admin · January 25, 2005 Reply

    Re: nat eo

    Its almost impossible to get into nat geo. Getting a break there is like a dream come true 🙂

  23. admin · January 25, 2005 Reply

    Re: nat eo

    I just let it be and the body will rot away which will feed many insects and plants. Officially yes, I am suppose to report this 🙂

  24. shortindiangirl · February 8, 2005 Reply

    Finally got back and have added you. Nice to see posts from “another world”… in more ways than one. And since I can’t smell the rotting carcas, I guess your posts are really like a breath of fresh air. Thanx for sharing your Shikari Shambu experiences!

  25. Anonymous · March 10, 2005 Reply

    w-o-w!

    it’s amazing.. the way the tiger has had his fill.. and the way u’ve captured it in a sequence.. wow!

    it’s hard to accept it, but the laws of the jungle are pretty straightforward. in comparison to us and our lives, i think we can safely accept that this deer, however short his lifespan, lived a good life nevertheless.

    – chikuado
    http://adrenalinrush.blogspot.com/

  26. Anonymous · April 4, 2005 Reply

    cool??? eyes?? what??
    ….very gory!!!!

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