Kunwar Kunwar (also spelt Kanwar or Kaur or Kuar) is an Indian title denoting a prince. It is derived from the Sanskrit term Kumar. It was traditionally associated with the feudal Rajputs such as the son of a Rana or Thakur The following are notable ...

"Billy" Arjan Singh (15 August 1917 – 1 January 2010) was an Indian hunter turned conservationist and author. He was the first who tried to reintroduce

tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

and

leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus ''Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

from captivity into the wild.Thapar, V. (2010) ''Obituary: Billy Arjan Singh'' HT Media Limited, 2 January 201
online
/ref> Billy Arjan Singh died at his original farmhouse ''Jasbir Nagar'' on 1 January 2010.

Early life

Kunwar "Billy" Arjan Singh was born in

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dis ...

on 15 August 1917 as the second son of Kunwar Jasbir Singh, CIE (1887–1942), a member of the royal Ahluwalia dynasty of

Kapurthala Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent buil ...

. His grandfather was Raja Harnam Singh and his uncle was

Raja Maharaj Singh Raja Sir Maharaj Singh (17 May 1878, Kapurthala, Punjab – 6 June 1959, Lucknow) was the first Indian Governor of Bombay. He was also the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir during Maharaja Hari Singh's rule and also the Dewan of Jodhpur for ...

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur Dame Rajkumari Bibiji Amrit Kaur (''née'' Ahluwalia) DStJ (2 February 1887 – 6 February 1964) was an Indian activist and politician. Following her long-lasting association with the Indian independence movement, she was appointed the first ...

was his aunt and his elder brother was Air Vice-Marshal Kunwar Jaswant Singh,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

(1915–1963). In 1940, Singh was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the British Indian Army and was posted to the south of Iraq.

Hunter turned conservationist

Singh described how in his youth he had been an insatiable hunter. However, one day having shot a young leopard in the lights of his vehicle, he dramatically changed his view of hunting, feeling nothing but revulsion for killing and vowing that from then on he would pursue the cause of conservation. His first major project was to save a herd of

barasingha The barasingha (''Rucervus duvaucelii''), also known as the swamp deer, is a deer species distributed in the Indian subcontinent. Populations in northern and central India are fragmented, and two isolated populations occur in southwestern Nepal. ...

in the neighbouring Sathiana range of the forestry reserve at Dudhwa. In 1976, he was awarded the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

's gold medal, the WWF's premier award, for his conservation work. He was also largely responsible for persuading the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, to transform Dudhwa into a national park.

Re-introduction of big cats

Singh's conservation efforts for wildlife are best known for his reintroduction of leopards and a tiger into the wild of Dudhwa National Park. He started by bringing up an orphaned male leopard cub named Prince, which he successfully reintroduced to the wild in 1973. To provide Prince with a mate he subsequently raised two orphaned female leopards cubs, Harriet and Juliette. In July 1976, he acquired a hand-reared female tiger cub named ''Tara'' from

Twycross Zoo Twycross Zoo is a medium to large zoo near Norton Juxta Twycross, Leicestershire. The zoo has the largest collection of monkeys and apes in the Western World, and in 2006 re-launched itself as "Twycross Zoo – The World Primate Centre". T ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and reintroduced her to the wild in the Dudhwa National Park with the permission of India's then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In the 1990s, some tigers were observed in the protected area, which had a

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies '' Panthera tigris tigris'' native to the Russian Far East, Northeast China and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korean Peninsula, but currently inh ...

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological pr ...

of a large head, pale pelage, white complexion, and wide stripes, and were therefore suspected to be Bengal-Siberian tiger hybrids. Billy Arjan Singh sent hair samples of tigers from the area to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

where the samples were analysed using mitochondrial sequence analysis. Results revealed that the tigers in question had a Bengal tiger mitochondrial haplotype indicating that their mother was a Bengal tiger. Skin, hair and blood samples from 71 tigers collected in various Indian zoos, in the National Museum in Kolkata and including the two hair samples from Dudhwa National Park were prepared for microsatellite analysis that revealed that two tigers had

allele An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chro ...

s in two loci that were contributed by Bengal and Siberian tiger subspecies. However, samples of two hybrid specimens constituted a too small base to conclusively presume that ''Tara'' was the source of the Siberian tiger genes.

Awards

For his contributions to conservation, Arjan Singh was widely honoured. In 1996, he was awarded the ''World Wildlife Gold Medal'', and obtained the Order of the Golden Ark in 1997. In 2004, Arjan Singh received the Getty Award, administered by the

, for his innovative contribution to conservation and for creating public awareness. In 2006, he received the ''Yash Bharati award'' and the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

two months later. He also received the ''Lifetime Award for Tiger Conservation''.

Legacy

To ensure that his work in conservation continued, Singh established the Tiger Haven Society in 1992. The Society's aims include preserving Tiger Haven and sponsoring research into wildlife.

Publications

* ''Tiger Haven''. Macmillan, London 1973; Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999 * ''Tara, a tigress''. Quartet Books, London and New York 1981 * ''Prince of cats''. Jonathan Cape, London 1982; Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2000 * ''Tiger! Tiger!''. Jonathan Cape, London 1984 and 1986 * ''The legend of the maneater''. Orient Longman, New Delhi 1993 * ''Arjan Singh's tiger book''. (co-author) Lotus Collection, Roli Books, New Delhi 1998 * ''A tiger's story''. HarperCollins Publishers India, New Delhi 1999; Tara-India Research Press, New Delhi 2005 * ''Eelie and the big cats''. Oxford University Press, New Delhi and New York 2001 * ''Watching India's wildlife : the anthology of a lifetime''. Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2003 and 2004

Biographies

* Hart-Davies, D. 2005. ''Honorary tiger : the life of Billy Arjan Singh''. Lotus Collection, Roli Books, New Delhi * Shaminder Boparai, and A. Mookerjee (ed.) 2011. ''Billy Arjan Singh – Tiger of Dudhwa'' with support from WWF, Tiger Haven Society. HarperCollins, New Delhi

References

External links

Tiger Haven Society

Cry Havoc (1980)

Billy Arjan Singh's website.

Billy Arjan Singh awarded Padma Bhushan, WWF-India (Worldwide Fund for Nature – India), 30 Mar 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Billy Arjan Indian conservationists People from Gorakhpur People from Lakhimpur Kheri Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in other fields Punjabi people British Indian Army officers Indian Army personnel of World War II Indian royalty 1917 births 2010 deaths