recover a viable wild population, we need
thousands of square kilometres of habitat
without human settlements, livestock and
domestic dogs – as well as a high density
of natural prey. It is not realistically feasible
to establish this at this time. The current
plans developed for the reintroduction of
a handful of cheetahs
are scientifically unsound
and driven by the egos
of a few individuals. I am
glad that these plans have
been shelved. On the last
point, I do not believe
tiger conservation should
override the conservation
of other umbrella species
representing other ecosystems. This entire thing
of tigers versus other
species is a phony debate
of the kind our shrill TV
anchors like.
myself 50 years ago!
Could you please elaborate on the
scope of wildlife conservation,
stressing on it being a long-term
career?
In one of your earlier interviews,
you had stressed on retaining
our qualified wildlife scientists
and attracting them back into the
country. What solution do you
suggest for the same?
The key is to create sufficient well paid careers
both as managers and
researchers, remove the
present oppressive control over research opportunities by the Forest Departments and
create a lateral entry
opportunity for highly
trained wildlife scientists into government
ministries at various
levels as ‘technocrats
with real knowledge’.
Today most ‘wildlife
You once said you
experts’ in India are
were disheartened
retired officials, TV
by colleges and
anchors, photographers
institutes starting
and socially connected
“Only the wise and increasing use of science and techWildlife Studies
folks. While all their
nology to meet human needs can help us save nature involvement is good
departments just for
for conservation, it is
the sake of doing so.
in the future”
not a substitute for real
But we’ve heard that
technical knowledge of
your MSc course on
I would not advise it as a full t ime career
wildlife issues and solutions to problems.
Wildlife Biology and Conservation
unless you are passionately interested and
at the National Centre for Biological enjoy it almost to the exclusion of all else.
More Indians know Steve Irwin than
Sciences, Bangalore is an exception.
Compared to many other fields, career
Mike Pandey. Why is awareness
How has the course shaped up,
opportunities are limited and remuneration about the Indian conservation effort
since its inception? How has it been
is lower. Although this is changing, I do
so low?
received by the students? Has it
not see a huge expansion of the kind that
been living up to your expectations? I see in fields like engineering, medicine
etc. Typically one can become an academic
researcher, join a conservation NGO, or
The course you mention is a joint effort of
join the Forest Service via the UPSC route.
my organization Wildlife Conservation SoThe last option I believe has not been used
ciety (www.wcsindia.org) and the National
more widely, but I feel there will be a huge
Centre for Biological Sciences at TIFR. It
impact in the field if more trained wildlife
is open to bachelors degree holders in all
biologists become wildlife managers.
disciplines, and has produced 60 students
so far, many of whom are doing very well.
Interestingly, about 25% of our stuHow does India rank on a global
dents come from engineering and related
scale when it comes to preservation
backgrounds. When I see them, I think of
of our bio-diversity?
A difficult question, as I am not familiar
with the conservation details of all countries. Within the Asian region however, I
would rate India at the top, as we have relatively better laws, government commitment
and budgetary support, public support and
active conservation advocacy including
litigation, which are all essential elements
of good wildlife conservation. We are far
ahead of China, for example. I would rank
Thailand next to India.
42
The Shoreline
Mike is a good film maker, but in my
opinion not a great conservationist on the
ground – regardless of what you see on
TV. Irwin, of course, symbolizes the horrible new TV format of grabbing eyeballs
of channel surfers with all sorts of antics.
This TV trend has nothing to do with conservation and has completely displaced real
conservation issues from TV, leading to the
serious problem you point out. How can
an interested layperson assess who is doing