Rare Earth Explorations Wildlife Safaris in India

Tiger Conservation: Wildlife Conservation & Tourism in India
Animals have always played an important part in the lives of Indian people. Trees were held sacred, wild animals were vehicles for gods and goddesses, as the tiger was for Durga. Even today Hindus worship animals-gods such as Hanuman (the mighty langur) and Ganesh (the elephant-headed son of Shiva). The mythologies of Hinduism and Buddhism are interwoven with tales of man and beast, a bond that has been depicted for centuries in art, literature and music. Brahma, the Hindu Creator, transformed himself, it's said, to become a bull when he was creating the animals of the world.

Though there was a time when human and wild animals lived in harmony, they are now at odds with each other as the human population explodes and wild habitat disappears. Population pressures and our material needs have destroyed vast wilderness areas at a rapid pace over the past decades and it continues to happen. We are fortunate that some of these areas have been preserved as habitat and much work is being done by those committed to the survival of precious wildlife.

India's tiger population has declined from 40,000 at the turn of the century to 3,750 in 1993. About 60% of the world tiger population today (which is between 5600 and 7000) is in India. With about 100 million people living off forests, which are also home to more than 3,000 species of birds and animals, India's wildlife conservation program has the monumental goal of balancing the interests of man and animals. Next to tigers, one-horned rhino, leopard and Asiatic elephant are endangered species. The Indian cheetah was declared extinct in 1948.

More lethal than the shooting safaris of the Maharajas and British in the past, is the continuing threat posed by 'traditional' Oriental medicine practiced in China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. (Illegal trade in wildlife is estimated at $25 billion a year worldwide - second to narcotics and exceeding the total volume of gold smuggling.)

A full-grown tiger with its blood, bone and skin fetches $60,000 and one kilogram of rhino horn fetches at least $100,000 in international markets. In pharmacies Hong Kong, a two-pound rhino horn sells for $45,000. In Taiwan, a bowl of tiger penis soup (to boost virility) goes for $320, and a pair of eyes (to fight epilepsy and malaria) for $170. Powdered tiger humerus bone (for treating ulcers, rheumatism and typhoid) brings up to $1,450 a pound. There is no scientific evidence so far for the efficacy of such remedies.

India's first wildlife park, Jim Corbett National Park, was formed in 1936. Today India has 80 national parks and 441 wildlife sanctuaries. The preserves are committed to maintaining the delicate ecosystems necessary to ensure the survival of both flora and fauna. Below are the formal projects initiated by Indian government for wildlife protection:
    1972 - All-India Wildlife Protection Act
    1973 - Project Tiger - 21 reserves are spread over 30,000 sq kms across the country. In 1973 there were 2000 tigers which doubled to 4000 in the mid-80's. Since then it has declined to 3750.
    1991 - Project Elephant - improved elephant population in the north east. The current population of elephants is 25,000 (about 50% of the Asiatic wild elephants in the world and 10% of the wild African elephant population).
    1970 - Project Hangul - Kashmir stags declined from 3000 in 1940 to 150 in 1970.
    1975 - Project Crocodile - 11 sanctuaries set apart for crocodile protection.
    1972 - Project Lion Gir Forest, Gujarat. 1974 population increase from 180 to 284 in 1993.
In 1969, the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) met in Delhi and unanimously passed a resolution suggesting a moratorium on tiger hunting and its replacement by efforts to explore the tourist potential of the tiger.

How can tourism help?
  • Paying park fees adds to funds provided by government to parks management.
  • Direct donations may be made to some parks departments without going through the national treasury.
  • Tourism focuses attention on the parks and habitats and this ensures that concerned management authorities are kept alert.
  • Tourists, guides, lodge managers, naturalist-guides, etc. act as monitors over the management. They also form a resource pool that aids management.
  • Tourism brings money into local economies which mitigates the often hostile feelings that are engendered amongst the local people by creation of protected forests.
  • Local guides and parks/tourism employees who are properly trained and motivated help disseminate an educated awareness about the importance of these habitats amongst their people.
  • The earnings of the park (park-level and national foreign exchange revenues) make them politically more palatable to politicians inclined to think only in terms of vote-banks.
  • Tourism also educates and motivates the tourist and helps create committed lobbies - political and economic - in support of habitats and species.
Many conservationists who have dedicated their lives to conservation are pessimistic about the perpetuity of tiger survival in the wild for longer than the next 10 years. Patrolling has to be improved dramatically to eliminate poaching, local communities have to be integrated much more into the conservation programs, programs for expanding the gene pool of the tiger population have to be executed, and so on.

On the other hand others are optimistic, since only 2.5% of India's land mass is protected sanctuaries and humans have the other 97.5%, it is possible to protect these sanctuaries completely with no compromises.

In India deeply committed conservationists are valiantly fighting to maintain or expand the boundaries of pristine forests and savannahs. If you would like to learn more about the Bengal tiger and conservation efforts, on the Internet visit http://www.5tigers.org.
Saving Wild Tigers + About the Indian Tiger

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