How Do We Value a Tiger ?

Engaging Community for Tiger Conservation

The genesis of biodiversity conservation was focused with strictly species protection and human factor was less concerned. People lost their interest in conservation as it directly impacted their livelihoods. They also lost their traditional culture that was enabled them to attach with nature. Connection was both both intrinsic with the full of values and pride and materially as a product. However, the protection regime at the beginning did not recognized their importance. A co-existence with nature and fulfilling people’s need of livelihoods was common before the industrial development.

Without local people’s support in conservation, it has been now understood that any conservation effort will be meaningless. Despite of several people centered policy, community engagement in biodiversity conservation is still in its infancy. Some cases in Asia and Africa demonstrated to bring community in the effort of species conservation, however most of them are not very instrumental in bringing sensible community engagement. The problems are disparity in fair share of resources, dis-balance between needs and greed. Poor people in the developing countries are fulfilling the cost of global environmental benefit. International scientific communities are looking for diverse solutions for the common problem. 

Local community should play a major role in tiger conservation and authority should encourage community and engage them to establish a better relationships, build trust, communicate with political, social and cultural leaderships and seek their commitments for tiger conservation. Any successful community engagement that is based on community interest and support will bring a positive change. This will be achieved only if the community members are made an integral part of program planning, development and implementation. Authority should remember always to respect community independence and collective self-determinations to involve in the action and at the same time community should understand the government’s rules, regulations and bureaucratic procedures.  

No donor organization, executing organizations and authority should impose their self-interest. It is often a practice in the developing world that power remains with that person who can generate and flow money. For poor people small money could contribute their day to day survival. My personal experience in this context is that in many occasions in the field, poor people speaks in front of media saying their lifestyle have been profoundly improved by the help of the project. When asked later they say the truth of taking a nominal amount of money to speak for the project. The institution or organization bring projects and program does not mean that it is itself a community. Any organization or institute is governed by individuals, group or people who are member of the institutions. The people centered approach should understand this fact value every individual as an element of the Tiger conservation community engagement.


Tiger Tiger.......

This is to urge to promote value based tiger conservation through education and awareness. Tiger conservation has been a daunting task to fight against poaching, poisoning and habitat loss. One single solution does not help save the tiger. I am an advocate of value based conservation and would like to bring inner awareness connecting, nature, religion and faith in tiger conservation. Tiger conservation has been a difficult task for both conservation mangers and the local people to fight against habitat loss, poaching,  poisoning and livestock depredation. One single solution from top down does not help save the tiger, but understanding local grass root chemistry could help.  I am an advocate of value based tiger conservation and would like to bring inner awareness connecting, nature, religion and faith. First, a value based cultural studies has to be done and I am ready to collaborate with the interested group or partners. I would like to bring local community's experience dealing with tiger in their day to day life.  and facing numerous livelihoods challenges. However, there is a pious hope if we can address people’s livelihoods through tiger conservation and make them feel tiger is helping them in their survival. This needs to do a creative work in terms of generating conservation awareness in a more sensible manner, this will help conserve tiger in the wild. Please jump on if you are interested to join hands on this venture. 

My Tiger Stories

Tiger number estimated in Nepal to be 120. There is no historical records of tiger number in this area before 1970s, but in one hunting season (2-3 weeks) in 1853, total 120 tiger have been shot and killed as trophy. This gives a rough estimate of  more than 40,000 tiger would have been in the Forest of Nepal at that time. As elsewhere tiger conservation in this area faces problems like habitat loss, poaching, poisoning and ongoing human tiger conflicts. Poaching is the major problem in declining tiger number. In recent years improvement / extensions of tiger habitat due to the participatory forest conservation initiatives might have increased the tiger number at some scale. However,  the ongoing human tiger conflicts have been detrimental to flourish tiger population in the wild.  This happens, when the female tiger with cubs roam around the village adjacent to the community forest to get refuge. During this time tiger sometime hunt livestock to feed its cubs and for its own survival. But local people living in the rural village of Nepal do not know the nexus between human and wild animals. Their problem is how to fulfill their basic need to support their livelihood. 

I have experienced four times seeing tigers in the wild. I had that opportunity because of my involvement in the wildlife research activities in Nepal’s National Parks. The Chitwan National Park located in the central Nepal and the Bardia National Park in the western Nepal and connected to North India. These areas are heavily dense tiger habitats. My interest in tiger conservation increased after these silent encounters and willing help survive this animal. 

1St Site

We were tracking radio collard female tiger with two cubs. One morning , our monitoring team member put me on a tall tree branch knowing tiger is somewhere within the catch of the radio signal. They went to pinpoint the tiger of our radio frequency and drove the tiger toward the area where I was staying. I was warned to be very careful not to swing my hands and make a noise and move even a small bit, otherwise tiger will see me and she might attack by jumping to the tree.  After putting me there the technicians’ team went to drive the tiger toward the tree where I was staying.

The wildlife technicians’ start driving elephants and approaching toward the place where the radio signal is coming high, when the bip sound intensity was high, the tiger was nearby. The sound becomes dim when tiger moved fast or run away. In this case the elephant drivers move their elephants faster to see the tiger. This is the way how they track tiger for the research purpose. The team was carrying a radio receiver, an antenna they move antenna toward the radio signal and the elephant follow the direction. Suddenly the bip sound became weaker meaning the tiger ran fast.  The technician saw a female tiger with a radio collar in a distance of about 100 yards without cubs.  This is strange, where are the cubs? are they dead?  if not then where ? The technicians are puzzled for some time as they had never experienced such incidents before. While they were driving their elephants, suddenly, there was a big roar of couple tigers. The elephants approached to the cubs as mother hide them there and she ran to deceive the group. This cub roaring draw mother's attention in a distance became highly alert and looking toward the direction where the sound came from. Everybody was panicked, situation became tense, in such position there is always a risk that the tiger could run towards the cubs aggressively and attack elephants. When cubs are in danger the mother tiger does anything possible to save them. The wildlife technicians are so experienced and they understood the situation and just got away from the cubs thinking not to disturb them. Cubs became calm and the mother just watches them from the distance. All elephants dispersed to let mother and cubs unite.

How about me on the tree? In fact the tiger was just under the tree where I was standing on a branch. She was just under me. I was so scared, there was already one incident back in 1974 a tiger researcher was attacked by a tiger when he was waiting on a tree top to dart the tiger. I was thinking if the tiger saw me and attack because she was already alert after hearing her cubs’ roar. I was relaxed as her 100 % attention was toward her cubs, she seems not to bother to see any where, unless I make any sound to draw her attention, which I never did. This is the first incident that I saw a tiger.

2nd Sight

Second incident was again tracking tiger with the GPS radio collar. We had planted a radio color that gives GPS locations of tiger movements that James David Smith doing his research.  The idea was to find out the home range of a tiger from the collar. It was a hard job to track a radio collared tiger, because the tiger moves very fast, they could range more than 20 km. per day and it is hard to find only by driving elephant. This tigress was also a mother with 4 cubs. Keeping this in view scientists sometimes use aircraft to track the radio collared tiger in the wild. In 1973, prof. James tracked tiger from a single engine air-craft, this was the first tiger monitoring from the air-craft in Nepal.  But  mostly we use our elephants no matter how long it takes. When we were tracking tiger with cubs, we catch up with the signal and we move closer and closer, to locate the tiger. This time, my five years old son Abhik was also on another elephant  and he was very interested to see a tiger. This time, suddenly a helicopter was flying at a lower elevation and both of our elephants scared and ran away. I saw a little bit of a cub tiger, from its back, but not the mother. However, the technician in another elephant where my son was riding saw a mother and both elephant ran so fast scaring away from the helicopter noise. The other technician Mr. Harka Man Lama said that my son was nearly fall down from the elephant when elephant ran fast. He had that moment he still remembers that day of seeing a tiger in the wild.

3rd Sight

Third incident was in Bardia National Park. We were supporting a community across the Karnali river at Banjaria at Gola VDC of Bardia District, Nepal. Each day in the morning we had to pack lunch and go across the Karnali River at the health post building site. Our job was to supervise the construction and consult with the villagers about the problem of human wildlife conflict. The idea was to provide indirect compensation to the villagers on the losses they have from the marauding wildlife from the park. We were aggressively making this health post complete as there was going to be  the Chairman visiting to inaugurate this structure. Since it was going to be a royal visit we had to be very careful to complete on time with efficient manner. So every day we were routinely visiting the place and coming back in the evening. One day in February 1996, I and Dhushara, the elephant driver was just crossed one branch of the Karnali River and approached to an island. Suddenly I saw a tiger was just chasing a hug deer. It became a straight line that the tiger, hug deer and our elephant. The moment was if the tiger and hug deer come straight then they definitely either bang on the elephant or sneak under the belly of our elephant. Anything could have happened. I and Dhushara both were panicked, elephant was not bothering, whether she did not sensed the tiger or she new and confident that tiger never come to her head. We didn’t know.  Fortunately for us and the hug deer and unfortunately to the tiger, they both dispersed opposite direction, hug deer fled toward the tail and tiger toward the head of the elephant. We could see tiger went little bit higher elevation watched us with fear and anger and sneak into the forest. We get to our camp. I never forget this incident in my life seeing a tiger in that moment.

4th Sight

Forth incident was again in the Chitwan National Park, it was a religious event, the Bikram Baba Fesitval, where all the villagers from eastern and western Chitwan, specially the Tharu community meet and gather in a temple located at middle of forest near the park HQ. The God Bigram is worshiped by different reason, he is god of the forest, most Chitwan Tharu believe that Bikram baba brings peace and happiness in their life and they sacrifice a pair of pigeon chicks. We were driving from Sauraha from 20 Km. east to the festival site. The festival was right near the Park headquarter. Group from our office hired a jeep and drove toward Kashara from inside the park. After we passed Kachhuwani (a cross road one goes to Hotel Gaida Wildlife Camp and the other to the Park Headquarter).  As soon as we cross the Kachhuwani, we saw a male tiger just crossed the road just 10 meter away from our jeep. It moved in its own slo speed un- bothered with the crowd there was another jeep just before us they were also watching the tiger. It went like 200 yards south from the road and just looked at us. No one was ever expected such moment, a middle of day, such a heavily trafficked road with jeeps, tractors, moving both ways carrying full load of pilgrims towards the Park Headquarters. So, from that day no tiger behavior applies when it wants in its way.

I could see the confidence on the male tiger undisturbed from the crowd; he might be thinking he is the king of the forest. Took his pace walk slowly didn’t ran with panicked, didn’t distracted to the disturbance, didn’t disturbed with the noise, because this was his own home why to bother?  I feel so proud to watch the confidence of a male tiger perhaps he was the dominate male in the park. When he passed the distance and gave us a glimpse, may be telling us all ok see me, look how magnificent am I, look how confident am I, how fearless am I. Try to be like my way you people! This was the last time that I saw a wild tiger. I wish I could see more such majestic animal in the wild again and again.Please help me out in this venture. Whenever I think of a tiger the following stories instantly comes to my mind that’s how I value a tiger. I would like to bring such experience from the local community, who share their livelihoods with tiger, who has to face numerous challenges like human and livestock killing and injury. However there is a hope if we can address people’s livelihoods needs and generate their awareness toward the conservation in a more sensible manner, this will help conserve tiger in the wild.

Interdisciplinary "Experiential Learning" Semester in Nepal

Man Kali family enjoying chain free environment

Experiential learning theory suggest educational models that develop better understanding among students and add value to the global nature and culture. Students need to learn about the real climate change induced global problems such as, poverty, hunger, degrading human health and wellbeing. And they have to find out ways to solve them. Experiential learning opportunity provide numerous chance of learning by experience. This is the hands on experience in academic education. Various educational scholars have defined experiential learning, some with educational focus and others with professional career development. University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Sciences (CFANS) has started an initiative of Experiential Learning semester program. The program was implemented in Nepal’s low-land around Chitwan National Park (CNP). 

Students engaged in the field work and observing rhinoceros

The semester planning was done in two ways, first was developing integrated course curriculum, and second was the delivery of the 16 credit course in the field. We believe that “experiential learning” objective should or has to be: i) global awareness on change in environment and developing countries’ challenges and aspirations; ii) holistic understanding of social, cultural and environmental aspects of the world; and iii) produce a new form of sensible educational pedagogy to engage with the environmental and socio-cultural phenomena. A 16 credit “Multidisciplinary Experiential Learning Nepal Semester Topic Course” was designed integrating forestry, wildlife biology and environmental science and policy. The five courses taught were; i) Nepali Culture and Rural Society; ii) Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring; iii) Community Forest Dynamics and Measurements; iv) Sustainable Community Based Natural Resource Management; and v) An Ecosystem Service and Socio‐economic Assessment of 4 Community Forests.The course was started at the beginning of the Spring 2013 Semester and seven students took part in the semester program. Students from wildlife biology, environmental science, and policy management tracks were registered for the semester program. Students felt comfortable to study during this semester program as they learnt hands-on the environmental conservation and sustainable development practices. Some students felt that this semester program has been a life changing experience, as it requires creative thinking to solve global problems. 

A Royal Palace of the King Bhupatindra Malla - wood carvings icon of the Malla Dynasty in Bhaktapur 

According to the students’ collective reflection, the semester program is a success and they would like to recommend their peers. Some important features have to be added to make this semester program more effective to the students and to achieve the learning abroad goal of the University of Minnesota. A comprehensive semester program planning coupled with action plans for marketing and faculty capacity development has to be prepared and endorsed by either the University or collegiate level authority. Amid global climate change impacts, experiential learning educational venture will benefit students by teaching skills in solving complex global economic and environmental problems and developing climate change adaptation strategies. 

An orphanage in Sauraha, Chitwan - need volunteers & donors

For more detail please contact:
Narayan P. Dhakal, PhD
Freelance Consultant in Curriculum Development and Instruction

Narayan is a facilitator in designing interdisciplinary course curriculum for the undergraduate and graduate students. Please contact if you would like to have collaboration in developing and delivering experiential learning semester in Nepal at e-mail: dhak0002@umn.edu