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TwitThisThe Day That Changed Everything
Byrne didn't know it then, but his hunting days were numbered. He'd been hearing more and more about animal conservation, and always had a deep respect for nature's wild things. The tiger, for instance. Try to imagine a more refined killing machine. Or the boar, ugly and ungainly, but with an unmatched courage. Even the birds won his admiration.When he thought about it, he was tired of seeing animals killed by wealthy people trying to impress their friends.
Before light, Byrne and his gun bearer, Pasang, set out for the clearing where the tiger had been shot. It was still misty and cold, the first pale sun teasing at the edge of the sky. They tracked the blood trail to a grassy patch, where Byrne saw a faint white puff. It was the tiger's breath. He could make out the animal's form, lying flat on the cold earth. He leveled his gun and fired, shooting the tiger through the neck.
Then, with his weapon ready, he edged his way closer. Pasang followed. Byrne lowered the barrel to the animal's spine. The tiger had stopped breathing. He moved the gun up along the body to its head.
"It's alive!" Pasang hissed.
Byrne wasn't so sure. He decided to check by brushing the tiger's eyes with the gun barrel. And then he saw what Pasang was hissing about: The tiger's eyes were a pair of jewels, more shimmering and colorful than anything Byrne had seen before. The lovely morning sunshine played at the tiger's face, increasing the primordial brilliance of the two incredible orbs, a gift of nature that stopped the hunter's breath.
But before he could register their beauty, the eyes began to change. The brilliance began to fade, driven out by a dull, milky haze.
In that moment, Byrne knew he had seen what he'd managed to avoid in 16 years of killing. He'd watched life disappear, displaced by the awful, muted tones of death.
That was the day that Byrne witnessed the reality of his life's work up close. Sickened by the revelation, he decided to put away his guns and devote himself to conservation. He converted the park where he had hunted into an animal preserve that today is more than three times its original size. He also started a small nonprofit organization called the International Wildlife Conservation Society, which keeps Byrne's park functioning and free of poachers. And in the 1970s, with urging from Byrne, the government of Nepal placed serious restrictions on hunting.
Today, Byrne, 80, divides his time between the preserve in Nepal and his summer home in Los Angeles. His latest project is building a conservation center to accommodate scientists and tourists.
Recently, he had lunch with the safari agent who used to send him clients. "Do you even have hunters anymore?" Byrne asked.
He was not surprised that the agent's answer was no. Byrne sat back in his chair and thought about how far things had come -- it is now no longer humans but rather the tigers of Nepal, he realized, who are the land's great hunters.
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