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“Tigers, except
when wounded or when man-eaters, are on the whole very
good-tempered...Occasionally a tiger will object to too close an approach to
its cubs or to a kill that it is guarding. The objection invariably takes the
form of growling, and if this does not prove effective it is followed by short
rushes accompanied by terrifying roars. If these warnings are disregarded, the
blame for any injury inflicted rests entirely with the intruder"... Jim
Corbett.
“The ache for
home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be
questioned.”... Maya Angelou
Later quote is by
Maya Angelou, was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights
activist. She inspired many young minds not only in USA but across the
globe via her writings. And do I need to introduce the earlier quote’s writer
which is regarding tigers! Well for the ignorant souls, Jim Corbett was an
Englishman who spent most of his life in Indian forests & is an authority
or say pioneer about studying India’s wild life & has wrote many books
about the same & yes he is known as man eater’s hunter also! Well, one will
wonder what can be co-relation between these two, as if Maya represents modern
times & has been vocal for human rights then Jim’s words are said nearly a
century back (80years) & are about tigers. And I don’t blame those who
wonder as even in today’s times most are ignorant about correlation between
humans & tiger which represents wild life or say trade mark of wild life in
India. But then that’s the irony as well core of my sharing as this week which
is fourth phase of lock-down, my wild lifer friend Anuj khare & his team
arranged a zoom inauguration of their web site at the hands of few senior names
in wild life conservation. On that webinar many great names in wild life as
well govt authorities from forest dept were present & later on the audience
was allowed to ask them questions related the present scenario on Indian as
well international level. And obviously there were bound to be many questions
as any ways forests are also under lock-down & many forest lovers, visitors
are keen to know what’s happening around. Main question was about a news rather
two news trending regarding tigers in Maharashtra State , one is some fifty
numbers of tigers are being shifted or relocated from Chandrapur district
which is on east side of State & is home of Tadoba Sanctuary. As well one
of the forest officer’s video clip has gone viral where she is saying about
need or plans of forest dept to neuter the male tigers in Chandrapur i.e. to
remove tiger’s generation power or reproduction capacity in simple words!
No wonder in the
lock down period when most people has nothing to do but forward the messages,
the clip went viral in wild lifers & even non-wild lifers are commenting
& asking questions & forest dept’s intentions about the tigers! One
friend who has never been to any forest called me to ask how the forest dept
can neuter the tigers, are they stray dogs? And then as I said on the webinar I
referred above, this issue was addressed by the senior officers of forest dept
of the State. And all the senior officers even those who are retired from
the services were honest & candid in addressing these issues & even
welcomed the radical (this is important) ideas about the problem. Best part is
any govt dept accepting the problem in first place. On one side world is facing
grave danger of many wild life species getting extinct, its great success of
forest dept to not only save the tigers but grow their numbers. Many wild life
lovers won’t agree with me that this is forest dept’s alone success, it may not
be but had the tigers gone extinct then whom we could have blamed but forest
dept, isn’t it? Then if the tiger’s population is increasing then why not give
due credit to the forest dept of the State as well country’s other State’s
forest depts’ too, is the question I will ask to all these wild life
lovers! Now coming to the main issue, in Chandrapur district with total
area nearly 11,000 sq km & out of that nearly 1/3rd i.e.
4000 sq km is forest but only some 2700 sq km is protected or dense forest( all
this is not guess but info on web site of forest dept). Now a male tiger has a
territory of approx 50-60 sq km (correct me experts, if I am wrong) so
protected forests available to the tigers is 2700 sq km means this much forest
can accommodate only some 42-43 odd numbers of tigers where as there are nearly
100 plus tigers in this region, again a guess & even if 50% of that we
consider as male then it’s over crowded place for the tigers. And outcome is in
last five months i.e. in year 2020 nearly fifteen tigers have got killed,
mainly males which are sub adult, over territory fights. For those who doesn’t
understand what is territory fight, its same as shown in our Bollywood movies
where two Dons’ or two Bhais’ of underworld gets Mumbai divided for their
operations of extortions & smuggling & what not. And when one Don
Gangsters enters in other’s territory, gang-war starts! Same way but for
natural reasons & survival, tigers divide or distributes their territories
i.e. part of forests & if one tiger for any reason enters in other tiger’s
area, then the fight till death of one of them is the only way out!
Now you can
imagine, numbers of tigers is more but the space every tiger needs is less so the
tigers are left with only two options i.e. either kill (or get killed) another
tiger & survive or encroach on humans land i.e. nearby villages, kill their
cattle & eventually in the process (which we glorifying call man-animal
conflict) get killed by the humans as act of their survival or punishment of
encroaching on human settlements! So in both cases end is sure & that is
death of some tiger! This is why forest dept is considering shifting the tigers
to other places where they can live at peace with neighbours, is the proposal
under consideration & no concrete decision has been taken yet is what has
been shared by the authorities. As well to neuter the male tigers can be one
option but it is not being used at any cost as it’s directly intervention in nature
is what authorities have cleared! Though sterilization of the tigers to protect
them from the domestic disease is a regular process as they can come contact
with village animals, is also authorities cleared.
Yet this
clarified one thing that growing population of the tiger is problem for not
just tigers or forest dept but for every person rather human! And alone
forest dept is incapable of handling this space for the tiger’s problem &
it’s not because they don’t have will but they don’t have authority or support
from others, is the main problem! And that’s why State forest authorities are
open to any good & positive suggestions regarding tiger’s population &
their safe upbringing. Indeed shifting or relocation of tigers is one sure
option but it’s not as easy as relocating a dog or a cat. Agreed a tiger is
king of survivals & has survived not just in ideal Central Indian
conditions but even in extreme conditions like sub zero temperature of Siberia
to dry lands of Rajasthan to marshy lands of Sunderbans to rain forests of
Java-Sumatra! Yet the tiger needs some basic habitat which includes his prey
base like deer, wild boars which eventually needs water bodies, grass land for
their feeding. As well tiger needs hiding places & mix of forests with thickset
foliage etc. And yes all this has to be cut off from human settlements or else
poor tiger doesn’t understands boundaries marked on maps by the humans is a sad
fact.
Now, to find the
land or create such land & mark it as tiger’s residence means as forest is
job of Urban Development named dept & there is no post of any forest
officer in this dept! Do I need to elaborate more about the difficulty of
creating spaces for the tigers? And then the neighbouring
villagers where you will be shifting these tigers is another aspect as to write
a blog & post Save Tiger captions on FB sitting in AC rooms is easy but to
live with a free tiger roaming around your hut’s compound, well again do
I need to elaborate the problem? Here is where forest dept & the tigers are
stuck.
One option
(immediate) is find the tiger density of exiting project tigers & relocate
the excess tigers at these places chronologically where the tiger density is
least. Though again why to send our State’s tigers to other States, type
arguments are bound to be there but then such arguments won’t save lives of so
called our State’s tigers is a fact! Even forests like Melghat in our State,
which has a vast expand can be ideal shifting place. As well revive or clear
the migration corridors connecting forests so the tigers on their own can
travel safely on their own from one forest to another like Tadoba to Melghat or
nearby habitats! At the same time try expanding exiting forests
boundaries by shifting villages as shifting of humans is easy than tigers but then
to make this fact understand to the govt (read as rulers) is the main
difficulty! The govt which can make effective lock-down for entire
State for three months can definitely show dedication to shift villages near by
forests which are homes for tigers is what I think. Another long term solution
is appointing forest officers post with power & authority in every local
municipal body like PMC as then only the spaces (habitats) will be created in
every district for tigers as well other wild species. Or at least the forest
connecting corridors can be maintained & it’s not about only tigers but
major hunting animals like leopards & wild dogs & jackals etc all of
which are running out of space & time! As well make a regional plan
of entire State creating enough space for tiger survival & with provision
of budget to create habitats in these spaces as often good ideas as well
intentions & efforts has gone to waste if not backed up by proper
infrastructure support & money is the key aspect of any infrastructure!
Now about present
crisis of lock-down, open up as much wild life tourism you can (even in rains)
as surviving tiger means surviving people around tigers also! And on top of
that I haven’t understood ever this opening of just 20% of reserved forests for
tourism as what you gain by restricting tourists which wont understand unless
they sees what magic sight of a tiger can do to the human beings! You can open
up entire forest area & control numbers of vehicles, isn’t the effect will
be same if at all you think its intrusion on wild life, apply some logic guys,
I know it’s a rare thing in this country yet there are some minds yet left with
logic, listen to them! Target is conservation of wild life & if that is a
common agenda then solutions shouldn’t be a problem!
To conclude,
over-population & space for the homes will always be at cross fire, may it
be tigers or humans! Only difference is unlike we the humans the tigers are not
on any voting lists of our Netas’! That’s why the tigers neither are
allowed to build their slums nor have entities which can build illegal homes on
govt lands or reservation lands for them, so they just helplessly looks at us
for their space & die, when we fail to give it!
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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