the thumping of my heart!”
Nalla’s latest film focusses on a tigress called Krishna and her three growing cubs and the following morning he and Melanie returned to the park and watched in awe as, just feet from their jeep, Krishna’s cubs stalked and played. “They were so close. I’m not sure I breathed at all while we watched them! Then a couple of the cubs got rowdy, started to fight, and at 18 months and almost fully grown, the growling and the power was overwhelming. Then mum stepped in and with one snarling roar she ended the fight. Watching this family drama unfold as the cubs begin to grow independent of their mother was an honour and, at times, truly petrifying!
“Tigers, quite justifiably, seem to have this innate sense of being top of the food chain and there were moments when I have to admit I felt afraid. But with Nalla’s expert guidance I learned so much about these magnificent big cats and feel more determined than ever to help save them. “It made me realise just how important tigers are not just to the forests they inhabit, but to the wider biodiversity of the place and our planet. A healthy tiger means a healthy forest and we all need forests – the oxygen and the water that they help produce – to live.”
In January and October 2016 pivotal meeting of CITES – the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Fauna and Flora that helps regulate the trade in endangered animals – are being held in Switzerland and South Africa during which the fate of the tiger may be decided.
“We have to ask China – who is chairing the Asian Big Cats group that includes tigers – to do the right thing,” says Melanie. “Time is running out for wild tigers and tougher restrictions need to be imposed on the countries with captive tiger breeding facilities and who allow a legal internal trade which creates the demand that could spell the end of the tiger in the wild.”
“In the recent BBC series ‘The Hunt’, David Attenborough concluded by saying ‘wildlife has the ability to recover and humans have the power to change, what happens next is up to us’. It is our collective responsibility to protect all wildlife and anyone who has ever cared for tigers or forests or the health of the planet should act, not just for themselves but for their children and their children’s children. “I want my daughter and her children to grow up in a world with wild tigers. That’s why the campaign to end the trade is so important to me so please, take a moment and lend your support to save wild tigers by signing up to end the trade at
www.bantigertrade.com”
For more information visit
www.tigertime.info and www.
bantigertrade.com Facebook: TigerTime – Save the Tiger Twitter: @TigerTimeNow
TigerTime is a campaign run by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation a charity registered in the UK, number 1106893
surrey magazine spring 2016 49
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