WWF has expressed concern over three women killed by tigers in three consecutive days in the northern Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in India.

The women were collecting firewood when they were attacked. All three happened within 20km of each other.

The attacks take the death toll to five in less than two months, with two people being killed and one injured in December. The peak of the recent conflict was 25 deaths in 2008, and in 2007 a tiger in the adjoining Talodhi range was shot after killing four people.

Chief Conservator of Forest Nandkishor, who visited the area on Saturday, said, “In the latest cases, we don’t know if it’s a tigress with cubs or a single tiger. This case is different than Talodhi incident where the tiger was coming out and killing people. So, we can’t say this is a problem animal.”

“I agree,” said wildlife activist Nitin Desai. “Any response will have to strike a balance between people and tiger. As long as it is very much within its habitat, it can’t be branded a problem animal.”

After the spate of deaths in 2008 the Corridor Conservation Programme (CCP) was launched in an attempt to contain the damage. Until December 2009 it seemed to be working, with only one death in the previous 12 months.

Elsewhere in India, forest officials in Chamarajanagar have been helping villagers and elephants to live together.

As a result of better training for staff, ensuring farmers are paid compensation due to them and erecting solar fences, no elephant had been electrocuted in 18 months. Previously up to six elephants died of electrocution every year.

As human populations grow, animals that have been evicted from the land or are hungry have been coming into conflict with people and their livestock and land more and more, and are often killed as a result.

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