Looking at
Billy – the man
Billy
Arjan Singh is now 90. But most of those years have been spent leading a
tough and outdoors life, so it is no wonder that he is still a force to
reckon with. He may be touched with a bit of frailty, and his voice
might crack up now and then, but when you meet him, you will find his
handshake rock-firm. He is still the master of all he surveys around
Tiger Haven and Dudhwa, as he was during younger and happier times when
his panthers and tigers co-habited his farm as dominant residents.
Much has changed
since then, and wildlife in Dudhwa has been frittered away by slack
administration. It is in that context that Billy feels and talks now. An interview given to
Sanctuary Asia
about three years ago, brings out his views on a number of issues. For those
who missed it, some excerpts are given below:
On his
past as a shikari (hunter)
No. I
can't lay claim to be a shikari. At least they had some rules. I was a
bloodthirsty, murderous urchin who shot anything that moved. Even as I
grew older I continued to shoot owlets and hyenas and leopards and
tigers. I am condemned to live with my deepest regrets for being part of
the slaughter that maligned the evolutionary processes that created such
magnificent creatures. I finally stopped shooting in 1960 when I was
overcome with remorse for ending the life of a beautiful leopard in the
headlights of my jeep. I had no right whatsoever to destroy what I could
not create.
On his
efforts to have sport hunting banned in India
I
realized (when the tiger was slipping away from us) that sport hunting
was a sinful, hypocritical act opposed to all civilized human thought.
No one has the right to be entertained by murder. Sadly the virus of
sport killing runs deep in the human psyche and wild predators like
wolves, tigers, leopards and sharks continue to pay the price for human
blood lust that condones killing with the use of telescopic sights,
automatic weapons and even helicopters. Yes, I took on the outfitters of
the day. They tried every dirty trick in the book to coerce the Indian
government to let them carry on their bloody business when tiger shikar
was banned in 1969-70. They spoke sanctimoniously then about
conservation, but took extra money for guaranteed kills. I recall that
Allwyn Cooper actually set up a dead leopard for the famous African
hunter Robert Ruark to shoot when they could not deliver a live animal
in his line of fire! They were an unscrupulous lot and India is well rid
of them.
On how
Dudhwa forest become so entwined with his life
Well,
I had taken to farming in the area soon after Independence when I left
the army. The thunder of barasingha hooves was commonplace. I had to
struggle to establish my farm over the years, but despite the trials and
tribulations I came to love it all the more for its proximity to the
wilderness. Once, with my brother Balram and a friend called John
Withnell, we shot two barasingha at Bhadi Tal, only to discover that
they were a protected species. We promptly reported ourselves to the
Divisional Forest Officer, who let us off, complimenting us for our
honesty in confessing our mistake. I was a pioneer settler, but as the
years passed, farmers began to migrate in large numbers from Pakistan.
When a large company called The Collective Farms and Forests Ltd.
cleared 10,000 acres, I could see the writing on the wall and began to
seek a halt to the destruction.
On how
Tiger Haven was established
That
was in the height of summer in May 1959. I had gone out into the forest
on Bhagwan Piari, the elephant with whom I spent 25 wonderful years. I
could see the Himalayan ranges across the Dudhwa grasslands. At the
confluence of the Soheli and Neora rivers I discovered a patch of land
that was owned by a politician who had lost all interest in it. I bought
it and turned it into a functioning farm, which was inundated several
times a year when the rivers were in spate, but which profited greatly
from the fertile silt that was left behind. Here we protected wildlife,
even as we managed to share a functioning farm.
On his
appointment to the U.P. State Wildlife Board
That
was in 1964, the same year the U.P. State Wildlife Board itself was
established. I remember George Schaller had come to visit me at Tiger
Haven and together we conducted a survey in the adjoining Ghola forest,
only to discover that the presumed 1,500 barasingha had dropped to 600.
I then submitted a proposal to protect the endangered barasingha and
after some vacillation, Dudhwa became a sanctuary that shared a border
with Nepal. And best of all, Tiger Haven was right in the middle of it.
I
created grasslands, salt licks and water sources to attract barasingha,
which I also helped drive with help from Bhagwan Piari (his elephant),
beaters and crackers all the way from Ghola. Had we not done this, they
would have succumbed to guns and land grabbers operating under the
protection of Naxalites. Tiger Haven's protection plan had worked. I
could ask for nothing better.
On why
his relationship with the Forest department has been so stormy
They
could not tolerate my calling a spade a spade. I was always against
their commercial timber operations. I also recall when the tigers of
Dudhwa were in their deepest crisis that the forest department lied to
the world, stating that there were 104 tigers in the park. I knew that
there were no more than 20! And when tiger carcasses were turning up in
wells and canals, it was somehow suggested that overcrowding was driving
them to suicide! The forest department doesn't care about tigers. They
are only concerned with absolving themselves on file of any and all
blame for the tiger's desperate plight.
On
what he considers the root problem for tiger conservation
Habitat fragmentation. This is what induced a division of one species
into eight subspecies. In conjunction with poaching, habitat loss has
devastated the tigers and has led to three subspecies vanishing
altogether. Then, of course, is the problem of people competing with the
tiger for survival. As the master race, we have to resolve this conflict
or Armageddon will overtake our overpopulated and plundered universe. We
are losing our forests and the symbolic presence of the animals it
shelters before our eyes.
On his
doubts that not enough is being done to counter this decline
Look,
even the figures presented by the forest departments of the total number
of tigers alive in India are suspect. The estimation is carried out by
untrained personnel, haphazardly selected from subordinate staff that
must perform a host of other forestry operations. Wildlife staff is
transferable to five different disciplines and two-thirds of all tigers
do not even have this minimal protection. Certainly not enough is being
done to save them.
On
what he would have the government do
Stop
the fragmentation of tiger habitats immediately. Have uniform control
over tiger habitats, rather than the differentiated administrative
control that is the rule today. The forest department is trained in
commercial forestry, but saving tigers is a totally different discipline
for when a tree is destroyed, habitat is lost. "A clean forest floor" is
the dream of a forester, but it is the nightmare of a wildlifer. The
same department cannot and should not run the operations for they are
antagonistic. Our government's budgetary allocations are not only
minimal but dishonestly structured. Despite our reverence for Ganesha
and Durga, political and administrative will to conserve wildlife is
infinitesimal. That is what I would have the government change.
On
Tara, the tigress he reared at Tiger Haven
The
project that allowed me to reintroduce Tara, the tigress into Dudhwa was
approved by no less than Mrs Indira Gandhi. Tara conceived a total of
nine off- spring over a period of 15 years and I believe that they have
reinvigorated the Dudhwa tiger population. European scientists however
claimed that Tara was an Indo-Siberian hybrid and suggested physical
elimination on the grounds of genetic pollution. The attitude to
wildlife protection by officialdom is not only uncaring, but demeaning.
Research suggests that sub specific integration may not be injurious.
Hybridization is revitalizing. And the tigers of Dudhwa continue to
breed well. Project Tiger refuses to accept that genetic depression is
the final arbiter of survival. I find this obsession with purity
strange. When the main religion of the country forbids inter genetic
alliances for purposes of lineal purity we connive at continuous
incestuous breeding of tigers in facilities like Nandankanan. India must
accept heterozygosity for tigers or we cannot save the species. Let's
just say that my differences with the forest department are
irreconcilable.
On the
possibility of mending fences with the Forest department
I am
too old now to change my spots. I do not trust them and they do not
trust me. I have never claimed to be infallible, but I know what tigers
need to survive and in India today the right to survival is being denied
to them. I believe that the future of the great cats lies in the
creation of maximized reservations.
On his
conviction that translocation is an inevitable tiger conservation
strategy
People
who live near wild animals risk death. Many people die at the hands of "untranslocated"
great cats each year. Translocation is going to be an inevitable
strategy. When I pass to another world, you must remind people of this
conviction of mine. It was right for rhinos in Dudhwa and it is right
for tigers too.
The
most workable solution is to translocate animals from other
(overcrowded) areas. We could artificially inseminate a receptive wild
tigress. Or we could reintroduce a captive born cub as I did.
On
whether his life has been a success or a failure
Life
is a continuum. Success or failure can only be judged in millennia.
Tara's bones lie in some deep ravine somewhere in Dudhwa. Her cubs are
alive and well. That gives me a sense of fulfillment. But Dudhwa is an
island and desperately needs to be connected to nearby forests. The many
poachers, the timber mafia and the ham-handed officials that operate
unfettered, mock the very thought of "success".
His
last word about the tiger
The
air we breathe and the water we drink stem from the biodiversity of the
universal environment and its economics. The tiger is at the centre of
this truth. If it goes, we go.