Billy Arjan Singh

[Guest guest]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

 

 

Obituaries

 

Billy Arjan Singh, 92, died on January 1, 2010 at his

Tiger Haven refuge, 250 kilometers from Lucknow, India. Born into

the Ahluwalia royal family of Kapurthala, Singh shot seven tigers as

a youth, but came to detest hunting as he saw tigers, leopards,

blackbuck, and other Indian " trophy " animals shot to the verge of

extinction. Founding Tiger Haven in 1959, which has never had any

relationship or resemblance to the captive tiger facility by the same

name in Tennessee, Singh created the private preserve that

eventually became Dudhwa National Park. Singh notoriously dragged

poachers to town behind his jeep and expressed unsympathetic views

about the losses of employees and visitors who brought their children

into proximity with the captive tigers and leopards he rehabilitated

for release and bred with former zoo stock, including Tara, a part

Siberian tiger he imported from England in 1976, dismissing

objections that he was " contaminating " the Indian tiger gene pool. A

recluse, whose closest companion for many years was his elephant,

Singh preserved wildlife at the cost of antagonizing so many people

that elected officials came to treat him as a public enemy. Backlash

against his methods, as well as flagrant corruption, nearly ruined

the Indian refuge system in the late 20th century, under the mantra

of " sustainable use. " The theory was that ordinary Indians would

support refuges only if the refuges contributed to their prosperity.

Refuges were opened to grazing, wood-gathering, and eventually to

so much other economic activity that some, like Sariska, were

reduced to heavily trafficked tourist corridors, losing the wildlife

that they were founded to protect. Valmik Thapar, an initially

reluctant student of Singh's, redeemed Singh and the refuge concept

by demonstrating with Singh's help and investment how habitat

reclamation could provide even greater economic benefits than the

other common uses of refuge land.

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

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