John Varty & Tiger Canyon

[Pckts]

Another interesting read from Varty

Newsletter 124
04/10/15

‎Bad Tigers

*This image is copyright of its original author

Corbett: Picture Keisha Kleinhans

"Is Ranthambore for me
Or is it for you
Why do hundreds of pilgrims
Come walking right on through"
- From the song Ustad

After Corbett killed Tiger Boy, several people have urged me to destroy Corbett, calling him a "bad cat."

So let's examine the facts, Corbett killed Tigress Shine. (Shine was the first white tigress born at Tiger Canyons and was in Julie's second litter which was abandoned.) At the time Corbett killed Shine, he was just 20 months old, he was not a dominant male. 

The hunters trying to steal Shine had shot her with a tranquilizing dart and she had run into heavy reeds. As Shine recovered from the drug, she would have thrashed around simulating a wounded or injured animal in distress. Corbett killed her and partially ate her (This is told in the book "In the Jaws of the Tiger".) 

When Corbett killed Tiger Boy, he was a dominant territorial male. A week previously Tiger Boy had killed a cub of which Corbett is the father. (Zaria is the mother and two cubs remain.) 

Instead of retreating to another area, Tiger Boy and his brother Shy Boy stayed inside Corbett's area. (Perhaps Tiger Boy thought that with his brother Shy Boy, the two of them could remove Corbett from his territory and kill the remaining cubs.) 

Unfortunately for Tiger Boy, Corbett caught him on his own and killed him. 

Neither the killing of Shine nor the killing of Tiger Boy is unnatural behaviour. By no stretch of the imagination can Corbett be labeled a "bad tiger."

*This image is copyright of its original author

Ustad: Picture Siva Baskaran

Ust‎ad the dominant tiger  of Ranthambore, who has attracted so much publicity, has entirely different circumstances. Ustad lives in Ranthambore where thousands of pilgrims walk through the park daily to a temple where they go to pray. 

Ustad is accused of killing 4 human beings over a period of 5 years. Recently a forest guard was killed and Ustad was seen nearby. He immediately became the number one suspect.  

Ustad's defenders say it cannot possibly be Ustad as they have pictures of Ustad strolling past women collecting water and he made no attack. 

This is not the point. If Ustad has made a large kill and he is not hungry, then he does not regard humans as potential prey. If Ustad has not been successful in hunting and he is hungry, then he may well regard a puny human who can't run as an easy meal. 

Does this make him a bad cat? Not at all! 

I blame the authorities. They must decide if Ranthambore is for people or is it for tigers. Hundreds of pilgrims, men, women and children are not compatible with tigers. Any tigers! 

Temples are man made structures, they can be placed outside the park. Ranthambore is a jewel gifted by Gaia and home to one of the last wild populations of tigers on earth. It cannot be replicated by human beings. 

I say, relocate the temple to outside the park, fence the park and commit it to tigers. 

Africa has many examples, where using electrical wire fences, large cats (lion, leopard and cheetah) are separated from domestic stock and people. India could easily copy the African example. They plead poverty, but truth be known, the government is bureaucratic and apathetic. By 2020 India will have the largest human population on planet earth. These people are competing for the same resources as the tiger.

So Ustad is removed to a zoo where he will disintegrate into depression and insanity. Another male tiger will take over Ustad's territory (probably has already taken the territory) and he too, lured by the chance of an easy meal, will kill an unwary forest guard or fatigued pilgrim walking through his territory.  

Another "bad cat" will then either be killed or moved to the zoo. 

Tread Lightly on the Earth
JV

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