--
“Minutes passed, each pulling my hopes down a little lower from the
heights to which they had soared, and then, when tension on my nerves and the
weight of the heavy rifle were becoming unbearable, I heard a stick snap at the
upper end of the thicket. Here was an example of how a tiger can move through
the jungle. From the sound she had made I knew her exact position, had kept my
eyes fixed on the spot, and yet she had come, seen me, stayed some time
watching me, and then gone away without me having seen a leaf or a blade of
grass move.” … Jim Corbett
“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 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
Two quotes from the same man describing behaviour
of the same animal i.e., a tiger & had it not been this man who has lived
within the tigers, I know today not many will believe in the meaning above
words carries about the tiger! Yes, my sharing is about the saddest incident
that can happen in the jungle, death of a forest guard, that to a lady at the
hand of another lady of the jungle i.e., tigress known as Maya in the famous
Tadoba Tiger Park! First of all, my sincere condolences for the deceased lady
guard Mrs Swati Dhumane & I can’t imagine the way death would have
approached her in the form of an angry tigress as well the shock her colleagues
which were accompanying her & how this news would have been taken by her
family but this is what made me to pen down my feeling about the entire
incidence as well the system, we call forest dept of which a tiger is inherent
part of!
Not long back I have shared my views about the life
of forester i.e., forest staff which has to spent maximum of time in the forest
only difference is that was regarding suicide of another lady forest officer in
Central Indian Forests only & this time it’s a lady forest guard. Well, by
now most of those who has visited or are aware about forests or like to be in
forest (wild lifers) must have got a detailed version about what has happened
& discussion are in full throttle on all wildlife WhatsApp groups &
opinions are being posted on FB & Twitter & Insta & so it will be
for a week maximum & the fizz will be over! Forest dept (read as Govt) is
silent ( read as mum) as usual except the Tiger Census process has been halted
in Maharashtra State's forests (is what I assume), eventually a detailed report
will be submitted which no one will care to read but a report is a must as a
lady forest guard's death has been happened & some compensation will be
given to her family (by the time I was writing this Hon CM has announced Rs 15
lakhs aid for the deceased forest guard’s family & assured job in Forest
dept to her husband), that’s all & life in the jungle will be back to
normal soon! I just want to ask a question to the entire system (read as
society) of which I know the answer already: are we ever going to learn any
lesson from such incidents or not?
Indeed, forests are like silent war zone where
struggle for survival is always on though most of the time it's not animals vs.
humans but humans vs. humans only i.e., humans protecting animals vs. humans
trying to kill (or say wipe out) the animals but rarely an animal kills the
humans that too from the lot which is for their own protection! Yet we can’t
blame the animal which in this case is a tigress, Maya. My sharing is not to
blame anybody (certainly not the tigress) though by now there are already
demands or cries to relocate or shift Maya to the zoo as it's her fourth kill
though none of them was a deliberate attempt to kill a human for sure! Many
people are attributing the cause of this attack to disturbance to the wildlife
which again is a false claim as for decades now in & around Tadoba tigers
& humans are living peacefully! Indeed, there has been maximum human lives
lost in tiger’s attacks in Chandrapur District where Tadoba is located but then
there only has been maximum deaths of tigers too & only because of the
humans, so the coin is balanced evenly! And no wonder with nearly 150 tigers
roaming around in a region with a population of two lakhs plus, surrounding
Tadoba forest, man-animal conflicts are bound to happen. But what happened with
the lady forest guard in Tadoba could have been avoided is what I feel that's
why this sharing & not to blame anybody!
First and foremost, most people, even the wild
lifers may not be knowing about Transit Line (pardon me for spelling) Survey in
Census of wildlife in forests i.e., counting numbers of animals along with
details about habitat. There are many ways of doing census of wild life &
most people know the one in which teams are supposed to be stationed at Machans
near water holes & count the animals coming for drinking water. Then there
are camera traps which are on round the year & data is collected about
movement of wild animals captured in them. The oldest & very basic one is,
Transit Line Method. In this system a team of three or four people is engaged
at one location & the entire forest is divided in segments. From one point
the team is supposed to start in a particular direction & traverse the
forest in a single strait line for four kilometres & at every interval of
say 200 meters collect data about wildlife around that point & record it.
This includes collecting droppings of wild animals, noting down flora &
fauna as well note down signs of existence of wildlife such as markings on trees
of a tiger or sloth bear or roars of tiger also & of course, actual
sighting of wild animals! And though I never give my own example in any of my
sharing yet here I want to tell the readers I have done this Transit Line
Census by staying in the core area of Kanha forest as a volunteer to forest
dept & I remember to fill a form for being fully responsible by myself for
any attack by any wild animal of mishap during the census. And this is why I
know the incidence which happened at Tadoba could have happened & can
happen anywhere in the forests with animals like tigers & elephants, such
is the way this census is done!
This Transit method of census of wild life has
probably invented by the British in the era of no digital technology & I
really wonder what’s the need of doing such on feet survey when you have Drone
at your service which can give you details of every sq. inch of any forest! And
if at all you want to make humans at your service (read as forest dept staff)
do it physically then at least give them basic safety measures such as flare
Gun or Actual gun which can be used in case of emergency to protect human life
as well animals too! As today it was a tiger, imagine what it could have been
if a Tusker (Elephant with tusk) has encountered such census team, the entire
team would have got killed, right? And you can’t blame the animals as even if
it's Tara & Maya like tigresses which have grown up seeing humans around,
yet they are wild animals first, this we shouldn’t forget! As this wasn’t
first case of on duty forest staffer got killed by wild animal, to my knowledge
few years back on the Wild Life Day itself, Field Director of Mrudumalai
(pardon me if wrong park) Forest got killed by attack of wild mother elephant
when the forest team has gone to inspect the death of a baby elephant &
there are few more such cases in past.
First aspect of the incident is, over-friendliness
of forest people with wild animals & with due respect I have witnessed this
not just in Tadoba but at few other Tiger Parks also, where the ground level
staff (especially guards) gets overconfident about behaviour of tiger &
take them for granted! Getting too close to them on foot or being casual
with presence of wild animals around & here is where the system (read as
forest dept) is weak on training their staff properly about etiquettes &
manners in the forests. Many will consider this statement rude or blunt but you
can’t afford to be casual at any time in the forest however time you have spent
in there & this has been repeatedly mentioned by none other than Jim
Corbett who has spent his entire life in forests, full of tigers! Another thing
is changing with the times as when you know you have tigers roaming in the
forest is foot patrolling or census safe way, high time to think. Especially
when Maya (the tigress) has already been known to kill census staff in the
recent past during the census! As well the forest staff need to study &
know about animals they are dealing with as a tigress can be extremely
dangerous when in search of a partner or during mating or with small cubs along
& can attack on slightest provocation! These are very basic things even a
tourist should know & we are referring to forest staff which has to do
their duty along with the tigers, they can’t afford such ignorance, right? And most importantly, the census team, three or
four of them must stick around at such times because a tiger rarely dares to
attack a group of humans, however angry it may be! Though I respect &
understand the panic (or fear), when a tiger charges towards you, roaring &
growling, it's easy to say stick or stand together in theory while in reality
even I would have been the first to break & run from the group at such
times, but then here is where proper & continuous training comes in the
picture, right?
Lastly, keeping every respect for the lost life of
the forest guard, sad fact is, today one tiger killed one human & we are
all gung-ho over the incidence and here in the city, every day humans murder
humans & nobody cares a bit about it! So, I just want to appeal something to every wildlife lover, NGOs,
Environmentalists, Forest depot & Mai Bap Govt as well Super Gods i.e.,
Judicial System, please join hands & make a policy by virtue of which more
& more people & not just forest dept staff will have exposure of the
forests & wild animals & then formulate a proper system, where tigers
(symbolic) & humans will stay at peace together, this is the only way to
save lives of both, humans & the tigers & we owe that to the wild life!
--
Sanjay
Deshpande
Sanjeevani
Dev.
Please view my sharing about real
estate in Pune at You Tube link below...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s
Please
do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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www.punecorporation.org
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