Tiger Poaching is Not Man Animal Conflict. It is Crime

Poaching is a heinous crime that is not a man-animal conflict and, this misconception has to be correctly implanted in society. Snaring, electrocution, and poisoning, all are done on the pretext of poaching for the small game thus mitigating the enormity of the crime in the public view. I do not know if any possible leniency accrues from the legal framework as such. Or is it labeled as small game poaching to address the culpability of sentinel in a more acceptable manner?  What can we do?      

Tiger

The recent snaring of a young tigress in the buffer zone of Kanha National Park adds up to another heinous crime against the beleaguered predator. Snaring is unimaginably painful and gruesome. Poaching in the buffer zones is a regular occurrence albeit the span between is reassuring but at the same time, it lulls the setup into complacency. These incidents keep on happening infrequently and some may go unnoticed by the public eye. For the death of the tiger is sometimes kept in a veil of secrecy for reasons unknown or simply to ward off public pressure.  

After every tiger poaching, there is some noise but like every crime, the act is soon forgotten. We are famous for forgetting even gruesome crimes that belie human sensibility whence precious life is concerned. We suffer from a weak memory. Although every life and every life form is precious, nonreversible incidence like the killing of big cats means the extinction of the species. Our National Animal can be killed so easily is a startling fact.        

The vast spread of our jungles and the humanity that prevails in between is an excuse enough for those in charge of the protected areas to get away. And the legal provisions are so shallow that every murderer gets bail and the case drags on and on. Though punitive measures cannot come into consideration until the act is proven but there can be some prevalent signs or logic that can come into play of the possibility of crime weighing down on the person assumed to be the culprit. Something that prevents outright bail. 

In such instances, bail is a clear getaway or escape from the grip of the law. The legal lacunae and skillful advocacy and delayed criminal proceedings are further attenuated by corruption in the courts and the clog that is present regarding the humongous number of cases is an encouragement for die-hard criminals or in this context the poachers. This criminal indulgence in tiger killing in India does not instill fear of punitive measures and its repeated occurrence is assured.            

The punitive sentence awarded is also not enough...poaching a tiger leads to jail for eleven years or so. And the indictment is rare. Why do we not consider the killing of rare and endangered megafauna on par with the murder of humans? Are we so biased against other life forms?  Not only this we continue to damage our environment through irrational resource utilization and management. And then we complain of climate instability.  

If we can be so sagacious in legislating the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 then we can consider this as well. A strong punitive measure should be in place for killing endangered species.   

Indian Conservation Ethos

We are powered by the past in conservation our fabulous Vedic civilization outshines all global ethos in according sanctity to all life forms and nature as a whole. We consider vital elements of nature as holy or sanctimonious why not the tiger or the leopard or the elephant? Is it because of past abundance and hence the lack of importance of these species? This could be true and so is the truth that we fear changing Holy sanctions even if they are not rational anymore. Things need to change with time and the prevalence of facts in the contemporary without fear of Holy wrath. Every Indian carries the ethos of the Vedic civilization within, howsoever shallow in some instances.      

The killing of big cats in India will continue unmitigated unless strongly discouraging punitive measures are put into the act.            

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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 teaches Digital Marketing in Jabalpur in the summer.

He can be contacted at:

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Tiger Deaths - A Real Conundrum

In a short span of time four tigers died at Shahdol District in MP, one each in Corbett National Park in UK and Sanjay Dubri in Chhattisgarh. A tiger was electrocuted near Pench National Park, a tiger was found dead near Sehore....the story goes on. Though more tiger inhabited area should be taken under the net of protection on many instance the process has laggard behind due to reasons unknown.

If any process in this country has to gather pace, that has to be tiger conservation measures. It seems conservation bodies at National and local level are obsessed with tourism rather than finding solutions that could save the big cats in India.    

It no longer surprises whence the tabloids speak of death of the big cats including the leopard. Though not all deaths have a alarming reason many die of one. The ongoing threat is of course electrocution. But poaching and poisoning goes on hand in hand. 

Poisoning is preventable as they do so at Kanha National Park by quickly shifting the carcass out of reach of the predator. This must be done elsewhere too but not everywhere especially in an around our reserve forests. Fortunately not many tigers inhabit our reserve forests as their number has drastically gone down and they are found only in and around the protected areas or the tiger reserves.  

What is missed out by the above factors is taken care of by the railways and road accidents. In case of leopards which venture too close to human habitations they are killed by the marauding mobs and over zealous hunters often in connivance with local politicians.  Neither is the reporting by local press constructive and it is seldom brought to notice about human intrusion in the land of wild denizens. We are urbanising at a fast pace too fast as a matter of fact and bringing to nought the habitats that come on the way. The animals suffer in mute silence as they watch their land being taken away. 

Power play does not affect only the downtrodden humans it is vicious in case of wild animals. Some politicians and local hunters indulge in hunting misusing their powers. Corrupt official from the forests and other departments are often too eager for a shoot out. 

Some members of hunter gatherer tribal communities are a persistent threat to wild animals, and are active in feeding the illegal wildlife trade. Die hard poacher sitting at the helm of the network rarely face penal action, thanks to legal loop holes and an indolent judicial system which drags the cases so long that justice virtually has no meaning.            

The threat to our tigers is real the rising numbers not withstanding. Multi pronged assaults can dip the figures dangerously there is no room for complacency. What is required is a concerted efforts to save the beleaguered animal not just physical protection, proactive policies are the need of the hour. Policing, habitat management, disease prevention and effective translocation of warring tigers wherever population is in plus category.                    

Tiger Conservation: The Mayhem Continues

Tiger Poaching in India

With the electrocution of tigress at Sanjay Dubri National Park in Madhya Pradesh another ghastly incidence unfolds. The electrocution of tigers in India continues unabated since more than a decade.

A pick on newspapers will reveal how frequent is this menace. Taking advantage of high voltage electric lines passing through and near the conservation units this form of poaching is a regular affair with the system having no answer to curb.

Tiger By Teerath Singh

Poachers small time or big time do not understand the National loss of an inheritance invaluable. This also sums up the fact that in spite of active and continued conservation efforts the beleaguered animal is not out of danger. This is also suggestive of ongoing man animal conflict in areas harboring the big cats. 

There are no answers even after decades of existing of this method of killing tigers and other wild animals. Taking into account the critical status of the predator one would have expected a quick reprisal or prevention exercise such that the menace is stopped for ever. On the contrary it seems that such incidents are considered as isolated and hence have no effect on the conservation fraternity in India.      

Compounded by other threats like poisoning and snaring facing the tiger, this is going to result in reduction of its population on long lasting basis or even extinction. 

In spite of all International hullabulloo we have not woken up from slumber. The animal requires proactive concerted and compounded efforts to brink it back from the brink of extinction.

For the political fronts at various level this issue lacks imperative as compared with more inviting actions that fetch votes. This has weakened the administrative impetus required to save wild animals in this country.

The legal system too is to blame as many culprits go scot free due to lacunae in the framework. The required punitive measures harsh enough to discourage the marauders never take place. The lethargy entwined in our legal framework further vitiates the atmosphere.

For example the recent electrocution case in Kanha buffer has not resulted in punitive action thanks to myriad of legal loopholes in our system and administrative lethargy.  

If a methodology to curb this menace is not found soon, we are going to lose large number of tigers. A nation bent upon cow protection needs to pay heed to this majestic animal in dire need of attention. Least we lose this valuable inheritance forever and lose our pride as well not forgetting the inimitable part it plays in the ecosystems across the country.  

The sad end to the recent case of electrocution at Sanjay Dubri was the subsequent death of her cubs. Taken into intensive care at Bandhavgarh Reserve they were unable to cope with infection in absence of the immunity accorded by the mother's milk.. 

Muchmucha Tiger is Dead

As the story unfolds the Muchmucha (Bandhavgarh) male tiger died due to electrocution in one of the fields in the village. Muchmucha is on the Tala Road about fifteen km from Barhi. This is the bitter tale of tiger's survival in India. The electric wire trap was laid by some notorious poachers obviously for small game.  

It is assumed that the tiger died on 25th February 2013 some times in the night while crossing over. The male tiger was about five years old and in a state of good health. I hope the tiger had mated with the female it encountered in my last trip. The tiger was in its prime and was in a position to sire many cubs but the tragedy has put stop to that.     

The tiger population in the outskirts of Bandhavgarh is thin and it will be some time before another male takes over the breeding process. The electrocution menace is wide spread in Central Indian Tiger Reserve. This is due to 11 KVA line passing through many reserves. 

It is problems like these which have to taken care of but unfortunately myopia rules over our thinkers. Precious time is wasted on issues like tourism which are already under an experienced control mechanism.  Not one voice is raised regarding issues that are really decimating the left over big cat populations in the country.

Another Tiger Killed

A tiger was butchered here about two day back and its part cut off at jungles of Umaria near Bandhavgarh National Park. The tiger poachers were caught by the police while two poachers are still at large.One of the poachers is said to have taken the tigers limb for cooking. Earlier a tiger was electrocuted on this Sunday in the Ghunghuti Forests near Bandhavgarh. 

Blue Eyed Tiger by Tirath Singh

Bandhavgarh Landscape

This is the said state of tiger conservation in India. There is no proactive stand to prevent the extermination of this majestic cat and few hundred remain. While so much was furor was caused  by the tiger tourism issue no one bothers to bring forth the actual issues. The lacuna in our conservation efforts and absolute disregard for other life forms in India.