The Raj and the Paradoxes of Wildlife Conservation

Chapter 5 examines the environmental and wildlife conservation issues with reference to hunting in colonial India. Addressing the issues of forestry, environment, and empire in relation to Indian wildlife, it is possible to evaluate the ways in which the British contested, constructed, and tailored wildlife conservation attitudes to meet the needs of smooth governance, while maintaining the imperial sport of hunting. Against this backdrop, the chapter explains how the issue of conservation remained in tension with imperial hunting and exploitation in colonial India. While explaining these intricacies, this study suggests that the British ruled tigers, elephants, and the native people through their inconsistencies rather than from a unified Orientalist ideology. In this, the reader would learn how the British attitudes and the policies implemented were situational and pragmatic. More importantly, it points to a story that signifies the ability of the powerful to change attitudes and shift behaviours according to the circumstances. Thus in colonial India, tigers were seen as the symbolic enemies of civilization, noxious creatures that were in the way of economic development and tragic symbols of a decimated nature, all at the same time, whereas elephants were left alone because of their usefulness. Extermination and preservation of species thus went hand-in-hand so that colonial interests rather than animal welfare could be promoted.