The Last Tiger

The Last Tiger Raakhee Suryaprakash Sariska, Rajasthan, India. I walk the jungle alone. The other tigers here have all been killed. My beloved Sheru was killed last week and now perhaps I am the last tiger alive here. But not for long in another 50 days I will have my cubs to protect. Is that a good thing when those persistent hunters want to wipe us out? I see people striding through my forest as though they own it. To think but a few years back they didn't dare make this much noise. We were there to put the fear of God and a little healthy respect for nature in them. Now it’s my turn to be stealthy as these people and their cattle strip the forest of trees and fodder. I am Shernee, the queen of this forest and eluding these villagers is child’s play, but hunters are the problem. Now that they have nearly wiped us out they don’t spare the leopards, the eagles, the Sambars, or even the monkeys. We are all being eliminated one after the other. The sound of a jeep disturbs the peace of the jungle and startles Shernee The forest ranger is making his daily round but however well-intentioned, he won’t have much to guard soon. He has seen me too many times this past week after his hawaldhars found the carcass of my Sheru stripped of his flawless fur, his bones, his claws, and his powerful teeth. What was left was dumped on the forest edge so that even the scavengers it attracted could be shot as prey. My mother told me that we were the pride of this forest and our kind was the national animal. I wonder at that pride if in the end our destiny is the bullet. Mankind, in turn, are our protectors and our predators. My ancestors were wiped out by someone called the Raja now these nameless hunters will wipe out my family. Will this cycle never end? A sound in the undergrowth interrupts Shernee’s reverie again.

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Is it the hunters? Eluding them yesterday has made them keener. I should run and hide but I don't have the will, should I just give up and yield…no I can’t, I must run for my cubs…for our future. Oh thank god! It is the forest ranger I smell. I will save you if it is the last thing I do. Is that his thoughts I hear, I wonder and turn. He breaks cover, I am betrayed! I watch him pull the trigger and hear the deafening report. I will see my Sheru again, sorry my cubs for failing you… Deep in the jungles of the Western Ghats, South India Where am I…is this heaven? Is that another tiger I see… I must be in heaven. Are those my cubs frolicking near that brook? But no I can smell him, my nemesis, I am alive and this time I will kill him. With a wild roar the tigress shakes off the grogginess and lunges towards where the ranger stands but then freezes as she hears his thoughts again: You will be safe here. I may have failed many but I didn't fail you. Here you can live and breed without fear. My kind doesn’t know of this place and the few who do will die before they reveal its location. Be safe my queen and found a new dynasty! Redeem me!

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