Why paint a tiger? For me, this goes beyond just a pretty image. I have often photographed tigers during my time as a member of the Philadelphia camera team. They were tigers in captivity for sure but sometimes I was tempted to also paint them. But if I can I honestly enjoy photographing them more. As a member of the camera team, I was regularly allowed access to the zoo outside of normal opening hours and this is when I could observe them without disturbing them. They are magnificent creatures. Zoos usually participate in conservation programs, to keep these animals from going extinct. And the conservation movement totally has my heart. Which is when it physically hurt when I heard the story of this Indian tiger, that has since passed. Let me tell you more and you will understand why I wanted to paint him…
Man killer
Since 2010, a handsome tiger named ‘Ustad’ a.k.a. T24, had killed several villagers and park managers in northern India. He was moved from his territory under the cover of night, to live in a small exhibit of the Sajjangarh zoo in Udaipur, India. Ustad, who has since passed, was not your regular tiger, if there ever was such a thing…
Ustad’s story is striking, and saddening at the same time. Ustad is an honorary Indian title that was given to him by his ‘fans’; and there were many. It means something like ‘Your Honour’. Tigers are usually shy of humans and avoid confrontation with them, but the case of T24 was a bit different. He lived in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and would drag a prey to the highway to eat it in plain view and showed little fear of people. He was admired and photographed by many who appreciated his ferocious beauty. Over the years, he was said to become more aggressive towards people. He was the main suspect in the violent deaths of 2 villagers and 2 park rangers. The last killing happened in 2015 and this one ultimately led to his somewhat covert move to the Sajjangarh zoo in Udaipur, India. The move was and to this day remains controversial and surrounded by protests, both from politicians and from the local communities.
Human interference
According to conservationists Dharmendra Khandal and Raza Tehsin, the ever changing behaviour of Ustad had a lot to do with human interference. He was frequently tranquilized and confined to a cage; sometimes this was for treatment of an injury, another time it was to tackle digestive issues and yet another time to put a radio collar on him. All of this is suspected to have taken a toll on his natural behaviour. The transfer of 8 tigers from his clan to other wildlife reserves, disturbing his family structure even further in the early years of his life, was also thought to contribute to his changing behaviour towards humans.
Relocation to a zoo
There were many calls to relocate Ustad to a secluded location before he could make another human kill. However, branding a tiger as a man-eater was controversial and against the regulations of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and forest authorities. Therefore, Ustad was initially allowed to move about unrestricted in the forest reserve. But his last killing resulted in a sudden move to Udaipar, where he was confined to a natural but small enclosure of less than a hectare – in contrast to the 5000 hectares of the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve where he spent his earlier life as the ‘King of Jungle’.
Protest
This raised a lot of discontent and outrage amongst wildlife experts and photographers. Many of them had visited Ranthambore just to get a glimpse of him. According to Ustad’s supporters, the killings were accidents. Ustad never ventured out of his territory, seeking people to kill, neither had he ever attempted to kill any of the thousands of people traveling the road to a nearby well-known temple. Even the former Environment Minister of Rajastha stood firmly in supporting the tiger with pictures of him walking calmly past a group of village women carrying water.
There were many protests and huge demonstrations, especially on social media channels, to promote the return of Ustad to his original grounds. International broadcast networks covered his story, which brought him even more fame than before. For the longest time there was a committee pondering T24’s rehabilitation. Activists continued to fight the case legally. They claimed that:
“It’s high time to realise the importance of maintaining a healthy balance in the ecosystem. Whether Ustad was a man-eater or not, if we do not mend our ways of poaching and interrupting the territories of these wild creatures, it may not be long before another tiger makes the headlines for killing a man. The Indian wildlife reserve authorities should come forward with stringent plans of minimising human interference in core forest areas.“
“Tigers have lost over 93% of their territory to human developments and concrete jungles. Conserving tigers today, is far more important than promoting wildlife tourism. It is only with the joint effort of people and wildlife authorities that we can bring about an ecological balance and see the population of tigers grow in India.“
Besides being the only tiger to have been featured on India Today, he caught the attention of Delhi High Court, Jaipur High Court & Supreme Court of India. He unfortunately became sick with bone cancer and died in December 2022 in Sajjangarh Zoo in Udaipur.
A documentary has now been made about Ustad and it shows why he had so many fanatic fans. You may be able to still see a trailer here:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19760262
The documentary itself may still be available on Netflix.
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