A Smiling Tiger and About Photographic Responsibilities

I love tigers and I make no bones about the fact. This image happens to be amongst my favourite tiger shots. While it displays a Flehmen response by this rather beautiful tiger cub, the rather tentative nature of the animal makes it look like a smile. And why wouldn't it? Tiger numbers have grown steadily in India despite many odds. If anything we need to find ways to manage the growing population of big cats by protecting more of their habitat - a good problem to have when you see success conserving an umbrella species.

When I started writing this post, my mind went back to a beautiful tiger image I saw on 500px more than a year back. Something about it screamed "not in Asia and not wild." The photograph was from John Varty's "Living with Tigers" project in South Africa. The photographer was someone whose work I personally admire - Marcel Van Oosten. Marcel's post spoke of how difficult it was to photograph tigers in Bandhavgarh and Ranthambhore and that he saw just one on his last safari in absolutely bad light. He compared the experience to Karoo, where they photograph tigers in brilliant photography situations on pretty much all their drives. While I don't see it as unnatural that evergreen forests are difficult to photograph in and that's a photographic challenge everyone should be up for; I don't want to judge Marcel for wanting to find easy locations to photograph in. What concerned me was how little Marcel thought of the reason we need to conserve tigers in the quest for the ultimate photograph.

I can't place a judgement on John Varty's project. I'm too under qualified to do so. I do have an impression:

1. Varty's tigers are genetically impure and in that provide no conservation value in African landscapes. This is a criticism I see across popular media. 
2. To truly conserve the ecosystem Varty could have introduced leopards, lions, cheetahs and wild dogs. He instead introduced zoo bred tigers. Was this to only create a spectacle for the high paying tourists? I can't help question the motive. 
3. In a lot of Varty's movies including "Living with Tigers" he's put animals in harm's way. eg: introducing a captive lioness to a wild pride or pushing a prey animal into a fence to engineer a killing scene for cameras. 

And yet it seems Varty does have a colossal reputation. Marcel tells me that the Indian government invited him over to replicate his work with leopards, with tigers in India. All this said, is a set of photographs all that people care about when they think of a tiger? Don't they want to see its real habitat and learn about the species that the tiger forms an umbrella for? I don't want to have double standards, because I want great photographs too. I can't however, think of going to Karoo because it reflects nothing about tigers and the ecosystem they stand for in Asia. If tigers were to go extinct in India, that'd mean not just a loss of one of the most enigmatic creatures in the world, but it'd also hasten the destruction of the ecosystem that sits under it. Tigers never existed in Karoo, so it's tough for me to imagine the conservation value that a few individual tigers could bring to this landscape!

I was very disturbed to see an award winning photographer speaking only from the perspective of "assured tiger photographs" and completely sidestepping conservation value. Marcel tells me that these tigers have killed several wildebeest and their wild instincts are well and truly alive. Apparently the "state of the art" fence has hastened their re-wilding. However, is it the tiger's true nature to hunt wildebeest in an open savanna? To me, these cats are just as wild as feral dogs. Feral dogs will kill opportunistically and can be savage predators, but that doesn't make them conservation substitutes for the wolf despite uncanny genetic similarities. And just because the Kilimanjaro has snow capped peaks doesn't mean that relocating captive snow leopards there equals conservation. I don't know if I'm thinking the right way. What are your thoughts?

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By the way I don't want to sidestep the issue of "easy photographs of tigers". While I'm still not a tiger photography veteran, I can tell you that Marcel's impression of tiger photography in India is a bit coloured by bad luck. Hey, you can have bad luck not seeing lions in the Maasai Mara - ask me! Tigers are a far more elusive beast. However you've got to see the work of people like Santosh Saligram, Harshad Barve, Sachin Rai and hey, even my dear friend Anuroop Krishnan to know what's possible in our mysterious, Indian forests. I know as photographers, we're always looking to overcome constraints. Let's not lose sight of the fact though, that it's these very constraints that make photography an addictive hobby. Moreover, for the price you might end up paying at Karoo, you could have a lifetime of authentic Royal Bengal tiger images in India. If you're a wildlife enthusiast keen to photograph tigers, I invite you to visit India and make a difference not just to your photographic portfolio but to also make a stand for conservation!