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Growing Tiger Trade:TURN INDIA’s WILD INTO SAFE ZONE, by Radhakrishna Rao Print E-mail

Special Article

New Delhi, 6 August 2007

Growing Tiger Trade

TURN INDIA’s WILD INTO SAFE ZONE

By Radhakrishna Rao

The magnificent Indian tiger, who roamed the jungles of India for thousands of years as an unchallenged monarch, is today struggling for its very survival --of a distinct wildlife species!

Given the scenario of a depleting tiger population in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed all States to immediately initiate a stringent plan of action aimed at strengthening institutional mechanisms in tiger reserves spread across the nation. He has driven home the point that a large number of frontline posts in the Department of Forest in several States are lying vacant and urged Chief Ministers to beef up protection measures in each tiger reserve with an increasing participation of the local community.

As it is, the scantily equipped and poorly-paid forest guards are either gunned down or bribed by the poaching syndicates, having links with the international smuggling gangs, Indeed, the isolated and least motivated forest guards are often afraid to fight both the poaching syndicates and timber mafia which in addition enjoy political patronage. An analysis of the tiger skin trade by many of the international wildlife conservation agencies reveals that the tribals inhabiting these tiger reserves too are at the receiving end of the international tiger trading mafia.

According to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), the flourishing underground international trade in tiger skin is characterized by the abject exploitation of the local communities, collusion and corruption of local level bureaucracy, violence towards local law enforcement agencies and the huge profits involved. Indeed, the decline of tiger population in India’s wild is as much due to poaching as due to the deteriorating habitat, resulting in the loss of prey base.

While India may boast about hosting over half of the total global tiger population, many reserves and sanctuaries across the country are witnessing a sharp decline in the numbers of the big cats. For instance, a recent study by the Dehra Dun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) says that over the last five years, the tiger population in the forest stretches of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan has come down drastically.

The strength, in particular, of the big cats in sanctuaries such as Melghat, Panna, Kanha and Bandavgarh has dwindled. The WWI estimates point that India’s largest State Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh account for 290 tigers, while Maharastra has less than 100 tigers On the other hand, the highly fragmented stretches of the tourist-friendly Rajasthan  has only 32 big cats left in its famous Ranthmabore sanctuary with  Sariska tiger reserve being totally bereft of the big cats.

The picturesque and biologically diverse Sunderbans mangrove forests, shared by West Bengal and Bangladesh, are witnessing a change. Earlier, a trusted safe haven for the diminishing Royal Bengal tiger, the drying of fresh water sources has led to the beast moving across to mangrove stretches of Bangladesh.

In another significant development, the Comptroller and Auditor General CAG) of India has said that the estimate of the tiger population in Kalakad-Mundanthuria Tiger Reserve (KMTR) in Tamil Nadu was unrealistic and unscientific. The report makes it clear that the tiger census in this reserve, lying in the lap of the Western Ghats, has not been carried out as per the well-defined guidelines followed in tiger count.

Incidentally, KMTR is one of the 28 tiger reserves created as part of “Project Tiger” --the most ambitious and successful wildlife conservation project launched anywhere in the world. However, a field study by WWI says that KMTR was not biologically rich enough to support more than 15 tigers, while the 2005 census puts the tiger population in the reserve at 29.

Against this depressing and gloomy background of the tiger population in the country, the Corbett National Park shared by Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, has recorded the presence of over 100 tigers. Meanwhile, the Karnataka has sought Rs.14,00-million for implementing the tiger conservation programmes in the four Project Tiger reserves of the State: Bandipur, Nagarhole, Bhadr and the recently added Anshi National  Park.

Meanwhile, lobbying by China to lift the ban on international trading in tiger skin and tiger body parts has come in for severe criticism and opposition   from conservationists and wildlife biologists across the world. Of course, India has made known its opposition to the Chinese lobbying. ”The tiger is under serious threat from poaching as well as from the loss of habitat over the last couple of decades. The ban on tiger trade should not be lifted as it will encourage poaching,” says Rajesh Gopal, Head of Project Tiger.

In a similar vein, Dr.Ullas Karanth, a well-known tiger biologist and a consultant with the New York based  Wildlife Conservation Society says, “lifting the ban will drive up demand, create new markets and also provide room for traders to mix  the illegally killed  tigers with legitimate farmed tigers. It is a bad idea all around”.

In fact, the massive disappearance of tigers from the Indian wild, including Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan has been attributed to the activities of the poaching syndicates specializing in smuggling of Tiger body parts from China and South East Asian countries. Clearly, trading in tiger skin and tiger body parts is a lucrative business, as these fetch fabulous returns to the poachers and their associates. In addition to China, countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore also consumer tiger parts

Wildlife biologists in the country rue the fact that the rapid and all-around expansion of agriculture and human settlements into tiger territory are depriving this beautiful beast of its “space and prey base”. Similarly, mining activities and dam construction, other than laying of roads for transportation, is taking a heavy toll on the tiger habitats,

As it is, the spatial range of tigers in India has shrunk by nearly 5 per cent over the last five decades and this has led to a severe reduction in the prey base of the animal, making its survival an uphill task.

According to sources in Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), while there is a very small demand for either bones or skins of tiger within India, the growing Chinese demand for tiger parts continues to be the major cause for poaching. However, the ongoing economic boom in India has brought in its wake a growing demand for tiger skin.

Indeed, with a single tiger fetching over Rs 30,0000 in the international market, the task of conserving the big cats in the country has become all the more challenging. However, Indian conservationists and wildlife biologists are optimistic of turning India’s wild into a safe zone for the disappearing tiger.---INFA

 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

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