IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
| Boomgaard, P. | |
| Tigers and people in the Malay world: four centuries of confrontation and coexistence in comparative Asian perspective | |
| 2010 Book Chapter | |
Some 30 years ago, killing tigers occurred more or less routinely and certainly openly in most if not all tiger range countries. Why was that the case? Why were tigers relentlessly hunted and caught in traps and snares for as long as our documentation permits us to go back in time and probably much longer? And why is that no longer the case? I can think of two interrelated reasons. From the 1970s the number of tigers dropped rapidly and confrontations between humans and tigers became rare. Tigers were, therefore, no longer perceived as a threat to humans. Concurrently, a gradual change in mentality occurred. The notion of hunting as a noble pastime became increasingly obsolete as game became less abundant almost everywhere, and former hunters turned conservationists ('penitent butchers' according to some). Today, tigers have become so rare that people can hardly believe they ever existed in many areas, let alone were a threat to humans. In this chapter, I explore the scope and intensity of human-tiger conflict and why it occurred. Conversely, I also show how people and tigers could coexist peacefully. |
|
 |
PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here |
(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |