Man-Eaters
by Jim Corbett
Completed January 2001
Man-Eaters is a really good read. Jim Corbett's first-person true narratives of his stalking and dispatching of man-eating leopards and tigers in India is really in a class by itself. Each of these animals killed over a hundred humans in the years in which they ravaged Indian villages. In each case, the British government called upon Corbett, a postmaster who grew up in the Indian jungle and generally used his tracking and stalking skills to photograph the lions, tigers, leopards and other creatures that he loved, to dispatch the man-eating animal.
Corbett makes it clear that killing these beautiful creatures is not his goal. His appreciation and concern for both animals and humanity is one of the best parts of the book. His eloquent prose on his preference for pressing the trigger of his camera over that of his gun makes Man-Eaters so much more interesting and evocative. This is no testosterone-filled paean to hunting. It is a very human set of stories about fear and survival -- both for man-eaters and for humans. I'd definitely recommend it.