Great Read: Tigers straying from forest to forest

Van-van bhatakte bagh

By Fateh Singh Rathore, famous tiger expert

Rajasthan Patrika, Jaipur Edition, 21 October 2010

Thanks to Soonooji for the translation

We must consider why the survival of tigers is once again in danger, and who is responsible for this state of affairs

Nowadays one sees many news items being printed about tigers. The truth is that their condition is not too good. There are too many causes of disturbance in the forest. Forty guard posts (chowkies) have been constructed recently in the Ranthambhore National Park (RNP). The past three or four years have seen several tractors, trolleys, trucks etc. moving about in the forest, in contravention of High Court rulings against any such activity. Lots of vehicles have been used to build the chowkies in the park. Trees have been cut, explosives have been detonated. The ecology is being ruined. Around a hundred anicuts have been built, although it is worth observing that there is no water in a single one. Why were the anicuts built at all, or was it necessary to spend a budget that had been allocated? Human interference increased in the very areas which are favourite breeding spots for tigers. More roads were built, and breeding areas destroyed on the pretext of improving facilities for tourists. There are now no tigresses in those areas. Each year used to see the birth of nine or ten cubs. However, in the past three and a half years, there have been only two new cubs born. This is itself a kind of record. Even the authorities admit that Ranthambhore has only 27 tigers.

The earlier belief was that one should not interfere with nature, that enforced breeding could be harmful. Now females are being isolated, buffalo calves are bred to feed them, lakhs of rupees are being spent on all this. There is no need for this at all. Whatever nature does is done appropriately, any attempts to impose any kind of order can only lead to problems. The forest department needs to concentrate on saving the ecology and environment, not on interventions to increase breeding. If the natural environment is saved, the tigers will breed naturally. Keladevi Sanctuary occupies a vast area, but not a single tiger can be found there. Even the tigers of Ranthambhore have started leaving the park, going as far as Bharatpur, Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh.

In spite of all this, neither does the forest department do anything about it, nor do the media raise any queries. Nobody seeks to explain why the tigers are moving out of the forest. All they say is that this is where the tiger left from, this is where he is headed, and this is where he has reached. They are followed by patrolling teams, video recordings are made, but no investigations are ever carried out. It’s like saying that a peacock danced in the forest and someone saw it dance. Others believe whatever the officials tell them. Officials who can hardly be called experts on the subject.

Sariska is finished, the tigers there are finished, and the very officers who presided over this demise have now been posted in Ranthambhore. Perhaps they were told “Thanks for your sterling work: now go and do likewise in Ranthambhore”. There is no accountability, no investigation, never any punishment for things that go wrong. Increasing tourism cannot be blamed for this state of affairs. The forest department itself is in charge of tourism, which is increasing manifold, with no control on the number of hotels coming up. Tourists can hardly be called antagonistic to the tiger. Tourists come to see the tigers, and all that the forest department officials are bothered about is to find out each tourist’s passport number, and whether he has paid for his bookings. This takes priority over their main task which is to keep a watch over the tigers. There is rampant construction work going on in the forest – who will put a stop to it? A major problem is that of the increasing human population around the park. Attempts to relocate villages away from the park’s boundaries are rarely successful. Villagers even accept the compensation given to them for moving away, only to return to the same spot later. In the end, the responsibility for implementing the relocation effectively also lies with the forest department. Today Ranthambhore has only 27 tigers, yet the 400 staff employed to guard them can barely recognize them – what is the use of that? The officers hardly know which tiger roams in which area of the park.

The number of tigers is falling, and nobody seems to question why this is happening. The forest and its animals are not being protected adequately. The media print whatever they are told by authorities, without making any attempt at an independent investigation. 11 tigers have moved out of Ranthambhore, 5 sent to Sariska. There is an attempt being made to reintroduce tigers there, but with what result? No cubs have been born there since the relocation. Tiger T12 was sent to Sariska, but there is now no sign of him. Three females and two males were sent to Sariska, and the process of sending one more male is on. Have three males ever been known to stay together near three females? In actual fact, one usually finds two or three females in the territory of each male but the Sariska experiment is being carried out without considering these factors.

I have worked for fifty years in the forest service, yet do not presume to call myself a tiger expert, unlike several officials today who announce that they are experts on tigers. Each national park has a couple of such “experts”. It is worth finding out whether any of them has ever worked at establishing a national park. There should be an independent investigation of their achievements, carried out by a committee which includes members of the public. Today there is nobody who can say anything to them, or point out their shortcomings. We should have published appraisals of their work. If one is punished for his apathy or wrongdoing, it will automatically check others from doing likewise. Thousands of crores of rupees were spent on Sariska, but not a single person has been punished for its annihilation. Each time they say that what’s happened has happened, but nobody wants to say why it happened, or how it happened, or who was in charge when it happened. Did we not have any people who could have saved it? What were they doing while it was all going on? Sariska has been emptied, Keladevi has no tigers: why? Attention should be paid to the situation honestly to ensure that the tiger can be saved.