John

Just been re-reading ‘Thirty Seven Years Big -Game Hunting in Cooch Behar, The Duars and Assam by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar, a record of shikar from the 1880’s until early 1900’s, it seems that Tiger cubs were often shot along with their Mothers, a combination it seems of being considered ‘all part of a days sport’ and also possibly reflecting views of that time that Tiger were vermin.

Not wishing to sit in judgment of any hunters of the past, it is still hard to reconcile views from that time that all animals were at the disposal of the hunter to shoot at will, moreso when one considers how low numbers of Asian Rhino and Tiger have now become, although back in the early 1900’s it would probably have seemed inconceivable that once seemingly endless numbers of such game could fall to below critical levels in just a few generations.

Not criticising our forbears, they were representative of views extant during that period, for anyone curious to understand this I commend reading the book, it is a good account of Shikar in the jungles of India and is instructive on the views of what animals represented ‘fair game’

Of course we read these narratives very much with attitudes viewed through a prism of the present where conservation and managed control are very much at the heart of modern hunting, but the contrast is as stark,as it is interesting.

Jonathan