Passion of the Tiger

Belinda Wright

The story began many years ago in 1953, when Belinda Wright was born & brought up amongst Indian wild life. She spotted her first tiger- when other kids may not even differentiate mother from father-at the age of three months. With both parents lover of wild life, passion for tigers is in her DNA as she terms tiger the most charismatic mammal on planet. Her mother Anne Wright was a member of the Tiger Task Force that was commissioned by the late Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, to select nine tiger reserves for the launch of Project Tiger. Following in the foot steps, the daughter went to become wild life photographer & movie maker before founding Wild Life Protection Society of India in 1994, an NGO working for wild life conservation. It provides information, training & legal support to enforcement authorities to combat poaching. WPSI has established a network of informers throughout the India & prepared a comprehensive database on wild life crime. Belinda traveled extensively in Tibet to unearth links of Shahtoosh-Tiger trade

Her father Robert Hamilton Wright received the "Officer of the Order of the British Empire" or OBE, while Anne was awarded "Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire". In 2003 Belinda, following her parents was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire services to the protection of wildlife and endangered species in India".

IndianNGOs.com spoke to Belinda to share her passion for wild life & concern for pressing issues including illegal wild life trade, tiger human conflict & proposed Forest Right Bill.

You had a very unusual childhood, surrounded by tigers, leopards & other wild animals. How do you look back upon it?
Both my parents were interested in wild life. I spent my childhood in the Jungles of Bihar, particularly around the area now under Palamu Tiger Reserve. We always had a house full of animals, which were mostly orphan. We had a reputation of being able to look after wild animals successfully. We had cubs of all three big cats tiger, lion & leopard. I was always surrounded by animals. I am nearly 54 years old now & I have never done anything else except working on wild life issues.

Tell me your first experience with tiger? When did you spot it first?
I was about three months old when I first saw tiger. When I first photographed the tiger in Sariska, I was of 16-17 years. It was a very magical experience. The next was in Dudhuwa & then Kanha.

A wild life photographer, conservationist, environmentalist or even a wild life reporter must have immense emotional inclination for the issue. How did you get passionate towards wild life? What were your earliest activities?
Well, I have never wanted to do anything else. It has always been my passion. It took a while for me to work out how I am going to spend rest of my life for wild life. Initially, I decided that wild life photography would be a wonderful tool to spend a lot of time in wild places. My parents were bit concerned. They did not think it to be a great career for their daughter. Fortunately, I had a very successful career as a wild life photographer & film maker. I worked for many years with National Geographic & made films for BBC.

I spent lot of time in central India because my parents had property there. I lived for many years on the edge of Kanha Reserve.

Your parents had immense love for wild life. Your mother was the member of then Tiger Task Force & was instrumental in identifying Tiger Reserves. Even then you faced opposition?
No, no, not by then. My mother has always been a great inspiration for me & encouraged me at many instances. She was the member of National Board for Wild Life for nearly 20 years & was also a member of the Tiger Task Force. She traveled around India looking for the best tiger habitats to put under the project. She worked very closely with then PM Indira Gandhi. She is very pleased now that I have followed in her foot steps. She was the only one who encouraged me when I started working on trickier subject of anti poaching & illegal wild life trade

Your mother must have narrated you several of her experiences & anecdotes. You too have fair experience of wild life. What difference do you find in her time & yours? How the environmental concern has changed over the years?
When my mother got interested in conservation, I was a teen ager & lived through that period with her. She got seriously interested in it in 1968 during the Bihar drought, the area we knew best. The one critical difference between then & now is that she & other conservationists had the total support of the then PM India Gandhi. That was really critical to have executive support like that. This we greatly miss now. Their legacy continues till day because the major legislative & conservation initiatives like Wild Life Protection Act, Project Tiger were taken then. Indian wild life is still benefiting from them.

Times are much more difficult & things are more complicated now. However, the issues have now shifted because the problems have changed. In 1970s, Project Tiger was there to set aside large areas of habitat for the tiger, which was extremely successful then. Now we have to face other threats including demand for tiger parts, bones & skin, which wasn't there, certainly not in an organized manner it is now. Also, the population in India & subsequent demand for land is far greater now then it was.

Issues now are looked at differently. Mrs Gandhi could make an incredibly courageous decision because she truly believed that wild life & India's environment was a vital part of India's make up. That was the key to her decision making. Now, for political decisions people have to think for so many things including vote banks. Unfortunately, the tiger does not have a voice or vote bank.

Do not you find it strange that in 1970s, when environment movement was not so strong, yet Indira Gandhi could take tough decisions? Whereas, today despite very powerful environment lobby, country plagues with several environment issues. Is it because of lack of political will or is there some inherent flaw in environment laws?
Legally, India's wild life laws are very good but the implementation is weak. Lack of political will makes huge amount of difference. Also, the system of forest & wild life management needs to be revamped.

Mr P K Sen, former Dir Project Tiger & present Exe Dir Ranthambore Foundation told me that forest officials are usually given wrong postings. Environment lovers & adventurous persons are not often posted as forest officials. What has been your experience with dealings with forest officials?
It's sad because there are many instances where forest officials have shown strong interest in wild life management & also received training for that. However, they were not posted in forest areas. If you are passionate about your subject, you are going to do a better job.

Wild life management actually depends upon the individuals, which is a pity because it should depend on the system. Yet, there are some remarkable forest officers, I have known over the years.

For instance?
I would not give you name. They are much too shy for that. But there are remarkable forest officers, particularly in central India, Uttaranchal, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra. All the names are flashing through my head. But the best wild life officers are not treasured by the state government because the wild life is not a subject which states are very proud of. Earlier, forest service in UP was considered as one of the finest job. It was really an elite thing to be a forest officer in UP. Now, if you can not find any other job, forest service one applies for. That is a tragedy. People should be really proud to be a forest officer.

You filmed a movie Land of the Tiger for National Geographic. How was shooting in the wild?
When I made Land of the Tiger, it was the only film I wanted to make. I have always been fascinated by the tigers. It was an incredible opportunity to spend day & night with tigers for nearly two & a half years in Kanha & Ranthambore Tiger Reserves. These were highly distinct habitats & had distinct problems.

We followed various families, individuals, learnt their victories, trials & tribulations. It not only gave me an amazing understanding about the most charismatic animal on the planet but also about their environment including the local people.

I am honoured to have such opportunity. Probably, I would never be able to make that again.

Tiger Task Force appointed by PM does not approve present tiger conservation model of creating exclusive wilderness areas for tigers, which it terms exclusive & hostile. It instead, asks for human tiger coexistence. Can they co exist in harmony?
I do not believe that tiger & people can live together. In my experience, for tigers to thrive they need exclusive space. Tigers living hand to hand with humans do not work. That's not feasible. Having said that, it's very important that people living around tiger habitats benefit from tiger conservation. There should be much better management & dialogue for it.

What are the basic flaws in present model of tiger conservation?
The present model lacks training of forest staff. It is sad that managing tigers has become a political nightmare. India should be proud that we have the greatest population of the tigers in the world. We are the only nation in the world that has a population of over 500 tigers. Instead of treating it as a precious asset, we got it embroiled in tiger politics. That's a great tragedy. India is a custodian of tiger. Experts have stated time & again that if you want tiger to flourish; they require food, water & protection. It's actually very simple. But they can not live hand in hand with people.

Why there is so much megalomania for tiger? Why only tiger?
There are many species in the wild, but the tiger is the flagship species. The tiger deserves lot of concern because it is the most charismatic mammal on this planet. The tiger is a powerful predator, a solitary predator. It is amazingly beautiful. The electricity created by the tiger in the wild is quite extraordinary. Anybody who has seen tiger in the wild gets hooked immediately to this magical animal.

I would go any length to help tiger. Most conservationists are extremely concerned about the future of the tiger. We will be judged extremely harshly by future generations if we do not protect the tiger.

WPSI has exposed the illegal Shahtoosh trade & its connection with the trade in tiger parts. How did you go about it?
In 1992-93, nobody knew what Shahtoosh was. This knowledge is quite recent. When I researched it, I found there was some knowledge 100 years before. In between it got lost, largely because the traders in Shahtoosh shawl were very keen for not to make it public what the origin of Shahtoosh was.

However, in 1992-93 two parallel events happened. Dr George Scheller was studying Chiru or Tibetan Antelope in Tibetan plateau. He found that thousands of the Chiru were massacred for the wool as Shahtoosh formed the under wool of Chiru.

Here in India, we found that tiger bones & parts were being traded for some very special product that came from Tibet. Bones were going there & wool was coming here. We weren't quite sure what it was. However, by putting the two things together & it was George Scheller who suspected it, we worked out what it was.

There was a very big seizure in August 1993 of over 400 kg of raw Shahtoosh wool in Delhi. That put a lot of focus on the subject & that was where all the pieces fell together. I spent two & half years investigating trade in Shahtoosh & discovered that it was one of the main barter items for the tiger part.

Even though India banned use of Shahtoosh in 1976, the law does not mention the word Shahtoosh. It uses 'any part of the Tibetan Antelope'.

Interestingly, the demand of Tibetan Antelope is not from Tibet or China but from India. The wool has no demand in China. There is nobody in China who can make Shahtoosh shawl.

Interestingly, the raw Shahtoosh is in Tibet but the demand is in India. While tigers are in India, the demand of tiger parts is in China.

Why tiger parts have greater demand in China?
Every part of the tiger is valued. It is used by two markets in China, Tibet where the skin is stitched to make wrap around cloths to be worn during festivals & Chinese buyers who buy tiger skin for prestigious gifts & home décor. The other parts of the tiger like claws are used for good luck charms, penis is used to make a potion, and bones are used in traditional medicines.

Apart from tiger, how do you view another pressing issue before wild life, Forest Right Bill which gives land rights to forest tribal dwellers, thereby threatening the wild life?
Wild life conservation of India has reached a very critical stage. As with any issue there are high & lows, tiger conservation has unfortunately become a man versus tiger issue, which never should have been. Most of the people whom I know work for tiger, do not see it that way. There is another issue of Forest Right Bill. Though, until the rules & regulations are out, it may be difficult to tell, but the Bill would affect the wild areas of India. It may destroy the wild life. If tribal community is allowed to go back, given land inside protected areas, allow grazing in protected areas, it may be huge problem.

But it is equally true that hundreds of tribals got a very poor deal during past 40-50 years. So it's an issue which is needed to be dealt with. It's a tragedy if it has to be addressed at the cost of India losing its wild life

How are your relations with other NGOs?
We work with both larger & local NGOs. I am a great believer in dialogue & collaboration. There are many things other organisations know better than us. For instance, if Wild Life SOS has any wild life information, they share it with us. If we have any welfare issue, we share it with them.

Who are your role models in wild life conservation?
My role model has always been Dr Salim Ali. I had a great good fortune of being close to him. He was such an inspiration to me. He managed to mix knowledge, confidence & charisma. In his wild life conservation efforts, he was in many ways the greatest activist I have ever known. Yet, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha. He was a marvelous combination of science, conservation & character.

I also greatly admire Billy Arjan Singh because he has fought so hard & long. He never gives up. He is nearly eighty yet fights like a tiger. There are also many contemporaries whom I admire enormously. I am happy to work with all of them.

What is WPSI agenda for next year?
In the coming year, we plan to increase the dialogue & communication on all these issues, talk to civil society & government about the projects, take decisions before the damage is done. We look forward to become pro active, continue to train wild life officials & increase anti poaching efforts. These are really difficult times. Environment movement is quite fractured, which becomes a problem because if you do not speak in one voice, issues lose their force.

Do you find environment movement on cross roads?
No. It isn't on crossroad. Any movement in India, practically any movement in India tends to be fractured. That's part of our personality. But, we still get there in the end.

Perhaps it's the essence of the democracy, the greatest achievement of India. Yeah.

Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Delhi
25 Jan 2007