One Year After Tiger King

One Year After Tiger King: What Have We Learned About Tiger Conservation?

It has now been a little over a year since Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness took the internet by storm. The seven-part docu-series explores the world of tiger breeding and the intensely dramatic, twisted feud between collector, Joe Exotic, and big cat sanctuary owner, Carole Baskin. As I look back on my time watching the series last March in record speed (as many of us did), the only scenes I can recall include Baskin and Exotic. The context of big cats and conservation are hazy to me as these two unbelievably outlandish characters clawed my attention away. There is now a film adaptation in the works with Nicholas Cage starring as Joe Exotic and Baskin was a contestant in the US dance competition series Dancing with the Stars. Amongst this roaring success, now I wonder: what have I learnt about tiger conservation in the series and how much attention did we all pay towards these animals? As the audience flicks back and forth between Exotic and Baskin’s interviews to figure out who the actual victim in the narrative is, the ultimate victims are the tigers restricted in unsafe and unviable living conditions.

The owners have attracted the internet’s attention as the tigers are a backdrop to their deep-seated conflict – it could be noted that the tigers are metaphorical for the fury and tribalism of their conflict. But this should not be the sole setting for the drama, it should demand more attention, especially when seeing the treatment of tigers in the US. Joe Exotic’s park points to a wider issue of big cat ownership: the US has seen case after case of negligent treatment of tigers including some owning tigers as pets without registering them, or entrapping these big cats in cages for roadside zoos. Tigers that breed cubs in cages will not be able to reintegrate into their natural wildlife habitat where they belong. These cramped conditions hinders their ability to trek in the wide expanse of natural habitats that they should be accustomed to.

Bengal Tiger Photographs by Katherine Abraham.

Katherine is the author of Yesterday Once More, Silenced by Love and Some Days are Forever. An Adventist, Katherine is a teacher by profession, who has studied Law, Literature and Journalism. She writes poetry and prose for various online publications and international anthologies. She is the host of the International Podcast Series for Christians entitled Chasing Hope where she talks of the various aspects of a principled Christian life. Website : www.chasinghopewithkatherine.com Her fourth novel, Every Sunset Has a Story, has won her a book series contract with a popular publisher in the USA.

Although tigers are categorised as endangered, there are flickers of hope for the population – numbers have stabilised across Asia. A dwindling population of 3,000 in the wild has pushed people to support the livelihoods of these big cats. In India, tigers are protected by Project India, an organisation established by the government which has been a major influence in steadily increasing the number of tigers from its worryingly low number across India’s reserves, whilst preventing threats towards them such as poaching. All because of the heroic efforts people have taken to conserve these creatures in their natural habitats.

Tigers are sacred beings that, like many other species, have been brutally mistreated by humans. They have been exploited as entertainers, which is brazenly displayed in Tiger King. The series has unintentionally cast a light on how tigers are looked after. We should take it as a lesson on what happens when they are not nurtured. It is the conservationists such as those working for Project India that have the eye of the tiger to save the planet.

By Nuha Zulkernain.

Nuha is a Publishing student in Edinburgh. She graduated from Edinburgh Napier with a degree in English literature in 2020. She volunteers as Inclusivity Officer for the SYP Scotland committee 2021/2022 and enjoys reviewing books by marginalised writers on Instagram to expand the literary space. Nuha loves reading dystopian fiction, writing short stories, and making playlists for any mood.