Yesterday when I was watching Oprah spoil people who selflessly gave up time, money and jobs to head South and volunteer with the victims of Katrina, the moment I broke down was right after a woman in the audience was lauded for her work in rescuing emaciated, terrified dogs who had been locked in closets. I mourn for all of Katrina’s casualties, but something about an animal being unable to scrawl, “HELP” on a roof makes me extra farklempt.
When I was in college, before I had my first german shepherds, tigers were what I adored. I took an International Law class at Davis just because we were going to focus on the CITES and Biodiversity treaties. I did all of my assignments on India’s tigers, and winced as I learned more about their situation. That was over a decade ago, but this story from ye olde BBC still makes me happy:
Four alleged poachers in the western Indian state of Rajasthan have confessed to killing tigers in the Ranthambore National Park, police say.
The hunters, who were arrested last week, have admitted to killing nine tigers and one leopard, police said.
Mock it if you care to, but it’s a start. The government of Rajasthan has also transferred two senior park officials for their inability to protect the only cats I’ve ever loved. We haven’t much time:
Tiger numbers at Ranthambore dropped to 26 from 47 last year, a census showed. Urgent action is needed to stop Indian tigers becoming extinct, activists say.
At least Ranthambore still HAS tigers. According to environmentalists, Rajasthan’s Sariska sanctuary has all of zero, down from over a dozen in the May before last’s census. Restocking the park is under consideration.
What’s depressing is that a few turtles (another animal I find sweet) might have been sacrificed for the aforeblogged arrests:
Police in the town of Kota near Ranthambore, about 200km (125 miles) south of the city of Jaipur, told the BBC the arrests resulted from information obtained during another investigation.
“We arrested two poachers for hunting wild turtles and it led to the arrest of two more hunters, from where the details about the tiger killings unfolded,” police superintendent Alok Vashisth said.
What? Someone “important” wasn’t above the law?
Mr Vashisth said one of those arrested was a village chief from the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh.
Good.
:+:
These tigers are the most feared of all tiger species, since they have been known to resort to hunting humans for food. In fact, the record for the most people killed by any large animal goes to one of these tigers, called the Champawat Tiger, who alone devoured 436 people in the Kumaon area of India during the 19th century.
Yay for progress1
Aside note: I luv cats and dogs of all shapes and sizes. People think they aren’t affectionate – get one of your own – you’ll come around, and then they will, too. Cats are underappreciated and are often thought of as temporary pets and then abandoned. Unlike dogs, you have to love them first – they are the most affectionate pet-friend you can imagine . My kitties cuddle with me, wait for me by the door, get upset when I’m out all day – the works. I have a dog and 2 cats and we are the happiest most loving family ever!!!! K, I’ve overstayed my welcome, but I love animals and it makes me sad to see the local pet shelters over-stuffed with abandoned cats.
never 🙂
makes me sad to see them over-stuffed with any abandoned animal. just heartbreaking. when will people grasp that we don’t need more pet breeders, and that they should spay and neuter their animals?
i’m amazed when i see people with exotic pets on tv, and they justify it by saying, “but they’re endangered!” right. and your backyard is where they will stage their comeback?
I have such fond memories of Ranthambore- it being where I saw my first and only tiger. It makes me sad that the idiots have been killing these coolest of the big cats.
also cats are very unfairly maligned- they make fantastic and extremely watchable pets.
oh and about exotic/endangered pets- something totally creepy about wanting to domesticate a fine wild animal and should be totally illegal.
.
Jim Corbett was a blatant self promotion
con astist type that the brits encouraged in india. Maneaters of kumaon is nothing but self promotion by a vain dickhead.
i rather like the idea of a maneating tiger snacking on a poacher. i hope it’s not a myth. 😉
“…makes me sad to see them over-stuffed with any abandoned animal. just heartbreaking. when will people grasp that we don’t need more pet breeders, and that they should spay and neuter their animals?”
One of the caribbean maintenance guys in my building recoiled in horror when I told him my cat had been neutered. You gotta laugh at how men take it so personally, like our next step is to go after them with a pair of scissors. “You’ve cheated him of the best part of life!” he admonished me. “What nonsense,” I told him. This feline has the life of Reilly. well fed, well loved, entertained.
Brings to mind this movie I saw sometime back called “Two Brothers”. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0338512/) A story about two tigers, Kumal and Sangha, brothers actually. Starts from their days as cubs in jungles, to how they are captured, then Kumal is put in a circus, Sangha becomes a pet of the Governor’s son…and then some more. Very nice 🙂
Mock it if you care to, but itÂ’s a start.
There is nothing to mock at all – the state of tigers in India is so bad that even small efforts have an impact. India has such beautiful biodiversity but we keep screwing it up 🙁
Anyway, I would probably save an animal over a human if given a direct choice. People don’t care about them enough.
Guru Gulab Khatri
I think that your comment is unwarranted. He hunted tigers at a time when it was not an issue of an endangered species.
How was he a con artist.
I have nothing for or against Jim Corbett, but am surprised at your outburst, without any signs of instigation.
And the book you mention is a good read.
As regards my memories of Ranthambhore….awesome place. One should go there, as well as JC Natl Park
The book was required reading when i was growing up in india. I re read it when i tr Adding the numbers of people corbett claims that the beasts had killed its 1200+. Even today when there’s a lot more human encroachment in number of incidents where tigers kill human are less than 12/yr.
The book was required reading when i was growing up in india. I re read it when i traveled kumaon garwhal in 2002 Adding the numbers of people corbett claims that the beasts had killed its 1200+. Even today when there’s a lot more human encroachment in number of incidents where tigers kill human are less than 12/yr.
I read a not particularly interesting and not entirely flattering biography of Jim Corbett (by Martin Booth – but I don’t recommend). It said that Corbett might have embellished his stories a bit but he really did kill these man-eating tigers and leopards.
The reason that the number of man-eating incidents was so high in the first part of the 20th century was that humans were encroaching onto the tigers’ territory. Today, there is no jungle in India apart from the few parks. What few tigers remain live in these parks and have little contact with humans.
Guru Gulab Khatri You need to know what you are talking about befor you speek. Yes Jim Corbett killed many tigers but he was also Conservationist spending his life not only proteing villagers from man-eating tigers, but also traveling to many regions puting conservation of animals in the public eye. He is also responsible for the first national park in India. So please do your research befor giving an opinion.
@guru gulab khatri: What u say may well be true about the number of ppl killed by tigers today. But you bring a shallow argument to the table.
Firstly-You do realise that for tigers to kill people, first there have to be tigers.
Secindly-The tiger population in the 1920s was estimated to be about 40,000. Today it hovers around 4000 (if we are optimistic). The Human population in the 1920s in the kumaon region was 45,000 and today is around 35.64 lacs (census taken in 2001). You do the math.
Though one must read Corbetts stories with a pinch of salt, on the whole i think they are brilliant, written and narrated extremely well and in the end he always has promoted the need for survival of the tiger, which is what makes him a great man. reducing this man to what you call “a vain dickhead” is a shameless act of ignorance.
This book I found inspirational to such an extent that I travelled twice to Kaladunghi in UA, and stayed in close proximity to Corbetts winter home.
The terrain though which Corbett operated is a vast area of mountain forest, still very rugged and without expansive acces.
I have walked in the jungle and along riverbeds in an area not more than 1 mile from his home, where the pugmarks of Tiger are still to be found close to habitation and recent encounters recounted.
While walking alone through grasses 18″ high, or across river valleys still frequented by Tigers, the sense of being severely second best is very real.
To endure the rigourous privations that the climate, geography and quarry demanded is a testiment to a real man.
“Jim Corbett was a blatant self promotion con astist type that the brits encouraged in india. Maneaters of kumaon is nothing but self promotion by a vain dickhead.”
Mr Guru you really don´t know what you are talking about research a bit before you open your dirty mouth. It is a shame to hear somebody refering to Corbett in such a disrespectfull way. Corbett was a great storyteller, a sportsman with a great heart, always ready to help the Kumaon folks. He is a legend in the Kumaon hills and reading his book “Maneaters of Kumaon” when I was a young was in fact a delicious nectar to my soul. I am a Corbett lover and I have visited his grave in Nyeri, Kenya. It is my dream to visit Corbett homeland in India.Corbett forever!!!
Hey Guru: How can you make such a comment about Jim Corbett without even knowing the slightest about this great man ?. Yes, in his youger years he may have been trigger happy, but he soon realized his worng ways and devoted his entire life and savings to help save the environment and at the end not only creating the first national park of India but taking a huge step towards saving the tiger (which in turn helped save many other species which were close to extinction). He is still fondly remembered even today by the common people (how many other people really are ?.) The people Corbett called lovingly “the poor of India”).
I have been researching corbett and I don’t find him worthy of adoration, but find him a Charlton. Well and Indians probably the rest of the world too indulges in that kind of mental masturbation.
His exploits were embellished. I have read nearly all his works and I just dont know where to begin with the guy. He claims an exaggerated number of kills to individual tiger. Then he also photographs himself with them. They are in all cases healthy large specimen. The kind hunters would kill for a trophy. How the fuck did man eating tigers have near perfect coat, a large muscular body, and a jaw which shows full set of tooth. And forget the tone of the rest of the writing forget the fact that the indian tribals had been living in the vicinity of the jungle for ages and ooh the poor villagers, tribals, weaklings cant take care of missing person or a man kill or let alone even investigate it themselves, well in that case of course I a white knight was there to protect them. I urge others to look at his writings and photographs and oh yes actual tigers rather than serenading a concocted legacy.
that was brilliant.i mean i champwat was alive,kind of hitch to some.
I am researching project tiger as part of my thesis and as a distraction I got into collecting a fair bit of info on Corbett/ I do have to say that Corbetts legacy is complex and nuanced and yet all narratives are very simple.