Well-known hunter and wildlife expert, popularly known as ‘Jim Corbett’ of Assam, Ziaur Rahman passed away on March 27, following a massive cardiac arrest at Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH). Regarded as one of the greatest tiger-trappers of the post-Corbett era, Ziaur Rahman, trapped as many as 65 tigers and gunned down over 40 others in a span of about 50 years. Rahman was 67.
Rahman started his hunting career at the early age of 15, and from 1957 to 2002 he killed as many as 40 man-eaters that had killed nearly 200 people. He trapped the first man-eater at the young age of 15 by just a bow and arrows, and that too by offering himself as a bait. Rahman, in an interview given just before his death, narrated his first encounter with tiger. He recollected, “When I was a kid, a tiger used to eat our goats in Merabeel village in Majbat. I was very shocked and depressed. I decided to kill that tiger and made a bamboo bow and arrows to hunt that tiger. And then, I spent one night awake to kill that tiger. I attacked the tiger with several arrows. After 20 days, I killed as many as three tigers.” Rahman even captured a leopard alive with a blanket in 2002.
The fame and proficiency of Rahman in trapping tigers had taken him across the country. Many states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Bengal frequently invited him whenever the need arose to trap a tiger that had turned a man-eater or had strayed into human habitations. In 1991 Rahman was invited by the Madhya Pradesh government to hunt down two man-eaters. After 45 days of hide and seek he trapped the two tigers. The Madhya Pradesh government offered Rs 10,000 as a reward to Rahman.
Rahman narrated the events in one of his interviews, “In 1991, I was invited by the Madhya Pradesh Government to hunt two man-eaters which killed and attacked many people, specially women. The tigers targeted the women because they used to faint in front of the man-eaters. The Madhya Pradesh government spent more than Rs 20 lakh for killing the tigers, but failed. After 45 days of hide and seek game, I captured two tigers – Mayadevi and Rupak, and a leopard. The Government awarded me with a cash prize of Rs 10,000.”
During his lifetime, except for some cash awards, Rahman did not get any recognition. Even the Assam government failed to show due recognition to him for his extraordinary, valuable and perilous services. Lamenting on the subject, he had expressed that even his department did not give him leave when he went for hunting.
When asked about the secrets of his extraordinary skill for hunting man-eaters, Rahman quipped, “Whenever, I go out in a mission, I am always followed by a scared person. So he helps me in the jungle because he jumps if he sees a frog also.”
Rahman, besides being a hunter, was also an avid conservationist. Rahman said that as his admiration for tigers and leopards grew, he resolved never to shoot them unless they turned man-eater or started attacking cattle. He was deeply concerned of the steady decline in the number of tigers in India. He held the opinion that food crisis and poachers are main reasons for the gradual decline in the number of tigers in India.
He said in one of his interviews, “I am sure that less than 1,000 tigers are in the country. We are responsible for this. The way we are destroying the forests, food, the time is not far that this beautiful animal will fast diminish from the nation.” Rahman also rejected the theory of Jim Corbett that man-eaters do not live on rotten flesh. Rahman has also written some books on wildlife.
Honorary Wildlife Warden of Darrang and Udalgiri districts said, “Rahman was a conservative of the rare kind. He always tried to trap a tiger alive even it turned a man-eater, and resorted to killing it only when there was no way out.”
Rahman was born in Majbat in Darrang (now Udalguri) district of northern Assam, adjacent to the Orang National Park, in 1942. He is survived by his wife, 3 sons and a daughter.