The Hindu : Karnataka News : Forest staff gear up to prevent a Sariska in Bandipur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 02, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Forest staff gear up to prevent a Sariska in Bandipur

By R. Krishna Kumar

MYSORE, APRIL 1. Stunned by the fate of tigers at Sariska in Rajasthan, Forest officials at Bandipur near here are on an alert and will strengthen the anti-poaching camps to deal with the crisis plaguing the striped beauty which is tottering on the brink of extinction.

A decision in this regard was taken some time ago, and the Field Director of Project Tiger, Srinivasan, told The Hindu that a proposal has been sent to the Government for approval. "We cannot afford to relax as years of hard work will come to a nought if we lower our guard." The key to ensuring the survival of the wildlife in sanctuaries and national parks is to strengthen the forest protection work, and we intend to beef up the anti-poaching camps to checkmate the potential poachers," he said.

Priority

Strengthening such camps is now perceived to be an area of priority ever since the country was hit by the tragedy at Sariska where poachers wiped away the magnificent creatures forcing the Prime Minister to express concern over the fate of wildlife and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) stepped in for investigation.

Bandipur National Park is one of the earliest and was among the first nine Project Tiger Reserves established by the Centre in 1973 to arrest the dwindling number of tigers. The park is spread over 880 sq. km. and recently Nagarahole National Park was added to the project, thus extending the combined park area to 1,500 sq. km. There are 31 anti-poaching camps in the Bandipur National Park and 24 in Nagarahole. The authorities have sought permission to create 30 more camps for the forest protection work. The proposal is expected to come through soon.

However, some non-governmental organisations working on conservation issues said that strengthening the anti-poaching camps is a welcome development, but the Department of Forests should take care of the personnel posted to such camps. The average age of a forest guard is reckoned to be 50 with majority of them suffering from hypertension or diabetes, and thus unfit for the rigours of the forest protection task.

A view conceded by Mr. Srinivasan. He said against sanctioned field strength of 213, only 101 posts have been filled and rest are vacant. Likewise, in Nagarahole against sanctioned field strength of 312, there are 116 posts vacant. This adds to the workload of the existing staff and makes the forest area more porous for poachers to filter through. A similar scenario prevails in other forest divisions, including the BRT Hills Sanctuary where vacancy is as high as 45 per cent.

"The total land area of Bandipur and Nagarahole adds up to 3.5 lakh acres for which there are only 297 guards, and it is an impossible situation," he said.

Commenting on the fate of tigers in the Bandipur and Nagarahole parks, Mr. Srinivasan said they are safe as the situation in the State is not as bad compared to other parks where terrorists or naxalites have taken refuge. But the gaze of poachers in this part is on elephants more than tigers. An elephant was shot dead a fortnight ago near the M.M. Hills, he said and underscored the need for strengthening anti-poaching camps.

Long overdue

A move reckoned to be long overdue as Bandipur and Nagarahole are home to tigers, leopards, elephants, gaurs, spotted deer, sloth bears, mouse deer, wild dogs, and four-horned antelopes, among others. In addition, there are over 300 species of birds. These parks face disturbances with the number of tourists visiting them increasing and local communities living on their fringes grazing cattle and collecting firewood all of which has eroded the vegetation cover. Despite these problems, these parks have a good density of tigers and leopards, which is reckoned to be among the highest in the country and comparable to Kanha or the Kaziranga in terms of prey density.

The Bandipur and Nagarahole parks is reckoned to harbour nearly 120 to 140 tigers as per the 2001 census and the latest national census to be held in October-November incorporating new methodologies will prove if the conservation measures are effective.

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