The Tiger of Tiger Haven
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The year of 2008 has been such a magical year for me... when i roamed almost all over India, been to prime habitats, seen interesting species and met with amazing set of people.
The most remembered and proud meeting is what i want to describe here...
Beacon television was the platform that helped me reach places. Sitting in the office and discussing about what we are going to shoot during our Dhudhwa trip was the time i remember i realized that i will be soon getting a life time opportunity...an opportunity unique in itself to meet a personality who has impressed me since a long time. There are 3 people I consider as superheroes in the arena of wildlife and environment. Billy Arjan singh is one of the three and others are "Carpet Sahib" Jim Corbet and legendary natural history presenter David Attenborough.
We reached Dhudhwa at night and planned for a shoot next day...next day as we left in the morning; i was just wondering and accounting for similarities between Billy, Corbet and Attenborough.
Anyway, we reached the spot, sat on a machan and waited for sightings...I and my director Seema Muralidhara were busy vocally enlisting species that we needed to shoot to compile the story. Often the tiger would come in our desired list...but the tiger in real wasn’t showing up...we were still happy...for the 1st half of the day, the catch was good and we got some unique shots of wild boar, hog deer, swamp deer, storks, kingfishers...it was still satisfying.
After lunch we came again to the same spot...suddenly we saw something....our guide Mr. Naseem shouted Leopard...Bahadur-my colleague shouted small tiger! …And, then i being indifferent just thought it’s better to get a shot of whatever it is...our cameraman Patil zoomed in and concluded its a Tiger...precisely female tiger...
I managed to get several images...of tigress and then of 4 cubs...3 hours is what we spent watching tiger cubs and the magical tigress.
In the evening, while contemplating several things i realized, i am not that happy even after seeing tigress with 4 cubs…We still had to see the most amazing resident tiger of Dhudhwa.
Next day comes and first half of the day was spent shooting Rhinos and their unpredictable behavior.
After lunch, we preceded towards the "Tiger Haven"…place where we would meet the tiger who changed fate of all other tigers in Dhudhwa.
Billy Arjan Singh devoted almost 50 years of his life for the welfare and protection of India’s big cats. Billy did not appear as i visualized him from his posters and book covers. I always imagined him from his most famous picture- a tall body builder holding a leopard...Feisty Billy Arjan Singh!...
During our meet in 2008, he appeared very old and was in his 93rd year of life. Physically weak and needed a support.
I had read some of his books...and i started imagining his stories in books against locations that i was seeing then...the Verandah where he writes about leopards-Prince, Harriet and Juliette...who would come and call in the night..the suheli river which used flood his farm...etc. etc.
Anyway, i was seeing Billy Arjan Singh in an unexpected form...age had mellowed him down i thought.
We started discussing things with him...we asked him about his views on tiger conservation in India...we talked about what he thinks of the forest department...we talked on several things...and then we also asked him about the "controversial" Tara - the tigress. Billy Arjan Singh was an ex-army man and hunter turned conservationist. He is famous for his pioneering work on reintroduction of leopards and tiger into the wild. Though he looked weak physically, he still had the same attitude, vision and enthusiasm. Age couldn’t take a toll on his passion for wildlife conservation...i think his ideas and concepts are bigger than his life...nothing would take toll on his ideas and work...
Billy sounded as if he wanted to say lot of things...he couldn’t stop criticizing forest department...in his 93rd year, he would still go for a walk in the forest...he would still inspect and instruct installation of Salt lick for deer. He would still do every bit he can to assist forest to survive and wildlife to breath....he was worried about the man-animal conflict...he was concerned that man would be the ultimate winner in this conflict...he wanted tiger to survive...without being bothered about reasoning, he wanted to save wildlife just for the sake of it...
While we were discussing several things, i just heard a question that i thought would make him uncomfortable...in-fact i was prepared to run expecting he would hit us with his stick...
The question was about his beloved tigress Tara...the tigress which Billy braught from Twycross zoo and trained her to introduce her into the wild...there is a speculation amongst people that Tara was killed as she turned a man-eater soon after her introduction to the wilderness of Dhudhwa...
Billy was facing questions about Tara, her being a Siberian breed and accusations on him about introducing a Siberian gene alien to the wild gene pool of Dhudhwa...Billy was amused a bit by our questions…did he consider them lame?...or I guess he was used to such enquiries... he refuted that Tara was a man-eater...he negated the fact that she was killed during the man-eater hunting expedition and he stressed that he has in-fact enhanced the local gene pool by introducing Tara.
He said Tara must have died a natural death or she must have been poached...but, she for sure wasnt killed as a Maneater...
He also showed us several documents that made us somehow inclined towards him.
I wanted to show him pictures that i had taken the previous day...when we informed about our sighting of a tigress with 4 cubs, he was delighted. I showed him pictures and still remember what he said...he said “Tara wasn’t killed, Tara lived a normal life-earned a natural death and that is why i can see Tara in this tigress...i see Tara in many tigers in Dhudhwa...that itself is a proof that Tara survived, lived and bred...”
Scientific studies finally proved that some tigers in Dhudhwa showed 90% certainty of carrying a Siberian gene. If he really "polluted" the gene pool is still a question...For my belief, Billy's success stays in the fact that he showed the world that restocking of wildlife by human assistance is possible and refreshing of the gene pool can be strategically practiced. He must have been the 1st person to try training and introduction of tigers into the wild. He prooved that tigers born in captivity can be returned to wild.
Billy passed away in 2010...But i think such people never die...Corbet is still there and Billy will still be there..."People die...ideas cant...and ideas wont"
We left tiger haven… 2 days later we left Dhudhwa...while returning i was reading a book titled "Honorary tiger : the life of Billy Arjan Singh "...the book still stays and Billy still lives...
Almost 2 months later, i read in a newspaper that a tigress and 4 cubs were burnt alive as they sneaked in a grassland nearby a Tharu settlement...very close to the place where we had our sighting...Just few days before this incident a young chap was mauled by a tiger... the conflict continues...Humans still have the upper hand...
The most remembered and proud meeting is what i want to describe here...
Beacon television was the platform that helped me reach places. Sitting in the office and discussing about what we are going to shoot during our Dhudhwa trip was the time i remember i realized that i will be soon getting a life time opportunity...an opportunity unique in itself to meet a personality who has impressed me since a long time. There are 3 people I consider as superheroes in the arena of wildlife and environment. Billy Arjan singh is one of the three and others are "Carpet Sahib" Jim Corbet and legendary natural history presenter David Attenborough.
We reached Dhudhwa at night and planned for a shoot next day...next day as we left in the morning; i was just wondering and accounting for similarities between Billy, Corbet and Attenborough.
Anyway, we reached the spot, sat on a machan and waited for sightings...I and my director Seema Muralidhara were busy vocally enlisting species that we needed to shoot to compile the story. Often the tiger would come in our desired list...but the tiger in real wasn’t showing up...we were still happy...for the 1st half of the day, the catch was good and we got some unique shots of wild boar, hog deer, swamp deer, storks, kingfishers...it was still satisfying.
I managed to get several images...of tigress and then of 4 cubs...3 hours is what we spent watching tiger cubs and the magical tigress.
In the evening, while contemplating several things i realized, i am not that happy even after seeing tigress with 4 cubs…We still had to see the most amazing resident tiger of Dhudhwa.
Next day comes and first half of the day was spent shooting Rhinos and their unpredictable behavior.
After lunch, we preceded towards the "Tiger Haven"…place where we would meet the tiger who changed fate of all other tigers in Dhudhwa.
Billy Arjan Singh devoted almost 50 years of his life for the welfare and protection of India’s big cats. Billy did not appear as i visualized him from his posters and book covers. I always imagined him from his most famous picture- a tall body builder holding a leopard...Feisty Billy Arjan Singh!...
During our meet in 2008, he appeared very old and was in his 93rd year of life. Physically weak and needed a support.
I had read some of his books...and i started imagining his stories in books against locations that i was seeing then...the Verandah where he writes about leopards-Prince, Harriet and Juliette...who would come and call in the night..the suheli river which used flood his farm...etc. etc.
Anyway, i was seeing Billy Arjan Singh in an unexpected form...age had mellowed him down i thought.
We started discussing things with him...we asked him about his views on tiger conservation in India...we talked about what he thinks of the forest department...we talked on several things...and then we also asked him about the "controversial" Tara - the tigress. Billy Arjan Singh was an ex-army man and hunter turned conservationist. He is famous for his pioneering work on reintroduction of leopards and tiger into the wild. Though he looked weak physically, he still had the same attitude, vision and enthusiasm. Age couldn’t take a toll on his passion for wildlife conservation...i think his ideas and concepts are bigger than his life...nothing would take toll on his ideas and work...
Billy sounded as if he wanted to say lot of things...he couldn’t stop criticizing forest department...in his 93rd year, he would still go for a walk in the forest...he would still inspect and instruct installation of Salt lick for deer. He would still do every bit he can to assist forest to survive and wildlife to breath....he was worried about the man-animal conflict...he was concerned that man would be the ultimate winner in this conflict...he wanted tiger to survive...without being bothered about reasoning, he wanted to save wildlife just for the sake of it...
While we were discussing several things, i just heard a question that i thought would make him uncomfortable...in-fact i was prepared to run expecting he would hit us with his stick...
The question was about his beloved tigress Tara...the tigress which Billy braught from Twycross zoo and trained her to introduce her into the wild...there is a speculation amongst people that Tara was killed as she turned a man-eater soon after her introduction to the wilderness of Dhudhwa...
Billy was facing questions about Tara, her being a Siberian breed and accusations on him about introducing a Siberian gene alien to the wild gene pool of Dhudhwa...Billy was amused a bit by our questions…did he consider them lame?...or I guess he was used to such enquiries... he refuted that Tara was a man-eater...he negated the fact that she was killed during the man-eater hunting expedition and he stressed that he has in-fact enhanced the local gene pool by introducing Tara.
He said Tara must have died a natural death or she must have been poached...but, she for sure wasnt killed as a Maneater...
He also showed us several documents that made us somehow inclined towards him.
I wanted to show him pictures that i had taken the previous day...when we informed about our sighting of a tigress with 4 cubs, he was delighted. I showed him pictures and still remember what he said...he said “Tara wasn’t killed, Tara lived a normal life-earned a natural death and that is why i can see Tara in this tigress...i see Tara in many tigers in Dhudhwa...that itself is a proof that Tara survived, lived and bred...”
Scientific studies finally proved that some tigers in Dhudhwa showed 90% certainty of carrying a Siberian gene. If he really "polluted" the gene pool is still a question...For my belief, Billy's success stays in the fact that he showed the world that restocking of wildlife by human assistance is possible and refreshing of the gene pool can be strategically practiced. He must have been the 1st person to try training and introduction of tigers into the wild. He prooved that tigers born in captivity can be returned to wild.
Billy passed away in 2010...But i think such people never die...Corbet is still there and Billy will still be there..."People die...ideas cant...and ideas wont"
We left tiger haven… 2 days later we left Dhudhwa...while returning i was reading a book titled "Honorary tiger : the life of Billy Arjan Singh "...the book still stays and Billy still lives...
Almost 2 months later, i read in a newspaper that a tigress and 4 cubs were burnt alive as they sneaked in a grassland nearby a Tharu settlement...very close to the place where we had our sighting...Just few days before this incident a young chap was mauled by a tiger... the conflict continues...Humans still have the upper hand...
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