Tiger (Panthera Tigris) One of the severely threatened animals in the Himalayas is the National animal of India - the Bengal Tiger, or simply, the tiger. Till the turn of the century , tigers were common in various parts of the Indian and Nepal Himalayas. However, they are severely threatened today due to large scale poaching.

Epitaph of the Man Eater of Rudraprayag. (Download Realplayer)

Tigers at the Corbett National Park, India Credit: Karamjeet Singh

For example, Kumaon and Garhwal were famous for their tigers, which have been known to roam about in its lower districts. For centuries, the delicate natural balance was maintained. However, the increase in human and cattle population in the beginning of the 20th century led to the disturbance of this balance, and the first man-eaters started appearing. Soon the numbers of these man-eaters increased and Kumaon became famous. The hunter Jim Corbett became famous with his exploits in this region. In his classic "Man Eaters of Kumaon", Jim Corbett describes how he shot half a dozen of the most notorious killers in the district. One tiger had apparently killed 434 people before it fell to Corbett's shot. In "Temple Tiger", he describes how he killed the Champawat tiger and the Panar leopard, which had hunted 836 human beings in the first decade of this century.

However from 1930s onwards, the number of tigers fell sharply with the increase in the number of hunters, both Indian princes and sportsmen of the British Raj.

Panthera Tigris Credit: Karamjeet Singh

The situation deteriorated rapidly and in 1971, the Indian government banned the killing of tigers. Project Tiger was started and the Jim Corbett National Park was formed - the name honoring the famous hunter of the past. Although some argue that the park and the Project have proved to be a wonderfully successful program to save the tigers of India, the fact remains that the project has not been free from controversies. Official figures put the the number of tigers to be close to 5000. However experts on the topic and independent sources say that the actual figure may be closer to 3000 than 5000. There is a rising demand for tiger related goods. Tiger skins and bones are in heavy demand. Poachers and smugglers have established a clever route by which tigers surface in the form of medicines and balms in Chinese markets as Chinese "medicine". Not a year goes by without stories of seizures of bones and skins by the customs officials. But these seizures are only the tip of the iceberg and the poaching still continues.