Billy Arjan Singh was a well known conservationist of India. He was also a very popular author. Billy Arjan Singh was born on 15th of August, 1917 in Gorakhpur. In the year 1940, Billy Arjan Singh was appointed as a Second Lieutenant in the British Indian Army. He was posted to the south of Iraq. After returning to India, Billy Arjan Singh bought a farm in the isolated district of Lakhimpur Kheri and there he built a home, which he named in admiration of his father Jasbir Nagar. Eventually, he settled down to a life of cultivation and hunting. Around ten years later, Billy Arjan Singh acquired a land on the borders of forestry reserve at Dudhwa. Later, this came to be known as Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and it is at this place that he spent the major part of the rest of his life.
Contribution of Billy Arjan Singh
Billy Arjan Singh described that in his youth he had been an insatiable hunter. However, one day after killing a young leopard, he considerably changed his view of hunting. From then onwards, he vowed that he would pursue the cause of preservation of wildlife. His first major project was to save a herd of Barasingha in the forestry reserve at Dudhwa. For this achievement, he was awarded the World Wildlife Fund`s Gold Medal in the year 1976. Further, Billy Arjan Singh was also chiefly responsible for persuading Indira Gandhi in transforming Dudhwa into a 200 square mile national park. Billy Arjan Singh`s work was mostly associated with wildlife and for his reintroduction of leopards and tiger into the wild. He started his venture by bringing up an orphaned male leopard cub followed by two female leopards.
Awards and Achievements of Billy Arjan Singh
Billy Arjan Singh was widely honoured for his tremendous work in the conservation work of wildlife. He was conferred with one of the highest civilian national awards of India the Padma Shri Award in the year 1995. This award was followed by World Wildlife Gold Medal in the year 1996, Order of the Golden Ark a year later and the Lifetime Award for Tiger Conservation. In the year 2004, Billy Arjan Singh was given the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation award at the age of 86 in recognition of his exceptional contribution to international preservation. It was a global honour administered by World Wildlife Fund. He had also been honoured afterwards with many more awards, comprising the Padma Bhushan Award in the year 2006. In order to ensure that his work of conservation of wildlife continued, Billy Arjan Singh founded the Tiger Haven Society in the year 1992. This society was formed several aims that include preserving Tiger Haven and funding research into wildlife.
Billy Arjan Singh was a creative and well read author.He has written several wildlife books. Some of his popular works are Tiger Haven (published in 1971), Prince of Cats (published in 1982) and Tiger Tiger (published in 1984). Billy Arjan Singh died on 1st of January, 2010.
