Opinion - Editorials   

A shield for tigers

The provision of Rs.50 crore in the Union Budget for 2008-09 to raise an armed protection force for India’s tigers is an overdue measure. The recent national estimate of 1,411 tigers reveals serious gaps in protection. So weak is the system in States facing insurgency that the Tiger Conservation Authority (TCA) could not conduct its population sampling exercise in some reserves. The TCA findings are disturbing and require a speedy and professional response. There is proof that tigers are being killed for commerce in some reserves. Their ungulate prey such as deer and wild pig are hunted for subsistence, putting pressure on the big cats. The TCA has identified poaching pressures in Mudumalai (Tamil Nadu), Valmiki (Bihar), Kalakkad-Periyar, Anamalais-Parambikulam (Tamil Nadu-Kerala), and the Eastern Ghats (Andhra Pradesh). These landscapes, among others, are capable of hosting higher tiger numbers if protection levels are raised and the prey base is secured. The budgetary allocation provides the seed money that will help the TCA raise a new force to do this, with advice from the National Board for Wildlife.

An armed force conceived in a crisis management framework can be viewed as a natural first response. But a greater goal would be for India, arguably the most viable tiger range country, to raise a professional wildlife service to study and protect the two per cent of the land reserved for conservation. Wildlife biologists often cite Kaziranga and Nagarahole as examples worthy of emulation. A combination of scientific study, voluntary shift of human population, intensified patrolling, and flushing out of poachers has nurtured tigers and other animals in these areas. That success can be replicated in other reserves with the help of a professional wildlife service. The immediate task, learning from the terrible experience at Sariska, is to curb poaching. That should be possible by scaling up the proposed armed force with help from the States. Stopping the trade in tiger skins and body parts is within the grasp of State governments. Meanwhile, the creation of good baseline data remains a neglected task. Independent researchers have shown that tigers can be uniquely identified using camera-trapped images. Yet this valuable tool is not being systematically and widely used. The TCA must immediately put in place a camera trapping programme in all reserves. The images will help link seized skins to individual tigers. Visual evidence from camera traps will aid the prosecution of poachers and the efficient deployment of the new armed force in vulnerable areas.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Four in a row in Tripura
A shield for tigers
Will Zapatero return to power in Spain?
Low intensity discrimination continues
Tokenism and half-hearted measures
Rubbish crisis shuts top restaurant
Corrections and clarifications
Telangana issue
Rein him in
Noble gesture
Profile in courage
Response

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu