I loved the Jungle Book, I still do. My favourite two were Bagheera and - in spite of being the villain of the story - Sher Khan. When I was younger, the animated series would air every Sunday on the telly and I'd watch with baited breath for the outcome of the story. Sher Khan in all his glory would challenge Mowgli and his gang week after week only to eventually lose the battle. At the end, he was finished. It was a victorious moment. The brave human had triumphed.
Many years later I visited the Bannerghatta wildlife sanctuary in Bangalore, India. After laughing at wild boar and cheering the elephants, we entered an area with huge fencing. As he stopped the mini-van, the driver warned us not to stick our heads out as we were in the tigers lair. It was only last week that a baby was snatched from the hands of an excited father - who ventured a little too close to the animal, he said. At once, everyone stiffened, withdrew themselves from the windows and waited.
And then Sher Khan appeared. This time of course with family, and more. Although I had seen tigers before in zoos, nothing prepared me for this spectacle. Sher Khan walked around the van with an air of nonchalant arrogance. Occasionally looking up at us - some terrified, some awestruck (like me) - he seemed to pity us. His shining coat was clean and impressive, powerful. He was beautiful. In whatever sense there could be! We were locked in a mini-cage and he was free.
That moment made me realise what many wildlife conservationists in India are trying to protect. I always thought animal welfare was really idiotic, when millions of Indians are dying of hunger and disease. But that day changed it all.
A report in The Economist this September says, Bengal tigers in India are being poached for valuable pelts and for use in Chinese medicine, for their bones, teeth and penises. Though the government insists that tiger population is stable at 3,500 (it was 40,000 at the turn of the century[1]) conservationists estimate their population at 1,200-1,500. Sonia Gandhi the leader of the ruling party in India wants to introduce the Tribal Bill, which will give tribal folk/ forest dwellers land rights, in an attempt to ensure votes. This at the cost of losing an endangered species.
There is a national park that runs through Bombay. Over the last two years, panther attacks in the neighbourhood has become commonplace. Usually it is the children of forest dwellers who are killed. Forest land is increasingly being encroached upon. About 13,000 families live in 750 acres within the park (Total area of the park is 103 sq. kilometers). There are no winners here. The wild loses its habitat. We lose our children.
Valmik Thapar, Indian natural historian in his book 'Cult of the Tiger' says "Colonisation by the Europeans marked the beginning of the end of this magnificent animal and so did "civilisation" and the destruction of its habitat."
Non government organisations within India and abroad are working at conserving the tiger. Exxonmobil was instrumental in establising the Save the Tiger Fund (just giving credit, no PR). There were also hopes that America may perhaps argue for a ban on trade in endangered species where tigers are not protected at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. That would hurt India's export of rare plants. However that has not gone through.
When Kipling was writing about the Kanha Reserve/ jungle, it was the era of the great tiger hunt. In one instance 1,200 tigers were killed by one maharaja. Today there are only 100 tigers in that reserve. "For me, life will not be worth living," Thapar says. "If the tiger goes, no campaigner will ever be able to save a forest. He's not gonna save it because of a deer[2]. "
1. Thapar, Valmik. 2002. Cult of the Tiger. Oxford University Press.
2. CBSnews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment