At the time of the British Empire in India, this name was also adopted by the colonials who carried out merciless hunting crusades. Armed with rifles and sitting safely upon their elephants, the officers of the British Army slaughtered large numbers of these magnificent felines.
At a later stage, thousands of tiger cubs were captured and sold to zoos all around the world while the adults were sought after and killed to satisfy the growing demand for their precious fur.
During the XIXth century, the tiger population of India totalled over 40,000, while by the 1960's this number had dwindled to around 2,000. Today, thanks to much hard work on the part of Kailash Sankhala, an Indian scientist, and the massive conservation campaign organized by the government, the beautiful and elegant Bengali tiger is no longer under threat of extinction.
In 1970, the Indian government passed a law prohibiting tiger-hunting and sentencing violators to two years in prison.
"The Tiger Project", devised by Kailash Sankhala in 1973, along with Indira Gandhi's backing and the World Wildlife Fund ( WWF )'S financial support, took measures to create 19 nature reserves and national parks in India. "Tigers never attack without being provoked. But, don't forget that provocation means: entering their territory, getting too close to their cubs, or interfering with their prey! The tiger's reputation of being particularly fond of human flesh is quite unfounded. Even if tigers occasionally attack a person for being on their territory, unlike leopards, they are not renowned for swiping children from villages. What's more, even if tigers have been known to kill humans, it seems that they don't really appreciate human flesh. It has been observed that tigers often abandon their prey without eating it after an attack.", said Kailash Sankhala.
These areas are protected by tough poaching laws and rigid provisions against the installation of polluting industrial plants in the immediate vicinity. Additionally, researchers and rangers control these regions carefully. For these reasons, the tigers, now at home in ideal surroundings, can live peacefully and multiply.
The relative ease with which tigers reproduce has also contributed to the increasing growth rate of the tiger population. Tigers mate about every two years in November and December, and gestation lasts three and a half months. When a female is ready to give birth, she looks for a sheltered spot amidst a clump of trees or in a hidden cave. In general, each female produces two or three cubs. The mother raises her offspring lovingly, the male abandons the female soon after the mating season, and provides food for them until they are big enough to hunt for themselves.
The scheme's success is illustrated by the fact that, over a period of twenty years- a relatively short time- the number of tigers in the reserves has doubled to almost 4,000. Thus, the future of the tiger is directly linked to its chances of being able to live in a safe, natural habitat. In providing these conditions, man is, at the same time, protecting that rich patrimony which represents the heart of India: the jungle, savanna and marsh lands.
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