28 June, 2008, Hindustan Times
Those not given in to the hype surrounding the government's tiger translocation plan felt the rain stopped a bit too soon in Sariskathis morning; the skies cleared before time. And there is reason forthis sense of foreboding.
First, similar experiments with Amur tigers in Siberia showed that translocated tigers tended to move towards human habitations and trigger conflict. As a rule, animals shifted from their territory tendto home back – there are numerous examples of how translocated leopards, bears, elephants, even crocodiles, traveled hundreds of kilometers to come back to their original base. The present tigertranslocation exercise, the first of its kind in India, has gone infor the soft release option – shifting the animals first to an enclosure – to counter this factor.
Secondly, and more critically, conditions in Sariska that had led tothe local extinction of the striped cats due to poaching four yearsback remain pretty much the same. The Centre's approval for the translocation plan came with certain riders. But the state has managed to push ahead with the plan without bothering to meet these pre-conditions.
In a hurry to bring tigers from Ranthambhore before the monsoon the state even cut down on the size of the chain-link enclosures put upfor introduction of tigers from a proposed 8-10 hectares to just 1 hectare each. While sources cite the impending state elections and atop forest official nearing the end of his term as possible reasonsfor this emergency approach, consider the ground realities:
= Of the four strategically located forest villages – Kankwari,Kraska, Umri and Bagani -- that had to be shifted before any tigercould be released here, only Bagani, the smallest of the lot in termsof population and, therefore, impact on the wildlife, has beenrelocated so far.
= Busy pilgrim traffic for the Hanuman temple deep inside the reservestill flows unregulated on forest roads. Free entry inside the reserveand unrestricted vehicular movement makes it a thoroughfare everyTuesday and Saturday.
= The decision to divert heavy traffic from the state highway thatcuts through the reserve, to an alternative route is hanging fire inthe face of stiff resistance from local pressure groups.
= Though some of the staffers responsible for conceding all ofSariska's tigers to poachers have been shunted out, many of them werejust shuffled around locally and still serve at Sariska.
= Ex-servicemen deployed for protection at Sariska are an unhappy lotas their role is limited to helping forest guards. Many of these ex-servicemen complain that the guards on duty continue with their corrupt practices like illegal felling etc.
"Reintroduction is always a risky proposition for a number ofbiological factors. But the authorities must at least eliminate theexternal risk factors regarding habitation and protection to give thisexperiment its best chance to succeed," said Vidya Athreya, wildlife biologist and member of the IUCN CAT specialist group.
Those not given in to the hype surrounding the government's tiger translocation plan felt the rain stopped a bit too soon in Sariskathis morning; the skies cleared before time. And there is reason forthis sense of foreboding.
First, similar experiments with Amur tigers in Siberia showed that translocated tigers tended to move towards human habitations and trigger conflict. As a rule, animals shifted from their territory tendto home back – there are numerous examples of how translocated leopards, bears, elephants, even crocodiles, traveled hundreds of kilometers to come back to their original base. The present tigertranslocation exercise, the first of its kind in India, has gone infor the soft release option – shifting the animals first to an enclosure – to counter this factor.
Secondly, and more critically, conditions in Sariska that had led tothe local extinction of the striped cats due to poaching four yearsback remain pretty much the same. The Centre's approval for the translocation plan came with certain riders. But the state has managed to push ahead with the plan without bothering to meet these pre-conditions.
In a hurry to bring tigers from Ranthambhore before the monsoon the state even cut down on the size of the chain-link enclosures put upfor introduction of tigers from a proposed 8-10 hectares to just 1 hectare each. While sources cite the impending state elections and atop forest official nearing the end of his term as possible reasonsfor this emergency approach, consider the ground realities:
= Of the four strategically located forest villages – Kankwari,Kraska, Umri and Bagani -- that had to be shifted before any tigercould be released here, only Bagani, the smallest of the lot in termsof population and, therefore, impact on the wildlife, has beenrelocated so far.
= Busy pilgrim traffic for the Hanuman temple deep inside the reservestill flows unregulated on forest roads. Free entry inside the reserveand unrestricted vehicular movement makes it a thoroughfare everyTuesday and Saturday.
= The decision to divert heavy traffic from the state highway thatcuts through the reserve, to an alternative route is hanging fire inthe face of stiff resistance from local pressure groups.
= Though some of the staffers responsible for conceding all ofSariska's tigers to poachers have been shunted out, many of them werejust shuffled around locally and still serve at Sariska.
= Ex-servicemen deployed for protection at Sariska are an unhappy lotas their role is limited to helping forest guards. Many of these ex-servicemen complain that the guards on duty continue with their corrupt practices like illegal felling etc.
"Reintroduction is always a risky proposition for a number ofbiological factors. But the authorities must at least eliminate theexternal risk factors regarding habitation and protection to give thisexperiment its best chance to succeed," said Vidya Athreya, wildlife biologist and member of the IUCN CAT specialist group.
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