Wayward tourists hit heart of tiger country
Prerna Singh Bindra | Corbett Tiger Reserve
If you were to liken the Terai to a human body, Corbett would be the heart, the lifeline, if you like — the part or ‘the source population’ that supports and keeps alive the adjacent forests, and to an extent even protected areas like Rajaji.
It’s amongst our oldest tiger reserves, with the highest density of tigers in India — almost 20 per 100 sq km, with 164 tigers as indicated by the recent all India survey of tigers and co-predators. Tigers are usually an easy sight, and ‘the land of trumpet and roar’ keeps its promises.
For how long, though? There is trouble brewing in paradise, and sadly, the decay of India’s finest park has begun. There are many issues that plague the park, but of utmost concern would be the increasing laxity in protection, and secondly, mismanaged wayward tourism.
I arrive just days after a tiger had been declared a man-eater, for killing a woman who entered the reserve. The woman’s body was intact, not eaten by the tiger, raising questions whether he was a man-eater at all or if it was an accidental killing, but that’s another story; and the tiger — a male in his prime, was tranquilised, trapped (on Feb 11) and is now serving time at the Nainital zoo.
Bad enough but worse is that one of the precipitating factors in his sorry fate was the fact that he was baited to entertain cat-obsessed tourists. According to reliable sources, the baiting was done by some resorts that operate elephant safaris and charge top dollar from their clients for a ‘guaranteed’ tiger sighting.
The tiger had marked Garajia, part of the buffer zone of the reserve as his territory, just across the road from Dhikuli, where most of the tourist resorts are concentrated. Elephant safaris are allowed here in Garajia, and to ensure a tiger sighting, resorts reportedly put dead bait (a live one would make too much noise, and draw attention) to lure the tiger - as they franticly ferried the tourists — eight to 10 safaris in a day for the stage-managed tiger show.
Reliable sources affirm that some resorts are also known to throw huge amounts of meat in their backyard, to attract the big cats - who frequent this path from Corbett upto the Kosi river. It is what you would call a well-kept secret. Everyone talks about it, the villagers, the foresters, the guides, the issue was even raised at a meeting of tour operators held late February, but no one is willing to go on record.
When I try to delve deeper, I am warned off - one such person who ‘asked too many questions’ was beaten up.
And no, he doesn’t want to be named either, says he ‘has suffered enough, and is better out of it.’ Baiting, and the consequent increasing interface with humans familiarises the tigers with humans, and they lose their instinctive fear of man. This changing interface could lead to unnatural behavior - like killing a human, who isn’t part of its natural diet.
Vinod Singhal, director of Corbett, doesn’t rule out baiting. “It’s possible, and we are investigating the matter,” says Singhal talking to The Pioneer. “And meanwhile we have put a stop to the elephant safaris.” Another major worry is that the onslaught of resorts - 60 and counting - is blocking a vital corridor that connects CTR to the Ramnagar Forest Division.
The other vital bottleneck in this corridor is the Sundarkhal encroachment between Garajia and Dhangadi gate -- which has long been patronised by politicians and powerful business interests who are pressing for legalising this encroachment. If so, it will only serve to accentuate conflicts, and tragedies like these, as the press of human population and the slew of resorts increases.
While the guardians of the forest are voluble in their critique of tourism, they - both Singhal and Chief Wildlife Warden Shrikant Chandola -- vehemently deny that poaching is a threat, ‘not in Corbett.’ But in the secrecy of closed doors at a meeting of senior forest officials last week, the unpalatable truth was out - tigers, leopards and elephants of not just Corbett but all of Uttarakhand were at their most vulnerable, poaching was at its peak.
News has just come in that a tiger - the second within a week - was found dead on March 17 in Dhela range in the Kalagarh Forest Division, and while the cause of death is suspected as and sources suggest that it could be a case of possible poaching, the department dismisses the death as ‘natural’ saying that it was killed by a male tiger. Both these deaths took place in the southern part of the reserve, adjoining the Bijnor district, which is ‘a problem area.’
On December 31, 2008, the putrefying dead body of a tusker was found buried in an agricultural field on the southern periphery of the reserve. “In the past eight-nine months,” informs a senior official, “we have lost one or two elephants a month on an average, and the number of tiger deaths are unnaturally high, and need to be looked into. Most cases are passed off as natural. That’s simply not true - we are also losing our animals to revenge killings by villagers and poaching. We need to address the issue, not hide it.” The problem may not lie so much within the reserve, but the buffer and the forests around are especially vulnerable, and the cancer will soon spread within Corbett, unless steps are not taken urgently.
Yet… even the basics are missing. A senior official informs that daily wagers have not been paid for the past nine months - why would they be motivated to protect? Little wonder then, that a tiger skin and bones were recovered from Ramnagar in January, reportedly ‘sourced’ from the periphery of Corbett. Four kilos of tusk were recovered buried near the Dhangadi gate on March 2, a poacher, with linkages to wildlife criminal Sansar Chand was caught in the reserve last year, while another confessed to killing a tiger in Ramnagar forest division, adjacent to Corbett.
NTCA Member Secretary Rajesh Gopal says he has repeatedly urged the State for a Tiger Conservation Plan for the core and buffer zones of the reserve but to no avail. There have also been repeated reminders to strengthen the protection of Corbett and surrounding forest divisions.
The good news is that Corbett continues to be a safe, productive haven for tigers and elephants but not for long if we continue to ignore the warning signals and allow the rot to sink in.
Solutions
Tighten protection. Induct young motivated staff. Equip current staff
Include Lansdowne, West Terai and Ramnagar Forest Division into the management of Corbett. Proposal pending with State Government
Protection must be strengthened in Bijnore Forest division in UP, which borders southern Corbett, and is most sensitive to poaching. This must also be under the management of Corbett. Though the Centre has long pressed the UP Government for the same, the State, however, has not bothered
Shift priority from tourism to conservation
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