On Christmas 2014, Tayem and his wife were returning after distributing goodies to staff at a remote anti-poaching camp, when they encountered a charging male elephant. Tayem lost his life in the encounter, though his wife survived.
Grieved by the loss of such a precious member of their force, this year, forest officials initiated a crowd funding campaign, through their Tiger Conservation Foundation,to raise money to aid TileswariTayem, his wife, in building a house on a plot of land that they owned. Support poured in from across the conservation community, and Tayem's well-wishers were able to raise the targeted amount of INR 1,00,000. At a small ceremony held on June 20, 2016, the money was presented to Tileswari Tayem, and a sticker of an award winning camera-trap photograph of ‘Karo Tayem's tiger' was released and distributed to the staff. The members of the Forest Department who were present at the ceremony were so moved by the kindness of the strangers who donated to Tayem babu's campaign that they each pledged to do ‘sakka', a Nyishi term that denotes voluntary work as a community. The ‘saka' will be in the form of manual labour to help build Tileswari Tayem her new home.
In a personalized message, Tana Tapi, the Divisional Forest Officer of Pakke Tiger Reserve, reached out to all contributors to the crowd funding campaign, thanking them for their donations and asserting that their contributions would be fully utilized and personally overseen. The success of the campaign reminds us of how caring our environmental support base is, especially towards those who lose their lives in the line of duty.
Campaign Link: https://www.bitgiving.com/tigersfortayem
