Legacy of the “Tiger Man”
Fateh Singh Ramesh
Tiger campaigners the world over have been grieving the loss of “Tiger Man” Fateh Singh Rathore, who died last week aged 72. The founder of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Rathore was one of India’s most dedicated, outspoken and indefatigable conservationists, tirelessly pushing for better protection measures for tigers– even after being attacked and nearly killed by disgruntled villagers in 1981.
Rathore is a great inspiration to us here at the Tiger Campaign, not only because of his determination to create a better future for India’s national animal, but because of his inclusive approach, and his humanity. Rathore understood that without changing public attitudes, no amount of legislation or even criminalisation would ever be enough to save the tiger from extinction. He worked tirelessly to educate people, especially children, living near tiger habitats about the need to protect the cats, striving to instil his love of tigers in the wider community – often, to great success.
It is precisely this approach that we at dakini most admire, consider most effective and which we have placed at the very heart of the Tiger Campaign. Our project is first and foremost about changing attitudes, and then about building on these changes through active conservation efforts and government support. Forcing laws upon an unsympathetic public is an expensive, exhausting battle. Although preventing poaching is an urgent task, we feel that it is a far better use of our energy to find ways to gather support for the cause by engaging people around the world emotionally and intellectually with the struggle to save tigers, and in doing so, to end the demand for tiger parts. If it just a question of getting caught, there will always be people desperate enough to try; far better to take away the impetus that fuels poaching than to find ways to demonize the middle men. We believe that, in the long term, cultivating loyalty is far more reliable than coercion.
Lindsey x
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