Save ourselves by saving tigers |Steve Winter |TEDxGateway 2013

Growing up in Indiana, Steve Winter dreamed of traveling the world as a photographer for National Geographic. His first camera was a gift from his father on his seventh birthday.

The winner of numerous photography awards, including BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, BBC Wildlife Photojournalist of the Year, and twice awarded the Pictures of the Year International Global Vision Award, Winter has repeatedly put himself in harm's way to bring back images that excite readers about the natural world. Despite being stalked by jaguars and charged by rhinos, often the most dangerous creatures he encounters are microscopic. Both in his work as a photographer and as director of media for Panthera, a non-profit cat conservation organization (which you can follow on Twitter, @PantheraCats), Winter is fighting to ensure a future for these cats. His first book, Tigers Forever: Saving the World's Most Endangered Big Cat, co-authored with Sharon Guynup and published by National Geographic Books will be out in November 2013.

Steve Winter frequently photographs for National Geographic, and in 2011 and 2012, he won the Global Vision Award from Pictures of the Year International.

I wanted to be a photographer
for National Geographic --

which I've been for the last 22 years --

since I was eight years old.

Lying on my living room floor
in Fort Wayne, Indiana,

turning the pages of the magazine,

looking at exotic cultures and people
that I wanted to meet.

I work with big cats.

But I didn't choose big cats,
big cats chose me.

And this happened on a story I was doing.

It was really strange.

I was doing a story
on the resplendent quetzal,

high on the mountain top
in the cloud forest of Guatemala.

One night, laying in my bunk,
reading my book,

when all of a sudden
I heard the stairs creak.

Then I heard the floorboards creak.

And then underneath the door
I heard the scratching,

and then... (Sniffs).

All the hair on the back of my head,
or every part of my body, stood up.

I grabbed my machete,
whacked it on the side of the bed.

I heard nothing.

Then I whistled,

and then I heard the animal
bounding down the stairs.

I grabbed my walkie-talkie,
called Juan Carlos down the mountain,

who's a naturalist I was working with,

and told him what had happened.

And Juan Carlos said,
"Esteban, no problema.

It's just a black jaguar."

(Laughter)

Well, no problem for you, Juan Carlos --

(Laughter)

because you're drinking in the pub
down in the village.

And if anybody told me

my next story
would be the first story ever

in National Geographic

on the world's third largest cat,

I would've said, "You're crazy.
I don't know anything about jaguars."

And I don't have a background in biology,

that's why I work with scientists.

Specifically, one of my best friends
Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, CEO of Panthera.

Alan and I started my quest
on tigers in Myanmar,

doing the story for National Geographic
on Hukawng Valley,

the creation of the world's
largest tiger reserve.

We worked with scientists,
quantifying the fact

whether there were enough
animals and tigers

to create a park of this size.

This was my first foray
into Asian jungles.

And I came in, putting all my equipment
on the back of three elephants

and went into the jungle.

But between the time
I proposed this story

and got there,

life had changed, as life does
in the natural world,

and our city world.

Hundred thousand miners came in,

cutting down the forest,
and started gold mining,

looking for riches.

The story changed,
I had to change with it.

And one of the things I've always said

is that animals
do not live in a Shangri-La.

Most of the photography,
and what we see on television,

makes it seem like they do.

We need to show the humans
that animals live with,

the ecosystem and the interaction
between them all.

We do a disservice to viewers and readers

when we only show them
pretty pictures of a Shangri-La.

We change, we show the truth,

and the truth will set us free
and help save our wildlife.

Hundred thousand people come in.

Did they bring
a supermarket with them? No!

What do they like to eat?
The same food of the tiger.

You can't eat the same food of the tiger,
and expect the tiger to survive.

Who came behind them?

The Burma Road Open.

Traders from China,

looking for ingredients
for a traditional Chinese medicine market.

They set up tables on the street corners.

Like tiger bone on the right,
and elephant skin on the left.

I had talked to a village elder
who had his trophy board

where he prayed before he went hunting
to the spirits of the animals.

His son had no trophy board.

He sold those skulls
to the Chinese traders.

I searched out an Aga shaman,
and asked him,

"What was the last tiger
you had ever seen?"

He said, "I'm wearing it around my neck,
and the hat on my head."

The realm of the tiger had changed,
and not for the good.

But I went to Kaziranga,
the historic landscape of the tiger

where tigers still live with other animals
as in centuries past,

and I'd learned why tigers have stripes.

The tigers in Kaziranga live with
80% of the world's one-horned rhinos,

the largest population
of Asian elephants and water buffalo.

I rely on the expertise of guards

to protect me and tell me
where the animals are.

Because I use remote cameras,

I try to get intimate,
eye-to-eye view of the animals

in a way that I couldn't get --

unless I would be dead.

(Applause)

There's no way I'm going to get
the picture of the tiger this close,

so I use remote cameras.

Because I have to find a way for you
to look at animals again.

We see pictures every minute of the day.

Every moment we get up, we grab our phone,
look at Facebook, Instagram, everything.

But my pictures need to find
a way to save animals.

Kaziranga is only the way it is

because of all the guards
with the shoot-to-kill policy.

And tigers are protected
because poachers go after rhinos.

So, it's an unfortunate fact.

But the guards are great shots.

They're up against poachers with AK-47s,

but in many instances
they do capture the poachers.

The animals are safe deep within the park.

But Kaziranga is surrounded
by tea gardens,

farms.

And when the animals leave,

they run into problems
with human-animal conflict.

Like these elephants.

They run into roads,
villages, oil refineries,

and end up dead like this one
who is being revered by the village elder.

But I found that there was only
3,000 tigers left in the wild,

and proposed a new story
to National Geographic magazine,

to give tigers a voice.

I went to Sumatra

where they said the next tiger
would go extinct.

Sumatra is under siege
by palm oil plantations.

People come in to the area
to work for the plantations,

and set up... snares.

But snares are indiscriminate.

They capture tigers also.

Like this cub which spent
three days in the snare,

and had its front paw removed.

I loved the tenderness
shown by the guard here

carrying the tiger's tail.

The black market in endangered species
is worth 20 billion dollars a year.

Drugs, guns, humans,
and endangered species.

This tiger was poached inside of a zoo.

But I believe that tigers
are worth more alive than dead.

Innovative programs have started
using ex-poachers, and ex-loggers

to be forest guards.

Because who better to find a poacher
than an ex-poacher.

And this ex-poacher showed me

where to find the only picture
of a Sumatran tiger.

The only tiger with a mane like a lion.

Now the Sumatran tiger
is the largest population of tigers

outside of India.

A success story, I'd say.

(Applause)

I went to Huai Kha Khaeng in Thailand
to work with the Thai tiger team.

This area was decimated 20 years ago

with hardly any tigers left,
or any animals.

Poaching was so rampant.

The Thai tiger team,
camera traps, snares --

And for the first time in history

they're doing a study
on the home range of female tigers.

Where do they go? How much land
do they need with their cubs?

Do they go outside?

These animals are protected
by the Smart Patrol Rangers,

an innovative program
that's used all over South Asia.

They work with Thai military and police

because this is a war
against the poachers.

And I got a picture, finally,
of an Indo-Chinese tiger.

And Huai Kha Khaeng
is a perfect example of rewilding.

Taking a habitat that has been decimated,

and in 20 years bringing it back
to the ecosystem it is today,

an example for the world,
by the paper that Ullas Karanth wrote,

India's number one tiger expert.

But I came to India.

You have 1.3 billion people
and 1,700 Bengal tigers,

with an economy that's booming.

I say, "Congratulations!"

There's a lot that needs to be done.

But what about the country
that once sold the tiger bone?

How many tiger reserves do they have?

A big fat zero.

So, congratulations, India.

We have a big road
ahead of us, but it's good.

I spent most of my time in Bandarban
on top of an elephant,

or working in an open jeep,

and asking the guards,
"Where should I put my camera traps?"

Where would you put a camera trap?"

Everyone says, Pot Parnell Water Hole.

And I worked with three tiger cubs --

(Applause)

for many months.

But I also needed to show
tigers leaving the park.

What happens?

Tigers need protected corridors.

And the Village Relocation Program
that the Indian government has

is incredible and needs to be expanded
over the whole country

so animals can move
from one protected area to another.

Because if not, people poison tigers.

And they come into poachers' crosshairs.

But I believe that if we save tigers,
we save ourselves.

If you save the top predator
of any ecosystem,

you save the whole ecosystem.

Our forests are our lungs of the world,

pulling carbon from the air,
and slowing climate change.

They are also a sponge,

giving us water for our rivers
and lakes to drink.

So, if we save tigers, we save ourselves.

There are only two pictures
that I have taken

that brought tears to my eyes.

This was one of them
in Bandarban National Park.

We do have hope,
because those were tears of hope.

Where there is life, there is hope.

If we all work together,

governments work with scientists,
NGOs, local people,

we can save the tiger.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)