Big Cat Attacks in the Gir Forest

The Gir Forest of India is best known as the only place in Asia to find wild lions. This small population of lions in the area, just over 400, is carefully managed. The lions frequently take livestock, and that brings them into conflict with people. Sometimes the lions, particularly the males, deliberately choose humans as prey. As noted in this article, lions and other wild animals have attacked 162 people and more than 6000 head of livestock there in the last three years. In one case, a lion injured seven people before they killed it with axes.

Those axes really bring home the cultural differences between India and the US. Here, in the rare instance of a need to protect ourselves from wildlife, guns and armed police are never too far away. I try to imagine 50 attacks a year in a comparably-sized slice of the US--say, the eastern third of Rhode Island. The lions aren't the biggest part of the problem, though--leopards are far more likely to attack people.