JIM CORBET ACE HUNTER AND NATURALIST

Edward James Corbett popularly known only as Jim Corbett was British national born in India and was a famous hunter, tracker, naturalist, and author who hunted several man-eating tigers in India. He held the rank of colonel in the British Indian Army and was frequently called upon by the Government to kill man-eating tigers and leopards that were preying on people in the nearby villages of the Kumaon-Garhwal Regions.

A dedicated pursuer of the big cats, Jim Corbett was also a committed conservationist. He gave up his rifle in favour of a camera and it was largely through his efforts that a protected area in Nainital was established as India’s first National Park in 1936. The Hailey National Park was later renamed as Jim Corbett National Park in his honour by the Indian government in 1956 and it was here that the ‘Project Tiger’ initiative was first launched in 1973. Now it has the maximum number of tigers in India in the wild.

Though a British national Corbett was born in 1875 in Nainital in Uttarakhand. The surrounding dense Kumaon jungles fascinated him as a young boy and led to his lifelong attachment with the people, flora and fauna of the Himalayas.

His heart always remained in the luscious forests filled with majestic beasts where he had spent his formative years. His initial fame was as a hunter. His powers of tracking and identifying the fauna were legendary and self-taught.

Jim Corbett buttressed his reputation by killing the famous man-eater tigress of Champawat who was responsible for 436 documented deaths in India and Nepal.

Corbett once noted that, “Human beings are not the natural prey of tigers, and it is only when tigers have been incapacitated through wounds or old age that, in order to survive, they are compelled to take to a diet of human flesh.” Incidentally the Champawat tigress who has found place in Guinness book of records for killing maximum number of human beings had problems in her jaws and teeth for which she was unable to catch her natural prey and hence killed individuals.

Corbett moved to Kenya and died there in 1955, having lived an accomplished life and leaving behind a cherished legacy. Several biographies and films were made based on his life and exploits. In 1968, a subspecies of the Tiger was named after him, Panthera tigris corbetti, the Indochinese tiger, also called Corbett’s Tiger.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle