Understanding a Tiger! (Final Part )

 

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“There is nothing like the thrill of walking through the jungle looking for a tiger and knowing they could be watching you already” …. Ashlan Gorse Cousteau.

Ashlan Gorse Cousteau is an American entertainment journalist. She is known for her work with E! News, Discovery Channel, and Travel Channel. And I can very well understand the excitement which Ms Ashlan tried to explain about seeing a tiger in the wilds. With due respect to her sentiments, it's easy to say these words by sitting in the comfort & safety of a vehicle among people & looking for a tiger to click its photographs & make a film or documentary about it (even I also do that, no offense)! But when its living in a mud hut adjoining to the forests where a tiger roams freely & you have to go in the open in the pitch dark night for nature’s call or to patrol the woods on the feet for protecting the tiger itself as well other wildlife from the humans, while the tiger can't differentiate you are a protector or a hunter, at such times sure you won't find looking for a tiger so exciting rather you will wish all the time you don’t end-up looking up on one, in the first place!

Well, coming to second part of my write- up (sharing) about the post-mortems (I mean, analysis) of the incidence of a lady forest guard got killed by a tigress at tadoba which is a tiger reserve, I found this quote apt as it shows difference of approach or say unawareness about the ground realities with the tigers & the habitats they move in! Because ask any tourist, guide or gipsy driver at any tiger park (where tourism is allowed) & the only question you will get is , “dikha kya or sighting kaha chal rahi hai” i.e. have you seen the tiger or is do you know, the sighting of tiger going on, anywhere in the forests!

And I don’t blame them as that’s what our wildlife tourism is all about, tigers & again nothing wrong as nothing better sight than seeing a tiger walking towards you in the open forest, that’s a life time experience for most & every time it’s as exciting as the first time, I can vouch from my experience! All this is as a tourist, from a vehicle, on which till today never a tiger has attacked (thankfully) & from a safe distance. But when you are a forest guard in the very same forest or a van-major (forest labour) or you reside in a village near by such tiger project & has to walk towards your farm & in all such situation the only means of commuting is, on your bare-feet & you know you can confront a tiger any time; will you like to see a tiger in such situation, answer me truthfully!  Well, my answer is a big “No” as I have been part of teams which has to walk in the forest & mere the thought that from any direction the tiger is watching me but I can’t see it, has made me very nervous, just the way the thought of appearing for M-3 (Maths’s paper in 2^nd year engg) still makes me so! Reason is very simple, the tiger doesn’t know I am a forest guard & my job is to protect him only nor he cares if I am a farmer living as his neighbor; for the tiger, I am a human & an intruder, I may not be his food but he thinks I am a threat to him, as he doesn’t know me or understands me! So, when we say tiger sighting is the most exciting thing then do mind it's not a truth or fact for all those who are associated with the tiger, it’s in what role & situation you sight a tiger, makes the difference in your perception!

Coming back to the incidence of the guard getting killed by the tigress Maya, in a recent survey nearly 135 plus tiger deaths have been recorded in the calendar year 2021 & even if 50% of them we discount as natural death or by territorial fights yet nearly 70 numbers of tigers have died because of humans & in comparison on the scale of population of both the species ( read as human population & tiger population) then it makes nearly few crore of human deaths because of tigers, if worked reversely! While in reality the total numbers of human deaths must be nearly matching to total death numbers of the tigers, do I need to explain anything more, who is a threat to whom here! This, I am not putting forward to justify the death of the lady guard, but just to make us know, high time we should understand & respect the tigers as well entire wild life as then only we both can live safe & happily by giving each other some space!

This is exactly the cruck, because a tiger won’t ever understand us or our intentions leave apart our needs but it's we the humans, which must understand what a tiger needs or say try to understand the tiger, if we want to live in a coexistence with a tiger, right? It’s the understanding which finds a way even in human interrelations, here we are talking about the relation between two different species, one of which is supposedly the most developed brain amongst all the species, indeed our responsibility is more in the relation, is what I want to put forward! Recently I got an opportunity to discuss the tiger (read as wild life) conservation aspect with tadoba field director, even his concern was the same, it’s how we are going to accommodate the tigers & not in the reverse way, that is only going to decide the fate of the tigers!  

In my post about the tigress attack incident, there was a comment on one of the snaps I shared where a tiger is walking at close range with forest labours & villagers in tadoba & someone commented it's morphed. That image has been clicked by my friend & is on FB! Actually, no need to morph such images as in tadoba such scenes happen regularly. I wrote back, I myself have clicked a tigress on foot on main Chandrapur road when I was standing on that main-road at a tea stall, which is allowed & tigress came out of foliage some 30ft from me & crossed the road, see the image below. There are still villages in the core & buffer where tigers cross everyday at close range with villagers on the road! And 99 out of 100 times the tiger doesn't bother the humans!! Guys, the core & buffer & private forests or unmanned forests all are terminologies as well the boundaries set by humans, a tiger is free to move wherever he wants to go... we the humans should respect its movements & keep distance, is the right way! Here is the image & I shared the Image of tigress crossing the road with this tagline, Give me my space, I give you yours! Yet there were many comments which showed people’s concern about the tigers & the forests and misunderstandings as well the need of awareness about entire wild life thing! I am using few of them with real names & words cut pasted from FB (No offense please) ...

Sushama Varma

We have encroached on their territory, taken their space away and then we complain that they, tigers- leopards come into our space. Where can and will these poor displaced persons (yes, for me they are real persons) go? That they walk along their own paths quietly ignoring humans is good. But if their habitats are destroyed, taken over and they do not have the animals to hunt and eat, they need to attack and satisfy their hunger somewhere. Let us think about it.

Sanjay Deshpande

Author

Sushama Varma guys, the core & buffer & private forests or unmanned forests all these are terminologies as well the boundaries set by humans, a tiger is free to move wherever he wants to go... we the humans should respect its movements & keep distance, is the right way!

 

Trevor Rego

My dear sir if tigers emerge from the foliage and cross over to the other side of the road regularly then they will lose their wildness and when one sees such animals it’s the same as going to the zoo. And another thing I have observed people come to see these animals in ordinary vehicles with the hoods down and if the tiger is having a bad day, then its curtains for all and unless the forest guards have a weapon on them which I doubt

Then you will be a breakfast lunch and dinner for the tiger and his or her family which will result in the tiger being put down.

Why should there be such a scenario let them have their space.

 

Sanjay Gangwani

Same is seen n experienced in n around Gir

Varsha Sathe

म्हणून मूल रोड जंगलातून जातो तो बंद करावा असं वाटतं दोन्ही बाजूला घनदाट जंगल आहे

Sanjay Deshpande

Author

Varsha Sathe how many roads you will close , is the question! Best way is learn to live by understanding animal behavior which actually many forest people & villagers knows & do live by that!

 

Mukesh Raizada

Beautiful   click, It is Supreme Encroachment of Men on FOREST of Tigers as it looks.where to go Tigers n

Other Wildlife.

 

Carol Pea

This reminds me of when I went to Bhandavgarh. I arrived by train early morning and just missed the game drive when I got to the jungle camp, so I decided to go for a stroll before it got too hot. I asked the camp staff if there were tiger or leopard nearby and was it safe to walk. No no ma'am, very very safe they said. I noted the very big bouganvillea next to the camp to help me find my way back later. After 200 m I came to a wall, which I followed for a way and then went back to camp. 2 days later we were watching B2 at close range from the jeep near to a low wall that seemed familiar. I looked over and noticed the very big bouganvillea that I had used to navigate a couple of days earlier, less than 100 m away. oops! So I decided that maybe next time someone tells me no no ma'am very very safe, no tiger, maybe I should take that with a pinch of salt. 

Rajeev Singh Sisodiya

this is dangerous for human and wild life both. Authorities must look into matter to secure forest reserve.

 

Santosh Mannooparambil

May be we should start erecting "Tiger Crossing Road Sign"

 

Above are few more comments but by reading all these we have understood one thing about humans if not about the tigers, that there are many humans who care for the wild life but most of them don't understand just caring wont work, we need to make right things to survive wild life & reduce the conflicts. At the same time there are lot many more humans which doesn’t bother or are ignorant about the wild life & its this lot is the major threat for the wild life not because they are bad but because they are ignorant & it’s this ignorance of the humans regarding tigers & wild life at large which is major cause of the conflicts of humans & the tiger (and other species too) & outcome is, most of the time it’s the tiger which has to lose its life! Apart from awareness we can do so many things, such as building safety walls around open wells near forests to making series of water bodies along fringe area of core forests to fencing the settlements around the forests & building attached toilets to every hut (home) near forest the list of to do things is endless which can avoid accidental deaths as well accidental conflicts between humans & the tigers (read as wild life)! This is where NGO’s, Forest Dept & the humans who have understood real needs of the tigers must come together, join hands & right from conducting awareness programs to making life of the humans & the tigers a bit comfortable as well safer for which the sky's the limit, is all I can say! This includes opening every part of the forest for proper tourism as then only more & more people will see a tiger (read as wild life) as that’s the best way to understand a tiger (read as wild life) & if we can understand a tiger only then we can hope to save it, right? Adios, with this thought!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

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