Top Indian tiger hunter called in to find beast thought to have killed 13

India's most celebrated hunter has been called in for a controversial mission to shoot a man-eating tigress blamed for killing 13 people.

Nawab Shafath Ali Khan has begun his hunt after India's highest court dismissed objections from conservation groups and authorised the killing of the four-year-old cat and her two cubs.

The hunter, scion of an aristocratic family, has started combing the jungles of Maharashtra after the tigress known as T1 terrorised villages in recent months.

Wildlife activists had unsuccessfully sought to block any court order allowing the killing of the cat, arguing there was no definitive proof the tigress was responsible for the deaths.

They have also tried to block the involvement of Mr Khan, who is the go-to marksman for Indian officials troubled by man-eating tigers, rogue elephants or troublesome wild boar.

Mr Khan is stalking the tiger with elephants because vehicles are too loud and has said he will only shoot to kill as a last resort, instead using a tranquiliser gun if possible. The hunt authorisation calls for Mr Khan to attempt to capture the tigress alive, but to kill it if necessary. Activists fear Mr Khan, who is renowned for killing hundreds of animals, will only make a token effort to take the cat alive.

He has said he is convinced the tigress is guilty and is killing for survival because of a lack of other prey.

“The tigress has two cubs aged 10 months which are also eating human flesh,” he told the Times of India.

“The killing of humans is easy prey, as there is no natural prey such as spotted deer and sambar and wild boar here. So the tigress is killing humans for survival.”

The tigress is accused of killing 13 people around Pandharkawada over the last two years, with the spree accelerating to claim three lives in August alone.

Victims have been found part-eaten, with limbs torn off and teeth marks left on what remained.

Indian officials say DNA tests, camera traps and footprints all point to the killings having been carried out by a single tigress.

India's tigers are strictly protected by conservation laws, but India's growing population and the loss of habitat means the cats are increasingly in competition with people. The success of protection laws has also seen the number of cats begin to grow again in recent years after plummeting for decades. India is home to around 70 per cent of the world's 4,000 tigers.

Mr Khan is the private hunter usually called on when people and India's large wildlife clash.

Born into a Hyderabad family descended from royalty, he grew up enchanted by the hunting tales of his grandfather who was a renowned Raj-era elephant hunter.

He first held a gun when he was four and soon became an able tracker and accomplished shot.

At the age of only 19 he was recommended by a family friend when officials needed someone to shoot a rogue elephant who had trampled 12 to death. His fame quickly grew and officials from around India began calling for his help.

As well as tigers, leopards or elephants terrorising rural villages, he is also sometimes called on to cull India's wild boar.

In an interview last year he said it was the courts and officials who decided the fate of the animals.

“My job is of a hangman,” he told the FT. “I am the man who is putting the noose on the convict and pushing the button of the gallows.”