Kailash Sankhala

Kailash Sankhala (30 January 1925 – 15 August 1994) was an Indian biologist and conservationist. He was the Director of Delhi Zoological Park and Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan.^[1] He is best known for his work in preserving tigers. Sankhala was the first Director of Project Tiger, a conservation programme set up in India in 1973.^[2] He was well known as "The Tiger Man of India". He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1992 and Rajasthan Ratan in 2013.

Kailash Sankhala
Born	(1925-01-30)30 January 1925 Jodhpur, Jodhpur State, British India
Died	15 August 1994(1994-08-15) (aged 69)
Known for	Environmental activism; Role as first Director of Project Tiger
Awards	Padma Shri

Indira Gandhi presenting award to Kailash Sankhala

Wildlife manager

Sankhala started at the Forest Service in 1953.^[3] From 1953 to 1964, he managed wildlife sanctuaries in Sariska, Bharatpur, Banvihar and Ranthambhor, as well as forests in Rajasthan. In 1965, he was appointed Director of the Delhi Zoological Park. In 1973 he was appointed head of Project Tiger, an attempt to save the Indian tiger from extinction.^[4]

Tiger conservation

In 1971, Sankhala conducted a survey of the tiger population in India.^[5] His research later lead him to become the first Director of Project Tiger in 1973.^[6] Sankhala created the Tiger Trust in 1989.^[7] Sankhala's son, Pradeep Sankhala, took over the charge of the Tiger Trust after his father's death. Upon his death in 2003, his son Amit Sankhala stepped in.

Personal life

Kailash Sankhala was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan on 30 January 1925. Sankhala died on 15 August 1994 in Jaipur.

Awards and honours

The Ministry of Environment and Forests established the Kailash Sankhala Fellowship award for conservation efforts in his honour.^[8]

Bibliography

• Kailash Sankhala (1973). Wild Beauty: A Study of Indian Wildlife. National Book Trust, India; [sole distributors: Thomson Press (India).
• Kailash Sankhala (1974). Tigre. World Wildlife Fund. ISBN 3859880101.
• Kailash Sankhala (1975). Tigerland. Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN 978-0-672-52037-2.
• Kailash Sankhala (1978). Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger. William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-00-216124-9.
• Kailash Sankhala (1990). Gardens of God: The Waterbird Sanctuary at Bharatpur. Vikas Publishing House. ISBN 9780706930412.
• Kailash Sankhala (1993). Return of the Tiger. Lustre Press.
• Kailash Sankhala; Swaraj Chauhan (1997). The Story of Indian Tiger. Grange Books. ISBN 978-1-85627-888-1.^[9]

See also

• Project Tiger
• Indira Gandhi
• Karan Singh
• Bengal tiger

References

1. Valmik Thapar (1 February 2006). Saving Wild Tigers 1900–2000. Orient Blackswan. pp. 155–. ISBN 978-81-7824-150-0.
2. Sujit Mukherjee (1 January 1993). Forster and Further: The Tradition of Anglo-Indian Fiction. Orient Blackswan. pp. 222–. ISBN 978-0-86311-289-8.
3. *Kailash Sankhala (1978). Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger. William Collins Sons & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-00-216124-9.
4. Reed Business Information (28 March 1974). New Scientist. Reed Business Information. pp. 804–. ISSN 0262-4079. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
5. Ronald Tilson; Philip J. Nyhus (30 November 2009). Tigers of the World: The Science, Politics and Conservation of Panthera tigris. Academic Press. pp. 5–. ISBN 978-0-08-094751-8.
6. Administrator. . kidsfortigers.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
7. "Tiger trust".
8. . envfor.nic.in. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
9. "Tiger! The Story of the Indian Tiger". Diary – Tales from Wild India – Conservation Magazine.