Friday, July 17, 2020

Tiger Conservation : Canids to Rescue

A contingent issue in India the tiger is experiencing many facets of conservation impetus in a desperate bid to save the predator facing the threat of imminent extinction. There are many agencies, individuals, and of course the forest department working in tandem or independently toward an uphill and critically challenging task of saving the tiger. 

The big cat faces macro issues at the behest of the humans in its surroundings, the dreaded poachers who are now working in a more organized and extended network that includes wild animal parts smugglers and pet suppliers not forgetting their nexus with in-house accomplices. This does not mean there is a lesser threat from individual poachers and local hunters seeking an opportunity to kill a tiger or end up maiming it. These criminals are often in nexus with global illegal animal parts traders and suppliers to the TCM industry.  

The need of the hour is a strongly committed protection mechanism engaged in dealing with complex human-dominated circumstances and terrain riddled with challenges. Apart from a standard, regular approach towards protecting endangered species we need the box approach in order to fortify the conservation initiatives with minimal human interventions. 

Phil Davis


Phil Davis
An innovative apparatus is a boon for the conservation of big cats in India more so whence it arrives at the behest of committed individuals like Phil Davis stationed in India for years working for the cause of the tiger.

He has been part of conservation initiatives and programs in India for many committed years and is instrumental in auguring best practices for the ecological betterment of society having an immediate impact on tiger reserves and species conservation all over the country.  

Tiger Awareness                

It is a funding agency that works in tandem with many organizations in India with the aim to save the tiger. The funding is mostly at ground level which is ecologically more fruitful, encouraging local communities at the behest of the big cat and their heritage inheritance. The organization based in the UK was formed in the year 1998. The main focus is centered around the Sunderbans and Madhya Pradesh at present.  The charity is active in community initiatives as well which helps empower the local communities.  



Dogs to Rescue

The threat looms large with the ever-burgeoning poaching nexus aiming to supply big cat parts for TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine manufacturers. The invisible feeder lines like local poachers and their accomplices are hard to catch nuts that kill big cats using nefarious techniques and often get away with the heinous crime thanks to lacunae in the legal framework.      



Dog Training

An innovative approach that trains and manages Belgian Malinois Dogs and their handlers is being funded by UK-based Charity Tiger Awareness. The unit involves local vets on regular basis for the upkeep of the canines used in anti-poaching operations.  The projects are often executed in conjunction with the forest department. The efforts are in place for the last three years and have achieved notable success.       



The initiative has resulted in bringing a large number of wildlife crimes to law and solving a number of cases related to the wilderness in the area of operations.   



Subsequently, a large number of poachers have been apprehended and booked by the law. The success of the program has been enormous and more dogs are being trained for catching poachers in India's protected areas in an effort to save the tiger.    

Well-trained dogs are able to track the carcasses of wild animals as well as their poachers. Dogs have been trained to perform various tasks related to wildlife crimes in India and overseas. Wildlife protection dogs as they are often called can lead their handlers to illegal arms and ammunition belonging to poachers as well as rhino horns and tiger parts in urban and rural confines.  

The anti-poaching dogs are trained by experts before they become experts in detecting wildlife crimes and tracking poachers. For detecting illegal activities as regards tigers in India Belgian Malinois dogs have been found to be most effective in hot and humid conditions that prevail in most parts of our country.         

The induction of dog units for catching poachers and detecting crimes related to wild animals has proved as a boon in India and the initiative has been inducted at other tiger reserves as well. 

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         DOGS SAVING TIGERS AND CATCHING POACHERS

Belgian Malinois dogs funded by UK charity Tiger Awareness are saving Tigers' lives and other forest animals in Madhya Pradesh, India.

The project started in 2016, working with our partners Saving Tiger Society and the Madhya Pradesh forest department, a plan was put together to train four dogs and handlers, and after their 9 months of training, they would be working in Kanha, Panna, Sanjay Dubri,  and Pench Tiger Reserves.

The training with 2 handlers per dog, starts together with socialization training for the first month, the pups are 6 months old. They move on to tracking and apprehension training, then onto wildlife parts tracking. It was decided on Belgian Malinois dogs, as they are agile, intelligent, and have proven abilities working in temperatures in hot countries. They are slightly smaller than German Shepherds with good temperaments, they generally serve for 8 to 9 years and have regular checkups by veterinary staff.

The dogs have now been working in the field for 3 years. They have solved a range of cases in Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve including wild boar and most recently a sloth bear case, Leopard electrocution, chital poaching and sloth bear poaching case in Pench Tiger Reserve, recent leopard case at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Sambar and Wild boar case in Panna Tiger Reserve, Kanha Tiger Reserve, they have solved Leopard and herbivore cases, they have solved around 50 cases for wildlife in this period catching over 140 poachers, also a criminal case, where a person stole gold and money from a safe and the dog team tracked the criminal to their house.

Dogs, handlers, and Saving Tiger Society founder as the dogs complete training.
Sundar, Jacky, Apollo, and Storm, are the original four, they have eight more furry friends that have completed training since then, 6 have been posted to forest areas, and the other 2 posted to transport hubs, to combat the wildlife trade in Madhya Pradesh.

The charity gets regular updates on how the dogs are performing in the field and has seen them in training themselves, they have provided K9 first aid kits and protection / cool vests for the dogs. There are a further 2 dogs in training, and they completed their training in June 2020. They will be posted in West Bengal.

The charity helps support many other works in the field, they have built a school in the Sundarbans, Tiger squads, boundary walls around open wells, and supporting forest staff with medical camps and kits, you can find out more on their website at www.tigerawareness.co.uk

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Uday Works as Freelance Naturalist and Blogs on conservation, tigers, and environmental issues.

He also provides SEO and Website Content in English.

He can be contacted at:

Mail: pateluday90@hotmail.com
 Mob: 09755089323

                    

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