Tigers remain majestic for Assam's most famous hunter

Guwahati, Aug 26: A brave hunter himself, whose love for the wild almost cost him his family, reminisced his encounters with the tigers across the country's wild forests.

Famous tiger hunter Zia-ur-Rahman shared his experiences on his long expeditions to track down the man-eaters, which took him as far as Madhya Prasesh, Orissa and Chattisgarh, at a press interaction here yesterday.

Narrating his first tale as a 16-year-old hunter in 1957, he said, ''I had killed two tigers and captured one with only arrows when the tigers had come to eat our cattle.'' Following the call of his heart to pursue hunting, he went on to capture more than 60 tigers alive and had killed other 100 odd man- eaters in his 50 years of career.

Though a hunter, Mr Rahman views the tiger as 'most majestic and beautiful' animal.

He said, ''The tiger is indeed the king of the jungle. It never attacks unless provoked and moves around with an assured dignity. Even with such a vast experience of dealing with man-eaters behind him, the hunter still feels a tinge of sorrow whenever he recalls shooting down a tiger.

He said, ''Though my aim is to capture and kill the tiger, when, after a prolonged trail it does finally comes before me, I do feel sad at shooting the beautiful animal.'' ''But the indecisiveness passes off in a fleeting second and I get ahead with my motive,'' he added.

A vegetarian by choice, Mr Rahman said if men left the animals on their own, even in marked territory, the animals would never run the risk of attacking human habitats and get killed.

Encroaching of forest land and shortage of food make animals venture near humans, he said, adding, on a lighter vein, ''Of course, there are some tigers that turn into man-eaters without any reason. It is perhaps a problem with their character.'' When asked on safety measures he adopted during his expeditions, Mr Rahman quipped, ''I locate the most cowardly person in the hunting team and place him at the tail of the party. A slightest quiver behind him, and he is sure to alert us immediately.'' His love for hunting had cost Mr Rahman not just salary cuts for unauthorised leave in the Railway department job he held, but had also brought his marriage on the rocks, though he survived the scares with sacrifices from his family.

UNI