Incredible moment quick-thinking villager survives tiger attack by PLAYING DEAD when the big cat pounces on him in India

  • Tiger was filmed jumping out of pushes into a crowd of villagers in Maharashtra
  • Three people were injured in the terrifying attack that happened this Saturday
  • Pench National Park, which has tigers, is located less than 60 miles away 

This is the incredible moment a quick-thinking villager escapes the gaping jaws of a tiger by playing dead.

Horrifying footage, filmed by a man hiding up a tree, shows villagers shrieking and running for their lives as a tiger leaps out of a row of bushes and chases them into a field.

After sprinting around a tree, the big cat turns and pounces on a man. It grips him with its paws for a few seconds before running away as villagers yell and blare their horns. 

Three people were injured in the terrifying attack filmed in Maharashtra's Bhandara district, central India, this Saturday.

Pench National Park, which has tigers, is located less than 60 miles away. It is not clear whether the tiger came from this national park.

This is the incredible moment a tiger grabs a villager in Bhandara district, Maharashtra
The tiger holds him for a few seconds before releasing him in the attack filmed this Saturday

This is the incredible moment a tiger grabs a villager in Bhandara district, Maharashtra. The tiger holds him for a few seconds before releasing him in the attack filmed this Saturday

The shocking 40-second clip begins as a tiger leaps out of bushes and runs in front of a crowd of villagers on the road. 

Screams and shouts are heard on the video as the tiger bounds into a neighbouring field before running around a tree and leaping on a man.

The tiger stands over the man, who lies perfectly still, as villagers yell and hit their car horns, before it sprints into the distance.

The attack came a day before a 42-year-old woman was mauled to death by a tiger in the Brahmapuri forest division of Maharastra's Chandrapur, more than 100 miles from where the footage was filmed.

On Sunday a 35-year-old man and his cow were killed by a tiger in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh, outside Satpura tiger reserve and around 150 miles from where the attack took place.

Shocking 40-second clip shows the tiger run across a road and into a field before grabbing the man
The victim lies perfectly still as villagers scream and car horns blare

Shocking 40-second clip shows the tiger run across a road and into a field before grabbing the man. He lies perfectly still as villagers scream and car horns blare

The tiger then sprints away from the scene into the distance. Three people were injured in the attack

The tiger then sprints away from the scene into the distance. Three people were injured in the attack

Villagers in India also face leopard attacks in northern parts of the country, alongside the risk of tiger attacks.

At least two people were killed by leopards in the country in December alone, including a five-year-old boy, and three people were injured.

As the human population continues to expand urbanisation has put increased pressure on reserves, causing increased interaction between predators and humans. 

Bengal Tiger 

Bengal tiger female pictured by a temple in Ranthambore, northern India

Bengal tiger female pictured by a temple in Ranthambore, northern India

This big cat is most commonly found in India, but also lives in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar.

Despite being listed as endangered it is the most numerous of all tiger species, with more than 2,500 individuals left in the wild.

After India created tiger reserves in the 1970s its population stabalised.

However, with the growth in poaching for the Chinese medicine trade in eastern Asia alongside loss of prey and conflict with humans the big cat is still considered at risk. 

Before the international ban on tiger trade in 1993, tiger populations were being decimated by poaching and trade.

Despite the ban, the illegal demand for tigers as status symbols, decorative items and folk cures has increased dramatically, leading to a new poaching crisis.

Loss of prey animals like deer and antelopes, which are also poached for meat and trade, and because they compete with farmers livestock, has also put the big cats at risk. 

Source: WWF 

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