Jim Corbett (25 July 1875–19 April 1955) was an Indian-born hunter, conservationist and naturalist, famous for his writings on the hunting of man-eating tigers and leopards. The Corbett National Park in India is named in his memory.

 

Corbett was a hunter and fishing enthusiast in early life but took to big game photography later. As his admiration for tigers and leopards grew, he resolved never to shoot them unless they turned man-eaters or posed a threat to cattle. Between 1907 and 1938, Corbett tracked and put down at least a dozen man-eaters. It is estimated that the combined total of men, women and children these twelve animals had killed was in excess of 1,500. His very first success, the Champawat Tiger in Champawat, alone was responsible for 436 documented deaths. He also shot the Panar Leopard, which allegedly killed 400 after being injured by a poacher and thus being rendered unable to hunt its normal prey. Other notable man-eaters were the Talla-Des man-eater, the Mohan man-eater, the Thak man-eater and the Chowgarh tigers. Jim Corbett was tall (6'1"), brave and endowed with very keen senses. He would often stalk to within twenty feet of the man-eaters, and at great risk to himself, to, as he put it, save at least one human life. He preferred to hunt alone when pursuing dangerous game, and on foot.

His accounts of the hunting and killing of man-eaters, which had killed almost 1,500 Indians, are related in his books: Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1944) OUP Bombay, The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag (1948), and the Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1954). Man-eaters of Kumaon was a success in India and was chosen by book clubs in the United Kingdom and the United States; the first printing of the American Book-of-the-Month Club being 250,000. The book was later translated into 27 languages. His Jungle Lore is considered as his autobiography. He also wrote My India, about Indian rural life.

In 1968, one of the five remaining subspecies of tigers was named after him; panthera tigris corbetti, more commonly called Corbett's tiger. In 1994, Corbett's long neglected grave was repaired and restored by the founder and director of Jim Corbett Foundation which now has members worldwide.

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