Panning tiger need help

[abasu]

Exif Data :

Camera Model Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL
Shooting Mode Shutter-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/30
Av( Aperture Value ) 9.0
Metering Mode Center-Weighted Average Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 200
Lens 55.0 - 250.0 mm f 4.5 to 5.6
Focal Length 135.0 mm
Flash Off

I am no wild life photographer. I have a zoom lens which has its limitation and I waited still without moving for 45 mins in the evening with poor light surroundings for the tiger to appear before me and cross the road. But still I made a humble and best possible try to capture the elusive tiger in the dense jungles of a reserve forest. It was no safari where you can see tigers and lions easily in abundance.

Due to light conditions and limitations of my zoom lens I had unknowingly reduced my shutter speed to 1/30. I went on panning the tiger and took multiple shots.

My question :
1) Whether panning and subsequent blurring of the background has taken the charm out or has made the tiger come out of the distorting background and made it more prominent.
2) The slow shutter mode has made the legs blurred and depicts the tiger in motion. Whether it would have been better if I had increased the shutter speed and had frezed the tiger. This would have also have sharpened the background but the phenomenon of walking tiger would have lost. I am bit confused here.
3) Also give tips about composition
a. as to the placement of tiger
b. the foreground space
c. the background space
d. keeping of space before the tiger.
e. Placing the tiger at the centre of the walkway.
4) And please do help me to make this photograph more attractive.
This is an original image with little sharpening in Gimp.

[dishingthedivine]

I'm not nearly photo savvy enough to answer all your questions, but I think I know what one of your problems is. The only thing in focus in this picture is the tiger's back, tail, and maybe part of the head. Even the foreground and background are a bit blurry. I think that had the entire tiger been sharp, that would make a great photo. And maybe even if some of the foreground/background were sharp, that would help, too. But to have so much be blurry and so little be in focus confuses the eye.

also, I would crop out just a bit of the bottom of the photo... Just a bit...

That said, this is a pretty awesome shot given that you're just sitting there waiting for a tiger to cross your path.