Item: No Beast So Fierce
Rating: 3.00
Author: biblioholicbeth

by Dane Huckelbridge

The deadliest animal of all time meets the world's most legendary hunter in a classic battle between man and wild. But this pulse-pounding narrative is also a nuanced story of how colonialism and environmental destruction upset the natural order, placing man, tiger and nature on a collision course.

In Champawat, India, circa 1900, a Bengal tigress was wounded by a poacher in the forests of the Himalayan foothills. Unable to hunt her usual prey, the tiger began stalking and eating an easier food source: human beings. Between 1900 and 1907, the Champawat Man-Eater, as she became known, emerged as the most prolific serial killer of human beings the world has ever known, claiming an astonishing 436 lives.

Desperate for help, authorities appealed to renowned local hunter Jim Corbett, an Indian-born Brit of Irish descent, who was intimately familiar with the Champawat forest. Corbett, who would later earn fame and devote the latter part of his life to saving the Bengal tiger and its habitat, sprang into action. Like a detective on the tail of a serial killer, he tracked the tiger's movements, as the tiger began to hunt him in return.

This was the beginning of Corbett's life-long love of tigers, though his first encounter with the Champawat Tiger would be her last.

I have heard of the Champawat Tiger before, and was very curious about this book. Tigers are not known to be "man-eaters", as a general rule, unless something has gone VERY wrong. In this book, Huckelbridge makes that case that it wasn't just one thing that went wrong - it was a triumvirate that basically led to the perfect storm in the creation of the Champawat notoriety.

Huckelbridge writes out a very convincing case of why the tiger became what she was. It's interesting and heartbreaking, and sadly - it's ongoing today in most parts of the world. However, that historical aspect seemed to drag on a little long. The story of the hunting/death of the tiger itself was crazy good - my heart was pumping faster as I read it - but it was like a roller coaster ride. Super exciting, then...history. Super exciting. History. It was a bit uneven, all in all.

Having said that, overall it was a fascinating read and I'm glad I picked it up. Jim Corbett, around whom the story centered just as much as the tiger, was a fascinating man and truly ahead of his time.

No Beast So Fierce

by Dane Huckelbridge

Reviewed by Beth C. on Jun 11, 2019

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