‘Tiger man' Valmik Thapar took train to Ranthambore in his 20s on a whim. It changed his life

The Print

31-05-2025

Condolences poured in from all quarters for the 'Tiger Man'—a name he rightfully earned.
His fight to protect India's big cats continued till the end. Thapar breathed his last at the age of 73 early Saturday. He passed away at his house on Kautilya Marg in Delhi after a battle with cancer.
New Delhi: From tying a buffalo to a tree to observe the hunting behaviour of Ranthambore National Park's famous resident tigress Padmini and her cubs, to taking on his own colleague in the Tiger Task Force in the pursuit of prevention of poaching in Sariska, conservationist and author Valmik Thapar dedicated over four decades of his life to shaping India's tiger conservation programme.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Thapar's death was a 'great loss'.
'Today's Ranthambore, particularly, is a testimony to his deep commitment and indefatigable zeal. He was uncommonly knowledgeable on a variety of issues relating to biodiversity, and not a day passed during my Ministerial tenure without our talking to each other—with me almost always at the receiving end,' Ramesh wrote in an X post.
The former environment minister said that during his tenure as chairman of the standing committee, Thapar was a constant source of valuable suggestions and advice. 'We had arguments, but it was always an education to listen to him, full of passion and concern. He was truly an unforgettable one-of-a-kind,' he added.
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Thapar's life and work
In the early 1970s, hunting tigers was a popular sport at Ranthambore.
It was around then that Thapar, who was then in his 20s battling personal crises, decided to leave everything behind. He caught a train to Ranthambore, and this whim, he said, 'changed his life'.
'I didn't know anything about tigers then. But I fell in love with the beauty of the place,' Thapar said in the opening of a BBC documentary in 2024. He said that upon his arrival at Ranthambore, with the help of the park director and another pioneer in tiger conservation, Fateh Singh Rathore, he spotted his first tiger in the park. They named her Padmini. And that is how his journey began.
Apart from being an astute conservationist, Thapar was also a celebrated filmmaker and author, who penned around 32 books, including Land of the Tigers—A Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent, Living with Tigers and The Secret Life of Tigers. He also served in over 150 committees for tiger conservation at both the Centre and state levels.
In 2005, Thapar was appointed as a member of the Tiger Task Force to look into the poaching of tigers at the Sariska Tiger Reserve. After the committee, led by environmentalist Sunita Narain, presented its report, Thapar wrote a dissent note, claiming that the task force was misrepresenting the ground realities. He asserted that tiger reserves needed dedicated zones, where human interference would not be allowed.
While he was known mainly for his work around tiger conservation, he also extensively worked on wildlife conservation at large. He was very vocally critical of the Narendra Modi government's Project Cheetah, stressing that India's weather, prey-base and terrain were not cheetah-friendly.
According to conservation biologist Neha Singh, Thapar was a 'fearless advocate for the tigers'. 'He was the international voice of Indian tigers for many many years,' she said.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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