No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History

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About No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story Of

American Sniper meets Jaws in this gripping, true account of the deadliest animal of all time, the Champawat Tiger - responsible for killing more than 400 humans in Northern India and Nepal in the first decade of the 20th century - and the legendary hunter who finally brought it down. At the turn of the 20th century, in the forested foothills of the Himalayas between India and Nepal, a large Bengal tiger began preying on humans. Between roughly 1900 and 1907, the fearsome beast locals called the Champawat Man-Eater claimed 436 lives. Successfully evading both hunters and soldiers from the Nepalese army and growing bolder with its kills, the tiger - commonly a nocturnal predator - prowled settlements and roadways even in broad daylight. Entire villages were virtually abandoned. Desperate for help, authorities appealed to Jim Corbett, a then-unknown railroad employee of humble origins who had grown up hunting and tracking game through the hills of Kumaon. Like a police detective on the trail of a human killer, Corbett questioned villagers who had encountered the tiger and began tracking its movements in the dense, hilly woodlands - while the animal began to hunt Corbett in return. When the big cat attacked a teenager and dragged her away, he followed the blood trail deep into the forest - a harrowing, dramatic chase that would ultimately end the man-eater's long reign of terror and turn the young Corbett into a living legend. In this rip-roaring adventure and compelling natural history, Dane Huckelbridge recreates one of the great adventure stories of the 20th century, bringing into focus a principled, disciplined soldier, hunter, and conservationist - who would later earn fame for his devotion to saving the Bengal tiger and its habitat - and the beautiful, terrifying animal he patiently pursued. Written with the thrilling immediacy of John Vaillant's The Tiger, Susan Casey's The Devil's Teeth, and Nate Blakeslee's