Tiger Country Is Safer Than City Roads

Image: Vidyanand Kamat

How do you do a tiger census?
A census would involve counting all animals, which is impossible for wildlife. One can’t ask all animals in a forest to give a “haajri”, can you? The most reliable method is to carry out density estimation using camera trapping. This will involve setting up automatically triggered cameras in forest trails that are regularly used by tigers. Since each individual tiger has a unique stripe pattern, using the photographs and statistical methods one can estimate tiger numbers in a given area.

How do you navigate tricky issues such as human encroachments in forests?
Forest encroachments in critical wildlife habitats should be removed. However forest dwelling tribals can be relocated if they are willing to move outside as they currently do not process any agricultural land [with titles] inside forests. There should be no mercy to remove encroachments of rich farmers, plantation owners, etc.

What is your opinion on tiger farms?
They are not solutions for conservation of tigers in the wild. Despite having several tiger farms, China has lost all its wild tigers. There will always be demand for products made from ‘wild’ tigers rather than the ‘farmed’ variety. For several centuries people have domesticated several wild species such as chicken, goat, cattle, etc. but there has been no reduction in demand for meat of wild chicken (jungle fowl), wild goats (Nilgiri tahr, several species of wild goats found in Himalayas) or wild cattle.

Are you glad that a corporate has taken up the cause?
Conservation of tigers needs support from all sectors of society, including corporates. However corporates should keep away from investing in destructive projects that would affect tigers. We all need development, but it is very important to have some areas sacrosanct. We have only five percent of our country’s landscape under protected area (national parks and wildlife sanctuaries) status and we need to follow a hands-off approach here.

What is the likelihood of being killed by the very tigers that you are trying to save?
It is safer to be in tiger country than driving on city roads. Except in the Sunderbans, tigers normally do not attack people. However there are instances when people are attacked. This happens either due to injured tigers moving into human habitations or when someone gets close to mothers with cubs when they are in forests.

Can people get into this if they don’t have any alternate sources of income?
This largely depends on passion and motivation of people to work for conservation. These days more and more young people are getting into this. It will not pay as much as a software engineer job would, but may give more satisfaction. Surely we can attract more talented people if this was a very well paid profession. This is where corporates must step in.

(As told to Abhishek Raghunath)

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