It is a national star, a “legend” even write the newspapers: Collarwali, the most famous tigress of the country, icon of the national park of Pench, went away Saturday, at the age of 16 years. A tigress so loved, so adored that she had the right to a funeral ceremony, you have to imagine her stretched out on a wooden bed, covered with an immaculate white shroud letting her head protrude surrounded by orange and pink flowers, placed hundreds by anonymous people who came to say goodbye.
A tribute which is explained because Collarwali was the symbol of the successful safeguarding of tigers in India. When she was born in 2005, felines had almost disappeared. Through hunting and deforestation, they went from 100,000 in 1900 to 1,400 in the early 2000s. A carnage. To stop it, the Indian authorities have therefore launched a major preservation campaign.
Legendary among legends. Collarwali the famous tigress who holds record of giving birth to 29 cubs. She is no more now. But left her species in good health. Pic by good friend @saroshlodhi pic.twitter.com/1WE7jNbFZs
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) January 16, 2022
About fifty reserves have been created, cameras have been installed everywhere to identify each tiger, and finally, some big cats have received transmitter collars. Collarwali, which takes its name “collar” necklace, was the first to have one, which allowed healers to follow her movements, her life and therefore her prowess: the one the Indians call “Super Mommy” greatly contributed to the perpetuation of the species by giving birth to 29 young, all in eight litters, a national or even world record.
Wildlife lovers and enthusiasts will understand how heartbreaking it is, when a majestic tigress goes into silence forever.
Rest in peace, #Collarwali. pic.twitter.com/LLHjn2Ou30— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 17, 2022
But if Collarwali is famous it is also because she knew how to win hearts by being the only tigress not to flee in front of visitors to the reserve. When a pick-up passed, she would come on the road, putting on a show by strolling nonchalantly, and this is how she became the queen of souvenir photos, contributing in the process to breaking the fantasy of the wicked, killer tiger, attacking for no reason.
In this forest, which is the one that inspired Rudyard Kipling The jungle Book, Collarwali showed that tigers hunt for food, not for trophies. Or how to say that for them, as for all endangered species, to protect and save, you must first change your outlook.