Tigers- Now and Then

Tigers: Now and Then

Tigers, the striped big cats, are one of the most beautiful cats on this planet.  Once abundant in Eastern Asian nations, tigers are now restricted to a few isolated pockets in some of its original habitats. The number of tigers worldwide is about 3000 half of which inhabit our Indian forests.

      It is believed that more than 40,000 tigers roamed the Indian forests at the turn of the 20th Century. Ironically the Indian kings created the wildlife abundant forests in their territories as protected areas. Their intentions and aim was to create protected areas for their recreation and used these for hunting hapless creatures. These kings in fact maintained the British territories and hunting was their best past time. These kings extended the hospitality to British royalty and together they destroyed the Indian wildlife. Before this destruction of forest wealth, the British were against tigers and snakes. They had announced prizes for killing them and people who otherwise always respected wildlife were attracted to kill the tigers. During those times, the image of tigers was savage, fierce and a cruel predator. This dance of death continued until 1920 and an estimated 80,000 tigers, 1,50, 000 leopards were killed from end of 19th century until the start of the 20th century.

                                  In the second half of 20th century, the British felt the need to end their slaughter; unfortunately the damage was already done. Tigers were wiped out from many parts of India.  Documents exist which showed that some kings killed hundreds of tigers in certain territories. The extent of tiger killings was so large that even legendary, Jim Corbett had feared in 1940s that tigers may disappear from India in the next 10 years.

                                The picture remained gloomy till the seventies of 20th century when late Indian prime-minister Indira Gandhi came to power. She was a great admirer of wildlife and when approached by The WWF and IUCN for doing something to salvage critically endangered Indian tigers, she instantly established a “Tigers Task force” who was to report her personally on this matter. A budget of about 56 million was set aside for this work. This task force later on became Project Tiger. The project tiger aimed at establishing special tiger reserves and in 1973 Corbett NP was marked out and eventually 9 tiger reserves originally spread over 12000 Sq kms of area. The project tiger made progress till 1984 when Smt.  Indira Gandhi was killed. The era that followed was the period of political instability and no sincere efforts were made to save tigers. The tigers were poached without any restrictions and conservationists declared 2000 as dooms day. But somehow tigers survived due to the efforts of some sincere forest officers and countless dedicated, least paid, exposed, under armed forest guards.

                                 Come, 21st century, tigers have survived in few isolated pockets and  their number may be less than one thousand. Sincere efforts by Centre and State Governments is seen for salvaging the last habitats of Indian tigers

A tiger, which is the national animal of India, is in danger of extinction as the figures are constantly plummeting. The wild tigers at the onset of Project tiger were about 1827 but after the lapse of 38 years and after so much attention, number of wild tigers is less than 1500. This shows the failure of the country in saving this magnificent predator.

                          There are a number of factors responsible for this decline in tiger population.  The main factors are:-  Rampant poaching supported by international demand for tiger skin, bones and other parts, habitat loss resulting into fall in prey base.  But poaching is the major reason for the declining number as after the launch of project tiger, tiger reserves were demarcated in all parts of the country providing a sustainable habitat for tigers’ survival.

                              Tigers are killed by the vested elements as its skin, bones and other parts are in great demand in International markets like China, Hong Kong, Singapore and USA.  The tiger bones are used in traditional Chinese medicines.  It is said that a tiger body parts when sold separately can fetch up to $40,000.  The wildlife trade has very vast networks and its annual valuation as per Interpol is $12 billion. It is highly organized and motivated as the rewards involved are huge. These criminal elements take advantage of poverty of people inhabiting the peripheries of tiger reserves. For these needy unemployed, unmotivated poverty-ridden masses, this is an easy source of income and they can earn their six months expenses by a single killing. In such a scenario, this callousness on their part is not wrong altogether. The seizure of tiger skins in different reserves shows seriousness of the situation. The disappearance of tigers from Sariska  and Panna tiger reserves show the alarming situation and swift coordinated efforts is the need of the hour. As per one of the government census, 829 tigers were killed from 1994 to 2009 in various tiger reserves. But this data is not accurate and conservation figures may be around 1500 tigers. Tiger skins are sold via the middle-men in various cities to the dealers in Nepal & Tibet for final dispatch to the end users in various parts of the world as luxury item. It has come to the knowledge of the authorities that these skins which still are a sign of wealth & power in higher social circles are also sold for home use decorations. North India is the centre of skin trade as it has a force of skilled tanners.  Generally, middle men merely used as couriers are arrested & these are Nepalese & Tibetans. Seizures of skins, bones, claws are regularly made by the authorities but these are merely the tip of the iceberg and a clear picture emerges when the numbers of wild tigers are analyzed. This shows the immensity of trade & number of consignments which escaped the authorities. Why it is tough to save tigers?

                       The single most significant step that can prevent tiger poaching is grass-root level strengthening of the forest department. The real backbone of the tiger reserves, the forest guards & rangers are the marginalized people. They are Under-Paid, ill-trained, ill-equipped and unmotivated.  On the contrary, the poachers are well-trained, well-equipped & extremely motivated. India has about 38 tiger reserves. The government should start recruiting good no of forest Rangers/Officers for each reserve. If, we pay at least  Rs. 5,000 to each ranger then the total cost of this tiger force for a five year period will come to Rs. 250-300 Crores. Compare this with the in gullible amounts budgeted on the commonwealth games, its almost negligible. This amount will also be an investment towards environment conservation and our wilderness heritage. A huge number of rivers streams and its tributaries originate from these same tigers reserves and the disappearance of these tigers will lead to the destruction of these natural climes. The economic benefit of protecting these non-renewable sources will easily outweigh the investment being made on the recruitment of this tiger force. Besides, tiger tourism is one of the main attractions for tourists coming to our country hence fuelling our reserve funds.

                           There are a lot of villages within these reserves which are populated hence hampering both the human and the wild life. These need to be re located outside the core and the buffer areas. Additional sources of income could be established for these villagers and hence assist in reducing the unemployment factors. Poaching needs to be dealt with stringent laws and should be a non bail able offence unless the poachers are willing to take up roles towards curbing these illegal activities. Basic education of villagers and merits of getting re located should be constantly pitched across enhancing the lifestyle of the down trodden. The youth today is well aware of all the environmental hazards caused due to the cutting of forests and hence can be a major contributor towards the betterment.

All said and done, work has started around this, but are we trying to aim for a quick fix solution to an ongoing issue which has lasted for some couple of decades. The protection of tigers is not a luxury but must for socio-economic survival in India. So let us stop poaching and save our national animal by putting our force behind the forest guards and forest rangers- the real protectors of the tigers.

Itravel India pledges its support and strives to save one of the most magnificent wild cats in distress. The question you need to answer is,

Are you to willing to vote for the new national animal of India?