Tiger Talk

That is why on Monday night we made an effort to bring the tigers here to Toronto, with the help of ICICI Bank Canada, at “Tiger Talk”. The incredible photographs were displayed at Torys LLP, downtown.  The images gave guests an idea of exactly what it means to see a tiger in the wild, as well as understand the relationship between people and tigers.
We are lucky enough to be currently hosting Rinjan Shrestha from WWF-U.S. in our Toronto office.  Originally from Nepal, he is an Eastern Himalayas conservation scientist.  He recently told me a story about just how rare and thrilling it actually is to see one of these cats in the wild.
Rinjan tells of his very first encounter with a wild tiger:  He was only able to catch a glimpse and quick photo, as it moved at lightning speed through the bush.  Even though it was brief, he immediately felt its power.

Tiger Photo with candles at “Tiger Talk” (c) Steph Morgan-WWFCanada
On his second field trip to search for tigers, he worked with 20 other people in the jungles of Nepal. And elephants! Seeing a tiger is such a rare occurrence that even when you’re out setting bait for them, you may not cross paths.
Rinjan and his colleagues set out bait at 9 locations in known tiger territory. Their goal was to trap a young, transient male  to fit with a radio collar. For 18 days they got up excruciatingly early to check the traps. And for 18 days the closest they got was seeing tracks in the mud.
That is when they started hypothesizing: maybe the tigers don’t like the bait? After all, there is plenty of other prey to choose from. The wildlife technicians, who are experts in tiger behavior, reading the land, and trekking in Nepal, lead these expeditions.  Their suggestion was that perhaps they weren’t seeing tigers because they hadn’t offered goods to the forest God in the vicinity of the camp!

Apparently, before studying tigers, people go to a specific place in the forest to make an offering to the Gods, called “puja”.  The wildlife technicians used to be hunters, and always made offerings to the Gods in order to have a successful hunt.  Rinjan and crew had also done this before their expedition, but needed to offer a special kind of “puja” at the shrine near camp.  Due to their tight budget they decided to go with the most cost effective offering: coconuts!
The next morning, they eagerly hiked for 40 minutes to the ruins of what was once a temple.  Idols of deities, shrines, and a Hindu bell were all still standing, hidden in the forest.  There, they broke coconuts and offered the meat and milk to the Gods in the hopes of capturing their first tiger.
The next day, the bait had been taken.
The excitement was building as they followed the rope that had been tied to the bait.  The next step was to use elephants and long strips of white sheets to coax the tiger to a certain spot.  Tigers avoid the bright white and won’t typically jump over or crawl under the sheets.  A line of elephants slowly walked at the wide end of a ‘V’ created by sheets, toward the narrow point.  Eventually the tiger would have no choice but to go to the point, where the wildlife technicians waited in trees with tranquilizers.

This particular tiger was determined to escape, unaware that these people were trying to help its kind.  Rinjan witnessed it tear right through the cloth.  This proved that not only are tigers magnificent, beautiful and rare, they are particularly powerful and unpredictable.
While they did not get the chance to put a collar on that tiger, Rinjan and his team had just seen first-hand one of the 155 tigers left in Nepal. Eventually they were successful, marking the very first satellite-tracked tiger in Nepal.  The data generated is expected to help park managers and locals maintain and improve the corridors connecting Nepal to India, where the population is 1,700 cats.
Projects like this clearly require a lot of time, effort, and money.  This crucial research will help save our tigers.  “Tiger Talk” highlighted the plight of the tigers, our goals, and our determination.