19.11.08

Big Cats in peril


India’s tigers continue to die. In the past 10 weeks, seven more tigers have perished due to poaching, electrocution, accident or natural causes. During the same period, police and forest officials have also seized four skins and 18 claws of the big cat, according to information collated by a wildlife NGO from across the country. On November 2, a tiger was electrocuted in Soutiya village, adjoining the the Kanha tiger reserve in MP. Investigations showed that the villagers were laying out naked electrical wires to catch sambhar. But on this occasion, a tiger got enmeshed in the wires and was electrocuted. “Every part of the animal, including nails, was intact. It shows that poachers were not involved,” says Ramesh Pratap Singh, field director of the tiger reserve. Seven villagers have been arrested. Earlier on October 21, one tiger skin was seized in Kerala leading to three arrests.“One female tiger skin about five feet long was seized from a car,” K Ummer, divisional forest officer of Nilambur South, said. However, the seizure of six iron tiger traps in Satara by Maharashtra forest department on September 29 shows that poachers remain active in many parts of the country. The latest census figures showed a mere 1,411 tigers remain alive as compared to 3,508 in 1997, a drastic dip of 60%. “With such low numbers of wild tigers we simply cannot afford to lose so many of them,” says Belinda Wright of Wildlife Protection Society of India, the NGO which has collated the statistics. Experts feel that government agencies need better training and more motivation. “But if they need one thing more is better intelligence on the ground,” says Wright. The principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), Maharashtra, has ordered closure of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) for tourists on “administrative grounds” from November 25. The move follows the failure to post staff at the country’s premier tiger reserve for several months. Vacant posts of range forest officers (RFOs), who play a key role in conservation, had left the tigers of Tadoba exposed to possible poaching. Sources said the closure order was issued on Monday by B Majumdar, PCCF (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden.

Nov 18: A tiger carcass found near Dudhwa park .

Nov 5: A tigress found dead in Corbett park.

Nov 2: One tiger electrocuted in Kanha park .

Oct 6: Poachers kill one in the Sunderbans .

Oct 2: Tiger found dead in Periyar Reserve .

Sept 6: Tiger killed in Katerniaghat, UP .

Sept 1: Tiger found dead in Ranthambore

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