Are Tiger Farms an alternative to complete extinction?

[shooter]

a decade ago the govt of rajasthan had proposed a 'adopt a tiger' sort of programme.
It was to be implimented in Nahargarh sanctuary.
Im not sure it was followed through. At least not to the extent they had planned. Good thing too.
For the only time im happy for the venture to have failed because of rang de basanti. You see some parts were shot there. and now every teenage stud wants to be amir khan by first drinking beer stangingon the ledge and then race car at night with the headlights off.
Goes without saying shouting and loud music are a must.
However a noble concept.

saw a documentry on nat geo saying that even city born and bred tigers MAY (not DO) retain the 'killer' instinct.

this was in response to pet tigers killing animals/humans. These werent hungry/injured. Nor were the killings in self defence. A lot of them were unprovoked deliberate attacks.

Ill try to google the documentary and post a link. In fact it was through this documentry i learnt that the US has more tigers than India.

[prashantsingh]

saw a documentry on nat geo saying that even city born and bred tigers MAY (not DO) retain the 'killer' instinct.

this was in response to pet tigers killing animals/humans. These werent hungry/injured. Nor were the killings in self defence. A lot of them were unprovoked deliberate attacks.

Ill try to google the documentary and post a link. In fact it was through this documentry i learnt that the US has more tigers than India.

OT:
Saw a documentary on Nat Geo talking about how the poor Cheetah fights a loosing battle to survive against the Leopard and the Lion in the African Bush.

Back to the topic:
Talking about the killer instinct. Killing / injuring a master (for a Tiger) is very different from hunting down a Sambhar or a wild boar in the jungle. OR Fighting others of the same species for dominance over a particular stretch of jungle.
Even Dogs are known to have that "killer" instinct inspite of beings pets over very many generations. That's why I compared the Wild Tiger with a Pet Dog in my first reply.

[kanwar76]

Zoo animal Adoption is already being tried at Bannergatta National Park Bangalore. My Previous company adopted many animals and last time on my visit to bannergatta i saw many individual names on the boards in front of animal cages.

If you adopt an animal at BNP you will get periodic report about animal well being etc.

-Inder

[hvj1]

Dear Prashant,
I hate to even coop up my cats at home!! Leave alone wishing Tigers to be bred as docile creatures who have undergone a behaviour modification, to the extent that it shies away from goats? Who the hell would like that? Though I am with you completely on the issue of Tigers being preserved in the wild, unfortunately, I dont see that happening.

As regards adopting an animal, I can understand that there is a huge difference between adoption/sponsoring an animal in a zoo as compared with in the wild. We require HUGE political will to go replicate the same thing for existing wild tigers and other endangered species in the Wild. We already know what we are up against - in short human greed in the form of mining,encroachment,illegal trade in skins.

If a Tiger farm is set up,provided we manage to get through all the red tape, I am 100% sure, that a lot of people would contribute to the effort of semi integrating the tigers in the wild. And I mean, spending manhours just observing and recording tiger behaviour.

Regards

-- Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:12 pm --

If you adopt an animal at BNP you will get periodic report about animal well being etc.

-Inder

And thats precisely the reason, WHY sponsorship/adoption of our tigers concept will face major hurdles. With all due respect to the Wildlife Dept in various states, some of their personnel whose intentions may be less than honorable, would definitely not like giving periodic reports which will be tracked by the media.
We all know the fudging of actual number of tigers. For instance the Wildlife Dept in Chandoli Koyna Tiger Sanctuary claimed 12 tigers, an IFGian, who lives in the heart of this territory claims that there are just TWO!
Look at Sariska and after? What has been done to prevent another Sariska? If some determined NGOs had not reported on Sariska, I am sure the Wild life Dept. there would have gone on claiming that all tigers there are hale and hearty and multiplying.
Committees were set up, with the PM himself heading one of them, what happened?

[Rajat]

Hey Rajat,
Perhaps we can have an IPL like auction, where philum stars attend, rights to the whole show can be sold, hell its brilliant, the more I think about it the better it gets.

You are reading my thoughts! This is exactly what I had planned along with the first half I had mentioned earlier.

Well the reason I am thinking along these lines is that whenever we think or talk about saving the tiger we think about the species as a whole and of tigers all over India. The result: we get lost. The figures and statistics that we have of tigers in various reserves etc are all doubtful not to say misleading. All the time we are thinking of saving the tiger we are in fact loosing them as we do not know where we stand and how many we actually have. If we do not know how many we actually have and are trying to protect, how do we do it?

This is the reason why I suggested that we first ascertain the exact number of tigers in a particular reserve and get proof in the form of DNA, Pug marks etc. Let this project be limited to just one or two reserves. The next step is that each and every tiger should be adopted by a responsible Individual who wields some power and influence, who people listen to, who can get the attention of the media. With the number of tigers remaining we do not need many such people but just the best.

In this way with each and every tiger accounted for and a person just worried about "his" tiger the picture will be very clear and each tiger will have a name attached with it and not just be, well, an unknown tiger.

Now maybe with this being a logical idea, as you have mentioned no Govt Official would like to be responsible and in fact would not like to give periodic and regular reports this is not to mention if it will be approved at all by Govt.

The same can be done in a small reserve, basically what we are calling here a tiger farm, if it is approved and things can be observed and managed in a better way with the help of volunteers and other NGO's. As we have seen the Govt. committees are not going to be of much help here. You can be sure if this project becomes a reality many individuals and organisations will step forward and contribute to this effort.

Adding the auction and the glamour to this project was a wild idea but I guess the Indian tigers do need the money, the attention and some publicity too.

[abhrankash]

I am unanimous with Mr.Rajat's voice
what ever he is telling if completely practicable and can be done as some of the NGO's are doing for saving the snakes and other animals one of the most familiar name is Mrs.Mrinal joshi (snakes),and in Hyderabad (snake Shyam),and one of the most renowned NGO working in this field is SOS they are also have their help line nos. also.

If these people can get some support from the government in assessing the real figure then one or two pilot projects can be planned in accordance to the guidelines of the experts.