Frederick Walter Champion

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frederick Walter Champion (born August 24, 1893 in Surrey , UK , † 1970 in Scotland ) was an English forester who worked in British India and East Africa . In the UK and India he became known as one of the first wildlife photographers and conservationists in the late 1920s .

youth

Champion grew up in a family that was very close to nature. His father was the English entomologist George Charles Champion ; his brother Harry George Champion was knighted for his services as a forester. Champion came to India in 1913 and worked in the police department until 1916. During the First World War he served in the British Indian Army .

Commitment to nature conservation

After the war, Champion was appointed Deputy Conservator of Forests of the Indian Forest Service in the United Provinces (now the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand ). As a result of his experiences during the war, he hated all shooting and killing and was a sharp critic of the sport of hunting. He preferred to roam the forests of the Shivalik Hills "armed" with a camera and photograph wildlife . He pioneered the development of camera traps and in the 1920s designed cameras that would trip on trip wires. He also used flashlights and obtained remarkable nighttime shots with this technique, among the first of wild tigers , leopards , sloth bears and Indian wild dogs . He found out that with good photos of tigers it is possible to recognize individuals by their different stripe patterns.

A passionate conservationist long before conservation was fashionable, Champion was committed to protecting tigers and their habitats . He was convinced that the Indian forest authority had an important role in nature conservation and advocated restricting the issuing of hunting licenses, banning motorized vehicles from driving in protected forest areas and giving out fewer rewards for killing wild animals than before common. His commitment to nature conservation, especially the protection of tigers, inspired many former hunters, including his close friend Jim Corbett . Together with Corbett, he played a key role in the establishment of the first Indian national park in the early 1930s, which was created in 1935 and renamed Jim Corbett National Park in 1957 .

After India gained independence, Champion moved to East Africa in 1947 , where he worked as a forester until his retirement.

Publications

  • With a camera in Tiger Land. Chatto & Windus, London. 1927
  • The Jungle in Sunlight and Shadow. Chatto & Windus, London. 1934. Reissued in 1996 by Natraj Publishers, Dehra Dun, India.
  • Preserving Wildlife in the United Provinces. No. 4, The United Provinces. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society Vol. 37 (1934), pages 104-110. Republished in: Thapar, V. (2001) Saving wild tigers, 1900-2000: the essential writings . Permanent Black, Delhi. Pages 57-68
  • From the Photographer's Point of View. In: Jepson, S. (1936) Big game encounters: critical moments in the lives of well-known shikaris . HF & G. Witherby, London. Pages 30-36
  • Correspondence: The Protection of Wildlife. Indian Forester Vol. 55 (1939): 501-504.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thapar V. (2001) Saving wild tigers, 1900-2000: the essential writings. Permanent Black, Delhi. Page 59
  2. ↑ Niyogi, C. (eds.) (2006) Reorienting Orientalism. Sage Publications, New Delhi. Page 210 ff.
  3. ^ Rangarajan, M. (2006) India's Wildlife History: an Introduction. Permanent Black and Ranthambore Foundation, Delhi. Page 72

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Champion, Frederick Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Champion, FW
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British conservationist
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Surrey , UK
DATE OF DEATH 1970
Place of death Scotland