New Delhi, JULY 6: Concerned about the dwindling tiger population in India, the United States has offered its help and called for a more broad-based approach in dealing with the issue of tiger conservation.

US ambassador David Mulford, who is taking a keen personal interest in the issue, said his Government wanted “to do whatever it can to make a difference”.

As a first step, the US Embassy is funding a workshop being organised by the Wildlife Protection Society of India in Ranthambore in October. “The issue of tiger is very special and very complex. We are hoping to stimulate, through this workshop, the federal Government, state Government, village communities, poachers, schoolchildren and others on the need to preserve the priceless species,” Mulford told The Indian Express.

India is home to the largest number of tigers in the world even though the population has declined rapidly in the last few years. It already has one of the most elaborate and advanced conservation programme for tigers with a high-powered Tiger Task Force reporting directly to the PM.

Suggesting a more comprehensive approach to conservation by including every stakeholder, Mulford said the experience in the United States had shown that private players made significant contributions towards conserving wildlife. “This should not be taken as criticism of Government efforts. But wildlife conservation needs a more comprehensive approach which private players and private money can generate,” he said.

Head of National Tiger Conservation Authority Dr Rajesh Gopal said India was already running a very inclusive conservation programme.

“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.”