Tiger Fire: how bright is the future for tigers in India?

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o4199.6737-8 Date of publication: 26 December 2014 (online & print) Wildlife conservationist Valmik Thapar’s epic, ‘Tiger Fire’, serves as a remarkable 500-year ‘time capsule’ account of tigers and their relationship with humans in India, currently home to more than a billion people and about half the world’s remaining wild tigers (Global Tiger Initiative Secretariat 2013). This 624page book will fascinate anyone interested in humananimal interactions, tiger behaviour, and conservation management strategies in a world increasingly focused on economic business models of development. He appeals to eastern cultures to retain their traditions, which honour and respect tigers as gods, supernatural beings and guardians. Although illegal international trade in tiger parts is run through organized crime networks (Sharma et al. 2014), a book like this could make a difference if it reaches a global audience and inspires people to take action to save wild tigers. Engagement with non-academic audiences may stop people consuming tiger parts or keeping them as exotic pets (Challender 2014). Concurrently, communication with peers and community leaders may improve future conservation management strategies and policy. Thapar has carefully edited anecdotes about encounters with tigers from the 16th to the early 20th centuries by authors ranging from Mughal emperors to hunters, naturalists, and travellers. Many of the accompanying images show people ‘battling’ tigers with swords, spears and guns. In one instance, a European woman in voluminous gown, petticoats and elegant hat wields an umbrella from the back of an ox-drawn cart, to ward off an approaching tiger in the Sundarbans in the late 1700s. Later in the book, readers are provided with a stunning 100-page pictorial essay of wild tigers in India, with tigers roaming through the pages— playing, fighting, walking, swimming, resting, climbing and hunting—seemingly untouched by the presence of humans. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature Commission on Education and Communication’s ‘Love. Not Loss’ campaign, urges scientists to ‘personalize, humanize and publicize’ the animals they study, turning their research projects into ‘soap operas’ with underlying messages of love, since love is considered to be a greater motivator for positive action than loss or fear (IUCN CEC 2012). Empathy, affection, emotional bonds, and anthropomorphic language are encouraged as tools to engage with everyday people, who ultimately will determine the fate of tigers and other species. However, the ‘love story’ approach is contrary to everything “drummed into” undergraduate science students, discouraged from writing in emotive styles infused with anthropomorphic terminology and subjective experiences (Root-Bernstein et al. 2013). Scientists must learn to tailor messages to different