Most of us will
never forget the funny imitation of a lion's roar by our elders used to entertain
us in childhood. I don't know about you but I loved imitating that roar of a
lion or a tiger. Little did I know that the ground reality was far from being
"majestic" with which we generally associate our wild cats.
Lions and
tigers are probably the most feared predators of all times but I have always
found that statement to be ironic. It’s
the numbers and stats which really intrigue me. A man Vs tiger would always be
one sided but it's never just the man, it's always the man plus guns, greed,
fear and sometimes necessity. Well if you blame humans they'll defend themselves with cattle problems and
the fear of man eaters. But to think of it, was the presence of few man eating
beasts, a good enough reason for ordering a mass hunt of kings of the jungle?
The funny part is even if we want to get an answer to this, it won't be
possible because the order is from pre independence and the "Royal British
Blood" wasn't exactly in a mood to answer at that time. I won't just blame
the British taste for hunting as a sport, even Indian people are to blame for
that. They encouraged and invited the Englishmen by hyping the dangerous image
of the poor cats. They meant to defend their territory, every kid with a NatGeo
channel on his TV knows this. But NatGeo
wasn't there, so you cannot blame anyone. I don't think the man eating beast
was a very prominent problem during the golden rule of our kings. Its common
sense that people should have had, British people brought industrialisation
with them, naturally our jungle friend would mind if you start digging into his
home, everyone minds that, even you do. But let's leave past aside because
facts from that age are not exactly a written dossier with "guaranteed
right" stamp on it. Let's move to the era of our own Indian raj.
I am not
going over the facts, the "general knowledge" on lions and tigers or
their receding numbers, or maybe the "great" government policies on
wildlife conservation. I have a very effective tool to convey that data to you
and it is called "Google it". For all I know either the data provided
is old enough to be unquestionable (because there is nothing left in the archives
to question about) or the data is periodically rigged by forest officials to
keep them on the good books of their employers. So now there is corruption and
bureaucracy after our "sporty Britisher's and kings".
Ok, let us
assume or let us ignore the bad parts and focus on what our government did.
They created tiger conservation project, made Gir forest a matter of national
priority and blah blah. Our honest forest officials tried their best to help
the Bengal tiger and Asiatic lion. By the way, I am not saying the grand plans
by the government were a total failure, Gir National park is a live example of
it. It’s the only place which houses the Asiatic lions in all of Asia. I am not
questioning the results, they are acceptable, but the so called huge amounts of
efforts put in sound phoney to me. Government spent crores on all this and
still we have to campaign the tiger project with a number, 1411. That is
disappointing. Ok, agreed you have done good for our Asiatic lions. By the way
have you ever visited the Gir national park, if you haven't then please do
visit, there they will take you on a guided tour in a bus to show some lions in
a closed, protected enclave. I visited that place when I was a kid and I was
scared to death about watching a lion up close and you know what I saw? I can’t
express my feelings but I can guarantee you, I can make my German shepherd look
more scarier than that, I mean seriously, the kind of treatment those poor cats
had was pathetic.
I don't need
to go on about it, the concerned and interested class of people will look for
the facts themselves. What I want to say is if our government and people are
not interested in wasting their precious time, then they can handover the task
to someone else, I am sure there are numerous organisations who would love to
see the wild cats flourish.
George Schaller wrote: "India has to
decide whether it wants to keep the tiger or not. It has to decide if it is
worthwhile to keep its National Symbol, its icon, representing wildlife. It has
to decide if it wants to keep its natural heritage for future generations, a
heritage more important than the cultural one, whether we speak of its temples,
the Taj Mahal, or others, because once destroyed it cannot be replaced."
Although questionable, the lion roars for the success of Gir national park, but
the tiger is still howling, it always was and I don't think it will roar
anytime in the near future.
Thelo chloros
