John,
The author of the book is someone who has chosen to ignore some pretty well known historical facts.
Almost all the Tiger reserves and sanctuaries in India are the old hunting grounds of the Maharajas, ie.. Ranthambore , Kaziranga, Kanha and Bandhavgarh... the list goes on.
Is it not strange that wildlife,in particular Tigers, flourished in these areas till they were nationalised by the Governmment, and turned into wildlife sanctuaries.From thenon it all went tits up. This fact is not just a coincidence.
Corbett was a sportsman, who was priveliged to enjoy sport that was in some considerable abundance. The fact that the mela(fair) at Rudraprayag, held in honour of the killing of the maneating leopard is still held today, validates the reputation of the man. Corbett is a hunting legend, and the hill folks almost worshipped him.When he saw the threat, he turned conservationist, in fact in some of his later speeches and writings he almost sounds like an anti.
He moved to Africa, not to hunt, but simply because he felt it was time to do so, given the political climate.
I am afraid India is now full of the 'home grown experts' whose knowledge comes out of reference books in the local library.In fact, a senior range officer I was chatting with a few weeks ago referred to the 'fat twat' Val Thapar, the so called Tiger expert, who claimed a tiger is much quicker than a leopard in it's initial burst, when attacking prey...the mind boggles.
I shall get off my soap box now, and stop attempting to preach to the converted !!!
M.