BENGALURU: Dressed in shorts and T-shirt, chatting up lions inside their cage in Mysuru Zoo, she once inspired many young Mysureans to just be Sally Raulston Walker. The zoologist and conservationist who brought wildlife closer home, passed away in her hometown in the United States of America, on Thursday.
Several posts, tweets and blogs were dedicated to the woman who spent almost 36 years of her life in India as a zoo professional, and was an ardent advocate of rational zoo reforms. She was the driving force behind many innovative programmes in not only the Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Mysuru, and was also director of Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) in Coimbatore.Sally was a part of Mysuru city for many years, and inspired dreams of alternative careers in the wild.
Sangeetha Rajanath, a retired banker from Mysuru, remembers watching Sally interact with animals in Mysuru Zoo, and her style of working.
She said, “There were days when my friends and I would tell our parents we didn’t want to be doctors or engineers, but wanted to be Sally. She inspired many of us with the way she interacted with animals and how she ensured that we, as children, maintained the plants and trees in the zoo but also knew how not to tease animals but be friends with them.”
Sally was a critic of wild animals in captivity. She was a name to reckon with in zoo circles, and had been a member of the Central Zoo Authority of India. A US citizen, she came down to India in the 1970s to study yoga and Sanskrit with Pattabhi Jois, a Master of Ashtanga Yoga, and Sanskrit Professor in the University of Mysore.
Sally lived in Mysuru for seven years. Her friends say that a visit to Mysuru Zoo and a single meeting with newborn tiger cubs, resulted in many years of dedicated service to zoos and conservation in South Asia.
Ramesh Kumar, who has interacted with her, says, “She was a very inspiring person. There were a few who didn’t agree with her ideology. Her passion for animals and opposition to causing them harm was evident in her talks, and she would gently teach us how to behave with animals.”
Observing the misbehaviour of visitors at Mysuru Zoo, she founded ‘Friends of Mysore Zoo’ in 1981, which is now relaunched as ‘Mysuru Youth Club’ in the zoo. According to her colleagues from ZOO, she had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for the past three years.