Watch out for the fascinating documentary “The Last Maneaters,” about the last tigers in the world to hunt, kill, and eat humans, on National Geographic Channel today at 5:30pm.
They live in the Sundarbans, gnarled fingers of thick impenetrable mangrove forest swamps. It is a place where the daily quest for a net full of fish, or even an armload of firewood gathered from the forest floor, can prove fatal. Here, up to 80 people every year are killed and eaten by tigers. The villages are filled with orphan and widows and people who have harrowing tales of survival. An adult Bengal tiger can weigh as much as 500 pounds. When it decides to attack, the results are almost always lethal. Guns and armor are of little use in this area where a stealth attack from the rear can occur with no warning. It is the reality of life in the Sundarbans.
People here understand the risk. They understand that in the Sundarbans, humans are not the most dominant animal. That if a tiger decides to kill, it can and will. This is a place where tigers do not live in fear of people. Here tigers reign supreme.
