May 09
Report on Zeudy and Roque during my visit from 29th April to 08th May 2009.
This visit coincided with the Indian general elections so everyone was wondering if a change would mark the beginning of the end of the endemic corruption that filters into virtually every aspect of people’s lives. I think probably not which is bad news for wildlife in India as the natural areas are the ones that suffer the illegal activities most, from mining granite and marble to logging, poaching, grazing and building. Nothing is spared, not even the national parks.
Our tigers blissfully unaware of all that’s going on are in superb condition and continuing to enjoy the natural areas available to each of them. Within the next few weeks the dry season will get very intense with many of the trees losing their leaves and the grass turning yellow making it extremely difficult to see the cats as they lay in whatever shade they can find.
Roque was in a friendly, am enjoying your company, mood on this visit, so I was privileged to have his undivided attention for at least half and hour on several of my visits to the facility. We even had some play time together both at the top end of his territory where the man made pool is, where he spent time going into his pool and then getting out and coming to show me what he was doing. I often wonder whether he would like me to join him. Unfortunately that is out of the question as the unpredictability of a mature tiger is very real and probably fatal.
We also had a good time down in the bottom end of his kamp. It is a long walk around the tiger facility to get to the bottom of his territory, but once there it soon became apparent that it was well worth it. This area is low lying and not so hilly, with much undergrowth to hide an animal in. Here is where we played catch; I creep along the outside of the fence while he stalked me through the undergrowth on the inside. Each time I looked at him he froze blending perfectly with his surrounding, when I looked away and moved forward he quickly and silently closed the gap until he felt close enough to attack, then rushed out of the bushes with such speed he was on the fence in a flash right beside me. Great fun was had by both of us, especially in my case knowing the fence stopped me from being flattened although he never ever draws his claws on me even when pouncing.
Zeudy is a totally different animal to Roque, although she came to the fence to greet me, she would if given the slightest chance bite not only people but other tigers as well. This means her interaction with me was brief, just a cursory acknowledgement of my presence then straight away into the deep bush in her area where there is a large rocky outcrop for her to explore and hide in until the next feed day or the weather gets so hot she comes down to her pool near the fence line to cool off.
Whilst I was there she emerged from her den where she had been feeding and immediately went to her main pool and lay in there for a while before disappearing into the bush to sleep away from all human interference... What is so nice is the fact that this is exactly what wild tigers would do so we have given her the opportunity to act in a near normal fashion
Tony Wiles.
Bannerghatta update - Winter 08/09
Tony Wiles visit to the Born Free tiger facility in the Bannerghatta Biological Park, Karnataka, South India from 10th to 21st November 2008.
Incredibly another year has almost passed since the tigers came here from the UK. This visit included the tiger facility AGM where we have an annual review of all that has gone on during the previous twelve months. We also have to decide whether we need to make any more modifications or do any major maintenance work and lastly work out a budget for the forthcoming year.
The major project for 2008 was taking in the Masti tiger. This beautiful wild tiger has for the last year been living in our rescue facility and although he still and always will remain very wild he has taken to his area remarkably well, making good use of his grass area for sleeping and rolling on and his pool in which he spends long periods during the heat of the day.
Our wish is to give him an area of forest to go into but with his attitude towards humans and his lack of one front leg, it is difficult at present to devise a solution that will enable him to move around comfortably and also satisfy the Indian authorities that he will not break out and endanger human lives.
- Zeudy - enjoying life at Bannerghatta
Zeudy is once again her old self, looking and moving much better than she did during my visit in June. Being a Siberian tiger her coat never looks as sleek and shiny as the other cats, hers is always a little longer and more of a matt appearance. Apart from that she is very comfortable in her area taking great interest in all that goes on, spending a lot of time exploring and investigating every little happening on her patch.
- Good natured Roque
On this visit Roque decided to spend a great deal of time in our company and Chris Wright my colleague from BFF, HQ in the UK, who came out to meet me for the AGM, managed to take some very good photos.
This tiger always looks in beautiful condition with his coat shining like burnished gold as he comes through the trees to greet us. He looks quite thin compared to the other cats but as he is a Sumatran tiger who would be normally living in a very hot thick jungle, the lack of body bulk and big surface area of skin help to dissipate the heat.
Owing to a lot of time being taken up in meetings with the authorities, I was unable to spend as much time with the cats as usual, the result being I did not get to see much of King and Harak although the glimpses I did get showed them both to be in very good condition and competely at one with their environment.
In fact we have a cross section of tiger subspecies at the BFF facility. Roque is Sumatran, Zeudy and Harak are Siberian, the Masti tiger is Indian (Bengal) and King is a hybrid mostly Siberian with some Indian in him. It is interesting to observe the physical differences between them all.
- King
Bannerghatta Update July 2008
Tony Wiles reporting on visit to the BFF tiger facility in the Bannerghatta Biological Park, Karnataka, South India. 24th June to 04th July 2008.
Although the monsoons were not due for another month it rained in the evenings on most of the days I was at the park. After several years of poor rains the tables have now completely turned and everything is looking fresh and bright with much water in the tanks (lakes and ponds) dotted around the park.
One of the downsides to the early rains is the fact that the repainting of our day kraals has taken longer than anticipated, which in turn means the tigers spend more time shut in their night kraals whilst the workforce painting the inside of the perimeter fence and the internal dividing fences are having to work between the downpours.
Over the years the staff have put a lot of time into planting shrubs, trees and bushes around the BFF facility and with the warm climate and the unusual rainfall the place is looking absolutely fantastic.
The Masti tiger – this is the wild tiger that was brought to Bannerghatta after losing a paw while escaping from a trap. He had to have the lower part of his front leg amputated and with no other space available, he was homed in a small cage at the forestry rescue centre for two years, until he was rehomed to our more spacious surroundings in November 2007. He has settled in really well and is enjoying being outside in his specially modified area. He is still extremely aggressive towards humans and will not hesitate to charge the fence if anyone goes too near his enclosure, but when he is on his own he loves rolling in or lying on the grass under the trees and spends long periods in his pool.
Unfortunately it is almost impossible to get any good pictures of him as he does not even allow the staff to get near enough to take a good photo. Before we took the tiger from the forestry rescue centre, to help relieve the pressure on their resources, he was being sick every few days or so, but since last November he has been in the BFF facility under our care and has not been sick once.
He has put on a lot of weight and with only three legs it has made it more difficult for him to move around. Fortunately we have just got a new young woman vet in charge of the day to day welfare of our animals and between us we have implemented a diet that will make him fitter, healthier and more able to move with ease.
By giving our tigers as near natural environment to live in as possible it can be quite difficult to write a detailed account of their lifestyle. Apart from coming out of their forest area for food every other day one very rarely sees them.
This is because their home ranges at present have a thick cover of undergrowth comprising of very long grasses and masses of thick shrubs, in fact the visibility into each area is no more than 10 to 20 metres before the animal disappears altogether.
On this trip, as we have a new vet, we decided to hold the cats in the night kraals when they came in to feed so that we could assess each one the following morning. This gave me the opportunity to see how well the tigers were doing and if necessary make modifications to their diet or deal with any other aspects of their welfare that might have arisen during their time in the forest.
Roque had slightly damaged his hind foot some time ago and it appeared to have slightly flared up again, but with a little TLC, an antibiotic and a dollop of ointment he was on his way still as friendly as ever with the staff and myself. As it is wet and cooler he has taken to lying on top of a wall, all that remains of some hut or building, long disused, in his forest area. He did come and find me on two occasions this trip but as I have mentioned in the recent past, he only stayed for about five minutes before disappearing into the forest.
I was luckier with Zeudy as her day kraal was being painted so for a day and a half she was confined to her night kraal. The problem with observing her under these conditions was as soon as she saw me she kept going to the gate in her night kraal and asking to be released into the forest area. As soon as I moved away she settled down and lay under the trees and slept.
Harak and King were as usual completely laid back and looking in really good condition in spite of being a shade overweight. Whereas King disappeared off into the forest and stayed there for a couple of days until the next feed day, Harak came and went on a regular basis and he could quite often be seen in his night kraal sleeping near the Masti tiger. I don’t know whether they have struck up a friendship, or he is just protecting his territory. I suspect the latter.
Bannerghatta Updates Nov 2007
Tony Wiles reporting on visit to the BFF tiger facility at the Bannerghatta Biological Park, Karnataka, South India, 19th to 30th November 2007.
It is with great sadness that I have to start this report with news of the death of Dr G.K.Vishwanath, the assistant director and veterinarian to the Bannerghatta Biological Park.
On 10th November last year whilst going about his duties at the park he encountered a wild elephant which charged him. He was unable to reach safety before the animal caught and seriously injured him.
He was rushed to hospital where he survived for 50 days before succumbing to his injuries.
He was a charming man who went out of his way to make sure the BFF cats were looked after in the best possible way. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him especially me.
Now for the good news “the Masti tiger” is now in the Born Free Foundation facility in Bannerghatta and enjoying his especially modified night kraal with a pool, trees and grass to walk and sleep on.
This poor tiger had been living in the Nagarhole National Park, a huge area of tiger, habitat in the Western Ghats in South India when one fateful day he put his foot in a poachers trap set to catch wild boar.
He managed to escape but in the process received massive injuries to his left foreleg, losing his paw.
He struggled to a cave near the Mastigudi area of the Balle forest range, where he was found and duly rescued. The injury was so severe that he had to have the lower part of his leg amputated.
He has recovered well, but it does mean he will never be able to hunt again. So we have supplied him with the next best thing at the BFF centre.
As he is a totally different animal to the captive bred ones we rescue, being far more wild and aggressive towards humans (rightly so after what they have done to him). We have had to strengthen his enclosure for his and the staff’s well being.
ROQUE
Roque as always came to find me on my return to India, but took a considerable time to come and greet me as he was laying in a tree covered gully beside a pool and seemed to be agitated by the flying insects which tend to congregate during and immediately after the monsoons.
When he did come he spent a couple of minutes in my company then decided that he would rather be in the thick bushes avoiding the insects. He returned to the forest obviously in a bad mood growling and biting at the annoying little beasts.
ZEUDY
Zeudy like Roque hides deep in the bushes during the heat of the day as that is the most comfortable place to be. In the morning and again in the evening she is much more active and will spend a great deal of time checking out all the comings and goings in her area of forest. She seems to have settled down again now and has got over the initial impact of losing Royale.
Her condition has improved and she has got her old zest for life back. Of course the arrival of a new male on the block (Masti) is always a reason to for a female tiger to take interest.
KING AND HARAK
The other two cats King and Harak are looking particularly good and do spend more time out in the open than Roque and Zeudy. King’s huge natural pool is full and he spends a lot of time laying in or wading and swimming around it again this is a good way to keep the insects off.
Harak does similar but has to use his man-made pool, he also spends more time sleeping out in the sun than all the others.
Bannerghatta Updates Jan - March 2007
Tony Wiles reporting on visits to BFF tiger facility at the Bannerghatta Biological Park, Karnataka, South India, 28th January to 8th February and 11th to 19th March 2007.
Yet again another year has gone by and our tigers have been in Bannerghatta for almost five years.
This is the latter part of the cooler season and although the water holes are getting low by now, there is usually a reasonable amount of water still left in the tanks. Unfortunately the last monsoon was very poor and so things are already looking quite dry. King’s magnificent large natural pool, which we had spent considerable time and effort in de-silting and restructuring the sides, had no water at all. However, Kings still has his small man-made pool which is topped up by the staff.
Two of the tigers were receiving treatment during the course of this trip. King had a slight stomach upset which was dealt with very quickly and he is now back to his old self. He had to stay in his night kraal for a few days; this was for observation and ease of treatment. He still had grass to lie on and trees for shade, the only facility we denied him was his night kraal pool which we emptied in case of infection and to force him to drink from the bowls provided, in which we added medication to the water.
Royale has been limping very badly for a few days and initial investigations were not able to pin point the cause. At first we thought it might be arthritis and treated him accordingly, but he did not respond to this and continued to deteriorate. Other tests showed that he had renal failure and he was immediately given treatment. This seemed to work and the limp became much less noticeable and he became his old self again. Although still under observation in his night kraal he started to patrol his territory and let everybody know he was still king of the jungle by roaring loudly toward each side of the enclosure.
Zeudy - For some time the two males in Zeudy’s life had not been at their best, poor Greenwich passed away on the 28th May last year and with Royale now unwell and confined to his night kraal life, Zeudy is spending more time in her night kraal to be close to him. Zeudy has always been in the company or vicinity of much older males and so sadly, it was inevitable that this time would come.
Harak is at long last becoming more amenable with the staff and even stayed around when I visited him which is most unusual. He still generally keeps himself to himself and providing no other males are in close proximity, with the exception of King whom he tolerates, he will remain fairly deep in his day kraal away from prying eyes.
Roque - To find Roque I have to walk right around the perimeter of the BFF tiger facility as his favourite area is the furthest from the main entrance and dens. It takes some time to get to where he lays up during the day, but the walk is worth it as he is usually happy to see me and makes a point of coming to greet me. Even though he will be eight years old on the 17th May he still likes us to play chase if the weather is not too hot. As he gets older he spends more time hidden away deep in his day kraal.
14.3.07 – ROYALE UPDATE
Five weeks after my return to the UK we received news that Royale was again deteriorating and that the treatment he was receiving was not making any improvement to his condition. He was not eating and seemed generally very unhappy.
We immediately decided that I should fly out to India and see if there was anything more we could do for him. I had discussed his chronic renal failure with Born Free’s veterinary consultant, Johan Knight and now I had further discussions with leading Indian animal veterinarian Professor Shetty and with Bannerghatta Biological Park vet Dr. Vishwanath. With Royale no longer responding to treatment for his kidney disease it was decided to end his suffering and he was euthanased on the 14th March. Royale was cremated and his ashes scattered over the land where he had enjoyed the last five years.
Tony Wiles
8th May 2007
Contact Us | eNews | Kids Club | Campaign Action | bloodyivory | CEO's Blog | Sitemap | About Site | Copyright