Valmik Thapar

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. They lived in Delhi.{{cite news | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi-times/Hamir-spells-sonrise-for-Sanjana/articleshow/16379130.cms | work=The Times of India | first1=Anubha | last1=Sawhney | title=Hamir spells sonrise for Sanjana | archive-date=4 November 2012 | access-date=12 December 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104043625/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi-times/Hamir-spells-sonrise-for-Sanjana/articleshow/16379130.cms | url-status=live }}

Valmik Thapar spent decades following the fortunes of India's tiger population. He was influenced by Fateh Singh Rathore.

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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.

File:Tigerramki.jpg

His writings have analysed the perceived failure of Project Tiger, a conservation apparatus created in 1973 by the Government of India.{{cite news | url=http://www.hindu.com/br/2008/12/02/stories/2008120250031400.htm | location=Chennai, India | work=The Hindu | title=Showcasing the big cat | date=2 December 2008 | archive-date=9 November 2013 | access-date=12 December 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109140512/http://www.hindu.com/br/2008/12/02/stories/2008120250031400.htm | url-status=live }} 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 (Oxford University Press) 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/nov/nov64.htm|title=Animal Planet features special series on Indian Wildlife – 'India Revealed'|date=6 November 2004|access-date=12 December 2010|archive-date=22 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622072856/http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/nov/nov64.htm|url-status=live}} Thapar's most cherished tigers are highlighted in the BBC documentary film My Tiger Family.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mikebirkhead.com/MyTigerFamily.html|title=My Tiger Family – BBC Documentary|date=14 August 2024}}

As per the Hindustan Times

Joining the debate on the fate of T-24 (Ustad), 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 (9-years-old) 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 done a spectacularly successful job in relocating 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.”

[https://web.archive.org/web/20150520000527/http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ustad-is-dangerous-should-be-in-captivity-wildlife-expert/article1-1348609.aspx]

Thapar was diagnosed with cancer in 2024, and on 31 May 2025, he died at his home in New Delhi at the age of 73.[https://indianexpress.com/article/india/valmik-thapar-conservationist-india-tiger-dies-at-73-10039834/ Valmik Thapar, conservationist and chronicler of India’s tigers, dies at 73]{{cite web |author1=Neha Sinha |title=Valmik Thapar, iconic tiger crusader & wilds roaring voice, falls silent at 73 |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/valmik-thapar-iconic-tiger-crusader-wilds-roaring-voice-falls-silent-at-73/ |website=The Tribune |access-date=1 June 2025 |language=en-in}}{{cite web |last1=Dutt |first1=Bahar |title=Valmik Thapar: The Man Who Made Tiger Conservation an Aspirational Brand |url=https://www.thequint.com/opinion/valmik-thapar-the-man-who-gave-the-tiger-its-roar-obituary |website=TheQuint |language=en |date=31 May 2025}}

• Tiger Crisis (1994)
• Land of the Tiger (1997)
• Tigers' Fortress (2000)
• Danger in Tiger Paradise (2002)
• Search for Tigers (2003)
• My Tiger Family (2024){{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00220f1 | publisher=BBC Two |title=My Tiger Family }}

;Books by Valmik Thapar

1. With Tigers in the Wild, Vikas Publishing, Delhi
2. Tiger: Portrait of a Predator, Collins UK
3. Tigers: The Secret Life, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin, UK
4. The Tiger's Destiny, Kyle Ceathie, UK
5. The Land of the Tiger: A Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent, BBC Publishing, UK
6. The Secret Life of Tigers, Oxford University Press, Delhi
7. Tiger, Wayland, UK
8. Wild Tigers of Ranthambhore, Oxford University Press, India
9. Bridge of God: 20 Days in the Masai Mara, Private
10. The Cult of the Tiger, Oxford University Press, India
11. Tiger: The Ultimate Guide, Two Brothers Press, USA
12. The Last Tiger, Oxford University Press, India
13. The Illustrated Tigers of India, Oxfpord University Press, India
14. Ranthambhore: 10 Days in the Tiger Fortress, Oxford University Press, India
15. Tigers and the Banyan Tree, Private
16. An African Diary: 12 Days in Kenya's Magical Wilderness, Oxford University Press, India
17. The Tiger: Soul of India, Oxford University Press, India
18. Tigers, My Life: Ranthambhore and Beyond, Oxford University Press, India
19. My Life with Tigers: Ranthambhore and Beyond, Oxford University Press, India
20. Tigers in the Emerald Forest: Ranthambhore after the Monsoon, Oxford University Press, India Tiger Fire, Aleph Publishing, India
21. Tiger Fire: 500 Years of the Tigers in India, Aleph Publishing, India
22. Wild Fire: The Splendours of India's Animal Kingdom, Aleph Publishing, India
23. Winged Fire: A Celebration of Indian Birds, Aleph Publishing, India
24. Living with Tigers, Aleph Publishing, India
25. Serengeti Magic, Private
26. Serengeti Tales, Private
27. Saving Wild India: A Blueprint for Change, Aleph Publishing, India

;Books co-authored by Valmik Thapar

1. With Tigers in the Wild with Fateh Singh Rathore and Tejbir Singh, Vikas Publishing, Delhi
2. Tigers and Tigerwallahs with Jim Corbett, Billy Arjan Singh, Geoffrey C. Ward and Diane Raines Ward, Oxford University Press, Delhi
3. Exotic Aliens with Romila Thapar and Yusuf Ansari, Aleph Publishing

;Books edited by Valmik Thapar

1. Saving Wild Tigers, 1900–2000: The Essential Writings, Permanent Black, India
2. Battling for Survival, Oxford University Press, India

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name| 2838280}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070604172434/http://www.discoverwild.org/vthapar.html The tiger in India: 'There is a war going on'− An exclusive interview with Valmik Thapar by the Discoverwild Foundation]}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050414154444/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050409/asp/weekend/story_4566921.asp Report on Valmik Thapar from The Telegraph, India]
• {{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20030819135106/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2003/06/02/stories/2003060200050100.htm The Hindu's Metroplus on Valmik Thapar]}}

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Category:1952 births

Category:2025 deaths

Category:Indian conservationists

Category:20th-century Indian historians

Category:Indian documentary filmmakers

Category:Writers from Delhi

Category:Indian non-fiction environmental writers

Category:20th-century Indian zoologists

Category:People from New Delhi

Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers

Category:People from Delhi

Category:Kapoor family

Valmik Thapar

Valmik Thapar

Category:Deaths from cancer in India