A battle for survival: In Sunderbans, villagers brave tigers for resources

In the absence of alternative livelihoods, villagers living in the region claim unfettered access to the forest, despite high chances of a tiger attack

When Subodh Mondal noticed marks of tiger claws at Pakhiralay, a village in Gosaba block in the Sundarbans, he mobilised a team of ten, armed with bamboo canes, and followed the marks. After about ten minutes on the trail, they located a tiger dragging one of the villagers, Gobind Maity, towards the forest. The men instinctively beat the tiger to death.

While Maity was hospitalised for several days recovering from severe injuries that left  him with a permanently disabled arm, the rescue team of ten was booked for killing the tiger. Some of the men went into hiding, but eventually all,