So the tiger in
Wayanad is dead.
But beware; more than 60
of them are still lurching inside the forest.
Now, some recap.
Now, some recap.
The curious case of
the cruel tiger
Usually wounds or similar issues which make a tiger
incapable of finding food on its own force it to look for easier preys like
cattle . In the case of Wayanad tiger, the postmortem report is still
to come out to understand if it had any such wounds which forced
it to hunt down the cattle. (Usually poaching is a major reason which causes
such wounds. The instances are not very rare in Wayanad and adjoining forest
areas in nearby states.).
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| Image Courtesy: WWF |
However, in Wayanad case, the tiger was rarely allowed to get its kill which was furiously taken away by the people to stage up blockades the National Highway. It was terrifically starved, so it killed more. Despite its frustration, it never attacked people, even if many (including school children) were trapped in its front, while it was starved for days. (Not out of respect or sympathy, but out of fear. Wild cats fear human a lot. They attack only when left with no other option.)
The classical cases
of crisis management by Kerala forest authorities
Lack of crisis management from the state and forest
authorities made the case worst.
The unruly mob was the single cause of death of the tiger
which was getting sedated due to the tranquilizer shots. According to experts,
the tiger, after shot with a tranquilizer dart of enough ketamine dosage,
should be left free for at least 30 minutes, to sedate down. It will show
violent behavior during the period but will sedate gradually. But instead of
leaving the animal free, the, mob surrounded it in Wayanad incident, exposing themselves
to danger and forcing the officials to shoot the animal.
Majority of the leopards or similar animals straying into
the human inhabited areas in Kerala have their fate sealed, since the mob has
its own way of stoning them to death even if the forest officials manage to get
the animals trapped. Desperately, the department has issued stricter circulars
on the need to stick to scientific methods while rescuing wild animals straying
into human inhabited areas. But the crisis
management plan of Kerala forest department (if they have any) still lacks the basic
procedure of mob control.
Here too, the authorities should not have let the people go
loose just like that in such a situation, not only for the safety of the people
and officials, but also for the poor animal.
What happens if the
tiger reserve comes up in Wayanad ?
One Tiger = several cattle
One Tiger Reserve = More tigers
One Tiger Reserve = More tigers
More Tigers = More cattle and other
issues
This is the popular mathematics used by the politicians in
Kerala time and again to instill fear in the public. A tiger reserve will
surely bring up more tigers, so more menace. That’s it.
But, Wayanad is not going to have the first tiger reserve in
the state, if it is proposed to be. Kerala already have two tiger reserves,
Parambikulam and Periyar. How many reports have popped about the horrid menace
done by tigers to the people living around these forests in recent years?
Mass eviction
Scaremongers sing that the reserve will bring eviction of
hundreds of families, a clamp down on commercial, construction activities, a carpet
ban on agriculture and what not. In short, human settlements will be razed down
for the useless tigers.
There are hundreds of families still living inside the buffer zone of other tiger reserves in the state. Let alone that, four villages with
hundreds of inhabitants are there in Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.
According to a forest official, who would like not to be
named, the inhabitants who happen to be inside the buffer area of a tiger reserve
may decide to leave the place with ample compensation from NTCA or can decide
to stay with all chances of getting compensated for the crop loss or similar
damages caused in the human animal conflict. Similarly, there are no such
carpet ban on agriculture or other activities, except certain minimal regulations
on construction of dams, linear structures etc.
Now, what if a tiger
reserve does not come up in Wayanad?
The latest data on the population of the big cat in the
state which is yet to be released shows that Wayanad has at least 70 mature
tigers and 10 cubs in its forests. That is pretty good numbers than many of the
so called ‘tiger reserves’ in the country and possibly, better than other
protected forest areas in the world.
Presently, the forest department in Kerala is in pretty bad
shape when it comes to allocation of funds for conservation purpose, let alone
the efforts to bring down human animal conflict. Sources at the forest department
in the state itself, on condition of anonymity, admits that the lack of funds
really affect the activities of the department.
According to an answer tabled by MoEF at the Rajyasabha on
November 27th, Kerala has got more than 14 crore rupees (1476.518 Lakhs) since 2010 for
conservation of big cats in the state. But not a single paisa from that money which
was sanctioned by National Tiger Conservation Authority has reached Wayanad
since it is not a tiger reserve yet, despite the higher population of tigers.
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| Funds released to Kerala under Project Tiger Since 2010 ( amount in Lakhs) Source: MoEF |
The case of the people around the reserve will not be as
pathetic as today where they get a nominal amount of compensation or just statements
from politicians on possible compensation, since the compensation procedure is standardized
and better with NTCA.
If the sanctuary is not turned into a tiger reserve, the
forest department will find it difficult to implement enough mitigation
measures to avoid any conflict between the high populations of tigers in the area.
Above all, tigers are costly
Above all, tigers are costly
India spends crores of rupees from the tax payer money every
year to conserve the striped big cats of the country since it is among the rare
places in the world with favorable habitats and a viable population of this endangered
animal. According to WWF, we have lost 97 percent of world’s tiger population in 100 years.
Obviously, a tiger costs very much, in nature. If you don’t care about that, you should understand that, a tiger costs crores of tax payers money. Whomever responsible for shooting and killing a tiger when there is enough chances of rescuing it, is thus answerable to the tax payer.
Obviously, a tiger costs very much, in nature. If you don’t care about that, you should understand that, a tiger costs crores of tax payers money. Whomever responsible for shooting and killing a tiger when there is enough chances of rescuing it, is thus answerable to the tax payer.
who will convey this message to the politician of kerala especially a forest minister who has no interest in it and other politician who are only interested in votes bank politics and a forest dept officials who joined it because they could not find job in other departments.....nobody bothered to convince people about benefit of getting the status of tiger reserve this is my feeling when i had interaction with people from that district.
ReplyDeleteVinod,
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment.
What you said is true. At present, it may seem little difficult to get the message through since there are many lobbies(real estate mafia and politicians) behind the brouhaha around tiger reserve in Wayanad.
But, as the tiger was gunned down, there is at least a slight change in the emotions and feelings of the general public.Many villagers from Wayanad itself has expressed the view that the animal could have been captured live than shot dead. But that has not changed the general notion against the reserve. I think time will bring some change to it, bcz every issue that attracts much public attention in Kerala is very volatile also.
With the politicians it will be just like another episode of Mullapperiyar where nothing happened to the actual situation. For forest minister, he always makes superficial comments without understanding issues and finds himself in awkward situations(remember his statements on 'Aadimadhyantham' directed by Sherry). Moreover, we don't know how long he will be in that office. so with politicians and minster it is just a matter of time.
But it is the main stream Malayalam media which was always dancing to the tune of the propaganda against tiger reserve to change its stand on the issue and stop misinforming the public. Then there is some chance that the game will change.