PPPRESERVED TTTIGER ,,, PPPROTECTED PPPANGOLIN ,,, DDDISPOSABLE DDDHOLE ::: WILDLIFE AND WILDERNESS IN PPPRINCELY IIINDIA Julie E. Hughes
[email protected] On 28 June 2008 in the middle of the monsoon, an Indian Air Force helicopter delivered its cargo—a tranquilized adult male tiger dubbed ST-1 and a party of wildlife experts—into the heart of Sariska Tiger Reserve. Hailed by the Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan as a scientifically planned “wild-to-wild relocation” unlike any before, ST-1’s involuntary flight over 200 km north from his established territory in Ranthambore National Park to a “key tiger habitat” compromised by poachers and notoriously devoid of tigers since 2004 was, in fact, well-precedented.1 In what may have been the world’s first attempted reintroduction of the animal, the Maharawal of Dungarpur translocated tigers to his jungles from Gwalior State between 1928 and 1930. 2 The Maharaja of Gwalior, in turn, made history when he imported, acclimatized, and released African lions in his territories ten years before. 3 Their actions largely forgotten today, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century princes regularly trapped and moved tiger, leopard, bear, and wild boar between jungle beats, viewing arenas, private menageries, and zoological gardens. International and domestic pressure to “Save the Tiger,” the economics of tourism and ecosystem services, and popular constructions of national pride and natural heritage help account for the relocation of ST-1 and seven additional tigers to Sariska as of January 2013, with