"I went to Copenhagen not to save the world, but our national interest. My mandate was not to save humanity but to protect our national interest of faster economic growth. "
In India climate change is about development, not environment unlike in the developed countries"
Contrast this to his saying that India is the most vulnerable country as far as climate change is concerned. (actually read the text of the impact that he details in the parliament before he went to Copenhagen)
Am sure he had his compulsions..but yeah it was disappointing, --especially when he said that For India climate change is not about environment, it is about development..i think that's basically wrong. climate change is about us-our survival--name it what you will--
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Death toll, this week
One tiger in Corbett--mostly 'in-fighting. One tiger in Nagzira. Poisoned-revenge killing. could be poaching. Two rhinos in Kaziranga--poached. One young tusker in Orissa.Two leopards--skins in Valmiki (bihar). ten snakes in Puri-- thats the toll-that i know of in the past week.
Incidentally, those snakes--they were reportedly killed to make the Raj bhavan where Madam president was goign to halt for a few hours 'safe'. i remember the cut trees in the Andamans so she would have a clear view of the sea..
Have been informed that there have been two more elephant deaths--one in Orissa, another in West Bengal, though havent ascertained. Another person asks how can i ignore the olive ridley carcassess littering the beaches of Orissa. Apparently, its about a hundred till now..
Incidentally, those snakes--they were reportedly killed to make the Raj bhavan where Madam president was goign to halt for a few hours 'safe'. i remember the cut trees in the Andamans so she would have a clear view of the sea..
Have been informed that there have been two more elephant deaths--one in Orissa, another in West Bengal, though havent ascertained. Another person asks how can i ignore the olive ridley carcassess littering the beaches of Orissa. Apparently, its about a hundred till now..
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tadoba Troubled
This story not carried by any publication. the usual habit of sitting on a story to lay eggs, while more important stuff like the Shilpa's marriage and things like that hog space
The sambar, a male stag sporting impressive antlers, stood submerged in the water, pondering over his—extremely limited—choices. His leg, bleeding, broken was giving way—he could see the beady eye of the crocodile come close, closer. He knew there was a tiger, somewhere, not far from the bank, well-camouflaged in the tall grasses. He sniffed the air, peered. Maybe not? Then heaved himself out, and oh-so-cautiously stepped out of the water, lifting one wary foot after the other...when they swiftly arose: Two tigers, on either side of him. And the hunt began...the sambar taking flight as death closed in...
This dramatic natural history moment, played in Tadoba Tiger Reserve, in mid-November made headlines. But along with the euphoria—tigers are well, and thriving, came the rider—for how long? The future of these tigers is questionable as no less than 20 new opencast mines are coming up in the fringes—threatening to choke Tadoba, and reduce its buffer into one big coal quarry and overburden dumping ground. Four of these would cut crucial tiger corridors that link the north and south Chandrapur forest divisions. Three mining leases are in the buffer zone of Tadoba. Of these, Adani Enterprises with a lease of 1750 hectares—90 per cent of which is forest land) may well be the biggest opencast coalmine in the country; while the Maharashtra State Mining Corporation Limited is a mere 3.2 km from Tadoba, and has asked for nine forest compartments to be deleted from the buffer zone to accommodate its mines. The already operating Western Coalfields Limited has sought an additional 550 hectares of forest land in Chandrapur Forest Division. The presence of breeding tigress’s in these areas is well-established. It gets worse, the Adani mine will feed the groups’ 1,980 MW power plant coming up on the edge of Nagzira Sanctuary--which is proposed to added under Project Tiger area.
The state’s blatant disregard for law, and tactical support of mines in tigerland has earned the ire of the centre—with even the PMO stepping in to question Maharashtra’s proposal to open up 5,000 hectares of forestland for coal—it may be pertinent to add here that more than 25 per cent of the states’ mining leases are on forest land. The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has written to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan categorically stating that “no mining would be permitted within the tiger reserve. The leases which have been granted are required to be cancelled,” in a letter dated September 8, 2009.
The writing is on the wall—were the mines to come up, Tadoba—and its tigers—will soon be history. No less than 15 mines currently exist on the southern fringes, which is almost obliterated by the fast growing town of Chandrapur, while the eastern part is surrounded by villages. Towards the north the only link to the Central Indian landscape—which includes critical habitats of Brahmapuri, Navegaon NP, Nagzira, Pench, Kanha tiger reserve—will be drowned by the upcoming Human river irrigation project severing a crucial tiger landscape. Herein lies Tadoba’s other tragedy. “Tigers regularly use the narrow forest corridor from Palasgaon (Sirkada) to Shivni which will be submerged by the project,” points out Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation. Supporting this is a study conducted by Tiger Research and Conservation Trust which has photographic evidence to show presence of tigers, leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, rusty-spotted cats—all accorded the strictest protection under Indian law. The project is just three km from Tadoba’s core zone. Yet, the Supreme Court cleared the dam in November 2008. However, Ramesh has asked the CM to “dispassionately review the project.” It is pointed out that the significance of the project has diminished, since a large number of small dams and irrigation projects have come up in the region since the Human dam was first conceived in 1983.
Tadoba hosts a crucial source population—43 at last count in 2007—of tigers that feed other forests in the region. But mines and other development projects will obstruct critical corridors, isolating the reserve leading to inbreeding and genetic anomalies, and eventual local extinction. Worryingly, further fragmentation of corridors will only serve to accentuate the man-animal conflict that has besieged the landscape. With a good breeding population, tigers spill over to the buffer areas or use corridors to establish themselves in connecting forests. However, with fragmented corridors and habitat, tigers and leopards have nowhere to go—currently the buffer zone is believed to house about 20 tigers, including breeding tigresses. With negligible natural prey, and over a lakh cattle dependent on forest, tigers largely live on livestock—and are killed in retaliation. Frequent encounters with villagers who forage in the forest for wood and fodder have proved fatal—about 45 people have lost their lives between 2006-2008. This year human deaths have been minimal, and while that’s a reprieve, ironically it’s also an ominous sign. Rithe warns that “this sudden end to the conflict should be taken seriously.” The only explanation for a sudden crash is that tigers in the conflict zone of the buffer areas have been wiped out (see box). The tigers are especially vulnerable outside the reserve, as poachers capitalise on the grievances of the villagers to kill tigers.
If we allow mines and dams to devastate tiger habitat, this situation will only get worse. If we sign away its forests, we might as well give up the pretence of saving our rapidly diminishing tiger population.
BOX
As was his usual routine, Balaji Chafle of Ganeshpimpri village near Tadoba went to the cowshed early morning of September 19. What confronted him was a tiger. A very young, very frail and almost starving tiger—one of three such cubs found over five days in the vicinity. There was no sign of the mother and without her, the future of the cubs—now in the custody of the forest department—is precarious. Their mother, by all accounts, has been reduced to skin and bones. Investigations revealed that one among the two tiger skins (and 50 kg tiger bones) seized on November 5 at the Nagpur Railway station could well belong to the mother, as the poachers confessed to killing a tigress around the same time in that area. She was among the five tigresses who went ‘missing’ in the past 11 months. They left behind orphaned cubs –who either died or are in captivity— an entire generation of tigers lost to the wild. Sources say that more than 60 tigers, leopards and sloth bears have died, and captured in the past one year. In February, a tiger skin was seized in the Dewda forest beat of the reserve, prompting the former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, B Majumdar to write to the centre that inter-state poachers’ gangs being active in Chandrapur forests. And though forest officials say most deaths have largely occurred outside the reserve-there is evidence that poachers have penetrated even the core zone—on September 16, tourists photographed a wild dog with a snare around its neck.
The sambar, a male stag sporting impressive antlers, stood submerged in the water, pondering over his—extremely limited—choices. His leg, bleeding, broken was giving way—he could see the beady eye of the crocodile come close, closer. He knew there was a tiger, somewhere, not far from the bank, well-camouflaged in the tall grasses. He sniffed the air, peered. Maybe not? Then heaved himself out, and oh-so-cautiously stepped out of the water, lifting one wary foot after the other...when they swiftly arose: Two tigers, on either side of him. And the hunt began...the sambar taking flight as death closed in...
This dramatic natural history moment, played in Tadoba Tiger Reserve, in mid-November made headlines. But along with the euphoria—tigers are well, and thriving, came the rider—for how long? The future of these tigers is questionable as no less than 20 new opencast mines are coming up in the fringes—threatening to choke Tadoba, and reduce its buffer into one big coal quarry and overburden dumping ground. Four of these would cut crucial tiger corridors that link the north and south Chandrapur forest divisions. Three mining leases are in the buffer zone of Tadoba. Of these, Adani Enterprises with a lease of 1750 hectares—90 per cent of which is forest land) may well be the biggest opencast coalmine in the country; while the Maharashtra State Mining Corporation Limited is a mere 3.2 km from Tadoba, and has asked for nine forest compartments to be deleted from the buffer zone to accommodate its mines. The already operating Western Coalfields Limited has sought an additional 550 hectares of forest land in Chandrapur Forest Division. The presence of breeding tigress’s in these areas is well-established. It gets worse, the Adani mine will feed the groups’ 1,980 MW power plant coming up on the edge of Nagzira Sanctuary--which is proposed to added under Project Tiger area.
The state’s blatant disregard for law, and tactical support of mines in tigerland has earned the ire of the centre—with even the PMO stepping in to question Maharashtra’s proposal to open up 5,000 hectares of forestland for coal—it may be pertinent to add here that more than 25 per cent of the states’ mining leases are on forest land. The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has written to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan categorically stating that “no mining would be permitted within the tiger reserve. The leases which have been granted are required to be cancelled,” in a letter dated September 8, 2009.
The writing is on the wall—were the mines to come up, Tadoba—and its tigers—will soon be history. No less than 15 mines currently exist on the southern fringes, which is almost obliterated by the fast growing town of Chandrapur, while the eastern part is surrounded by villages. Towards the north the only link to the Central Indian landscape—which includes critical habitats of Brahmapuri, Navegaon NP, Nagzira, Pench, Kanha tiger reserve—will be drowned by the upcoming Human river irrigation project severing a crucial tiger landscape. Herein lies Tadoba’s other tragedy. “Tigers regularly use the narrow forest corridor from Palasgaon (Sirkada) to Shivni which will be submerged by the project,” points out Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation. Supporting this is a study conducted by Tiger Research and Conservation Trust which has photographic evidence to show presence of tigers, leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, rusty-spotted cats—all accorded the strictest protection under Indian law. The project is just three km from Tadoba’s core zone. Yet, the Supreme Court cleared the dam in November 2008. However, Ramesh has asked the CM to “dispassionately review the project.” It is pointed out that the significance of the project has diminished, since a large number of small dams and irrigation projects have come up in the region since the Human dam was first conceived in 1983.
Tadoba hosts a crucial source population—43 at last count in 2007—of tigers that feed other forests in the region. But mines and other development projects will obstruct critical corridors, isolating the reserve leading to inbreeding and genetic anomalies, and eventual local extinction. Worryingly, further fragmentation of corridors will only serve to accentuate the man-animal conflict that has besieged the landscape. With a good breeding population, tigers spill over to the buffer areas or use corridors to establish themselves in connecting forests. However, with fragmented corridors and habitat, tigers and leopards have nowhere to go—currently the buffer zone is believed to house about 20 tigers, including breeding tigresses. With negligible natural prey, and over a lakh cattle dependent on forest, tigers largely live on livestock—and are killed in retaliation. Frequent encounters with villagers who forage in the forest for wood and fodder have proved fatal—about 45 people have lost their lives between 2006-2008. This year human deaths have been minimal, and while that’s a reprieve, ironically it’s also an ominous sign. Rithe warns that “this sudden end to the conflict should be taken seriously.” The only explanation for a sudden crash is that tigers in the conflict zone of the buffer areas have been wiped out (see box). The tigers are especially vulnerable outside the reserve, as poachers capitalise on the grievances of the villagers to kill tigers.
If we allow mines and dams to devastate tiger habitat, this situation will only get worse. If we sign away its forests, we might as well give up the pretence of saving our rapidly diminishing tiger population.
BOX
As was his usual routine, Balaji Chafle of Ganeshpimpri village near Tadoba went to the cowshed early morning of September 19. What confronted him was a tiger. A very young, very frail and almost starving tiger—one of three such cubs found over five days in the vicinity. There was no sign of the mother and without her, the future of the cubs—now in the custody of the forest department—is precarious. Their mother, by all accounts, has been reduced to skin and bones. Investigations revealed that one among the two tiger skins (and 50 kg tiger bones) seized on November 5 at the Nagpur Railway station could well belong to the mother, as the poachers confessed to killing a tigress around the same time in that area. She was among the five tigresses who went ‘missing’ in the past 11 months. They left behind orphaned cubs –who either died or are in captivity— an entire generation of tigers lost to the wild. Sources say that more than 60 tigers, leopards and sloth bears have died, and captured in the past one year. In February, a tiger skin was seized in the Dewda forest beat of the reserve, prompting the former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, B Majumdar to write to the centre that inter-state poachers’ gangs being active in Chandrapur forests. And though forest officials say most deaths have largely occurred outside the reserve-there is evidence that poachers have penetrated even the core zone—on September 16, tourists photographed a wild dog with a snare around its neck.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Pop conservation
Pop conservation is here (hopefully not to stay)...Don't believe me? Read on:
We are gonna have Gangetic dolphins in the Delhi zoo. Come again? Freshwater dolphins in the zoo. The MEF believes that a romp in the dolphinarium will do the creature good. Awareness, spreading the message regarding conservation and such other lofty motives will be met. My question is: Where are you going to get the dolphin(s) from? The only way is to capture them from the wild, and that is really not a good idea (nor is getting a 'rescued' individual--there will be a rush to 'rescue' dolphins to impress the honourable minister. For another, they are gonna die. No, i am not the Voice of Doom, but keeping fresh water dolphins in captivity is not an easy preposition. Experience has shown that they don't survive long. Just as an aside, don't most of our zoos house the tiger? And the lion? May I know how that has helped their cause? Isn't their fortune in the doldrums?
The other great showbiz idea is to get the cheetah to India. You know the fastest animal on earth that once thrived in India, till we finished it off. The last three were shot (in one go) in 1947. The cheetah is now extinct in India. But hey, chill. Not for long. We are gonna fly 'em in (we been shopping in Namibia) and give ‘em some grassland (where, where?) to live in. For details on this one, read my earlier post. Suffice to say, its a no brainer, a grand money-making, headline-hogging idea. It's a conservation dud, but is surely gonna attract dollar tourists in the safari that we create for the cheetah.
Tigers and lions? Never mind ‘em, once they go the cheetah way, we will just bah ‘em from Texas, plenty of ‘em there—more than all over the world in fact. So don’t worry, be happy.
Oh yes, there was this other fantastic plan of getting microlights to protect tiger reserves. An idea straight out of Africa, not a bad one, but not for Corbett and Namdapha—the chosen ones for the grand experiment. Minister, minister, these are moist deciduous forests and rainforests, not savannas that can be surveyed aerialy. The canopy is not transparent. And wouldn’t it be wiser (though certainly not sexier) to first equip our foot soldier. Invest in them—ensure they are in adequate numbers, and well-equipped and trained to guard our tigers?
Oh yes, there is this other brilliant idea--though not so much conservation as a gimmick. Did you know that India is going to kick of International Tiger Year on February 14. Valentine's Day. Gettit? Cho chweet. The launch is at Corbett National Park (don't roll in your grave, Jim, it's ok). Keep the date. and don't forget to bring the red roses.
We are gonna have Gangetic dolphins in the Delhi zoo. Come again? Freshwater dolphins in the zoo. The MEF believes that a romp in the dolphinarium will do the creature good. Awareness, spreading the message regarding conservation and such other lofty motives will be met. My question is: Where are you going to get the dolphin(s) from? The only way is to capture them from the wild, and that is really not a good idea (nor is getting a 'rescued' individual--there will be a rush to 'rescue' dolphins to impress the honourable minister. For another, they are gonna die. No, i am not the Voice of Doom, but keeping fresh water dolphins in captivity is not an easy preposition. Experience has shown that they don't survive long. Just as an aside, don't most of our zoos house the tiger? And the lion? May I know how that has helped their cause? Isn't their fortune in the doldrums?
The other great showbiz idea is to get the cheetah to India. You know the fastest animal on earth that once thrived in India, till we finished it off. The last three were shot (in one go) in 1947. The cheetah is now extinct in India. But hey, chill. Not for long. We are gonna fly 'em in (we been shopping in Namibia) and give ‘em some grassland (where, where?) to live in. For details on this one, read my earlier post. Suffice to say, its a no brainer, a grand money-making, headline-hogging idea. It's a conservation dud, but is surely gonna attract dollar tourists in the safari that we create for the cheetah.
Tigers and lions? Never mind ‘em, once they go the cheetah way, we will just bah ‘em from Texas, plenty of ‘em there—more than all over the world in fact. So don’t worry, be happy.
Oh yes, there was this other fantastic plan of getting microlights to protect tiger reserves. An idea straight out of Africa, not a bad one, but not for Corbett and Namdapha—the chosen ones for the grand experiment. Minister, minister, these are moist deciduous forests and rainforests, not savannas that can be surveyed aerialy. The canopy is not transparent. And wouldn’t it be wiser (though certainly not sexier) to first equip our foot soldier. Invest in them—ensure they are in adequate numbers, and well-equipped and trained to guard our tigers?
Oh yes, there is this other brilliant idea--though not so much conservation as a gimmick. Did you know that India is going to kick of International Tiger Year on February 14. Valentine's Day. Gettit? Cho chweet. The launch is at Corbett National Park (don't roll in your grave, Jim, it's ok). Keep the date. and don't forget to bring the red roses.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
A tiger's plea--on 'Tiger' Day
It is International Tiger Day on September 27...and on this day you dedicate to me..here is my plea..
Before I begin, I do not quite understand: Why this day? A Tiger Day? Undoubtedly, it serves you well—you will hold many of those conferences-where you sit around tables in plush, cooled rooms in cement monstrities (built after mining my forests, polluting the air, and over the graves of trees—but let’s not dwell on that for now), debating over my fate, and the 'best' course of action to save the tiger over five course meals—while unknownst to you—my brethren lie trapped, paw clasped in a steal jaw, spear thrust into the mouth..to silence his roar.
Somebody forgot to tell the poachers about Tiger Day.
And even you, who sit there sipping champagne and scrolling over Power Point, did you not sign away my forest to make way for a road for your speeding metal death traps? The man in white, the one who cut the ribbon to a round of applause, if I remember correctly sold the jungle to get votes. And the one who exalted on the virtues and duty of saving the national animal, he, I am told, got a cut for letting a multinational rape my home for uranium.
So my cubs when they grew up, had nowhere to go. No territory that they could mark. I warned my son, as he grew up, showed him his boundaries, pointing to the rolling fields, where Man played with his children, and manufactured his food. “Don’t venture there, child, not into human territory—it is No Tiger’s Land.” He didn’t listen. Not his fault, he is—no was—a good lad, if a bit naughty. The resident male—his father actually, whacked him, and drove him away—and the village he went into, I remember my mom telling me stories about it. It was ours, once..till Man took over. He is dead now, that child of my heart—yes, don’t be surprised. We have emotions too. We bring up our young for two years-feed them milk, kill for them, acquaint them the lay of the land, teach them to hunt, imbibe in them the skills needed for survival...where we fail is to tutor them in the ways of man.
But I digress, as I was saying, he was poisoned. My poor child, he killed a buffalo. How was he to know? There was no deer, and hunger drove him to man’s lair. He smelt food, he killed it. For food, for survival, not for love or land or for not being allowed to watch TV (as I was told Homo sapiens do). He paid for it. He came back to his meal after a small stroll, had his fill..and then died a slow, agonising death..
I will not bore you with details of my family’s woes—suffice to point out that my daughter’s son (yes, I am grandmother now, though few of my kin have survived) lost his life in a train accident. I chanced upon a newspaper that some men working on the path left and I saw him, stretched on the tracks--bloated, bloodied, mutilated. But i knew him by his tail, he had a strange one, almost totally black.
And so Dear All-Powerful Man (yes, you are, even though they call ME the King or the Queen of the jungle), please leave my home alone. You have taken most of it away. I know of times when forests were spread far and wide in India, in just 100 years, 95 per cent of it is gone. Now, all I am left with is a tiny part of your (our?) country.
If you want me to live, leave it for me. And you, please stay away.
Of course, that would solve all our problems—a land without nasty two-legged creatures. But even I know, life is not all black and white. I know that if we were unprotected, we would be killed overnight. Each one of us. For we carry a huge price on our heads. You sell our skin and bones and whiskers and penis. I know that at my own cost. I have lost four of my children. In one place (not so far way), ‘Tiger Reserve’ they called it, for it was our sanctuary—all my kin are gone..slaughtered to be sold. There are no tigers there, anymore.
So, we need you to protect us, that is my second plea on this ‘Tiger Day.’
It is almost like asking the devil himself, the of the crime. And it is shameful, seeking your protection: To save us, the most powerful predators on earth. But even we with our stealth and skill and power, cannot match your weapons and evil intent.
Fear is our shadow, our trails are laid with death traps. And while you make all the right noises about saving the tiger (it gets good money and good press, I am told)—why is it that you guard artificial borders with a sophisticated army and weapons, but for us you make not a tenth of the effort?
You do not empower our protectors--few that there are.
Why, I have seen one of our protectors, poor man, shot by the bad men--poachers. He was a bit like us-courageous, and fought with them. He died.
My plea is: if you are to save us, help him, help us.
I have a final prayer: Do not take away our dignity. We are tigers, as much creations of God, as you. We are meant to live in the jungle, free and wild. Not in zoos, in cages so that you can spend a fine Sunday, poking at us, so that we roar and squirm. It amuses you, apparently. But it makes us very sad.
Sometimes, as I told you before, we enter your domain. But it is not your domain, it was ours—till you stole it, and pronounced us encroachers. Our jungles keep shrinking, we don’t have food to eat (you like deer meat too, even though God in his wisdom has given you so much more variety) ..so we venture into your land. We hate it. Your territory stinks, it is dirty, filthy, noisy—not like our beautiful, peaceful forest. And it holds many terrors. We know we put our lives at stake in your territory. Its hunger that drives us. And if we get caught, trust me, it is our worst nightmare.
You turn to us with a vengeance. Surround us, beat us, set us afire. A tigress I know of was strangled, hung on a tree and then beaten and whipped, till life gave up on her.
We are browbeaten and squeezed into a cage. Then, the circus begins—hundreds of Homo sapiens pour in from everywhere, everyone tries to get close (we are barred, so they feel heroic) to witness the agony of the caged beast. Big men flash lights at us—its called photography, even bigger men pose with us.
Party over, and we are packed off to the zoo. When they took my neighbour, her children starved to death.
You know, if you just let us be, we will slink away, run. We are terrified of you.
And did you ever stop to think, when you come to our jungles—and thousands of you come in everyday-we see you, so often, all the time, but we go away quietly, quickly, most of the times not even showing ourselves.
We fear for ourselves, and we don’t want to scare you.
We leave you alone.
Can you not accord us the same dignity?
Before I begin, I do not quite understand: Why this day? A Tiger Day? Undoubtedly, it serves you well—you will hold many of those conferences-where you sit around tables in plush, cooled rooms in cement monstrities (built after mining my forests, polluting the air, and over the graves of trees—but let’s not dwell on that for now), debating over my fate, and the 'best' course of action to save the tiger over five course meals—while unknownst to you—my brethren lie trapped, paw clasped in a steal jaw, spear thrust into the mouth..to silence his roar.
Somebody forgot to tell the poachers about Tiger Day.
And even you, who sit there sipping champagne and scrolling over Power Point, did you not sign away my forest to make way for a road for your speeding metal death traps? The man in white, the one who cut the ribbon to a round of applause, if I remember correctly sold the jungle to get votes. And the one who exalted on the virtues and duty of saving the national animal, he, I am told, got a cut for letting a multinational rape my home for uranium.
So my cubs when they grew up, had nowhere to go. No territory that they could mark. I warned my son, as he grew up, showed him his boundaries, pointing to the rolling fields, where Man played with his children, and manufactured his food. “Don’t venture there, child, not into human territory—it is No Tiger’s Land.” He didn’t listen. Not his fault, he is—no was—a good lad, if a bit naughty. The resident male—his father actually, whacked him, and drove him away—and the village he went into, I remember my mom telling me stories about it. It was ours, once..till Man took over. He is dead now, that child of my heart—yes, don’t be surprised. We have emotions too. We bring up our young for two years-feed them milk, kill for them, acquaint them the lay of the land, teach them to hunt, imbibe in them the skills needed for survival...where we fail is to tutor them in the ways of man.
But I digress, as I was saying, he was poisoned. My poor child, he killed a buffalo. How was he to know? There was no deer, and hunger drove him to man’s lair. He smelt food, he killed it. For food, for survival, not for love or land or for not being allowed to watch TV (as I was told Homo sapiens do). He paid for it. He came back to his meal after a small stroll, had his fill..and then died a slow, agonising death..
I will not bore you with details of my family’s woes—suffice to point out that my daughter’s son (yes, I am grandmother now, though few of my kin have survived) lost his life in a train accident. I chanced upon a newspaper that some men working on the path left and I saw him, stretched on the tracks--bloated, bloodied, mutilated. But i knew him by his tail, he had a strange one, almost totally black.
And so Dear All-Powerful Man (yes, you are, even though they call ME the King or the Queen of the jungle), please leave my home alone. You have taken most of it away. I know of times when forests were spread far and wide in India, in just 100 years, 95 per cent of it is gone. Now, all I am left with is a tiny part of your (our?) country.
If you want me to live, leave it for me. And you, please stay away.
Of course, that would solve all our problems—a land without nasty two-legged creatures. But even I know, life is not all black and white. I know that if we were unprotected, we would be killed overnight. Each one of us. For we carry a huge price on our heads. You sell our skin and bones and whiskers and penis. I know that at my own cost. I have lost four of my children. In one place (not so far way), ‘Tiger Reserve’ they called it, for it was our sanctuary—all my kin are gone..slaughtered to be sold. There are no tigers there, anymore.
So, we need you to protect us, that is my second plea on this ‘Tiger Day.’
It is almost like asking the devil himself, the of the crime. And it is shameful, seeking your protection: To save us, the most powerful predators on earth. But even we with our stealth and skill and power, cannot match your weapons and evil intent.
Fear is our shadow, our trails are laid with death traps. And while you make all the right noises about saving the tiger (it gets good money and good press, I am told)—why is it that you guard artificial borders with a sophisticated army and weapons, but for us you make not a tenth of the effort?
You do not empower our protectors--few that there are.
Why, I have seen one of our protectors, poor man, shot by the bad men--poachers. He was a bit like us-courageous, and fought with them. He died.
My plea is: if you are to save us, help him, help us.
I have a final prayer: Do not take away our dignity. We are tigers, as much creations of God, as you. We are meant to live in the jungle, free and wild. Not in zoos, in cages so that you can spend a fine Sunday, poking at us, so that we roar and squirm. It amuses you, apparently. But it makes us very sad.
Sometimes, as I told you before, we enter your domain. But it is not your domain, it was ours—till you stole it, and pronounced us encroachers. Our jungles keep shrinking, we don’t have food to eat (you like deer meat too, even though God in his wisdom has given you so much more variety) ..so we venture into your land. We hate it. Your territory stinks, it is dirty, filthy, noisy—not like our beautiful, peaceful forest. And it holds many terrors. We know we put our lives at stake in your territory. Its hunger that drives us. And if we get caught, trust me, it is our worst nightmare.
You turn to us with a vengeance. Surround us, beat us, set us afire. A tigress I know of was strangled, hung on a tree and then beaten and whipped, till life gave up on her.
We are browbeaten and squeezed into a cage. Then, the circus begins—hundreds of Homo sapiens pour in from everywhere, everyone tries to get close (we are barred, so they feel heroic) to witness the agony of the caged beast. Big men flash lights at us—its called photography, even bigger men pose with us.
Party over, and we are packed off to the zoo. When they took my neighbour, her children starved to death.
You know, if you just let us be, we will slink away, run. We are terrified of you.
And did you ever stop to think, when you come to our jungles—and thousands of you come in everyday-we see you, so often, all the time, but we go away quietly, quickly, most of the times not even showing ourselves.
We fear for ourselves, and we don’t want to scare you.
We leave you alone.
Can you not accord us the same dignity?
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