World Press Photo 2022

Asia Long-term Projects

In India, Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) are considered endangered, with up to 3,000 surviving in the wild. Human settlement, cultivation and urban development are encroaching on the tigers’ natural habitat and reducing their prey base. Villages on the perimeters of tiger sanctuaries and reserves are often home to indigenous communities, who depend on livestock, farming, or the forest for their livelihoods. Conflict arises when tigers kill livestock and occasionally humans, which although rare, usually occurs when angry groups surround tigers who have entered settlements.

Mr Bhuthari, a fisherman, explaining how he was attacked by a tiger while collecting crabs, in the forest buffer zone around the Sundarban Tiger Reserve, in a delta region of West Bengal, India, on Dec 4, 2012. Title: Boundaries: Human-Tiger Conflict © Senthil Kumaran
A male adult tiger crossing the road in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India, on May 3, 2013. Single tigers occupy from 15 sq km to 30 sq km of territory. Title: Boundaries: Human-Tiger Conflict © Senthil Kumaran
A night watchman protecting farmland and livestock from tigers and other big cats in a village in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India, on Oct 12, 2015. Around 200 tigers live in Chandrapur, of which around 80 share the space outside the core zone of the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. Title: Boundaries: Human-Tiger Conflict © Senthil Kumaran
Forest officials and veterinarians performing a post-mortem on a tiger to test for poison, near the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India, on April 28, 2012. Title: Boundaries: Human-Tiger Conflict © Senthil Kumaran
A nine-month-old tiger cub lying in a cage after being recovered in Valparai, near the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India, on Oct 17, 2021. Valparai, where large parts of forest have been cleared to make way for tea plantations, is a high human-animal conflict zone. Title: Boundaries: Human-Tiger Conflict © Senthil Kumaran
Mr Manoranjan Biwas lying seriously injured on Dec 3, 2012, after being attacked by a tiger when he was collecting crabs inside the forest zone of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve, in a delta region of West Bengal, India. Title: Boundaries: Human-Tiger Conflict © Senthil Kumaran
Members of a local community searching for a tiger that had killed three people within a week around a village near Ooty, in Tamil Nadu, India, Jan 12, 2014. The tiger was eventually shot dead. Title: Boundaries: Human-Tiger Conflict © Senthil Kumaran
A 10-year-old male tiger lying tranquillised as it is shifted to a cage to be removed, after entering a village and killing cattle, close to the town of Valparai, near the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India, on April 27, 2012. Title: Boundaries: Human-Tiger Conflict © Senthil Kumaran

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