Tiger reserves often abound with stories – a crumbling forest bungalow with an attendant ghost (Dudhwa), a tree that the local community worships (Biligiriranga), a particular place where a tigress fought a crocodile (Ranthambhore). But my favourite tiger story is this one: the origins of India’s tiger reserves come not from an all-male committee, but also from a trailblazing, feisty woman named Anne Wright.
Today, tigers have a mesmeric, god-like status. It is outrageous to hear of their hunting. But this wasn’t always so. For decades in independent India, wild tigers were reduced to a commercial object – a pretty design on a bag, a certain kind of coat.
Project Tiger, a centrally sponsored scheme that institutionalised tiger conservation, was launched in 1973. Before that, there was Anne Wright, who led a dogged investigation into the hunting and illegal sale of tiger skins, helping usher in an urgent plan to conserve tigers.
She passed away on October 4, 2023, at the age of 94.
A shocking find
In the 1960s, it was fashionable to hunt tigers in India on shikar expeditions. Tiger skins and products were also sold domestically and internationally. At the end of the 1960s, Anne had a hunch that the scale of tigers being hunted was unsustainable. In 1968, the export of tiger skins was banned, with an exception for bags and items of clothing. (Following pressure from skin traders though, it was decided to relax the ban and allow all pre-ban export commitments).
In the same year, Anne discovered that 500 hunting permits were given for shooting tigers, but there were 3,000 tiger skin export permits. In 1970, the Indian government introduced a total ban on tiger shooting. But for all practical purposes, the ban on the export of new skins and tiger hunting had failed as domestic sales were still legal and widespread.
Anne followed her hunch and in 1970, posing as a tourist, investigated the skin trade in Calcutta. Her findings were shocking: the scale of skin trade was massive. She published an article detailing her findings in The Statesman in 1970. This was republished in The New York Times in 1971 as ‘Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright’. Anne wrote how dealers made promises of skins of not just tigers but also leopards and clouded leopards. “They promised a supply of over 200 fresh skins a month if we would only give the order,” she wrote.
“So this is where India’s finest animals are to end their existence,” she added.
An institution builder
The article caused a furore. It helped set a chain of events into motion: in 1972, India’s Wild Life (Protection) Act was enacted; Anne had helped draft it. The result of this Act was a complete ban on tiger hunting and trade along with those of many other wild animals. Following this, a committee was created to launch Project Tiger, in which Anne was the only woman. The committee produced a blueprint for tiger conservation, asking for the creation of eight tiger reserves (one more was added subsequently).
Anne lived through a busy time for conservation. In 1969, WWF-India was born with Anne as a founder-trustee. She engaged with conservation for decades afterwards, serving on the Indian Board for Wildlife for 19 years. She wrote often to Indira Gandhi, asking for the protection of species like the Siberian crane.
“Anne Wright was a friend and mentor. She was among those who laid the foundations of India’s post-Independence conservation movement,” Bittu Sahgal, editor of Sanctuary Asia, said. “Tough, yet quiet, she oversaw India’s transition from shikar to wildlife conservation, helped set up WWF-India and was critical to the birth of Project Tiger thanks to her warm and intellectually robust connection with the late Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.”
Apart from her personal advocacy for causes she was passionate about, she was an institution builder at a time when conservation and wildlife science was just starting out.
“Anne represented someone who led a time when there was little sectoral support for conservation. She leveraged her influence and network for wildlife species she cared for and brought people to support her cause. She was a key initiator of, and contributor to, WWF-India’s work in the Eastern region,” said Ravi Singh, secretary-general and CEO of WWF-India.
A fable-like quality
For my generation of conservationists, Anne’s can-do attitude has an almost fable-like quality. One still finds oneself alone in rooms full of men in this field. Fifty years ago, it must have been much harder. She is an inspiration because she understood how difficult working on legal and policy processes can be. And it is an uphill task to bring the real world – a skin market, a remote forest – to the corridors of power. But she never stopped trying.
“Anne was a pioneer amongst conservationists. And she was a female conservationist; that is commendable,” veteran wildlife conservationist Divyabhanusinh said. “She became a role model for so many, including her daughter, Belinda Wright.”
“Those were tough days,” says Belinda, a noted conservationist herself who founded the Wildlife Protection Society of India. “The roads were bad, and there were no four wheel drives available. One regularly crossed nallahs to get anywhere, and there was no electricity, doctors, running water, or telephones.” She pauses. “But you know, it never occurred to my mother to stop. She just kept going.”
I think about the outrage tiger hunting sparks today, and then think back on the tough advocacy done in the 1960s and 1970s so we could reach this point. This year, we celebrated 50 years of tiger conservation. The story might have been a little different, or a little belated, if not for Anne and her colleagues.
Neha Sinha is a conservation biologist and the author of ‘Wild and Wilful: Tales of 15 Iconic Indian Species’. She works with WWF-India. Views are personal.
