Kenneth Anderson

[shahid]

There are about 1100 Tigers in the Indian forests ( The source of this census in quite accurate ) now, and at least 1100 poachers are after them every night.

The Tiger has to fight human encroachment on its range while its prey is in competition with the herds of cattle and the grazing grounds are dominated by cattle leaving little for horned game.

So a poacher after each Tiger tonight, lets see how many survive till next morning and how many at the end of this decade.

I guess by 2010 Tigers will be visible only in India Zoos imported from some foreign zoo.

Again I would say, privatise the concessions. Let the enterprise prevail for Tiger conservation. But the Government of India will not show sense. They still believe in Govt. agencies for conservation. A futile attempt and unyeilding situation.

[shahid]

Census Estimates of 1100 Tigers

West Bengal ( Sunderbans ) - 250 to 300

Cooch Behar & Assam - 200

Rajasthan - 40 to 50

Central Indian Forests - 300 to 400

Out of this Bandhavgarh & Rewa - 60 to 70

Total SOuth India, Inclusive of Mysore & AP , Kerela region - less than 150

The newly formed state of Chattisgarh has given birth to a newly formed Tiger Poaching Haven as well.

The Goverment of Madhay Paradesh currently has issues like defection, party politica and Gaushala to tackle than worry about Tigers. Forests means stealing timber and minerals enough to fund next two elections, who cares for the tiger. Fringe benefits, let the goons who helped the MLA steal timber, now plant crops on land cleared of timber. Soon this local thug will become a minor landowner and pay no taxes on agricultural income but soon enterprise to stealing KEndu leaves and cathechu trees ( Khair ) as well. Welcome to India, and India's crown Jewel, the heart of India, Madhya Pradesh.

As for Uttam Pradesh - Corbett park and Kaladhungi Tiger population - Less than 10 / 12. What a place.

[mehulkamdar]

Grumpy,

It is a sad fact that the tiger is destined for extinction in India in our lifetimes. The incompetence and crruption of the Indian government and it's hired thugs who are supposed to be in charge of conservation, big Chinese money in buying illicit tiger organs, the smuggling of tiger organs by Tibetan resistance fighters to finance their separatist campaigns against the Chinese, the equally bloody separatist campaign in Assam by ULFA who enjoy killing tigers to make money for their war and minority Indians and Bengali refugees from Bangladesh - all contribute to this decline.

I would take the 1100 number with a ship load of salt. Governments and their lackeys in India are known to lie. I have watched them for too long not to know their ways. The tiger's future home will be the USA where, at last count, there were more tigers in zoos and private collections than there are in the rest of the world put together.

[Sakobav]

Maybe I am sounding like a broken record but would a letter campaign to MPs and newspapers have some snow ball impact..many of the members on this board know MPs and local state politicos and IAS lobby..Its already too late the list of animals and birds that are disappearing is pretty long starting from Common House sparrow, vultures to Ganges Dolphins and Gharrials and Crocs.. I will get off my soap box know..

[mehulkamdar]

Navdeep,

At Sat and Mack The Knife's instance, three years ago, we had a very successful campaign to draw attention to the disappearance of tigers at Sariska. The IFG was not a body that we knew of at the time, though the Accuratereloading forums, Nitro Express forums and several NGOs in North America and even in Pakistan and Bangladesh sent thousands of e-mails to the President, the PM etc and forced a look at the issues concerning tigers at the time. We could do it now, but do not have a specific trigger to act on. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be most glad to organise this - I do know people in newspapers here and have a very good friend at NBC who is always happy to broadcast information about something like this if needed.

It may sound treacherous to say that India does not act on anything unless the country is criticised from outside, but that is, most certainly, and sadly, true. If we have consensus on this, I shall be glad to start working.

Cheers!

[Grumpy]

Mehul, three years ago you were saying that you thought the Tiger would be extinct in India by 2010 unless drastic steps were taken immediately. Three years later what has happened ? Absolutely nothing.........except for the accellerating demise of the Tiger. You had to put up with personal attacks from a*******s who screamed that you were talking a load of rubbish at that time.......They seem to have been quiet lately. So the numbers have declined to 1100 in a little over a year ? And I`ll bet the official figures are still reckoning on well over 4,000.
They`ll probably last until after 2010.....but not many of them......and those that are left will probably be in glorified Safari Parks. Shameful.

[mehulkamdar]

Grumpy,

That SOB Geoff Jones e-mailed to ask me if he could have dinner with me at my club in London after that exchange. I told him what I thought he could do with himself. He does not come on any of the major forums these days and I shall certainly go for his jugular if he does. I wish his kind would go extinct - sadly, that is unlikely to happen.

The tragedy in India is that tigers are disappearing in the Safari parks first and foremost. Sariska has none and declining numbers have been reported at several other sanctuaries. In Hyderabad, two poachers managed to kill and skin a tigress in the city zoo. I find it difficult to believe that there is no complicity by the government's hired lackeys in all of this...

Sad, and sadly true.

[huntergill]

Hi Shahid,
I think you are talking about Jamshed Bhatt, who adds Khan sahib to his name, though nothing to do with ruling class.The same guy who planted dead leopard for Ruark, to shoot in the night.Rest of your di.scription fits him too.Anderson was based in Banglore and retired from aeroplane industry.Read some where that his son is living outside India and doesn,t want to share or part with any info. regarding his father.

Mehul,
Regarding tiger, if IFG can contribute anything, it will be a big step forward for the noble cause.We can join hands with Ashok kumar(wildlife trust India) or Blenda(wild life protection society) or set up indipendent organisation.If we can rope in Thappar to work with, it will be great.

[Sujay]

Mehul, three years ago you were saying that you thought the Tiger would be extinct in India by 2010 unless drastic steps were taken immediately. Three years later what has happened ? Absolutely nothing.........except for the accellerating demise of the Tiger.

John,

Do not be surprised if the actual number is around 500 only which I strongly believe to be correct. Right now, the tiger has been more or less been abandoned to its fate. Why 2010 ? It would be extinct much before that with the passage of bill granting forests rights to tribals as the tigers have to make way for the construction lobby which is going to acquire the land from the tribals eventually

Mehul,

The tigress in Hyderabad was killed to acquire a skin for a top politician who needed it to perform a religous ceremony for a turnaround of his political fortunes.

The actual butcher broke his pelvic bone a couple of months back trying to escape from prison . Some solace, isn't it ?

[shahid]

IAS officers and Government Agencies can be of no avail. No offence to anyone, but todays IAS oficers do not come from a Social class that valued conservation, admired field sports and loved the outdoors.

In a world where there thinking is restricted to the City and how to buy a 4 bedroom house with a lawn in Noida and how to land up a plum post in Dhanbad, expect little from this group.

The only hope is pushing this privatisation platform through the fourth estate - The Media. it needs the same momentum as say the Jessica Lal case.

We need people like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Pronoy ROy, Prabhu Chawla, Dilip Bobb etc. to be with us in this struggle. From my side I am willing to spend about a million rupess to fund this kind of serious Tiger Conservation in India.

Huntergill - No it was not Khan Saheb Jamshed Butt. He to was tempramental and describes more personal fights in his book than hunting but he was different. He used to use a .577 REWA, quite a guy.

This opinion about Kenneth Anderson in not mine alone. We had a Wildlife Science Department in our university in Aligarh where research scholars and the faculty were my close friends because of my own interest in these subjects although I was in the MBA department. I used to go on field tours etc. with them quite often.

Scholars and faculty used Corbetts and Kesri Singji's works for their records and research, but Anderson's de.scriptions about habitat, Tiger beat patterns and behaviour was never rocognised by these extremely qualified professors of Department of WIldlife Science and Management, under the Faculty of Life Sciences. Some of my opinion is formed with my interactions with these gentlemen as well.

[Grumpy]

This is so depressing - apart from one aspect which I`ll come back to:
India seems to be extremely conscious of its status in the eyes of the rest of the World......so much so that I can`t understand why the Government is laying itself wide open to extreme international criticism when the Tigers become extinct. That will be humiliating.
Sujay.......What can I say ? I have a horrible feeling that your estimate is probably the most accurate.....
Mehul. Yeah, that was the guy......another self-appointed know-nothing expert. Reckoned that there was no problem with Tiger numbers and told me that my college Law and British Constitution lecturer definitely could not have engaged in Dove shooting in sight of the Taj Mahal when he was an officer with the Indian Army........Of course that moron Jones wasn`t there at the time to see the shooting but KNEW that it didn`t happen. I`m trying to remember what else the idiot had to say..........Something about those damn great Sheep never being hunted up towards the Himalayas - something ridiculous like that. What are those Sheep called ? He denied they were ever hunted even when shown the photographs.
Extraordinary isn`t it that here, on a guns and shooting related forum that there are more people - percentagewise - that are passionate about conserving the Tiger than in the whole of the Indian Government ? Poachers make the best gamekeepers and hunters are the best conservationists.

[shahid]

This is the problem India- is well aware of the facts that lie ahead, but nobody wants to come forward and address this issue. Re starting Shikar consessions and import of Arms & Ammunition are Tabboo subjects. Of high & mighty of the society who will opress the poor of India with these Sporting Arms. Moreover a closed lobby benefits in their purpose with these restrictions.

[Grumpy]

Doesn`t benefit the Tigers though does it ?
The Government can`t even claim that the widespread ownership of firearms is a threat to conserved species......you can bet your life that most - if not all - poaching is done with illegally held guns.......and the same applies to murders.

[Grumpy]

On a ( much ) lighter note: I realised that I`d written `no-nothing` instead of `know-nothing` above. Editing the post correctly by inserting the requisite two letters earned me 0.03999999999999999 bullets !!!

[penpusher]

The only viable option to bring about a rethink and some action,is a PIL in the Supreme Court.Would require money and persistence.

penpusher