Scientists At India's Leading Tiger Preserve "Despondent" - Independent

[hatrack]

In Ranthambhore, one of India's premier tiger reserves in the heart of Rajasthan, the sense of gloom this week has been almost palpable. Fateh Singh Rathore looks despondent when you ask him how many tigers are left in the park. "In 2004, the official count of tigers in Ranthambhore was 47, last year was 26. At least 18 tigers went 'missing'."

Fateh Singh, one of India's most revered "tiger wallahs", served for years as the director of Ranthambhore. Now retired from official duties, he heads a local non-governmental organisation called Tiger Watch. In his office on the outskirts of the park, he puts a disc in the computer and 18 tiger "mugshots" appear on the screen. Beneath each picture is a stark caption, indicating the method of death. "Shot by poachers", it says under one, "poisoned" and "snared" under others.

"It gets worse" he continues. "In March last year, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, set up a tiger task force in response to the epidemic of poaching which was wiping out our tigers. In May he flew into Ranthambhore with his helicopters. And what has happened since?" Singh pauses dramatically before pulling up another image. "Since the Prime Minister's visit, we have lost another seven. There could be fewer than 20 tigers left in Ranthambhore today."

The only reason the police belatedly took action against the poachers, apparently, is because Fateh Singh and his people presented them with the evidence. "We forced the police to act," Singh says. "In four or five months we caught 35 people. One man confessed he had killed more than 30 tigers in two years. Charges were finally brought and convictions obtained. A number of poachers, including the ringleaders, are now in custody. But won't others step into their shoes as long as there is a demand for tiger skins?

EDIT

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article357245.ece

[gunsaximbo]

1. i'm sickened.

they need armed guards and bounty hunters to catch the poachers. Man will absolutely destroy this planet.

[Kurovski]

2. It's a depraved kind of spiritual emptiness that motivates

someone to crave, kill, and possess something so rare and beautiful. It's a level of greed and arrogance that may even require psychosis.

It wouldn't surprise me if Dick Cheney started walking around in a tiger-skin suit.

[hatrack]

3. Would it surprise you that Bush I, Schwarzkopf & other "elites" . .

. . . belong to Safari Club International, which does whatever it can to weaken, eliminate or disregard the laws of African countries which might impede their chances of shooting lions, leopards and other predators?

There's a special kind of asshole who does that kind of thing, and I am not surprised at all that these clowns are just that kind of special assholes.

[Kurovski]

4. Nope. No suprise, I knew of the club.

They do what they want. They're "special".

For example, George the First's son breaks the law every day.

[phantom power]

5. For some reason, I'm shocked....

At the existence of such a club, not that they'd be members. I try to be cynical, but I guess I'm just a poseur.

I guess somebody has to keep those uppity negro countries from getting in the way of the Better Half's right to hang endangered species on their billiard-room walls.

[hatrack]

6. Yes, yes, "White Man's Burden" and all of that . . .

Pip pip!!

[ramapo]

7. People are sick

There is no reverence for life. We are full of greed and empty of respect for the lives of others, human or animal.

These are such beautiful creatures. My cats belong to a very special family.

[LisaLynne]

12. That's always been my problem with people ...

No reverence for life. There are respectful ways to go about being in this world, but too many seem interested in only being selfish and disgusting.

[Odin2005]

8. If you want to stop poaching...

you need to cut off the demand. The China's pathetic demand for mystical potions made from animal parts is the problem

[Pooka Fey]

9. I'm also despondent. K&R

:cry: Since I was a child, I've almost always preferred the company of felines to that of primates (there are a couple exceptional primates that I know, however). No creature has a bigger heart than a cat. My heart breaks a little more every day. Just like everyone else on this board.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Who is buying the tiger skins?

[roguevalley]

11. I wish they would round them up. this is so very terrible. round them up.

so what they do in africa over rhinos. shoot the bastards on the spot.

[NickB79]

13. Shoot to kill

I have no sympathy for poachers anymore. Shoot on sight.

[Jed Dilligan]

14. Bigger problems here than bad tiger-haters

Ranthambore was once inhabited, then it was closed off to be used as a private hunting preserve. One of the last people to be invited to hunt there by the maharajas was the King of England in 1949. This is true of national parks throughout the postcolonial world. They are lands where a policy of being roped-off from the natives dates back to colonial times. Originally game preserves preserved animals so that rich people could shoot them without the impoverished locals beating them to the punch. A culture of resistance that revolves around poaching usually evolves in the fringes of the park, where memories of being displaced from the land and its resources run long.

Tigers are pretty. They are about as necessary to the ecosystem as we are; they are the top of the food chain. Environmentalists deplore that "charismatic megafauna" hog the public support for wildlife, leaving key species of greater environmental impact unprotected. Also, tigers do kill people, and tend to be seen differently by those who live in close proximity to them. We should consider the emotions of people who lose kids and dogs to tigers instead of just enjoying them in a zoo or National Geographic.

It's sad to see any species disappear from the earth. But roping off an area, barring human use and declaring it and its wildlife sacrosanct are not ways to save the biosphere. Big animals in Africa do BETTER in areas of traditional grazing culture than in wildlife preserves. We have to figure out how to live with the other creatures on this planet, not turn part of the planet into a museum.