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Cheer and despair for tiger conservationists

– FILE PHOTO

Ups and downs:A tigress inside Sariska National Park.

JAIPUR: Six years after Sariska lost all its tigers to poaching, there is optimism in Rajasthan on the tiger conservation front. Tigers have been successfully re-introduced in the Sariska reserve but that is not the reason for the jubilant mood among the officials and the tiger conservationists in the State. It is Ranthambhore National Park (RNP), now teeming with tiger cubs, which makes them smile!

“In 2006 their number was just six. Now in 2011 there are 18 cubs in Ranthambhore,” notes R. N. Mehrotra, Head of the Forest Force in Rajasthan. Apart from the six tigers moved to Sariska for release, RNP is expected to have 40 tigers in it. And this is besides its perennially wandering tigers and the three big cats which have opted for neighbouring forests in Madhya Pradesh.

“There is no threat to the tiger population in Rajasthan in the next 50 years,” asserted Mr. Mehrotra to a gathering of officials and experts here earlier this week even as WWF India secretary-general Ravi Singh warned of serious challenges ahead for the conservation community in keeping the tiger alive globally.

“The tiger is on the verge of extinction. Officially there are only 3,200 tigers in the wild the world over. The real number may be even less — maybe less than 3,000,” said Mr. Singh letting the grim reality come out. Of the total world tiger population India accounts for 50 per cent, he noted. As for Rajasthan, while appreciating the coming up of Ranthambhore – from just seven to eight tigers in the 1970s when Project Tiger was launched — Mr. Singh did not hide his disappointment over lack of public cooperation in conservation here.

“The biggest drawback in Rajasthan on this front is that unlike in some other States the support of civil society is missing,” said Mr. Singh citing the support the rhino population gets in Assam from the public. “In South India also local population supports elephants and tigers but in Rajasthan the past experience in Sariska, Bharatpur and Chambal region had been disappointing,” he observed.

RNP, where tiger sighting is considered easy and most common, is now a case study in success. Paradoxically, the only other tiger reserve in Rajasthan, Sariska, has not become a model in conservation despite all necessary ingredients.

“There should not be any sense of competition when it comes to Ranthambhore and Sariska but a comparison is unavoidable,” noted V.P. Singh, Rajya Sabha member and former chairman of the Tiger Task Force in Rajasthan. “Ranthambhore is crowded with tourists and the local economy is benefited. A large number of hotels survive on Ranthambhore tourism while no such thing is there in Sariska. This is when Sariska too has lot of attractions and direct access from Delhi unlike Ranthambhore,” he pointed out.

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