Wildlife | Earning our stripes

Few causes have been championed as steadfastly in the past 50 years in India as wildlife conservation. The country’s sheer variety of species in the wild overshadows even Africa—that paradise of wildlife in the eyes of enthusiasts. At the time of independence, the general public was largely wary of wildlife, which was also seen as something that entertained the elite. Predators were feared by communities that came in contact with them. Princes who ruled over roughly a third of India before independence protected them though, ironically, only for indulging in the time-honoured tradition of the shikar. For nearly three decades after independence, wildlife continued to be harvested for sport by the rich and for meat by communities that lived amongst them. Wildlife in India continued to attract hunters from all over the world, many of whom came down to ‘bag’ a tiger.

From the 1970s, concern was mounting across the world on envi­ro­nmental matters. Addressing the watershed UN Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972, then PM Indira Gandhi said India was aware of the issue but needed to tackle poverty first. The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, passed a few months later, reiterated India’s commitment towards the cause. The law imposed a ban on hunting and created national parks and sanctuaries as safe havens for wildlife. From an estimated 2,000 tigers—that majestic, mystic symbol of Indian forests—left in India in 1972, numbers are now at around 3000.