Peter Jackson became interested in birds when he first saw a Himalayan black eagle, scarlet minivets and other birds when trekking to Mount Everest in 1953 to report the successful Hillary-Tenzing expedition for Reuters news agency. He later met and became a close friend of Dr. Salim Ali, the well known ornithologists. During 16 years based in
Delhi he spent most early mornings roaming the countryside to see and photograph birds, and Sunday was reserved for longer trips, especially to the
Sultanpur Lake.
When eminent ornithologists were in
Delhi for the general assembly of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1969, he took them to Sultanpur. They immediately recognized the importance of the area and recommended that it become a sanctuary. Peter wrote to the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi, with a description and photos of Sultanpur. She immediately asked the then
Chief Minister of
Haryana to make Sultanpur a sanctuary. It was declared as such in 1972 - after Peter had left India (Read this account in Mr. Peter Jackson's own words).
Peter left India in 1970, switching from journalism to nature conservation, and became well known as Chairman of the IUCN Cat
Specialist Group. That brought him back to India year after year, when he often visited his beloved Sultanpur.
Peter Jackson Route des Macherettes 3 1172 Bougy Switzerland T/F: +41 21 808 6012 Email address: pjackson@sefanet.ch Website: http://lynx.uio.no/catfolk