Kajree

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Prologue

March 3rd is the annual World Wildlife Day, and this year’s theme is sustaining all life on earth. Tigers are nearing extinction. Our settlements, industry and agriculture usurp the tiger’s territory and human-tiger conflict is increasing. Less than 3,900 tigers are estimated to remain in the wild with 93% depletion of their historic range. Wild tigers live in a fragmented network of small National Parks and their overall conservation deserves a re-map.

The following gritty story is fictional. It mirrors real-life for Kajree, and seeks to give the tigress a voice.

The Place

It is a very warm afternoon in the Bandhavgarh jungle and Kajree wakes from her nap, stretches herself to get rid of the sleepy feeling, yawns and meticulously licks the pads of her paws as cats often do before standing. It is time to hunt again. It has been two days since Kajree’s last meal. She lets out the dry snarl of a hungry tiger. At four years old, she must secure a habitat that could fill the bellies of her first litter, as her mother Spotty had done for Kajree and her two sisters.

Kajree stands and is ready to spring down the hill when she hears the distressed cry of a young chital close by. It is Tendua making a kill, a male leopard who shares Kajree’s hunting-grounds. Kajree’s hunger snarl changes to a humming purr. Tendua is fast, though no match for the power of a tiger in her prime. The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, gives Kajree the right to confiscate the leopard’s kill. To achieve this, she must get to the kill site before Tendua nimbly takes his victim’s body high into a tree.

Kajree hears Tendua fumble in the bushes. The Chital has briefly escaped and is being recaptured. “The fool” thinks Kajree. Time is on her side. Her purr grows louder and ends in the full-throated thunderous “Aaarh” of the tiger’s charge. She parts a bamboo thicket and her great square shoulders drop short of Tendua. She has her haunches tucked beneath her and she is ready to leap. Tendua can now see the tiger. With no intention of becoming part of Kajree’s food chain, Tendua flees for his life.

Kajree throws herself down panting over her prize, which is a small, easy meal that will take less than a day to eat. As a cub she had learned how to make the kill on the young fawns, which her mother carried to her. Kajree remembers that when her mother Spotty made an adult sambar kill it would feed the young family for up to three days. Spotty’s territory has good prey density and year-round water resources that includes man-made waterholes. Kajree had challenged her mother for the prime tiger territory and lost, and so she is now roaming its border, taking time to establish a plentiful hunting domain of her own.

Jungle Resources

In the past, Spotty had taught Kajree how to hunt and the meaning of things in the jungle, so every rustle in the thickets, every aroma of fresh earth and exotic flowers, every note of bird song, and every animal call gave a mental map of her surroundings. At this moment Kajree can hear langur monkeys nearby, feeding on tree leaves and chattering as they swing across the landscape. She knows that langur and spotted deer have a special bond. The monkeys drop fresh leaves to the ground that feed the deer below. Kajree senses an opportunity and, for now, she is invisible.

Together the monkeys and deer have an effective warning system. The monkeys, with their good eyesight and the vantage point of the treetops, and the deer, with their excellent sense of smell make a strong team. Both use vocal signals to alert approaching danger. Kajree hears the mood music change. A coughing bark from the treetop, the high pitch reinforcing alarms from the ground and mimicking echoes from birds means Kajree is seen. Tigers are not built for a long chase; she needs ambush surprise. Kajree is hungry and she has missed the kill. This hunt is over, and she moves deeper into the forest trails.

In time she finds the scent that sambar give during the rutting season. The males are less cautious, too busy rubbing their neck on the ground and readying themselves for sparring antlers. Kajree is upwind, she keeps low and crawls slowly forward in the long grass until she is within striking distance. Suddenly there is the bellow of a hunted sambar, a deep booming bark accompanied by stamping feet. Kajree springs for the neck and misses her hold. She hears the snap of her teeth and then a yelp as the 200kg sambar knocks her over with his forefoot. She is maimed, whining in agony and furious with rage at the miss.

Reaching a waterhole, Kajree lays in the pool and its muddy places. She picks a shady place and immerses her wound in sticky mud to cover her injuries from parasites. Kajree dreamily watches a snake hunting a frog near her wallows and lets out a sleepy snarl, which is met by a fearsome “Aaarh” of Banvai’s charge. Banvai is a mother of young cubs and, with water supply being short, will not tolerate another tigress in her territory. This is not the moment for Kajree to face tiger-tiger conflict. She lumbers away, looking from side to side for an escape and slips into the shadows.

Sharing Space

It is time to hunt amongst the ploughed fields, outside of the protected forest area. Livestock don’t see danger and are an easier kill. When it is twilight Kajree trots downward through bushes to crop fields, seeing the lights and fire of man ahead. At one side of her stands a hamlet and at the other the thick jungle, which comes down in a sweep to the village’s grazing grounds. All over the plain, cattle and buffalo are grazing amongst rocks and scrub with little ravines amongst which the herds scatter. A tiger will not charge a mob of buffalo and Kajree is nursing a wound. She will choose her moment.

Walking beside a gravel lane Kajree’s sights a woman wrapped in her sari and heavy copper rings on her wrists and ankles. A thin young girl is walking at her side and in this tension filled moment they stop. The girl howls with fear as they stare into the approaching tiger’s eyes. Kajree wants no fight with man and there is no element of surprise. She is being watched and nonchalantly crosses the road with a glance and snarl as they pass. Dogs, which hang around every Indian village, bark while Kajree walks on, listening to the noises around her.

As Kajree enters the open plain. Cow-buffaloes stand in a ring to her right, with their calves in the centre. They glare and scrape hooves on the ground, ready, if the tiger comes close, to charge down and trample the life out of her. In the distance she hears men making their way to the grasslands, as they do each evening to take livestock back into the village. Kajree sees a grazing cow to her left. She moves stealthily from the side until a peacock flutters up screeching and Kajree makes her charge, springing for the cow’s neck. It was over in seconds, and she drags the dead animal to a more secluded area for a peaceful, quiet meal.

Jackals begin to gather around the scent of death, and vultures circle overhead ready to pick the bones. Once full, Kajree leaves the scene and will not return to finish the meal. Open land near to man is not a place of safety, because when forced to leave the protected area, tigers are at risk from poachers who use strong steel snares and live 230-volt wire traps to kill them. Moreover, they also suffer retaliatory attack; with the carcass being poisoned by farmers who have lost valuable livestock.

Finding her Place

As moon rises over the plain, shining its milky light, Kajree sets off at a steady pace eating up the miles. Back in the forest, with the moon going down, she reaches a hilltop and sees Banvai’s territory ahead. With its dense jungle, spring fed ponds and rich grasslands teeming with prey, this will provide settled territory. Kajree’s maternal instincts are growing and it’s time to cast Banvai out. Entering her rival’s domain under mid-day sun, Kajree sees tigress claw marks on trees and smells her urine in the long grass. She is close by.

Banvai lies peacefully with her three cubs in the heat, a hind leg scratching the itch on her neck. Kajree approaches slowly through the grasses and bamboo thickets, making no sound. She springs onto her hind legs, hissing and strikes a street-fighting pose, leaping through the air with outstretched front legs in a dominant display. Banvai reacts only to find herself sprawling in the grass with Kajree standing over her. Banvai does not want to risk her cubs. She hobbles away as fast as she can, looking back over her shoulder in case Kajree should charge again. Her cubs follow.

Kajree was the dominant sister in her litter and is now victorious in her challenge with Banvai. She is confident and capable of defending her won territory. As the victor, she lies camouflaged in the long grass, licking her fur and pads. The more she curls her tongue, the greater the scraping power and satisfaction. She squints, feeling safe and comfortable, and makes mimicking vocalisations in an attempt to draw nearby deer within striking range. A curious langur monkey approaches, and she strikes. One explosive movement and the kill is made.

Kajree has secured a 10km2 domain that overlaps with the territory of her mother, and she has the resources to raise cubs of her own. In the far distance she hears a repeated short roar, which is rolling like thunder. A young prime male tiger is announcing his presence. She sets off to find her partner.

Epilogue

We need to create an environment where the tiger population can grow and occupy a larger landscape. The presence of evolved good practices helps to minimise human conflict – where communities who share the same space live comfortably with tigers. Tigers4Ever is an international charity working to achieve these aims in Bandhavgarh, which is Kajree’s home. The charity runs anti-poaching patrols, who play a huge role in keeping tigers safe in the zone that surrounds the National Park, and it funds several additional community focussed projects to encourage those living with wild tigers to protect them and ensure they have wild futures. They provide permanent wildlife waterholes/reducing human-animal conflict; vital equipment for forest patrols; and educational resources to enable children from the poorest rural communities to gain education/improved employment prospects. The charity also works tirelessly with the Forest Department and villagers to ensure farmers are promptly compensated for loss of livestock, and to quickly dispose of the carcasses, preventing retaliation — No tigers have been lost to retaliatory poisoning since 1st July 2015 thanks to this constant vigil.

Tigers4Ever pledges to use all donations received for wild tiger conservation projects. Please Donate Help to secure a safe future for Kajree and all of Bandhavgarh’s wild tigers.

Author

Martin Urch has more than 40-years’ experience creating photographic images as art. He specialises in topics on humanity and conservation. Martin sets out on adventure travel whenever possible and has been travelling throughout Asia for the past 13 years. Working for 20 years in the digital industry was a defining experience for him. He brings together artistic visualisation, intuition and digital industry learnings to fulfil a resourceful imagination. Martin’s work as an author and photographer takes him to some of the most beautiful places throughout the world. A key question on his mind is how people and wildlife live in their changing environment. Many of his photographs have been published in print and digital media content. Goto Website

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Copyright

Martin Urch hereby asserts his moral right to be identified as author of this work.  No part of this work may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Incredible Journey Publishing, www.martinurch.com