Forty-six-year-old Chris Slappendel doesn’t consider himself a tiger conservationist. A boyhood fascination with the animal led him to learn more about it’s habitat and behaviour, through books and wildlife channels.
Many years later, Chris has embarked on a six-month trip through 31 countries where the tiger lives or lived, and is interacting with NGOs, villagers and the media to shed light on the reasons for it’s dwindling population. He started his journey on May 15 from Russia and will complete it on November 15 in Pakistan. Chris also visited the Hassanur forest at Sathyamangalam along with members of Coimbatore ACME Round Table 133, and got ample proof of the healthy tiger population here.
Chris recalls how it all started. “As a kid I watched Sandokan, a series about a fictional pirate of the late 19th century which had episodes featuring tigers in Malaysia. This piqued my curiosity about the animal. I also wanted to visit Malaysia and India, which at that time had a high population of tigers,” Chris says.
But life took it’s own course. He went onto do his graduation from the Delft University of Technology, and then worked as a sales and marketing professional. But a particular TEDx conference he attended at Delft in 2000, which had a woman speak about her adventures in the African jungles, reignited his interest in wildlife.
Chris was also alarmed by the rapidly dwindling population of the tiger and wanted to find out first hand the reasons for it. This is when he decided to embark on his journey.
Endangered
Chris lists out three main reasons for the reduction in the tiger population. “The primary reason is the rapid increase in human population. This has led to reduction of the tiger habitat, which causes human-animal conflict situations,” he explains.
The prey base for the tiger has also decreased due to the depleting forest cover. But one of the most important reasons is indiscriminate poaching which still continues in countries like China and Vietnam.
Chris has interacted with the local community in many of these countries and is bringing about a change in their mindsets, with the help of a few trusted NGOs and members of the Round Table.
He also has a suggestion for multi-national firms which use the tiger in their logos to build their brand. “We have airline services, beverage companies and many others who use the name of the tiger to successfully market their brand. None of these companies, however takes any steps to conserve the tiger. If these firms would donate even one per cent of their annual turnover for conservation, it will generate the extra funds we require to save the animal,” he says.
Chris will now travel to Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan before returning to the Netherlands.
Visit his website www.tigertrail.org or e-mail him at chris@tigertrail.org for more information.
