IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

Shannon News, 25 March 1924, Page 2

IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

MANY KILLED BY WILD BEASTS.

Tlig toll o,f the Indian jungle does not grow less. Figures for last year show that 32(53 people were killed by wild animals, tigers being responsible for 1603, leopards for 509, wolves for 460, bears for 105, elephants for 55, hyenas for nine, wild boars and pigs far 90, and crocodiles and alligators for 225. The mortality' from snake bites rose to 20,090. During the year 23,268 wild animals were destroyed, including 1766 tigers, 6108 leopards, 8188 bears 1629 wolves, and 58,370 snakes. Rewards paid totalled a lakh (£6666) of rupees. Calcutta is at present in the grip of an unprecedented epidemic of dengue fever. Nearly 40 per eent. of the population is suffering. Business firms are seriously affected, in many instances 30 per cent, of office staffs being off duty. One large employer has remarked: “We are a prostrate city.” The fever in most cases lasts four or five days, but the after effects are often worse than the actual disease, patients being afflicted with stiffened joints, weakness, dizziness, and shooting muscular pains. Medical authorities attribute the epidemic to the unusual prevalence of tiger mosquitoes, which is believed to be largely the result of the abolition by the coporatlon, as a measure of economy, of the mosquito brigades until recently employed in treating the breeding places of these disease carriers. s