Valmik Thapar
Valmik Thapar was an Indian naturalist, conservationist and writer. He was the author of 14 books and several articles, and was the producer of a range of programmes for television. He was one of India's most respected wildlife experts and conservationists, having produced and narrated documentaries on India's natural habitat for such media as the BBC, Animal Planet, Discovery and National Geographic.
Early life
Valmik Thapar was born in Bombay to Raj Thapar, who founded the political journal Seminar in 1959, and Romesh Thapar, a noted journalist and political commentator. Noted Indian historian Romila Thapar is his aunt.He married theatre personality Sanjana Kapoor and the couple had a son, Hamir. Valmik Thapar and his family lived in Delhi.
Career
Valmik Thapar spent decades following the fortunes of India's tiger population. He was influenced by Fateh Singh Rathore.His stewardship of the Ranthambore Foundation was recognised and he was appointed a member of the Tiger Task Force of 2005 by the Government of India. He criticised the majority Task Force view in his dissent note as excessively focussed on the prospects of co-existence of tigers and humans, which was, in his view not consistent with the objective of the panel.
His writings have analysed the perceived failure of Project Tiger, a conservation apparatus created in 1973 by the Government of India. He critiqued Project Tiger, drawing attention to its mismanagement by a forest bureaucracy that is largely not scientifically trained. His last book The Last Tiger makes this case strongly.
Among the consistent criticisms levelled by Thapar at India's Ministry of Environment and Forests one relating to its unwillingness to curb poaching through armed patrols and its refusal to open forests to scholarly scientific enquiry.
His famous relationship with 'Macchli', a tigress, is documented in some of his chronicles. Thapar's most cherished tigers are highlighted in the BBC documentary film My Tiger Family.
View on Ranthambore Tiger T24 transfer to Zoo
As per the Hindustan TimesJoining the debate on the fate of T-24, Valmik Thapar, one of India's most respected wildlife experts and conservationists, said relocating Ustad was the best option: “In my 40 years of experience of the tigers of Ranthambore, T-24 is the most dangerous tiger I have ever encountered. He killed four people, including two forest guards and two locals. The local villagers were partly eaten. The forest guards were not eaten because their bodies were retrieved keeping the tiger at bay.
“After the first two kills I had suggested that this tiger be relocated to a captive enclosure but the tiger was given the benefit of the doubt. Later, two forest personnel have had to sacrifice their lives as a result. T-24 territory included the path pilgrims take to and around the sacred Ganesha temple and Ranthambore fort. This last kill took place at the entry point of pilgrims and in daylight.
“The forest department and the government of Rajasthan have successfully relocated a man killing and eating tiger to a one hectare enclosure in Udaipur where he has eaten and is calm and where he will spend his last years. By doing this they have made Ranthambore safer for the brave forest guards who patrol and the tens of thousands of pilgrims who walk.
“Our feelings today must be for the families who suffered tragically in these five years that have gone by. It is for these families that we need to collect money and help. Any person or group who believed that he should have not been relocated would have to bear the responsibility on their shoulders for the next human kill and the accelerating conflict that could result. T-24 was given the maximum benefit of doubt that any man-eating tiger has ever got in recent Indian history.”
Death
Thapar was diagnosed with cancer in 2024, and died at his home in New Delhi, on 31 May 2025, at the age of 73.Selected television works
- Tiger Crisis
- Land of the Tiger
- Tigers' Fortress
- Danger in Tiger Paradise
- Search for Tigers
- ''My Tiger Family ''