Honorary Tiger: The Life of Billy Arjan Singh

Hart-Davis

• Publisher: Roli Books
• Year: 2005
• ISBN:
  9789351940722
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Science & Technology Biographies
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Popularly known as India's latterday Jim Corbett and 'tiger man', 87-year-old Billy Arjan Singh is by any standards an extraordinary man. At Tiger Haven, his home in a magical spot on the edge of the jungle in UP, Singh's experiments with bringing up three orphaned leopards, and also Tara, a tiger cub that he imported from a zoo in England, shot him into both limelight and controversy. His aim was to see if Tara's instincts would make her revert to the wild when she became mature. They did, and over the years, she produced four litters of cubs, thus proving his contention that it is possible to supplement dwindling wild stocks with zoo-born animals. But when it was discovered that the tigress had Siberian genes in her ancestry, he was accused of having introduced a 'genetic cocktail'into the jungle. Undeterred, Singh remained a champion of the forest and its denizens. It was almost entirely due to his advocacy that in 1973 the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, authorized the creation of the Dudhwa National Park. Now, in his eighties, comes recognition for his efforts. In March 2005, he received the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation award - a global honour administered by the World Wildlife Fund, that serves to recognize outstanding contributions in international conservation. In this affectionate biography, the British author Duff Hart-Davis tells the story of a man absolutely dedicated to the cause of animals, who has given fifty years of his own life to their conservation.

Four Musketeers: (left to right) baby Balram,
eldest brother Jaswant, Billy and sister Amar

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(Family photos: Courtesy Brinda Dubey)

Grand matriarch: Billy’s mother Mabel at her home in Lucknow

Facing page: (above) Family portrait, 1957 - Mabel and Billy flank
the rest of the family; (below) Hunter turned conservationist -
Billy at 14 with his first tiger kill in Balrampur

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(Family photos: Courtesy Brinda Dubey)

 

 

 

 

 

No crocodile tears: Billy with a baby croc (Photo: Ashish Chandola)

Facing page: Billy (on tree) with Jaswant; the two brothers with a friend at Pallia; Billy and Balram flank future Air Marshall Jaswant Singh

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(Family photos: Courtesy Brinda Dubey)

Leopard games: Prince, Billy’s first Big Cat, mock-charging at Tiger Haven, and (facing page) Billy demonstrating his weigh-lifting abilities with a young Harriet.

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(Photos: Courtesy Billy Arjan Singh)

Billy in an expansive mood relaxing on the verandah of Tiger Haven

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(Photo: Sarah Giles)

Tigers at play: Billy and Tara on the lawns of Tiger Haven

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(Photo: Ashish Chandola)

Billy with the women in his life: Harriet and Juliette

Facing page: (above) Harriet, and (below) Tiffany the Fishing Cat
lands a catch (Photo: Stanley Breeden)

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(Photos: Courtesy Billy Arjan Singh)

Standing tall: Billy with Tara,
(Photo: Lisa van Gruisen) and
(below) Eelie and young Tara
(Photo: Courtesy Billy Arjan Singh)

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Sanctuary for man and beast: Tiger Haven (Photo: Mike Price)

Facing page: Cats and dogs:
Eelie and Prince indulge in some good-natured rough and tumble

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(Photos: Billy Arjan Singh)

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