Kailash Sankhala

Kailash Sankhala (30 January 1925 – 15 August 1994) was an Indian biologist and conservationist. He was the Director of Delhi Zoological Park and Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan.[1] He is best known for his work in preserving tigers. Sankhala was the first Director of Project Tiger, a conservation programme set up in India in 1973.[2] He was well known as "The Tiger Man of India". He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1992 and Rajasthan Ratan in 2013.

Kailash Sankhala
Born30 January 1925
Jodhpur, Jodhpur State, British India
Died15 August 1994
Known forEnvironmental activism; Role as first Director of Project Tiger
AwardsPadma Shri
Indira Gandhi presenting award to Kailash Sankhala
Kailash Sankhala on safari with Prince Philip
Padma Shri Kailash Sankhala

Wildlife manager

Sankhala started at the Forest Service in 1953.[3] He managed wildlife sanctuaries in Sariska, Bharatpur, Banvihar and Ranthambhor, and the forest divisions of Rajasthan until 1964. In 1965, he was appointed Director of the Delhi Zoological Park. For five years Sankhala served as head of the zoo, where his firmly held views on what zoos should be initially aroused anger, and later admiration. He had confrontations too with the Indian tourist establishment, and with the poachers who wished to make quick money out of tiger skins. In 1973 he was appointed head of Project Tiger, an attempt to save the Indian tiger from extinction.[4]

Tiger conservation

Kailash Sankhala was the first conservationist who raised his voice in favour of protecting the tiger as early as 1956. He conducted an extensive study under the Jawahar Lal Nehru fellowship during a time when tiger population was dwindling at an alarming rate due to poaching and hunting.[5] His research later lead him to become the first Director of Project Tiger in 1973.[6] In 1989, he established the Tiger Trust to continue his commitment to tiger conservation.[7] Sankhala's son, Pradeep Sankhala, took over the charge of the Tiger Trust after his father's death. Upon his death in 2003, his son Amit Sankhala stepped in.

Personal life

Kailash Sankhala was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan on 30 January 1925. Sankhala died on 15 August 1994 in Jaipur.

Awards and honours

In 1965, the government of Rajasthan bestowed on Sankhala the Merit Award for outstanding contribution in wildlife conservation. He was the first civil servant to receive the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1970 to study the tiger. He received another Merit Award in 1982 for his book on the tiger, and in 1992 he was awarded the country's fourth highest civil honour, the Padma Shri by the President of India. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has established the Kailash Sankhala Fellowship award for conservation efforts in his honour.[8]

Bibliography
  • Kailash Sankhala (1973). Wild Beauty: A Study of Indian Wildlife. National Book Trust, India; [sole distributors: Thomson Press (India).
  • Kailash Sankhala (1974). Tigre. World Wildlife Fund. ISBN 3859880101.
  • Kailash Sankhala (1975). Tigerland. Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN 978-0-672-52037-2.
  • Kailash Sankhala (1978). Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger. William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-00-216124-9.
  • Kailash Sankhala (1990). Gardens of God: The Waterbird Sanctuary at Bharatpur. Vikas Publishing House.
  • Kailash Sankhala (1993). Return of the Tiger. Lustre Press.
  • Kailash Sankhala; Swaraj Chauhan (1997). The Story of Indian Tiger. Grange Books. ISBN 978-1-85627-888-1.[9]

See also

References
  1. Valmik Thapar (1 February 2006). Saving Wild Tigers 1900–2000. Orient Blackswan. pp. 155–. ISBN 978-81-7824-150-0.
  2. Sujit Mukherjee (1 January 1993). Forster and Further: The Tradition of Anglo-Indian Fiction. Orient Blackswan. pp. 222–. ISBN 978-0-86311-289-8.
    • Kailash Sankhala (1978). Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger. William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-00-216124-9.
  4. Reed Business Information (28 March 1974). New Scientist. Reed Business Information. pp. 804–. ISSN 0262-4079.
  5. Ronald Tilson; Philip J. Nyhus (30 November 2009). Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of Panthera tigris. Academic Press. pp. 5–. ISBN 978-0-08-094751-8.
  6. Administrator. "Kailash Sankhala". kidsfortigers.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  7. "Tiger trust".
  8. "Shri Kailash Sankhla National Wildlife Fellowship Award – Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Government of India". envfor.nic.in. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  9. "Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger". Diary – Tales from Wild India – Conservation Magazine.
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