Tigress Killed

She was choked to Death in the cave, the one place she had chosen to give birth to cubs, but fate had another story chalked out for her. Upon discovering the tigers lair, the poachers mercilessly clogged the opening and set things on fire. She was not incinerated but rather suffocated by smoke that had filled in the cave. She was killed along with cubs in her womb. This sordid saga is not just one event, there is an ongoing onslaught on the endangered beast in India. 

In a spate of few weeks some more tigers have been killed, and this is alarming. Often the murder is passed off as territorial fight or due old age, how many of these narratives are true God only knows! Who bothers since the big cats are no political liability, the incidence could just pass off as unfortunate.

Killings using guns, snares, live wire and poisoning the kill of the beasts is ongoing year on year. In a spate of eight years around seven hundred tigers have died, and almost half have been killed leaving the rest accounting for natural deaths. 

The figure of seven hundred is ominous with most of the deaths taking place in Central India and Maharashtra, incidentally these states account for robust Number of big cats. In some other States the population is sizeable and so are the deaths but States are not in the context in this write up. With the increase of 750 animals between two nationwide census the deaths equal them, or may be if the unaccounted or missing ones are taken into account we are losing more tigers than conserving them.    

Even if we do not enter into the nitty gritty of census and the growing numbers, the large number of deaths should be considered as alarming. Add to this wrong labeling in case of poaching's being declared as territorial fights the figure rises exponentially. 

This points to lacunae in the management practices with regards to the conservation units all over India. Once we get over our obsession with tiger tourism, which by all means is innocuous with regulation in place we have to dive in as to what is going wrong. 

We can call poisoning of cattle or other livestock killed by tiger as man animal conflict. But live wire, snaring, hunting by gun or other weapons is not a man animal conflict it is poaching or pure murder and a crime. This is going on since too long in India for comfort, and no concerted effort is being noticed for amelioration of this deadly scourge. 

Why this neglect?

This is not a pure case of neglect there are gaps in our protection mechanism. And the solution is at macro level.  

The number of such incidences could be reduced if the local staff or ground staff is proactive, alert and effective. The latter aspect is missing. The post is part of a huge government sector called forest department and is under the aegis of State machinery.  Still under colonial makeover, the department functions in isolation and is not proactive enough to invite public involvement hence there is no voice as a result. Most of the news generated is by instance of tiger death and at best limited to the incident often without much details. 

Hierarchical Alienation

Hierarchical alienation is evident since some of the top brass function in isolation surrounded by a coterie which includes the ubiquitous babus. Add to this there is substantial political interference, and corruption for which not all, and the department as whole, cannot be blamed. There are honest and hard working people in the whole hierarchy starting from top. But those corrupt mar the functioning and this impacts conservation initiatives.              

Hierarchical alienation leads to lower staff which is most instrumental in the protective mechanism work in complete isolation, and in a weakened position. There are two reasons: lack of support from the higher ups since many least bother to work at ground level, and an an ineffective legal mechanism. I had on been pointed out these lacunae is the system by the ground staff many times. Enormity of administrative work could be another reason for lack of interest in the field.    But lets keep in mind the dedicated honest work loving in the management the reason behind success in increase in numbers. I am not judging everyone under the same lens since lot of commendable work has been done.

Corrupt official and subordinates interfere in the functioning or are lax in their attitude. Some in the management of tiger reserves are just there to while away their time with no interest in conservation, while some are not fit enough to undergo rigorous physical and mental demands of field work . As regards this, it has been pointed out time and again that placement should be subject to merit. But this is not happening as favoritism, personal preference and political influences are still being talked about. Readers should note that political/administrative pressures and demands are very much prevalent in this ecosystem. Special privileges especially as regards to tourism must come to an end.

 Core Vs Buffer

The anomalies in the core or the inviolate area are  much less, and greater administrative cohesion is seen. This is due to better sense of duty, pride in the heritage and public pressure that is constantly hovering. 

The buffer is the convergence point where outside influences creep in. The outside group comprises of  political goons, mafia and detractors mostly those under severe threat perception, or under the influence of organizations which do not agree with conservation practices. 

We must also note that a good number of locals are bereft of wilderness, treat predators as threats, see herbivores as food and have least interest in conservation. This leaves out dedicated officers and ground staff who nevertheless carry out there duty to save the animals that survive between humans. To the benevolent group we must add the staff, guides, small business benefiting from tourism and the number is sizeable. This group is supportive of all conservation initiatives and put in efforts to make it a success. 

The beat guard or forest guard is most susceptible to threats, negative influences, stressful working conditions, and as mentioned earlier he works weakened. This leads to a weak protection mechanism in the buffer where most of the tiger deaths are taking place. Few incidence do take place in the core as well especially in areas near the buffer. The borders of our tiger reserves are porous and people can enter easily as not every nook and corner can be guarded. 

In most of our tiger reserves, in spite of demands for parts due to TCM or other reasons poaching is less. Few small times poachers do exists and kill tigers accidentally wide a mechanism meant to obtain game meat. But this is happening regularly and modus operandi is live wire or snares. The ultras wherever present prevent sound protection.            

Revenge for man/livestock kills can be termed as man animal conflict and this is done using poisoning of the half eaten carcass. As a preventive measure, the tiger kill is removed so that in absence of predator poising will have no impact and this is working effectively in the periphery of the reserves. But for other maladies there is no solution yet.    

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Uday is a blogger and offers Seo + Content For Digital Marketing Services. 

He teaches digital marketing (SEO) in Jabalpur.

He freelances as a naturalist/birder at Kanha National Park. He loves to write on travel. 

He can be contacted at: 

[email protected]

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