Billy Arjan Singh

A former hunter turned avid conservationist and author Feisty 'Billy' Arjan Singh is a conservationist recognised by most tiger lovers. Born in Gorakhpur in 1917, he joined the British army in 1940 and fought in World War II. Upon his return to India he purchased a farm on the edge of Dudhwa National Park in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of India. He still lives here in a residence he designed and calls 'Tiger Haven'.

Singh was honoured for his conservation efforts with Padma Shri in 1995. One of India's highest national awards it is conferred on people who distinguish themselves in different fields. This was closely followed by the world wildlife gold medal in 1996, then the Order of the Golden Ark only a year later and the lifetime award for tiger conservation in March 1999.

In 2004, when in his eighties, Billy Arjan Singh received the J.Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation award - a global honor administered by the World Wildlife fund - in recognition of his outstanding contribution to international conservation. He has been honored by several awards including the Padma Bhushan in 2006 [ [http://www.wwfindia.org/news_facts/index.cfm?uNewsID=1160 Billy Arjan Singh awarded Padma Bhushan, WWF-India (Worldwide Fund for Nature - India), 30 Mar 2006] ] .

He is an author and has several popular wildlife books to his credit. [ [http://www.fatheroflions.org/ArjanSingh.html BOOKS By & About Billy Arjan Singh] ] .

Books authored

* [http://www.fatheroflions.org/ArjanSingh.html BOOKS By & About Billy Arjan Singh]

* [http://www.wildlifeofindia.com/billymain.htm Wildlife of India website has a section on Billy Arjan Singh]

Films featuring Billy Arjan Singh and the Big Cats

* [http://www.fatheroflions.org/ArjanSingh.html FILMS & Books By & About Billy Arjan Singh]

Genetic pollution in wild Bengal Tigers

Tara a hand reared supposedly Bangal tigress acquired from Twycross Zoo in England in July 1976 was trained by Billy Arjan Singh and reintroduced to the wild in Dudhwa National Park, India with the permission of India’s then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in an attempt to prove the experts wrong that zoo bred hand reared Tigers can ever be released in the wild with success. In the 1990s, some tigers from Dhudhwa were observed which had the typical appearance of Siberian tigers: white complexion, pale fur, large head and wide stripes. With recent advances in science it was subsequently found that Siberian Tigers genes have polluted the otherwise pure Bengal Tiger gene pool of Dudhwa National Park. It was proved later that Twycross Zoo had been irresponsible and maintained no breeding records and had given India a hybrid Siberian-Bengal Tigress instead. Dudhwa tigers constitute about 1% of India's total wild population, but the possibility exists of this genetic pollution spreading to other tiger groups, at its worst, this could jeopardize the Bengal tiger as a distinct subspecies [ [http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19981119/32350524.html Indian tiger isn't 100 per cent "swadeshi (Made in India)"; by PALLAVA BAGLA; Indian Express Newspaper; November 19, 1998] ] [ [http://www.india-today.com/itoday/17111997/wild.html Tainted Royalty, WILDLIFE: ROYAL BENGAL TIGER, A controversy arises over the purity of the Indian tiger after DNA samples show Siberian tiger genes. By Subhadra Menon. INDIA TODAY, November 17, 1997] ] [ [http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/tara4.html The Tale of Tara, 4: Tara's Heritage from Tiger Territory website] ] [ [http://www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/bengal.html Genetic pollution in wild Bengal tigers, Tiger Territory website] ] [ [http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/interviews/bilarjsingh.php Interview with Billy Arjan Singh: Dudhwa's Tiger man, October 2000, Sanctuary Asia Magazine, sanctuaryasia.com] ] [ [http://www.iisc.ernet.in/~currsci/nov10/articles18.htm Mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence among big cats and their hybrids by Pattabhiraman Shankaranarayanan* and Lalji Singh*, *Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, CCMB Campus, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India] ] [ [http://www.cza.nic.in/research1.html Central Zoo Authority of India (CZA), Government of India] ] [ [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol278/issue5339/r-samples.dtl#278/5339/807b "Indians Look At Their Big Cats' Genes", Science, Random Samples, Volume 278, Number 5339, Issue of 31 October 1997, 278: 807 (DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5339.807b) (in Random Samples),The American Association for the Advancement of Science] ] [ [http://www.fatheroflions.org/ArjanSingh.html BOOKS By & About Billy Arjan Singh] ] [ [https://www.vedamsbooks.com/no32235.htm Book - Tara : The Cocktail Tigress/Ram Lakhan Singh. Edited by Rahul Karmakar. Allahabad, Print World, 2000, xxxviii, 108 p., ills., $22. ISBN 81-7738-000-1. A book criticizing Billy Arjan Singh's release of hand reared hybrid Tigress Tara in the wild at Dudhwa National Park in India] ]

It is pertinent to note that Billy Arjan singh, and not Twycross zoo, is to blame for the mongrelized breed now thriving in Dudhwa. By his own admission, in his own Book, Arjan singh was warned in several written communications by the twycross and other authorities when they learnt of his plan to introduce Tara into Dudhwa, that the tigress he was planning to introduce into Dudhwa, was not a pure bengal breed, and that he should not go ahead. He deliberately chose to ignore these, and rationalizes this on the ground that he himself is a product of european and indian genes! It may be argued that his activities have done long term damage to the Indian tiger, and his padma awards are wholly undeserved. That the dudhwa tigers should be culled or otherwise removed from the wildlife system, being placed in zoos, is also worthy of consideration as they may irreparably damage the entire wildlife strain in india in the longer term.

References

External links

* [http://www.wildlifeofindia.com/billymain.htm Billy Arjan Singh's link to the cyberworld.] [http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:u_2MakIkgRAJ:www.wildlifeofindia.com/billymain.htm+Billy+Arjan+Singh&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1 Google Cached]
* [http://www.fatheroflions.org/ArjanSingh.html BOOKS & FILMS By & About Billy Arjan Singh]
* [http://www.wwfindia.org/news_facts/index.cfm?uNewsID=1160 Billy Arjan Singh awarded Padma Bhushan, WWF-India (Worldwide Fund for Nature - India), 30 Mar 2006]