No Country for Tigers

The newspapers recently celebrated the successful cloning of a buffalo by Indian scientists, which was received by some as 'playing God', as always is after every cloning attempt. Playing God or not, Indian genetic research is making great strides. More research, of course, should be in treatment of diseases and stem cell research for organ replacement than cloning buffaloes. But that could change if we look at the bleak future that holds for some of the endangered species in the country, with conservation efforts gone awry. That seems to apply more to the Panthera tigris tigris, than ever before. We might soon have to clone tigers and release them into the wild, if the government does not pull out all the stops to save the Royal Bengal Tiger.

When and why of Tiger Conservation in India

I have never seen a tiger in the wild(Abhishek has...) and I'll probably never will. Throughout India's history, tigers have always been hunted for their skin, and tiger hunting was a much loved sport among the erstwhile princes and later the British. You'll find many of the palaces in India adorned with photographs of tiger kills on their walls with the hunter proudly standing over the fallen tiger, rifle in hand. When India won freedom, around that time, there was a rapid increase in human population requiring huge forest areas to be cleared to bring more land under cultivation. This led to a decline, and indiscriminate and unplanned destruction, of forests, with tigers being relegated only to certain pockets. After hunting was banned in 1972, the greatest danger faced by tigers was poaching for their skin and hide. Trade in tiger skin is illegal, but a huge illegal market exists, especially in the West. The new threat to tigers is from China of all places, which is battling to save the South China Tiger itself. It is believed that preparations made from parts of the tiger, particularly a tiger's penis, are powerful aphrodisiacs, and the demand is swelling as China's population becomes increasingly flush with money owing to its booming economy. The need for tiger conservation was felt pretty early on, and the Government launched what was till-recently, the much acclaimed Project Tiger.


Project Tiger

Nobody really knew how many tigers roamed in India in the wild. Estimates had given comforting figures of anything from 40,000 to even the suspicious 100,000. The first ever tiger census conducted by the Govt. of India and WWF in the 60's revealed that there were only around 1800 tigers in the country. This sent alarm bells ringing. What caused more alarm was the fact that the census methods were themselves a suspect, and the number could be still lower. Though the conservation lobby was not as vocal and strong as it is today, this bolt from the blue was enough to launch efforts to save India's beloved big cat from extinction. The result was the landmark conservation initiative, Project Tiger, launched in 1973. It was seen that the tigers in India are found in a variety of habitats ranging from the marshy Sunderbans to dry deciduous forests of Central India to foothills of the Himalayas. Special regions in these ecosystems were marked and declared as 'tiger reserves'. Human activity like foraging and cattle grazing was disallowed. From nine tiger reserves during the project's inception, the number grew to 23 in 2003 and their website says the number of tigers in the reserves has increased from 268 to 1576 during the same period. With curbs on human activity, the forests in the reserves thrived and other animals in the reserve, like leopards also found some cover from poaching and habitat loss. It has also been noted that some of the lost forest land was reclaimed due to conservation efforts. The Jim Corbett National Park and Ranthambore National Park, are seen as leaders in conservation efforts and are tiger reserves under Project Tiger since 1973. Project Tiger was launched at JCNP. Today, they are among the most famous wildlife reserves in the country, drawing a healthy number of footfalls consistently due to the tiger's mystic allure. Some have not been successful in conservation efforts. Sariska is an example in point. The deaths of tigers in Sariska became the catalyst for the renewed efforts to save the tiger. More on Sariska and other failures later, but for now we'll look at the flak Project Tiger has drawn from natural historians and even constitutional agencies.

Criticism of Project Tiger

The main criticism against Project Tiger comes from conservationists that in spite of being hailed as a great conservation effort, the numbers of tigers are just about at the same levels they were during the project's inception. The census method, counting of pug-marks is based on various statistical assumptions which are under heavy fire in the light of the availability of newer methods like DNA sampling and RF tagging. Most of the tiger reserves are under-staffed with staff not being recruited for patrolling in years. This has emboldened poachers. A CAG report states that the state governments and the Centre share the expenses of conservation efforts and the state governments have been accused of not spending available funds, resulting in them being overlooked for release of more funds. This has bled the tigers and is perhaps most cruel thing to have happened to them. The reserves also do not provide corridors for tigers to move from one reserve to another for establishing territory, which results in tigers straying into human settlements near the reserves. Locals usually poison them fearing that they could be man-eaters. Project Tiger has not made efforts to inculcate sensitivity for wildlife in the minds of villagers that dwell near the reserves, or making them part of conservation efforts and also taking their help in keeping an eye out for poachers. The battle for survival for the tiger continues...

_______________________________________________________

* Tailpiece *

Well, one post is too short to express the delicate issue of tiger conservation. There is a lot more to say. When I read about tigers going missing or being found dead, I am always filled rage and anguish. This post is the first in a two-part series on tiger conservation. The next post will pick up from where I left off here.

No Country for Tigers(contd...)

Talking about tigers, can leopards be far behind? I saw this great flick, Bringing Up Baby(1938) starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. It is one of the funniest movies I've seen in recent times and do not remember when was the last time a movie made me laugh so much. It is a highly recommended flick. Discussions on IMDB seem to suggest that the word 'gay' was used as a reference to homosexuality for the first time on screen in this movie. But what they do not tell is the way in which it was uttered. The scene is simply priceless!

_______________________________________________________