Billy: The brain behind Dudhwa park is dead

January 4, 2010

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Manjari Mishra | TNN

Lucknow: His last wish could be the best introduction to wildlife

enthusiast and Padma Vibhushan Billy Arjan Singh, who passed away on

Friday night. The 92-yearold wanted that his ashes must be buried in

'Tiger Haven', his sprawling 50-acre farm on the outskirts of the Dudhwa

national park, alongside the graves of his " most treasured friends " -two

leopards Juliet and Harriet Eli, a mongrel bitch and two female

elephants. For the past 60 years, Billy-closely related to the

Kapurthala family-doggedly shunned human company, naturally there was no

reason for him to change his mind at the fag end of the journey.

While women obviously ranked much below in the list of favourites,

his first love undoubtedly was Tara, the tigress he brought home from

Twycross Zoo, London, in 1076 as a cub. Reared by him, she was released

into the wild by Billy when fully grown. There are touching

documentaries to show the man-animal bonds, highlights spanning Tara's

escapades, including his successful experiment with captive breeding.

However, much as the big cat brought her master companionship and

solace, Tara also triggered off a fierce war between Billy and the UP

forest department. Billy's contribution in setting up the Dudhwa

National Park and tiger reserve or Project Tiger would always be

remembered by wildlife lovers.

Billy's fight against hunting put 26 professional shikar companies

out of job. Despite failing health, he had filed a writ in the Allahabad

high court against poaching in Dudhwa. This is apart from a relentless

battle he waged to have the offending railway tracks running through

Dudhwa shifted to ensure its inhabitants a peaceful existence. The only

regret he had was " there was so much needed to be done for tigers and so

little time''. The helplessness provoked him to come up with some of the

best one liners like, " If only they could vote, tigers could have a much

better chance to survive.''

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