What tiger whisperers whisper about (6 photos)

What do you call a person who a tiger listens to? A trainer? No, that's ours. In Indonesia, tigers are trained, they are persuaded and enchanted not to harm, not to come out to people and not to attack them. Sometimes it helps. Because they were persuaded by a professional "tiger whisperer".





Who are the whisperers

Tiger whisperers are a dying profession, everyone who practices it now was born in the 1960s. In the past, this art was passed down from family to family, but the lines are broken because they are less often asked for help.

The job of tiger whisperers is to persuade the tiger to behave properly using whispers, incense, and sacred objects. In the past, it was necessary to keep them away from villages.



They will leave the tranquilized tiger, and the whisperer will talk to it

Today, whisperers most often talk to tigers from nurseries before they are released into the wild. He gives them final instructions so that they do not get into trouble, do not go to hunters, and do not attack people.

Tigers are becoming fewer in number, their habitats are changing, and entire families can no longer live on the income from the "tiger conspiracy." And before, charmers were invited to different villages one after another if a tiger was seen somewhere around the settlement.



The charmer prepares for the ritual by setting fire to a coconut shell

How to send a tiger into a new life

The tiger charmer goes to the edge of the village, where tigers most often roam. He is left alone with the tiger, which is about to be released into the forest, and has a secret conversation with it. In it, he persuades the tiger to live by the rules.

If a tiger is nervous and raging in its cage, the tiger whisperer can spend several hours with it, coaxing it. The tiger should walk out into the new world with confidence.



The tiger is being prepared for release into the wild in a sanctuary

One of the last tiger whisperers, Sarvani, works with a breeding center and has released more than a hundred tigers into the wild. He is 84 years old and swears that none of "his" tigers have ever returned, and locals have never seen him dangerously close again.

What happens to a disobedient tiger

If a tiger is released into the wild and causes trouble, the authorities must capture it and send it for re-education. After which it will be taken away and released in a new location so that it has a chance to start a new life and improve.

But tiger whisperers say that this happens very rarely.



Don't growl at grandpa, we've broken worse!

"Tigers usually always obey my warnings," Sarwani said.

Of course, nurseries often employ doctors and educated people who are skeptical about the job of a tiger whisperer. But villagers, on the contrary, are always against it if they find out that a tiger is being released somewhere without inviting a whisperer.

He will definitely become a killer tiger, because how can he understand that this is not right.



I remembered the movie Life of Pi, how a tiger and a man got along

A very funny profession, it's a pity that it is becoming a thing of the past. Harmful scientists always ruin all the fun!