A tigress in India who is said to have killed 13 people has been shot dead after a major hunt, officials say.
The six-year-old tigress had evaded capture in the jungles of the western state of Maharashtra for two years.
Last month wildlife officials deployed perfume in a bid to lure the animal.
Activists had campaigned to save the tiger, but India’s Supreme Court said it would not interfere if forest rangers were forced to shoot it.
A team armed with a tranquiliser gun and a firearm was stationed in a vehicle on a road where the tigress, known as T-1, had been spotted by villagers, a Forestry Department statement said.
A patrol team went to an area near Borati village on Friday evening, after receiving reports of the tigress’ presence.
A tranquilliser dart was fired at the animal. Once hit, the tigress charged the patrol’s vehicle and she was killed by a single shot from a distance of between eight and 10 metres (26-33 ft), the statement said.
A post-mortem will now be performed on the beast.
In August the tigress and her two nine-month-old cubs killed three people in the area around the town of Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district and left more than 5,000 residents fearing for their lives.
Farmers and graziers were told to return early from the fields and forest, venture out only in groups, and not defecate in the open fields, a common practice in the villages.
Meanwhile the hunt for the tigress included more than 100 camera traps, bait in the form of horses and goats tied to trees, round-the-clock surveillance from treetop platforms and armed patrols.
Wildlife officials also brought in bottles of Obsession for Men by Calvin Klein, which contains a pheromone called civetone, after an experiment in the US suggested that it could be used to attract jaguars.
T-1 is believed to have killed 10 people in 20 months since 2016 before killing three more in August.
DNA tests on swabs from tiger saliva from the wounds of seven of the 13 victims showed that five of them were inflicted by a female tiger.
Many of the bodies were decapitated as she dragged her prey away. She appears to have tasted human flesh as at least one victim was found with his leg torn off.
The BBC’s Soutik Biswas says T-1 may have been attacking humans after coming across them as they grazed cattle in the forest.
The villagers are banned by the government from killing their cattle and have been taking them into the forest because there is little fodder close to their homes, reports say.
With more than 2,200 big cats, India is home to 60% of the world’s tigers. There are more than 200 in Maharashtra, but only a third of them live in the state’s 60 protected areas, including sanctuaries, natural parks and tiger reserves.
READ ALSO: Foreign Titbits: Khashoggi murder: Saudi prince ‘said he was dangerous Islamist’
Asia Bibi: Deal to end Pakistan protests over blasphemy case
Pakistan’s authorities have struck a deal with a hard-line Islamist party to end a protest over the acquittal of a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy.
As part of the deal, Asia Bibi will be barred from leaving the country, though it is unclear for how long.
The protesters will also be able to file an appeal to the Supreme Court over its decision to release her.
She was convicted in 2010 of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, but was acquitted earlier this week.
But the ruling enraged some in the majority-Muslim country.
Hardliners who support Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been taking to the streets since Wednesday’s ruling.
Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told the BBC, “We had two options: either to use force, and when you use force people can be killed. That is not something a state should do… We tried negotiations and (in) negotiations you take something and you leave something.”
He defended the agreement against allegations the government was capitulating to extremists:
“We need to take steps against extremism, we need to take steps against such kind of violent protesters and we need to come up with a permanent solution. Right now this is not a cure. This is firefighting, what we are doing. The cure is the real thing and our government is committed to the cure.”
He clarified that the decision on whether or not to bar Asia Bibi from leaving the country would be made by a court, and added the government would “take all steps necessary” to ensure Asia Bibi’s safety.
It was reached between the government and the Tehreek-i-Labaik (TLP) party, which led the mass protests, local media report.
Under the agreement, as well as beginning legal proceedings to put Asia Bibi on a list which would ban her from leaving Pakistan, the government will also not block a review petition filed against the verdict.
The deal also envisages that all protesters arrested since Asia Bibi’s acquittal will be released, and any violence towards them will be investigated.
In return, the TLP is asking its supporters to stop the protests and disperse peacefully.
The authorities earlier said that Asia Bibi was scheduled for release later this week.
Speaking to the BBC this week, her lawyer Saiful Mulook said she would need to move to a Western country for her own safety. Several countries have offered her asylum.
The trial stems from an argument Asia Bibi, whose full name is Asia Noreen, had with a group of women in June 2009.
They were harvesting fruit when a row broke out about a bucket of water. The women said that because she had used a cup, they could no longer touch it, as her faith had made it unclean.
Prosecutors alleged that in the row which followed, the women said Asia Bibi should convert to Islam and that she made offensive comments about the Prophet Muhammad in response.
She was later beaten up at her home, during which her accusers say she confessed to blasphemy. She was arrested after a police investigation.
On Wednesday though the Supreme Court acquitted her, saying that the case was based on flimsy evidence and her confession was delivered in front of a crowd “threatening to kill her”.
