An enthusiastic audience greeted Cougar Mountain Zoo general curator, Robyn Barfoot, Sunday evening, to hear about her recent trip to India to promote big cat conservation.
India is home to over 1,700 tigers, about half the world’s tiger population. Over-hunting in the early 1900s and the belief that tiger parts are medicinal has pushed tigers to the brink of extinction Barfoot reported. She said the black market for tiger parts is up to $6 billion a year.
“It’s difficult to think that one person can make a difference, but you can,” she said. “I don’t want to see tigers go extinct in my lifetime.”
In Bangalor, Barfoot, who has a degree in biology with an emphasis in wildlife conservation, spoke to university students about tiger conservation. She also visited an elementary school where the children performed a 10-minute dance for her, and a high school where she said the students were very “smart and amazing.”
Barfoot met with Dr. Rajesh Gopal, director of Project Tiger, based in India, which aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats. She learned that Laos and Cambodia want tigers in their countries, too, and have agreed to protect them.
But the high points were the eco-safaris she went on. First was the Kabini Nagarahole Wildlife Preserve, which is home to 64 tigers, 100 leopards, 1,500 elephants, 25,000 spotted deer and giant squirrels she said, that are as big as a large house cat. She said when you are in the reserves, the guides must stay on the designated roads, which aren’t that great, as it is illegal to wander off of them.
At the Gir National Wildlife Preserve, there are 311 leopards, 411 Asiatic lions – which were almost hunted to extinction — and 46,000 spotted deer. Gir is the only place the Asiatic lion exists now, and she was thrilled to get within 20-feet of a pride.
“We were a buffet on wheels,” she joked. She added that on a safari like this, you are not to leave the vehicle.
She showed some beautiful photos of the pride. Unlike African lions, the male Asiatic lions don’t have the big, fluffy manes. She said trackers, who patrol the reserves for poachers, don’t carry any weapons, just a stick. The lions pretty much ignore them, she said, because lions are inherently lazy, sleeping 22 hours a day.
Her big thrill was in the Kanha Wildlife Preserve, home to 79 tigers, 30 leopards and 23,000 spotted deer.
Barfoot really wanted to get close to her favorite, the tiger. She said she started chuffing, a means of communicating with the animals, and one responded. A video from a camera phone showed the tiger emerge from the brush, walking toward the jeep until it was right behind them.
In Gir, she chuffed and managed to attract a leopard, which, she said are very hard to see in the wild.
Barfoot has been at the Cougar Mountain Zoo seven years, and in the zoo business for 16. Big cats are her specialty, with tigers her focal point. The zoo has four Bengal tigers, all males, that it got as cubs from other zoos. Vitez and Bagheera, born in 2009, are brothers and share a habitat. Taj and Almos, born in 2007, are three weeks apart in age and grew up together in their habitat.
To help save the tiger visit Project Tiger, Panthera.org, the Wildlife Conservation Trust online, or LIFE, a non-profit organization in India, founded by Barfoot’s friend, Danita Daniel. LIFE is a conservation organization focusing on saving tigers and rhinos, as well as water and energy conservation. Barfoot is the co-director of the Tigers for LIFE project, which focuses on education, key to saving the tiger.
