“When it comes to tiger conservation, India can certainly take the lead. Our technical expertise and methodologies are next to none. But we do welcome the US offer of cooperation,” he said. Mulford said even poachers can be enlisted for support.

“There are indications that poachers do not want to continue doing what they are doing. But they have no choice. Conservation efforts also needs to look at reorienting that community, maybe give them access to land, access to education for their children.

“And because these poachers have an intimate knowledge of the forests, they can may be actually become protectors of the wildlife,” he said.

Incidentally, the ambassador’s niece Kaitlin Lang, a high-school student in the US who is interning at the science section of the embassy here, is also making a short film on the tigers in India. This film will be shown to school children in India and the US with the aim of increasing young people’s awareness towards the need to conserve wildlife.

“It was such an incredible sight,” Lang said about her trip to Ranthambore where she filmed her 15-minute video. “I had seen tigers in films and in the zoo but they are completely different in home conditions.”