Sixty six years ago, a wild white tiger was hunted which marked the extinction of wild white tigers. However, in recent years white tigers have started to revive in the forests of India in parts like West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha. In order to protect this revival, the Indian government established a number of national parks, away from the access of people.
What are white tigers? White tigers are just normal tigers, they don’t have any other differences from other tigers other than the color of their fur and the reason they have white is because of a skin mutation called leucism. Approximately one in every 10,000 tigers born are born with leucism which is why white tigers are extremely rare. So that’s why this sanctuary is really important, because the white tigers can have a space to repopulate without the fear of being hunted or poached.
In October, Mohan White Tiger Safari, named after the white tiger who resides there, was opened in the city of Rewa Madhya Pradesh. This is the first white tiger safari in the world. Until before access to see white tigers was extremely restricted in order to protect their revival, now that they are slowly making a comeback, the restriction is slowly being lifted. With the ban lifted, the white tiger sanctuary and the safari have been getting a lot of attention from tourists from all over India and the world. But apparently it hasn’t been getting enough attention, because almost everyone here at Broad Run didn’t know anything about this sanctuary. Among these are sophomore Shreeya Rajbhandari and History Teacher Daniel Avermann, both of whom I extensively interviewed. Both of them had a very positive review on the sanctuary in India, but when asked if there should be more sanctuaries here in the US, they both had drastically different views; Mr.Avermann said “I think the reason anybody does stuff (open sanctuaries) in America is for money and truly for the reason for preserving the animals.” and he says that America has to find a method that “suits them best for conservation so that people don’t exploit it for money. ” On the other hand, Rajbhandari said “I think it would be a great idea (to open wildlife sanctuaries), because places like the US….have a lot of unused space that could be used to protect species and stabilize the environment.”
The Mohan White Tiger Sanctuary and Safari is going to help the white tigers rebuild their population by providing a space that is extremely protected. This sanctuary can also set a example for other sanctuaries in the country or sanctuaries in other countries by playing the role of a game changing environment for an endangered species.
