I am the wandering tigress T27-C1. I am about to be killed.

Tigers are known to travel large distances, sometimes hundreds of kilometers, and so it was completely normal for me to make this 500 km odyssey (isn't that what you humans call it) from my home in Bor to Ashti, then on to Nagpur via Warud and finally back again in Bor. No one ever gave me a name, but I am now famously known as T27-C1 (yawn, boring), though I prefer to call myself The Wanderer.

Update: On 14th October, I came in contact with a live wire and got electrocuted. So yes, before your courts could decide on whether to kill me or make me a prisoner for life, I am dead. A man had kept an electrified wire to keep wild animals away, and that sucked life out of me. May I rest in peace. Amen.

tiger T27-C1
That's not me - just some other tiger :P

I am no ordinary tigress, I am the one who dodged death multiple times (you know only about a few, certainly not about the time when I was young and the neighboring uncle Pasha attacked our tribe and killed my sister), traveled across forests, marshes, hills and still made it back home safe and sound. Oh well, you did manage to capture me in the end but only because of that damned radio collar on my neck. Did I ever mention that it was heavy and I could never get used to it. Can anyone please work to make ergonomic collars?

I have done a few things during my journey which are completely unacceptable to you humans, like killing and eating a couple of men in the forest. But for me those are natural instincts, things I do for survival. I never went to school, never studied about Ambedkar, the constitution and the British borrowed India Penal Code, and no one in my tribe ever told me to to stay away from humans. Maybe that advice would've been useful because it was humans who killed all my family members (I was told in hushed tones that you wanted our skins, nails, penises for solving your own health problems - insane!), and had we known this we would've stayed away. But then, we have no schools and we learn on the go. Lest you forget, we are wild animals, not one of your dogs who can be potty trained. Bwah!

As your courts decided soon whether or not I should be killed, here's an interesting fact - currently, it is estimated by The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) that at least one tiger is killed for use in traditional Chinese medicine every day. Certainly killing one more tiger can't be so bad, right? See I am building a case against myself. Sarcasm, anyone?

When you make a decision on whether to kill me with bullets or send me to lifelong captivity, do keep this in mind - it's you who has eaten up forests, our homes. From your maharajas to their foreign guests, from the poachers to the corrupt forest guards, it is you who have forced us out of our homes. As you read out my punishment, also think of how you can also punish yourself.

p.s. will you bury me or burn me if you decide to murder me in cold blood? You know, in forests we do nothing - mother nature takes care of us (oh I am getting a bit sentimental now).

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T27-C1 was captured on 10th July in Brahmapuri and currently court verdict which will decided it's future - death or captivity. Read more here.

Comments

  1. Seeing tigers in the wild in India was a bucket list item for us. We saw tigers at Ranthambore and it was still, in three years of travelling, the most incredible moment. We saw Ladali under a tree. It was just her, our driver, guide and the four of us in a jeep. It was magical. I learned last year that she's dead now, we as humans encroach too much on these magnificent animals and then to protect ourselves they have to die.

    https://asocialnomad.com/india/wild-tigers-at-ranthambore/

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