Man-eating tigress dies after being electrocuted in India

A man-eating tigress that killed four people in India was electrocuted and died just days after a court ruled it was to be shot dead.

The hunt for the two-year-old tigress was called off after her body was found in the west Indian state of Maharashtra.

The wildcat was electrocuted on Saturday by a farmer’s fence designed to keep out wild boar, wildlife officials said.

A shoot-to-kill order had been issued by the state forest department on 23 June this year. Wildlife activists had challenged the order, but the court rejected their appeal on Thursday.

The tigress was first captured in July after killing two people and injuring four in the town of Brahmapuri, in Maharashtra.

It was later released into Bor Tiger Reserve, but went on to kill two more people.

60 per cent of the world’s tigers live in India, but loss of habitat and poachers threaten the population. As humans encroach into their territory, tigers compete for resources with nearby villages, leading to conflict.