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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