(IN): Banning Tiger Tourism in India

[Guest guest]

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0505-ghosh_tiger_tourism.html

 

*Banning Tiger Tourism in India: a perspective

Commentary by , special to mongabay.com

May 05, 2010

*

 

*A debate rages in India over a proposal to ban tiger tourism in India.

Proponents of the ban say tiger tourism is intrusive and disturbs tigers and

wildlife in tiger reserves. Opponents say that among all the threats to the

tiger, tourism is the least potent and raises awareness.

Ghosh weighs in on the issue after seeing his first wild tiger in the flesh.

*

I have always been uncomfortable when friends and colleagues, especially

from abroad asked me if I had seen a tiger in the wild because I had not.

Well, I will not be anymore. For on 11th December, 2009, at 4.30 pm I saw my

first wild tiger at Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh where I was

attending a training programme for senior forest and police officers with

office colleagues.

 

We went on a park drive as soon as we arrived on 11th December and one hour

of the most intensive searching did not reveal anything. And just when I had

given up hope and we were completing the last round of the tour, the king of

the Indian jungle was spotted in a ravine in Salghat Charia in Kisli Range.

He could not be clearly seen initially. But we stayed put and then he walked

out on the trail right in front of our jeep, barely ten feet from where we

were stationed.

 

The tiger is an animal that does make me speciesist, at least momentarily.

The Giant Panda is cuter, the Pygmy Hog more endangered, the Snow Leopard

more elusive, the Leopard perhaps more difficult to spot and Great Apes more

interactive. But the tiger is simply the tiger in terms of sheer glamour and

appeal and when the animal walked out in the open, it was a feeling unlike

any other I have ever experienced, it was so thrilling.

 

My first wild tiger! Panthera tigris. The consort of Santoshi Maa, one of

the most revered figures in Hindu mythology. Rudyard Kipling’s villainous

Sher Khan. Jim Corbett’s large hearted gentleman. Billy Arjan Singh’s

controversial hybrid Tara. Saroj Raj Chaudhuri’s beloved Khairi. The animal

the World Bank wants to save. The target of the entire poaching community.

George Schaller’s subject of study in 1965 in Kanha National Park. William

Blake’s inspiration for his immortal poem. The subject of endless discussion

and debate among conservationists, animal rights activists and animal

welfarists. India’s national animal that has now become a symbol of

conservation worldwide.

 

But when you first view the animal, these thoughts do not occur at all. You

are struck speechless by the sheer beauty and grace of the animal. The

animal I saw initially was a large male in prime condition, and he was

visible for half an hour flat. He ambled down the road, followed and

preceded by our jeep and several others. He marked his territory and went

inside a thicket several times, only to re emerge. I was literally trembling

with emotion when I first spotted him, so great was my excitement. Several

scores of photos and minutes of video filming later, he vanished as

mysteriously as he had appeared. The King of the Indian forests had finally

condescended to grant me a sighting. The forest guards were tipped

handsomely for all their help after the trip by my colleagues and me.

 

Later on, we saw another tigress in another area but the first sighting is

the one that will remain embedded in my memory till the day I die. I must

have seen several hundreds of zoo and circus tigers, but these two animals

were incomparable to anything I have seen before.

 

We saw several other species, Gaur, Jackal, Sambar, Cheetal, Langur,

Peafowl, Paradise Flycatcher, Kestrel, Shikra, Barred Jungle Owlet and

Spotted Munia among others but the Tiger captured the show for the entire

duration of my stay in Kanha. Even as I write this note, I feel a tingling

sensation of awe and wonder at having seen such a marvel of evolution. A

sensation only comparable to the beauty of a starlit night that continues to

stupefy me. A sensation that makes you feel that animals are worth saving

for what they are, and not for what we can get out of them.

A live animal makes you respect the process of evolution and pay attention

to their habitat, for the Kanha forest is as beautiful as a cathedral,

especially when light filters in through the massive sal trees. And I can do

no better to end this note than share a quote with you by the American

ornithologist William Beebe, that repeatedly struck my mind during nights at

Kanha : " The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though

its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again

inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living

beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before

such a one can be again. " (The Bird (1906).

 

When I left Kanha today morning, I bowed once before entering the vehicle.

Expressed my gratitude to the gifts of organic evolution and hoped that the

rolling greenery of this marvellous national park, one of the best

maintained in Asia, would always be a home to the most regal denizen of the

Asian wilderness.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hello,

 

Thank you for posting this item.

 

 

 

Just some observations. This note is a purely observational and experiential

personal writing item that was spontaneously done last year after my trip to

Kanha in Madhya Pradesh. The animals I saw were all seen within designated

tourist zones and there was no intrusion into any officially off bound area.

In fact in all the protected areas I have visited I can never remember going

to any area that is not open to the public. I was once offered such a visit

but declined the offer.

 

 

 

Mongabay founder editor Rhett Butler has been gracious enough to host it and

has been encouraging me for more musings. I find Rhett’s website quite

amazing in its depth and diversity. Indeed some of the most brilliant

interviews on wildlifers I have read have appeared on his website. The

website is worth reading for its own sake and it is remarkable that it is

run principally by Rhett himself and another wildlife enthusiast and writer

named Jeremy Hance. Short notes attached. Rhett has more than 5000 published

articles on Mongabay alone.

 

 

 

The good thing right now is that animal issues are getting the kind of media

coverage that was quite unthinkable fifteen years ago. Of course there is a

plethora of opinions and differing trains of thought on approaches that work

best and some situations are complicated due to the fact that some prominent

burning political issues are not very easily resolved whichever way you look

at it. There might be situations where we would have to accommodate

viewpoints that are in apparent conflict.

 

 

 

It is gratifying to note one’s thoughts gaining ground and getting

acknowledged. Utilising the media is a bit like using a knife. You can slash

your finger if you are not careful but you can also apply it to chop food or

use it beneficially. A lot depends on effective coordination and transparent

discussion and it is nice to see India moving toward that direction.

 

 

 

Good wishes,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note on Rhett Butler

 

While I'm not a tropical biologist (my background is in math and economics),

I have been involved with tropical rainforests since 1995 and have authored

or co-authored several papers published in peer-reviewed scientific

journals. More importantly, the information sources (peer-reviewed journals,

respected researchers, etc) used by mongabay.com are credible. Further the

site has been praised some of the world's leading conservation biologists

and forest policy experts.

 

*

*

 

*A Place Out of Time*

A Place Out of Time, the rainforest section of the site, is written for

those who have an interest in the natural world. It is scripted to appeal to

a broad audience so that readers from grade school students to stockbrokers

to plumbers can enjoy and learn from this site. I have sought to broaden the

reach and horizons of this text by incorporating and bringing together far

flung (and sometimes seemingly unrelated) information from a variety of

sources not easily accessible to most readers. In the process I have tried

to simplify the sometimes complex subject matter and provide some insight

into the current economic, political, and social climate for tropical

rainforests.

 

*Why rainforests?

*Mongabay.com is the effort of Rhett A. Butler and unless noted otherwise

(usually at the top or bottom of a page), all content and pictures on

mongabay have been written or produced by Rhett. Rhett can be contacted via

email here. Further background on Rhett Butler is available at the

FAQs/Interview page.

*The history and mission of mongabay.com*

 

Mongabay.com aims to raise interest in wildlife and wildlands while

promoting awareness of environmental issues. Originally the site was based

around a text on tropical rainforests that I developed four year period

(1996-2000), but today the site has expanded to other topics. In 2004 I

developed WildMadagasacar.org to focus on the incredible biodiversity of

Madagascar. In 2005 I released a kids version of the rainforest site and

launched the mongabay environmental

 

science news. In 2006, I introduced the first foreign language versions of

the kids' site.

 

Mongabay.com and WildMadagascar.org are primarily funded by advertising.

 

I welcome feedback and user submissions. I can also use help with species

identification and translation [in almost any language].

 

 

 

I have long been fascinated with the natural world and its creatures but the

idea for this project arose from a personal experience in the rainforest of

Borneo.Despite my few years in the forest, this was not the first time I had

lost such a special place, nor will it be the last.

 

These personal losses have long troubled me, but the loss of that small

section of forest in Borneo created the urgency to act upon a thought that

had been nagging me. While environmental losses and degradation of the

rainforests have yet to reach the point of collapse, the continuing

disappearance of wildlands and loss of its species is disheartening. I feel

sorrow for those who have yet had the privilege to experience the

magnificence of these places and try to picture how - should biodiversity

losses continue to mount - I will explain to my grandchildren why these

places of natural wonder that I enjoyed in my youth no longer exist.

 

The lesson of A Place Out of Time is we may not have to accept this future.

A lot can still be done. Using our intelligence and ingenuity, the human

species can preserve biodiversity and unique places for future generations,

without compromising the quality of life for present populations.

 

 

Jeremy Hance started writing for mongabay.com in 2007 with a story about

the Baiji. In 2008 he became the site's first intern and in March 2009 he

became mongabay.com's second employee (the first being site founder Rhett

Butler <http://www.mongabay.com/about.htm>).

 

Jeremy Leon Hance has long been passionate about wildlife and conservation,

but a two-week trek into Peru's Amazon basin in 2006 awakened him to the

urgent need for environmental action. A graduate of Macalester College in

English, Jeremy has been fortunate to spend a lot of time outdoors,

including watching a wolverine in Glacier National Park, witnessing a

cheetah attack from beginning to end in Kenya, and spending a morning with

Giant River Otters in the Amazon. Having recently moved to Santa Fe, New

Mexico, Jeremy is currently attending St. John's 'Great Books' graduate

program. Time not spent reading (or writing), often finds Jeremy and his

wife, Tiffany, exploring the nearby mountains and desert.

 

 

 

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 1:55 PM, azam24x7 <azam24x7 wrote:

 

> http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0505-ghosh_tiger_tourism.html

>

> *Banning Tiger Tourism in India: a perspective

> Commentary by , special to mongabay.com

> May 05, 2010

> *

>

> *A debate rages in India over a proposal to ban tiger tourism in India.

> Proponents of the ban say tiger tourism is intrusive and disturbs tigers

> and

> wildlife in tiger reserves. Opponents say that among all the threats to the

> tiger, tourism is the least potent and raises awareness.

> Ghosh weighs in on the issue after seeing his first wild tiger in the

> flesh.

> *

> I have always been uncomfortable when friends and colleagues, especially

> from abroad asked me if I had seen a tiger in the wild because I had not.

> Well, I will not be anymore. For on 11th December, 2009, at 4.30 pm I saw

> my

> first wild tiger at Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh where I was

> attending a training programme for senior forest and police officers with

> office colleagues.

>

> We went on a park drive as soon as we arrived on 11th December and one hour

> of the most intensive searching did not reveal anything. And just when I

> had

> given up hope and we were completing the last round of the tour, the king

> of

> the Indian jungle was spotted in a ravine in Salghat Charia in Kisli Range.

> He could not be clearly seen initially. But we stayed put and then he

> walked

> out on the trail right in front of our jeep, barely ten feet from where we

> were stationed.

>

> The tiger is an animal that does make me speciesist, at least momentarily.

> The Giant Panda is cuter, the Pygmy Hog more endangered, the Snow Leopard

> more elusive, the Leopard perhaps more difficult to spot and Great Apes

> more

> interactive. But the tiger is simply the tiger in terms of sheer glamour

> and

> appeal and when the animal walked out in the open, it was a feeling unlike

> any other I have ever experienced, it was so thrilling.

>

> My first wild tiger! Panthera tigris. The consort of Santoshi Maa, one of

> the most revered figures in Hindu mythology. Rudyard Kipling’s villainous

> Sher Khan. Jim Corbett’s large hearted gentleman. Billy Arjan Singh’s

> controversial hybrid Tara. Saroj Raj Chaudhuri’s beloved Khairi. The animal

> the World Bank wants to save. The target of the entire poaching community.

> George Schaller’s subject of study in 1965 in Kanha National Park. William

> Blake’s inspiration for his immortal poem. The subject of endless

> discussion

> and debate among conservationists, animal rights activists and animal

> welfarists. India’s national animal that has now become a symbol of

> conservation worldwide.

>

> But when you first view the animal, these thoughts do not occur at all. You

> are struck speechless by the sheer beauty and grace of the animal. The

> animal I saw initially was a large male in prime condition, and he was

> visible for half an hour flat. He ambled down the road, followed and

> preceded by our jeep and several others. He marked his territory and went

> inside a thicket several times, only to re emerge. I was literally

> trembling

> with emotion when I first spotted him, so great was my excitement. Several

> scores of photos and minutes of video filming later, he vanished as

> mysteriously as he had appeared. The King of the Indian forests had finally

> condescended to grant me a sighting. The forest guards were tipped

> handsomely for all their help after the trip by my colleagues and me.

>

> Later on, we saw another tigress in another area but the first sighting is

> the one that will remain embedded in my memory till the day I die. I must

> have seen several hundreds of zoo and circus tigers, but these two animals

> were incomparable to anything I have seen before.

>

> We saw several other species, Gaur, Jackal, Sambar, Cheetal, Langur,

> Peafowl, Paradise Flycatcher, Kestrel, Shikra, Barred Jungle Owlet and

> Spotted Munia among others but the Tiger captured the show for the entire

> duration of my stay in Kanha. Even as I write this note, I feel a tingling

> sensation of awe and wonder at having seen such a marvel of evolution. A

> sensation only comparable to the beauty of a starlit night that continues

> to

> stupefy me. A sensation that makes you feel that animals are worth saving

> for what they are, and not for what we can get out of them.

> A live animal makes you respect the process of evolution and pay attention

> to their habitat, for the Kanha forest is as beautiful as a cathedral,

> especially when light filters in through the massive sal trees. And I can

> do

> no better to end this note than share a quote with you by the American

> ornithologist William Beebe, that repeatedly struck my mind during nights

> at

> Kanha : " The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though

> its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet

> again

> inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living

> beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before

> such a one can be again. " (The Bird (1906).

>

> When I left Kanha today morning, I bowed once before entering the vehicle.

> Expressed my gratitude to the gifts of organic evolution and hoped that the

> rolling greenery of this marvellous national park, one of the best

> maintained in Asia, would always be a home to the most regal denizen of the

> Asian wilderness.