Can the big cats survive the human assault?

Can the big cats survive the human assault?

It is admired, respected, feared and hated in equal measure depending on where you live and what your livelihood is. It also inspires, has an aura of its own, is the subject of myths and legends, and symbolizes strength and power. It is even depicted as a vessel of powerful deities and worshipped. It has adorned the emblems of kings and emperors. Indeed, it is a royal beast.

It is known for its adaptability, for it has survived, and once thrived, in terrains as different as the hot and humid, almost non-navigable mangroves of the Gangetic Delta called the Sunderbans in India and Bangladesh, the tropical and subtropical forests, moist evergreen forests and tropical dry forests in India, the temperate forests up to an altitude of 4, 000 meters in Bhutan, and the freezing temperate mixed forests in Russia, Northeast China and the Korean Peninsula.

Yet the big cat is in danger, in danger of extinction, because the very people who admire and respect it also love and hate it. They hate it because they believe it is encroaching upon their land, instead of the other way round, and attacks and kills their cattle, even fellow folk. They love it, because they can hunt it and earn precious money by selling its skin, bones, teeth, organs and other parts.

So since this year is " Year of the Tiger" , it's an opportune moment to consider the plight of the big cats, and real action to provide them and their habitats with foolproof protection.

The tiger no longer burns bright in " the forests of the night" , as William Blake conceived it in his eponymous poem The Tyger. It no longer seems that an " immortal hand or eye" framed its " fearful symmetry" . Rather it appears " he who made the Lamb" favored such innocent, cuddly creatures to survive the wrath of humans despite falling under their knives in millions each year, not the one that sits atop the food chain.