Delete tigers Sir – I write about the conservation piece, The Big Beast (Feature, July 8). When the Sudan was a British Protectorate, a junior from the Foreign Office was sent many days’ journey up-river to keep an eye on the Nile monitor there, and send readings to head office in Khartoum.

One day he sent a telegram saying “URGENT STOP SURROUNDED BY LIONS AND TIGERS STOP SEND HELP.” Head office replied “THERE ARE NO TIGERS IN AFRICA.” There are no tigers in Colombia, either.

So it would be surprising if Tom Kaplan, aged 11, with his mother, “spotted” any tigers in Colombia. Jaguars maybe?

And it seems unlikely that Professor Macdonald spoke of “man-eating tigers in Tanzania”. Perhaps he said lions, or tigers in the Sunderbans of Bangladesh?

A long way up the Nile, the terrified Foreign Office junior swiftly replied “DELETE TIGERS STOP SEND HELP”. History does not tell what happened next, but perhaps you too should delete tigers?

Alison Cobb Binsey