Valmik Thapar: Legendary conservationist dubbed India's ‘Tiger Man' dies aged 73
One of India 's best-known wildlife conservationists, Valmik Thapar, has died at his home in Delhi at the age of 73.
Dubbed India's ' Tiger Man', Thapar dedicated five decades of his life to reviving the big cat's dwindling population, writing nearly 50 books on the subject and appearing in a host of nature documentaries including for the BBC.
Thapar co-founded the Ranthambore Foundation in 1988, an important non profit focused on community-based conservation efforts. The charity reportedly worked across almost 100 villages around the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, one of the biggest success stories in the country in terms of its flourishing tiger population, in the western state of Rajasthan.
Never afraid to speak out over the shortcomings of government bureaucracy, he served as an expert on scores of public committees and was also part of the National Board for Wildlife, a Supreme Court-empowered committee which is led by the country's prime minister.
In 2005 Thapar was appointed a member of the Tiger Task Force, set up by the government to review the management of tiger reserves following the infamous disappearance of the big cats from Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.
He disagreed with the findings of the task force, arguing that the report was overly optimistic about the coexistence of tigers and humans. Thapar said that for tigers to survive, certain forest areas needed to be completely free from human interference – a claim that put him in odds with activists advocating for the rights of forest-dwelling communities and tribes.
Among the books on tigers written by Thapar are the popular Tiger: A Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent (1997), and Tiger Fire: 500 Years of the Tiger in India.
He has presented and co-produced landmark wildlife documentaries, including the BBC series Land of the Tiger in 1997, which explored the wildlife of the Indian subcontinent.
In recent years, he had been critical of the government's Project Cheetah, which reintroduced African cheetahs into India.
"Thapar was no arm-chair conservationist, he spent as much time as possible in the field. Be it in the searing heat or an icy cold winter morning, rain or shine, he would be ideating with community elders and officers managing India's Tiger Reserves and National Parks to find solutions to complex, sensitive issues," his family said in a statement, according to The Hindu.
"Of course, he enjoyed his time in the jungle with his camera and binoculars, not just in the Indian wilderness but also in Africa. But what gave him the most pleasure was spending time with tigers in Ranthambore."
Last year, he appeared in the BBC's My Tiger Family – a 50-year story of an Indian tiger clan in Ranthambore.
Thapar is survived by his wife Sanjana Kapoor and their son Hamir Thapar.
Jairam Ramesh, a senior figure in the opposition Congress party and former environment minister, said Thapar "was uncommonly knowledgeable on a variety of issues relating to biodiversity and not a day passed during my ministerial tenure without our talking to each other -- with me almost always at the receiving end'.
"We had arguments but it was always an education to listen to him, full of passion and concern. He was truly an unforgettable one of a kind," he added.
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