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I stay in the periphery of Sanjay Gandhi National Park. And National Green Tribunal has declared that any land falls with-in one km of a National Park will be eco-sensitive and no construction to be allowed in that area. This used to be habitat of bibta (meaning tiger in Marathi) and its pray. Sadly, it is an open secret that the rules were bent for a builder and documents manipulated, systematically the tall trees dried up in past three years, retention walls are erected, barbed wires laid on the top of boundary wall. Their henchmen used to roam in the area with shoulder-bags to inject deadly poison in healthy trees, no guess, you would not find any tree over there. I am sure such grim tales are being replicated in other parts of our country. This large-scale habitat destruction and thus decimation of prey populations has been the major long-term threats to the existence of the dwindling tiger population across the tiger nations.
Less than a hundred years ago, tigers prowled across the
length and breadth of Indian Sub-continent. Fastly growing human population has
contracted and fragmented the tiger’s former range. Although extensive habitat
is available in some landscapes, agriculture, clearing of forests for
development – especially road networks, hydel projects has forced tigers into
small and scattered islands of remaining habitat. Tigers need large
territories. And along with habitat, tigers have also suffered a severe loss of
natural prey populations such as deer and antelopes.
Hunting, poaching and illegal trade
It is also true that over thousand years, tigers have been
hunted as status symbol, decorative item such as wall and floor covering, as
souvenirs and curios, and for use in traditional Asian medicines. Hunting as a
game, probably caused the greatest decline in tiger populations until the
1930s. In the early 1990s, trade in tiger bone for traditional Asian medicines
threatened to drive tigers to extinction in the wild. Poaching is the largest
immediate threat to the remaining tiger population.
Conflict with humans
Tigers have lived outside protected areas for centuries,
point out experts and rarely, if at all, is there a case of an active
man-eater. But with forests shrinking and forest department officials have to
bow to political pressure, conditions for conflict are being put in place.
Tigers now come from the protected jungles to the villages and small towns. It results in attacks on domestic animals – and sometimes people. You often read instances where tigers are killed by angry villagers.
Tigers now come from the protected jungles to the villages and small towns. It results in attacks on domestic animals – and sometimes people. You often read instances where tigers are killed by angry villagers.
Take the case of Maharasthra, the state has only one large
forest patch over 1,000 square kilometre, while the rest are scattered across
the state in the form of 2.35 lakh patches smaller than a square kilometre, as
per the Forest Survey of India (FSI) in February 2018.
The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and National Tiger
Conservation Authority (NTCA) indicates that the state’s tiger population could
be as much as 230, of which at least 70 live outside protected areas.
Avni, the female tiger recently shot by the assigned killer, was one of the estimated 70 tigers that live outside protected areas in the state Maharashtra, expertly criss-crossing the dense bushes with her two 10-month-old cubs, periodically preying on nilgai and cattle.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that conflict will increase. But it of course doesn’t help. Then add to the fact that instead of trying to educate villagers about how to co-exist with tigers, as is done in other states, the orders from Mumbai were to kill. In the schemes of things for government, green belts as well as forests are shrinking paving way to development. There should be sensible people in government machinery to look at the issue of conflict of wild and human as the result of this development sadly there is no one right now. When you create roads, you also plan to contain the road accidents. This is exactly the same scenario, you can’t just let it be. The state government needs to be plan beforehand as to how it wants to deal with these cases.
Another key issue leading to a spike in cattle was the massive stray population – abandoned by farmers after they stopped giving milk. As per the rough estimate, there are about 1 lakh stray cattle in the state, with 30,000 in the Vidarbha region alone. What this means for a tiger is that easy meal is available close to human habitation. This increases the possibility of a tiger chancing upon a human being accidentally. Villagers close to green belts need to be educated about the possibility of conflict and small steps like walking in groups when venturing out in the forest can go a long way in mitigating conflict.
Forest Officials' Hands Tied
It wasn’t surprising for the local forest department when the two vets from Madhya Pradesh returned with their two elephants. Elephants had been key during the operation allowing vets to get closer to the tiger and potentially allowing for scope to corner the big cat.
Aware of this, the local forest department had asked senior officials for elephants in the summer of 2017, almost 18 months before Avni was eventually killed. “But we never heard back from the forest department top brass. It was only after the last two deaths, when the villagers got very angry that the forest department reacted.
During the hunt, the local forest department repeatedly clashed with Nawab Shafath Ali Khan, the hunter hired by the forest department. They claimed he had repeatedly interfered with their operations. “The situation was a circus,” one official said. Conversely, Khan had initially claimed that the forest department wasn’t giving him freedom to operate and providing him information about where the tiger had last been spotted.
The forest department officials know it well that tigers and men need to learn to co-exist. For this, they can only work with people to try and change their habits. Tigers will do what they have been evolved to do.
But tigers don’t have votes. People do, whose side do you think politicians will take.
Avni, the female tiger recently shot by the assigned killer, was one of the estimated 70 tigers that live outside protected areas in the state Maharashtra, expertly criss-crossing the dense bushes with her two 10-month-old cubs, periodically preying on nilgai and cattle.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that conflict will increase. But it of course doesn’t help. Then add to the fact that instead of trying to educate villagers about how to co-exist with tigers, as is done in other states, the orders from Mumbai were to kill. In the schemes of things for government, green belts as well as forests are shrinking paving way to development. There should be sensible people in government machinery to look at the issue of conflict of wild and human as the result of this development sadly there is no one right now. When you create roads, you also plan to contain the road accidents. This is exactly the same scenario, you can’t just let it be. The state government needs to be plan beforehand as to how it wants to deal with these cases.
Another key issue leading to a spike in cattle was the massive stray population – abandoned by farmers after they stopped giving milk. As per the rough estimate, there are about 1 lakh stray cattle in the state, with 30,000 in the Vidarbha region alone. What this means for a tiger is that easy meal is available close to human habitation. This increases the possibility of a tiger chancing upon a human being accidentally. Villagers close to green belts need to be educated about the possibility of conflict and small steps like walking in groups when venturing out in the forest can go a long way in mitigating conflict.
Forest Officials' Hands Tied
It wasn’t surprising for the local forest department when the two vets from Madhya Pradesh returned with their two elephants. Elephants had been key during the operation allowing vets to get closer to the tiger and potentially allowing for scope to corner the big cat.
Aware of this, the local forest department had asked senior officials for elephants in the summer of 2017, almost 18 months before Avni was eventually killed. “But we never heard back from the forest department top brass. It was only after the last two deaths, when the villagers got very angry that the forest department reacted.
During the hunt, the local forest department repeatedly clashed with Nawab Shafath Ali Khan, the hunter hired by the forest department. They claimed he had repeatedly interfered with their operations. “The situation was a circus,” one official said. Conversely, Khan had initially claimed that the forest department wasn’t giving him freedom to operate and providing him information about where the tiger had last been spotted.
The forest department officials know it well that tigers and men need to learn to co-exist. For this, they can only work with people to try and change their habits. Tigers will do what they have been evolved to do.
But tigers don’t have votes. People do, whose side do you think politicians will take.
Saving Tiger Mean Saving Entire Wild life Eco-System
Saving tiger means saving the whole ecosystem. Tiger habitats are home to far more animals than just the iconic big cat. More than 30% of Asian elephant populations live within tiger landscapes, including in Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand. That means protecting tiger habitats is important for elephants, too. And all Sumatran rhinos and Sumatran orangutans—both critically endangered—live within the tiger’s range. Where tigers thrive, so do other diverse plants and animals. When we invest in wild tigers, we can help save many other species.
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