People make offerings to Lord Tiger on this night fearing the consequences if they do not. It is even said in parts of Annam that the tiger can transform itself magically into human form. Such magic does not exist. If it did, perhaps tigers would not be in such danger of extermination. The truth is quite the opposite.
Tigers are at the top of the food chain.
According to some studies, single male may hunt over as much as 150 square kilometres. So as forests shrink under human encroachment, tigers have less room to forage. And so increasingly tigers face human predators equipped with an armoury far more deadly than their own. Though tigers once ranged throughout Asia, their numbers have fallen dramatically. Tigers have disappeared from Bali, Java and perhaps southern China.