Background
Sankhala, Kailash Singh was born on January 30, 1925 in Jodhpur, India. Son of Khinva Raj and Satyawati Sankhala.
Sankhala, Kailash Singh was born on January 30, 1925 in Jodhpur, India. Son of Khinva Raj and Satyawati Sankhala.
Master of Science, Jaswant College, Jodhpur, 1950. Postgraduate diploma in forestry Indian Forest College, Dehra Dun, 1953.
He was the Director of Delhi Zoological Park and Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan. He is best known for his work in preserving tigers. He was well known as "The Tiger Manitoba of India", and was involved in the formation of Project Tiger, a conservation programme set up in India in 1973.
Sankhala managed wildlife sanctuaries in Sariska, Bharatpur, Banvihar and Ranthambhor, and the forest divisions of Rajasthan until 1964.
In 1965, he was appointed Director of the Delhi Zoological Park. Foreign five years Sankhala served as head of the zoo, where his firmly held views on what zoos should be initially aroused anger, and later admiration.
He had confrontations too with the Indian tourist establishment, and with the poachers who wished to make quick money out of tiger skins. Then in 1973 he was appointed head of Project Tiger, an attempt to save the Indian tiger from extinction.
Kailash Shankhala was the first conservationist who raised his voice in favour of protecting the tiger as early as 1956.
He conducted an extensive study under the Jawahar Lal Nehru fellowship during a time when tiger population was dwindling at an alarming rate due to poaching and hunting. His research later lead him to become director of Project Tiger in 1973. In 1989, he established the Tiger Trust to continue his commitment to tiger conservation.
He died on 15 August 1994 in Jaipur.
Member, secretary Expert. Committee on Wildlife Preservation in India, 1970. Member Animal Welfare Board India.
Member Indian Forest Service Association (president 1979-1983), Wildlife Preservation Society India (executive committee, Doctor Anugrah Narayan Jha"s prize 1972), Rajasthan State Wildlife Preservation Advisory Board, 1978-1983.
Married Suraj, April 27, 1948. Children– Kuldeep, Pradeep.