The
martyrdom of the Wayanad tiger and a similar incident of
officials shooting a strayed tiger in Maharashtra, has urged the National Tiger
Conservation Authority (NTCA) to come out with a Standard Operating Procedures
(SOP) to handle conflict situations in which a strayed carnivore like tiger of leopard
are involved.
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Image Courtesy: WWF |
While clearly forbidding the shooting of strayed carnivores,
the SOP addresses many critical issues like mob control, the need to distinguish
a man eater from a straying carnivore and standard procedures for capturing and
transferring the animal in detail.
To make sure the situation is handled properly, the SOP suggests
constituting a committee with nominees of the Chief Wildlife Warden, NTCA along
with a veterinarian, local NGO representative, local panchayat representative and
field director to carry out the decision making process. The SOP also suggests that
a wildlife expert should be involved in the ongoing monitoring operations in such
conflict situations.
Distinguish man eaters
from a mere cattle lifter, before shooting it
A straying carnivore should not be shot, if it is not a
man-eater, directs the
SOP. “Under no
circumstances, a tiger should be eliminated by invoking the Wildlife (Protection)
Act, 1972, if it is not habituated for causing human death.” it says. It also
urges to stick to traps and chemical immobilization to capture the animal.
“Elimination of a tiger / leopard as a ‘man-eater’ should be
the last option, after exhausting the option of capturing the animal live. The
Chief Wildlife Warden of the State after the due diligence should record in
writing the reasons for declaring the tiger / leopard as a ‘man-eater’” says the
guideline.
Often, carnivores straying into human inhabited area are mistaken
for a man eater, even without enough evidence. To avoid such cases, the SOP
annexure directs officials to distinguish attacks from a habitual man-eater
from incidents of accidental lethal encounters with a straying carnivore.
“As most of our forests outside protected areas are right
burdened, the probability of chance encounters is very high. Further, tigers often use agriculture / sugar
cane field, ….. ...which may also cause lethal encounters with human
beings. Such animals should not be
declared as ‘man-eaters’. However, confirmed
habituated tiger / leopard which ‘stalk’ human beings and feed on the dead body
are likely to be ‘man-eaters’”, says the SOP annexure.
In the Wayanad incident, a cattle lifting tiger was shot down
by officials, by invoking section 11 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 which
allows killing habitual man eating tigers. To curb such instances, the SOP
annexure clearly directs that in no circumstances, a mere cattle lifting
carnivore be declared a man eater, just because it has ventured into human
inhabited places.
The new guidelines also stress on confirming the identity of
the animal as early as possible. The guidelines direct the authorities to compare
camera trap pictures, pug mark information to identify the animal. Camera traps
can be set up near the kills and pressure impression pads (PIPs) can be put up
in the area to confirm the identity of the animal and to track down its pattern
of movement, says the guidelines.
Use Section 144 for
mob control
Uncontrollable mobs are often the biggest challenge in
rescuing a straying animal in India. In the Wayanad incident, officials were
forced to shoot the tiger due to the presence of an agitated mob. The same
factor has killed many straying leopards in parts of India.
To avoid such instances, the new guidelines suggest wildlife
officials to proactively seek the help of district law and order authorities
right from the beginning of the conflict situation and to clamp down Section 144
of the Criminal Procedure Code which bans the grouping of more than five people
in public places. “In all instances of wild carnivores like tiger / leopard straying into a human dominated
landscape, the district authorities need to ensure law and order by imposing section
144 of the Cr.Pc.”, says the guideline.
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Front Page of NTCA SOP |
Usually, tigers keep their kill in hide outs to eat later,
which often helps to track down the animal and even to capture them. But often
this is interrupted in conflict areas. In Wayanad incident, outraged public snatched
the carcass of the killed live stock to put up road block protests. This has
caused the hungry animal to lift more cattle in the run. Interestingly, the
NTCA guidelines also suggest guarding the kill in cattle lifting incidents, in
such a way that it won’t distract or disturb the carnivore. The suggestion also
aims to avoid revenge poisoning, which is a usual incident in
human-animal conflict areas. In a recent incident, a tiger died when villagers poisoned the kill
in Nagarhole Tiger Reserve.
Stop rumour mills
Rumour mills have played a major role in worsening the
situation in Wayanad as in similar cases by causing unnecessary panic among the
people. To check such instances, the guideline directs the authorities to deploy
an official spokesperson to regularly update the media regarding the progress
of the rescue operation.
“An authorized spokesperson of the Forest Department, should
periodically update the media (if required) to prevent dissemination of
distorted information relating to the operation / incidents,” says the
guideline. On a similar line, the guideline
also discourages giving unnecessary publicity to blown up tiger population figures.
“The minimum tiger numbers based on Individual tiger captures (in areas where
camera trap monitoring is going on), should not be given undue publicity
without due cross checking with the NTCA”, says the guideline.
Use traps and
chemical immobilization
Once repeated instances of cattle lifting or attack on
humans are confirmed, automatic closure traps should be set up in strategic
areas after collecting enough information on the movement of the animal, suggests
NTCA. If repeated attempts of trapping the animal fail, the guidelines suggest immobilizing
it chemically using sedation darts with the help of experts and vets.
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A Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) under captivity |
According to the guideline, recommended drugs can be
injected to the animal by projecting 3 to 5 ml capacity lightweight plastic
darts of 38 to 40 mm length and a needle with 1.5 mm to 2 mm diameter, using
compressed gas or CO2 propelling device. The animal can be approached in vehicles
or on trained elephants or can be darted from raised platforms. It is always preferable
to target the hindquarters of the animal for darting. The guideline also
suggests that the animal should bee kept in close observation with minimal disturbance
during the induction phase (the period between injecting the drug and the
animal turning immobile.)
Transferring the captured
carnivore
If the captured tiger is healthy or young, with no serious incapacitation,
it should be released to a suitable habitat with enough prey base after radio collaring
it, suggest thee guideline. A captured tiger should not be released to the territory
of another tiger. If the tiger is incapacitated, it should be sent to a recognized
zoo, says the guidelines. It also says that a confirmed man-eating carnivore,
once captured, should not be released back to the forest.
The Chief Wildlife Warder of the state will be responsible
for making the decision of releasing the animal back to the wild or of
transferring it to a zoo.