wildlife foundation
Melanie Chisholm joins the fight to save wild tigers TigerTime, the tiger campaign run by
s the sun set on a long, hot day in Rajasthan, India the last thing former Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm wanted to do was relax. She had travelled thousands of miles to see her first wild tiger and, knowing how rare these beautiful big cats are, she didn’t want to miss a moment of opportunity. Inside Ranthambhore National Park Melanie watched from the shadows as, only feet away, a solitary male tiger lay in a cooling pool of water. Known as ‘star male’, due to the star shaped patch of black fur above his eye, Melanie watched as his powerful tail flicked from the water scattering scores of chattering birds that had dared to approach the tiger’s pool. “It was my first glimpse of a wild tiger and it was thrilling,” says Melanie. “I’ve always been fascinated by tigers and it’s been a lifelong dream to see one in its natural habitat. I have to admit that it was humbling and slightly scary to be so close to a wild tiger – the whole forest was electrified by its presence.”
Melanie had travelled to India with 48
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WILD TIGERS A
Surrey-based charity the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation. A supporter since the campaign launched in 2011, Melanie was keen to find out more about tigers and their plight in the wild.
“I wanted to be educated. I wanted to understand the issues facing wild tigers and how I, how all of us, can play a part in saving them. I’m a real animal-lover and grew up in a family of animal-lovers and I’ve always found cats intriguing. When I heard that there were as few as 3,000 tigers left in the wild I was shocked. The thought of my six-year-old daughter and future generations growing up in a world without tigers inspired me to take action.” One of the key issues impacting on tigers in the wild is the continuing illegal trade in tiger parts. Although it was banned in 1987, there is still demand and growing captive breeding facilities, specifically in China and Lao PDR, continue to generate demand from wild sources. “It infuriates me that the trade continues,” says Melanie. “When once it
was health that drove the killing – tiger parts were used for ineffective medicines – it is now wealth that drives it. “People want tiger skins as status symbols, tiger meat to serve at exotic banquets to impress friends and tiger bone wine as a gift to influence others. We humans have a lot to answer for and it has to stop.”
To help develop a deeper understanding of wild tigers Melanie was accompanied by fellow TigerTime supporter, the award- winning Indian film maker, Nalla Muthu who is working on his fourth documentary about Ranthambhore’s big cats. “Although I understood that there was no guarantee of seeing a tiger, I knew it would be a special experience but I had no idea that seeing star male was just the start of the magic.
“On the same evening that we saw him we also saw two male cubs. The light was fading and in the dark it was hard at first to make them out as they too cooled in a river bed, glancing over at us, relaxed in our presence. There was no sound above
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