The Upper Caste Animal

Why do we make such a fuss about tigers?

While doing a story on ant researchers, or myrmecologists, some time ago, one of them told me about the time he wrote a book on ants and went to a publisher. With the rejection, he got sage advice: write something on tigers or elephants if you want your work published. I was also told that ants got nothing by way of funding because most of it was cornered by the tiger. As evidence for how neglected ants are is the gradual extinction of myrmecologists themselves in India. There are about 10 to 15 of them and almost no new research students.

Creatures like ants and termites are nature’s scavengers who keep Earth clean. If they disappeared overnight, nature would implode. Studies of ant movement contribute to our understanding of automobile traffic. The tiger, on the other hand, is a showpiece. If it becomes extinct, nature would continue as if a leaf had fallen but left the rest of the tree untouched.

It’s amusing to watch India giving itself a collective pat on the back because the tiger population increased by 300 from 1,411 in 2006 to 1,706 in 2010. For the dollars poured in and the PR the tiger gets, nothing else should have been the result, though even the reported increase is not quite credible (read ‘How We Count Our Tigers’)

The question to ask is: what benefits would have accrued if the money and energy were spent somewhere else.

There are animals and birds in greater peril but they don’t look as good. ‘Save the Vulture’ does not have the same ring as ‘Save the Tiger’, though vultures are of more service to Parsis. Or ‘Save the Himalayan Wolf’ or ‘Save the Pygmy Hog’, both ‘critically endangered’ in India as compared with the tiger, which is only ‘endangered’. Along with AIDS, sustainable development and global warming, the tiger is now securely positioned on Page 3 of the NGO world. It is an easy route to get dollar funds.

There is one good reason, though, to whip up tiger hysteria. When a sanctuary is declared a tiger reserve, the protection rubs off on the forest and other animals. But this is still an unjust way to go about it. Imagine the principle applied to humans: South Mumbai is declared tax-free so that Mukesh Ambani gets relief. You will never hear such an announcement even if the intention was for Ambani to profit.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

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