Man-Eating Tiger Kills Five in India, Officials on the Hunt

UPDATE: The tiger is still at large and has killed two more people. The shoot-to-kill order has been rescinded and officials will now attempt to tranquilize the tiger.

A tiger that strayed from an animal reserve is suspected of killing five people in northern India, and officials there have ordered the tiger to be shot after it has eluded capture.

The order to shoot the tiger came this week by the Uttar Pradesh forest department, nearly two weeks after the first person was killed by the tiger on Dec. 26.

The tiger's most recent victim was a 35-year-old villager who was "nearly devoured" by the tiger Wednesday, the Telegraph in Calcuta, India reported.

"I declared it a maneater today," Rupak De, the province's chief wildlife warden, told the Telegraph on Thursday.

"Since December 26, it has killed five residents.... It has been attacking only humans. Conservation of wildlife being people-dependent, we cannot allow more losses of human lives. We are now in search of sharpshooters who can kill the tigress," De said.

By declaring the tiger a maneater, officials are able to kill the creature without violating any laws. Critics, however, have decried the label as an easy way out, as capturing the tiger would be more difficult than killing it.

UPDATE: The tiger is still at large and has killed two more people. The shoot-to-kill order has been rescinded and officials will now attempt to tranquilize the tiger.

It is believed that the tiger strayed from the Jim Corbett National Park, which is a popular tourist destination. Prior to the kill-order, forest officials - aided by two elephants - tried to search for the tiger and drive it back into the park, according to an AFP report.

Jim Corbett National Park is home to about 200 tigers, and the wayward maneater is quite far from its home. The Moradabad district where the attacks have occurred is about 70 miles away from the park boundary.

There are an estimated 1,706 tigers in India, according to a 2011 census report by the Tiger Conservation Authority. That number has plummeted from the estimated population of nearly 40,000 when India gained independence from Britain in 1947.

In a separate incident in Maharashtra state in central India this week, two people were killed by a tiger in as many days in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, according to the Times of India.