Wearing my tiger hat...
Over the last few months, for various reasons - not least because he seems embattled from all sides - I have been re-reading some of the old tiger books. Although this is an elephant blog I may talk about tigers a little over the next few weeks; as some of you know, my first foray into the wildlife conservation lark was at Tiger Tops in Chitwan National Park where, under the auspices of the Internation Trust for Nature Conservation, we performed tiger research - sometimes atop the Lodge's domestic elephants.
Never a rigorous enough scientist to call myself a researcher I nonetheless discovered some other 'talents' that have since served me well and had a wonderful time with the proper trackers.
Ever since I have been involved with the tiger's world it has seemed a critical time for the stripy cat but I cannot remember a time when the world's attention needed to be focused more strongly on his plight - the censuses in India have come back far short of previously reported numbers (though this was not entirely unexpected and represents probably more accurate counting and reporting rather than sudden slaughter) but, perhaps more importantly, wealthy businessmen in China are now pressuring their Government to reopen the trade in farmed tiger parts, a move for which they have been breeding tigers intensively over a number of years.
Whilst I obviously come from a biased side of the argument it is hard to see how this move will not spell the end for wild tigers, in my next blog I will borrow the words of a far better informed researcher to go through the arguments.
It is worth noting that the tiger 'zoo's' in Thailand have also been breeding for just such a move; even though illegal it is an open secret known to many an international NGO, most notably the EIA and the WCS, that 'medicinal' tiger parts from these farms - that many tourists are encouraged to visit - have been for sale in Bangkok markets. The leading man in the Chiang Mai Night Safari, last year, promised that tiger meat would be available in all restaurants at the park, this comment was quickly rescinded following the outcry it caused and the Thai police and customs departments have worked admirably to put a stop to this trade and make life very difficult for the traders.
It would be ironic if, just as Thailand is getting a hold on this problem, the Chinese were to make the trade there legal.
Anyway, better informed comment in the next offering, for now I really only wanted to point out a passage in F.W. Champion's classic pioneering work "With a Camera in Tiger Land" that made me chuckle and I thought worth quoting to anyone who thinks I have an easy life (of course the chariacature doesn't exist at Anantara or Four Seasons necessarily - but it certainly isn't limited to Indian mahouts of the 1920's), over to Mr Champion...
"On one occasion, in the hot weather, I came across a tiger, lying half-asleep in the sun at about 10 a.m., and completely blocking the path along which I was proceeding at the time. We first saw him at a distance of about 30 yards, and, as his head was turned in the opposite direction, it was obviously an excellent opportunity to stalk right up to him. My mahawat (s.i.c) on that occasion, however, a sullen and bad tempered man, argued I must shoot him straight away, and, when I refused, he retaliated by taking the elephant up fast and noisily, thereby causing the tiger to bolt at once. This is the great difficulty which always has to be faced if one wishes to use tame elephants for the purpose of big-game photography. The mahawats are trained from boyhood to expect the sahib eagerly to seize the opportunity to shoot animals like tigers, and they simply cannot understand anyone letting such opportunities slip for the sake of a paltry photograph, which, to them, means nothing whatever. A mahawat loves of boast among fellows of the number of tigers that has been shot from his elephant, and he is always thinking of the 'bucksheesh' which accompanies the death of a tiger. The photographer can overcome this later difficulty by giving large tips whenever he obtains a successful photograph, but, even then, nine mahawats out of ten will secretly despise him and think him quite unworthy to sit on their elephants."
...it must be pointed out that some of my best tiger video was taken from the Tiger Tops elephants and guests at my camps do not face similar problems - we do have lovely mahouts - but it just amused me to re-learn that, even in the halcyon days of British India, mahouts were a breed apart and no great respecters of rank and position.
...taken from the back of an elephant (Chan Chun Kali) back in my younger days.
Never a rigorous enough scientist to call myself a researcher I nonetheless discovered some other 'talents' that have since served me well and had a wonderful time with the proper trackers.
Ever since I have been involved with the tiger's world it has seemed a critical time for the stripy cat but I cannot remember a time when the world's attention needed to be focused more strongly on his plight - the censuses in India have come back far short of previously reported numbers (though this was not entirely unexpected and represents probably more accurate counting and reporting rather than sudden slaughter) but, perhaps more importantly, wealthy businessmen in China are now pressuring their Government to reopen the trade in farmed tiger parts, a move for which they have been breeding tigers intensively over a number of years.
Whilst I obviously come from a biased side of the argument it is hard to see how this move will not spell the end for wild tigers, in my next blog I will borrow the words of a far better informed researcher to go through the arguments.
It is worth noting that the tiger 'zoo's' in Thailand have also been breeding for just such a move; even though illegal it is an open secret known to many an international NGO, most notably the EIA and the WCS, that 'medicinal' tiger parts from these farms - that many tourists are encouraged to visit - have been for sale in Bangkok markets. The leading man in the Chiang Mai Night Safari, last year, promised that tiger meat would be available in all restaurants at the park, this comment was quickly rescinded following the outcry it caused and the Thai police and customs departments have worked admirably to put a stop to this trade and make life very difficult for the traders.
It would be ironic if, just as Thailand is getting a hold on this problem, the Chinese were to make the trade there legal.
Anyway, better informed comment in the next offering, for now I really only wanted to point out a passage in F.W. Champion's classic pioneering work "With a Camera in Tiger Land" that made me chuckle and I thought worth quoting to anyone who thinks I have an easy life (of course the chariacature doesn't exist at Anantara or Four Seasons necessarily - but it certainly isn't limited to Indian mahouts of the 1920's), over to Mr Champion...
"On one occasion, in the hot weather, I came across a tiger, lying half-asleep in the sun at about 10 a.m., and completely blocking the path along which I was proceeding at the time. We first saw him at a distance of about 30 yards, and, as his head was turned in the opposite direction, it was obviously an excellent opportunity to stalk right up to him. My mahawat (s.i.c) on that occasion, however, a sullen and bad tempered man, argued I must shoot him straight away, and, when I refused, he retaliated by taking the elephant up fast and noisily, thereby causing the tiger to bolt at once. This is the great difficulty which always has to be faced if one wishes to use tame elephants for the purpose of big-game photography. The mahawats are trained from boyhood to expect the sahib eagerly to seize the opportunity to shoot animals like tigers, and they simply cannot understand anyone letting such opportunities slip for the sake of a paltry photograph, which, to them, means nothing whatever. A mahawat loves of boast among fellows of the number of tigers that has been shot from his elephant, and he is always thinking of the 'bucksheesh' which accompanies the death of a tiger. The photographer can overcome this later difficulty by giving large tips whenever he obtains a successful photograph, but, even then, nine mahawats out of ten will secretly despise him and think him quite unworthy to sit on their elephants."
...it must be pointed out that some of my best tiger video was taken from the Tiger Tops elephants and guests at my camps do not face similar problems - we do have lovely mahouts - but it just amused me to re-learn that, even in the halcyon days of British India, mahouts were a breed apart and no great respecters of rank and position.
...taken from the back of an elephant (Chan Chun Kali) back in my younger days.
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