Don’t tempt fate even in a zoo

Pic Courtesy Hindustan Times

I think the picture of the day yesterday, horribly so, was the white tiger in the Delhi Zoo staring down a youth crouching in fear, pleading for his life. It said it all. It’s tragic that the young man had to die such a horrible death.

However, even if we treat this as an isolated case of misadventure gone horribly wrong, there is the bigger issue of the way humans behave in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries and the propensity to blame the authorities when something goes wrong – never looking at where we erred. The point is, we really can’t say what an animal will do and when. That is why it is an animal and we as humans are supposed to understand that.  Whether we visit zoos or wildlife sanctuaries we are told to stay within our limits. We are told to respect the privacy and rights of the animals because we are in their territory. Unfortunately, human beings just don’t understand the simple dictum – whether we are in the jungle or we are in a zoo. Sometimes, I think we should be in a cage and not the animals. I’ve seen people sticking their hand through the metal grill of a cage as if the animal is their distant relative they intend to shake hands with! I always wonder how many seconds it would take for a wild animal to react thinking it was being attacked and grab the hand? But then we are Indians, we learn our lessons the hard way – sometimes, not even then.

And of course, our intelligent broadcast media blames the zoo officials for not having security in place. Why don’t we just allow people to climb into the enclosures where the tiger lives along with security and then see what happens? I would understand if the tiger jumped the enclosure and attacked people. Then the question of lax security could be raised. There are signs everywhere warning us not to cross the barriers, not to throw food, not to irritate the animals etc etc, but we never follow those rules do we? Some reports say that the youth was mentally unbalanced others said he was a bhang addict. I guess we can only feel sorry for him and the way he died. One could fault the zoo authorities for not showing up on time to rescue the young man. Whether they really could have done anything to stop an enraged tiger without any tranquilizers is another issue. Some TV channels said that the fencing was too low. Too low for whom man or animal? We all know an animal will attack only if he thinks it is threatened. And it’s obvious the animal felt threatened at the sight of a human in its enclosure.

I saw the video someone sent me. It is taken a little after the youth fell in till he is dragged away by the tiger. The animal seems as surprised to see the youth in his area as the boy seems terrified. First it looks at him and then starts to paw at him, almost playfully. I can’t even imagine the terror the youth must have experienced even if the tiger was just being playful. The caretaker even calls out to the tiger by name (Vijay) and the cat looks up at the caller. It gets enraged only when the people begin shouting and throwing stones at it. It’s a tiger not a dog, who will take to its heels when that happens. Who knows, if the people on top had remained quiet, the youth might have stayed alive long enough to be rescued by the zoo officials. So who’s to blame here? And that is the real problem.

That apart, look at how we behave when we travel on jungle safaris. The forest guide tells us not to disembark from the SUV, but out we go, posing for photographs in the jungle! Funnily, I’ve sat in canters and jeeps with foreigners and I’ve never seen them break the rules. On any jungle safari, we are told time and again by the forest guards that we are intruding into their territory, so we should respect that and stay within our limits. But, no, we have to throw banana peels and bread at monkeys and rush out of the jeep or lean out to take pictures of the deer or any other wild animals in the area. Worse, when we are told to stay quiet, we just cannot keep our mouths shut. So we do the next best thing. We start whispering loudly! I am just thinking who one would have blamed when in Gir, we were charged by a whole pride of lion cubs. And these weren’t babies but pretty huge. We were sitting on our jeeps in a culvert watching the cubs playing when the two of them charged towards us snarling. Thankfully, the driver reversed in quick time. We weren’t even doing anything crazy like getting off the jeep. We were just sitting without making a sound. Would you call that stupid?

However, I’ll give you just two examples of human stupidity. The first was an incident at the Nagzira wildlife reserve a couple of years back. There was this particular watering hole being frequented by a tiger. Thrice it landed up there to drink water only to be disturbed by a horde of screaming tourists who raced towards the spot. We were a little distance away from the spot, but we were told by one of the excited guides that one adventurous young lady thought she could distract the animal so she used her flash. This enraged the tiger so much that it charged at the jeep. It was the screams of other equally frightened tourists that scared the animal away.

The second was at Pench. There was a pair of tigers snoozing in a lake down below where we were parked and as usual, the tourists were calling and hooting to draw the attention of the animals. I guess it is the Indian upbringing – If I’m paying for it it’s my ‘baap ka maal’ – that makes us what we are. After a while, one of the men, a Gujarati, turned to the forest guard in exasperation and said, “Unko hilao na” (Why don’t you shake them up). With pure disgust on his face the guard said, “unko hilaun ga, to woh hum sab ko hila denge” (If I shake them up, they will leave all of us shaking).

It’s a pity, that the youth and onlookers in the Delhi Zoo on Tuesday realised that a little too late.

Taken for a ‘big ride’ at SGNP

The Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a cruel joke perpetrated on the visitors in the name of environmental and wildlife preservation. We went there last Saturday, and were shocked by the complete apathy of the authorities towards showcasing whatever wildlife is in there. Apart from the fact that we managed to spot one white tiger in the open, a lion sleeping behind a bush, and a few deer, we didn’t spot anything else and nor were the officials there too interested in showing us.

They have one enclosure for the white tiger and another for a lion, which visitors are taken past in a riot-control bus. The bus stops for a few minutes, during which time, visitors are told to take pictures through grills. You can well imagine what kind of pictures one can take through a grill in two minutes! Then we are abruptly driven out of there. End of safari in a priceless 20 minutes. The point is, if the humans are kept away from the animals by a fence, and if there is more wildlife to admire, why not have open 4WD or Canters to take visitors around for a longer time, and charge more? What stops the authorities from making the whole experience more enjoyable?

This was like a trip to the neighbourhood grocer to buy provisions! To me it looks more like a 9-to-5 job, where the workers seem more intent in getting the job done than showing any really enthusiasm for it. In a place like this, only those workers who love animals should be sent – not those who consider this an endurance test. The people at SGNP should learn from their counterparts at Ranthambore and Gir on how to arrange a safari.

At both these places one travelled in open jeeps or Canters, and got the opportunity, not just to view the animals at close range but also photograph and videograph them. In Gir, we were so close to the lionesses and their cubs, that we could almost touch them. By now we all know that animals attack only in self-defence, and that was obvious at both these wildlife sanctuaries because we were up, close and personal with the magnificent beasts and they looked at with a kind of disdain, that humans reserve for their fellow beings. We paid Rs 500 per head at both places for a three-hour safari, but were warned that there was absolutely no guarantee that we would be able to see either tigers or lions. The point is, real nature lovers, who love to see animals in their natural habitat would not have a problem paying more. And if they didn’t spot any, they wouldn’t mind, because they understood that there was no guarantee of that.

The guards spent hours tracking pugmarks and droppings to track the animals so we could get a glimpse of the elusive tigers and lions. Spotting deer and peacocks were quite common but to spot the ‘dadas’ of the jungle lolling around was the icing on the cake. They gave us the real jungle experience. At one point as we waited for lionesses to show up from somewhere, they were sitting right behind our Gypsy in some thick foliage. They emerged with their cubs only when they realised that we meant no harm.

At Ranthambore, I remember a tourist, sitting in the Canter with us, saying that it was the first time in 13 attempts that he had spotted a tiger – and that too just 15 metres away. The next day he made another trip to see the magnificent animal with us, because he thought we were lucky for him! He spotted one again, although from quite a distance! The guy thought he had been blessed and thanked us repeatedly! There are countless others like him who love the environment and the wild, and would have no regrets if after two hours in the SGNP they spotted a few deer and maybe an odd lion – or none at all. For them it’s the experience that matters and not the cost.

All credit to the government for not succumbing to the powerful builders lobby and maintaining such a wonderful ‘natural’ habitat in the midst of a concrete jungle called Mumbai. Whether the SGNP has more than the odd lion and tiger and if so, would the government be interested in popularising, is something for them to decide. While our safaris may not be comparable to the ones in Africa, can the authorities at SGNP at least ensure we don’t leave the place feeling cheated?