E.P Gee: The Man Who Pioneered Wildlife Conservation in India

Edward Gee came to India with just a monotonous job of managing a tea plantation. His love and admiration for animals piqued his concern for the gradually vanishing wildlife scenario of Indian jungles, and his efforts made a dynamic difference in the history of Indian wildlife.

India's biodiversity was suffering until Gee stepped in | Source: Pinterest

Struggle is a phenomenon experienced differently by every species. There is a chasm between the world of animals and that of humans. Quite ironically, humans have already assumed the role of superior beings. Hence, the superior being must take essential steps to equate the agency of animals, allowing every species to coexist. Sadly, India always had greater concerns, as its people struggled with the war of identity. Continuous changes of power from one ruler to another didn’t leave many areas of growth and preservation for the rich yet dwindling wildlife of India. It's always those who have lived nearby, understood nature, and have taken great measures for the well-being of forests and their wild beings. As India struggled to gain its right to freedom, a man emerged from the tea bushes of Assam, becoming the guiding light to save the endangered wild and precious species of India. Edward Pritchard Gee, born in 1904 in County Durham, United Kingdom, was an Anglo-Indian Naturalist who founded and transformed the wildlife conservation scenario of India during the Pre and Post-Independence years until he died in 1968.

Gee came from a typical English family; his father was the Reverand, and his mother was the daughter of a colonel. This connection must have been how he was appointed to India, overseeing a tea plantation in Assam during the 1930s. Gee arrived in India, completely oblivious to the inclination that one day he would become one of the great people who supported the shaky ground of Indian wildlife conservation. Nature and animals always piqued Gee’s interest while growing up in his country town of Durham. Being posted in Assam only enlarged his interest from flora to fauna. He explored the wildlife that Assam had to offer, and it was from here that Gee realised the need to actively start government-funded campaigns for wildlife conservation.

E.P. Gee was one of the very initial naturalists and conservationists who came forward to address the nagging concern of dwindling wildlife species. At that time, only tribals and villagers were aware of this issue, as they were the people who lived in close camaraderie with the wild. Gee, along with Salim Ali and M Krishnan, petitioned the government to form an apex body for wildlife conservation, whose control would be bestowed upon the foresters—people who have apt judgment and knowledge to move in the best way forward when it comes to the conservation of endangered species. Such combined efforts, pioneered and suggested primarily by Gee, took the shape of many wildlife sanctuaries that started taking form in a few years. The Chitwan National Park happens to be the first of the nine national parks that Gee helped establish. Gee was the guiding light behind some great ideas of wildlife protection that are still in active practice today.

Apart from such active conservation activities, Gee is also remembered for the discovery of the Golden Langur, which is remarkably known as Gee’s Golden Langur. On finding reports about certain sightings of some strange golden tree animals in the wettest part of Assam and Bhutan, Gee led an expedition and discovered the most golden and shiny species of Langurs the world had ever seen.

E.P. Gee died in 1968, after having some glorious years of retirement in Shillong, where he was still working towards flora cultivation, Orchids to be precise, his favourite flowers. Gee also wrote broadly about his experiences with wildlife in India, and one of his books even has a foreword by Jawaharlal Nehru. Gee served India without consciously realising he was doing so; he was just devoted to the wildlife of this country, which swiftly became his home. The vast and rich fauna and flora of India mesmerised Gee, and so he stayed, gracing the animals of India with a renewed lease of protection.