Other States - Uttar Pradesh   

A safety network for tigers

Atiq Khan

LUCKNOW: To deter organised gangs of poachers from hunting down the tiger in Dudhwa National Park and other wildlife sanctuaries in Uttar Pradesh, the State Forest Department is strengthening its intelligence network by involving the local population.

Two recent cases of tiger poaching in the Kishanpur and Katarniyaghat wildlife sanctuaries in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve appear to have jolted the forest authorities.

In fact, the menace of poaching figured prominently at the newly formed Tiger Conservation Society's governing body meeting here this week.

Ironically, the villagers living in the forest areas are often used by poachers to track down the animal, which is then killed by the common method of poisoning.

Two other methods of poaching - use of spring traps and electrocution -- are rarely used by poachers in UP. The Tharu tribals who inhabit the Dudhwa National Park have often been known to help the hunters by providing vital information about the whereabouts of tigers.

The State Forest Department has stepped in now to reverse the trend by involving the local people in keeping a tab on the poachers.

"An interface between the locals and the Forest Department through symposiums and publicity campaign through posters will form the thrust of the exercise. Even the World Wide Fund (WWF) has promised to extend assistance," says State Principal Secretary (Forests) V. N. Garg.

The Customs Department has been asked to share the crime database of the organised gangs of poachers with the Forest Department.

Considering that the land between one protected forest area and the other, called "corridor", is illegally acquired by encroachers and serves as a safe haven for poachers, the Department has mooted a regulatory mechanism for development of these corridors.

"These are ecologically fragile zones which should be cleared of all the encroachments," says Mr. Garg.

Four such corridors have been identified in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve: Dudhwa-Kishanpur, Dudhwa-Katerniyaghat, Katerniyaghat-Bahraich and Bahraich-Suhelwa.

According to the last biennial tiger census conducted in 2005, UP had 273 tigers out of the country's total tiger population of 3,600, with the Dudhwa National Park in Lakhimpur-Kheri district bordering Nepal accounting for the maximum number of tigers: 77. The Katerniyaghat sanctuary in Bahraich district came next with 58, followed by the Suhelwa Wildlife Range with 37 and the Pilibhit Wildlife Range with 35. The Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary had 29 tigers.

The next tiger census is due this year.

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