She had wandered about three quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers) from India's Nagarahole National Park into Nidugumba. The park was declared a tiger reserve in 1999 and has 10 to 12 tigers per 62 square miles. (From National Geographic magazine: Can we save the mightiest cat on Earth?)

"Wherever tiger conservation has succeeded and populations produce surpluses, tigers getting snared or cornered in human settlements is not uncommon," said K. Ullas Karanth, a scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society. He estimates that 30 to 50 tigers are caught across India in a year, typically in illegal wire snares set by villagers to catch deer or pigs. (Related pictures: Tigers in peril.)

The coffee planter who found the