Pregnant tigress becomes victim of human wrath

[Animal 0]

Pregnant tigress becomes victim of human wrath

19 Feb 2008

CANNING/NEW DELHI: These are hard times for the big cat. In another example of man-animal conflict, a pregnant tigress was badly injured by villagers in West Bengal on Monday. That's not all. Another tiger was found paralysed in Madhya Pradesh even as police confiscated three tiger skins in Kerala.

The tigress had strayed into human habitations in the Sunderbans and had injured three persons in South 24-Parganas district's Deulbari village. Enraged villagers stoned the animal.

The frightened big cat, which had to swim across two rivers, Matla and Makri, to reach the village, climbed atop a banyan tree.

Forest guards encircled the tree with a net hoping to trap the animal. But the locals set the tree on fire. On seeing the flames, the scared animal jumped on the net, tore it apart and escaped to an abandoned village hut. Later the tigress became unconscious and forest officials captured it. It was put in a cage and bundled onto a waiting launch. The forest guards were also pelted with stones by the villagers. Five of them are injured.

In Madhya Pradesh, an eight-year-old male tiger was found injured with its hind legs paralysed at Bandherwar village, 25 km from Satna town on Sunday. Panna Tiger Reserve authorities have tranquilised the tiger and taken it to Bhopal for treatment. Nobody knows how the injury occurred.

Meanwhile, trading in tiger skin continues. According to information collated by Wildlife Protection Society of India, in the past 48 hours, forest officials have recovered three tiger skins in two separate cases in Kerala's Wynad district. On February 16, 2008, two tiger skins were seized at Sulthan Bathery.

The forest department has arrested one person in this connection. In another case, the skin of an adult tiger was confiscated at Mananthavady. One person has been arrested in this case too.

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Chinese snatching our tigers too; readers upset


17 Feb 2008, 1100 hrs IST,Devyani Mohan,INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK


It’s official - India has just 1,411 tigers. The 2002 census figure of 3,500 tigers was clearly an effort to cover up sarkari failure to protect the glorious cat

The tiger is on the run with nowhere to hide. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has reported that only 1,411 tigers remain in the wild in India, numbers substantially lower than was previously assumed. In Rajasthan and the Eastern Ghats in particular, the tiger is in dire straits.

It was evident the big cat was perilously close to extinction. TOI Online readers such as Kiron Rao in Bangalore, Rajinder in Jammu, and Vinay from Tokyo say, our inability to save our nation’s pride is a ‘national shame’.

Mumtaj in Chennai feels the responsibility lies with us. “Human beings should realize they cannot survive alone in this world without a balanced green environment and other living beings.”

Hunt the hunters: Rampant poaching is the biggest reason for the fall in tiger numbers. Readers feel harsh punishments can only deter the poachers. Some like Ravi from Bangalore, Vinayak Gupta and Amit in Delhi, George from UK, Arvind Rnagan in Canada, AK in Montreal, Parag Dave from Gujarat, and Mohit Sood suggest ‘shoot at sight’ orders or the death penalty as possible deterrents.

Viveka in Bangalore says “killing a tiger is equivalent to the murder of a human being!” Vinay from Mysore, Doha resident Raj and Tushar think that a nexus between forest officials and poachers is adding fuel to the fire.

Politicians’ apathy: Many blame the political class. “It’s a shame we humans have finally succeeded in driving this wonderful creation of nature to the brink of extinction! Let’s respect each other's space and maintain the delicate balance of our ecosystem. Politicians, who waste time on baseless issues must do something immediately,” according to Jo from Melbourne.

Yogesh from Ahmedabad, Aniket from Mumbai, Hemant and Krishna Kumar in Bangalore and Harish in Gurgaon also hold successive governments responsible.

“It’s a shame on our part that we are losing such a fantastic creature to human greed. Unless the government does something immediately, the tigers in India will be a thing of past,” writes Eshwar from California.

International clampdown : Shalc from India feels the Chinese are to blame. Pressure has to be put on the Chinese to ban tiger parts trade, he says. “If they continue to demand tiger parts, these tigers will die.”

“Between the poachers, corrupt government staff, and the voracious Chinese, the Indian tiger will soon disappear,” adds Probhat Raha from Ontario, Canada.

Deforestation: Loss of natural habitat due to rapid urbanisation, industrialisation and encroachment in the buffer zones is also taking its toll on the majestic animal. Naxal activity in select reserves is worsening the situation.

Olaf from Brisbane writes, “Builders and common people have encroached the wilds and the government is letting them... Everybody must feel responsible...”

The only way to save these tigers is to curb the human population in the country. Else, humans will destroy almost every single resource in this country, adds Thomas living in Seattle, USA and Deepak Vohra.

Avinash from Kolkata says, “Poaching, shrinking forests, increasing human encroachment is making the natural cycle precarious. Unless the laws are implemented effectively the situation is not going to change.”

Amitosh in Bangalore however feels we had already reached the point of no return. “First the tiger, and then other species will disappear.”

Not too late: Clearly the tiger was facing a tough battle for survival. Despite the hype, the magnificent animal had pretty much been left to fend for itself; now is the time to come to its rescue.

Sundar from New Jersey says, “Strict measures should be taken to deal with the poaching menace. The law and its implementing authorities should have more teeth and modern gadgets [should be made available] to detect and prevent foul play. As regards a tiger’s natural habitat, we human beings need to learn to live within our bounds and not encroach on forest land. Interestingly, such issues are not in the agenda of any political parties.”

Increase forest cover: Planting more trees and reducing pollution would assist in increasing the forest cover, suggests Raj in USA and Venkat in Bangalore

Mumbai residents Shailesh and Bhargav, and Pranav from Coventry, UK suggests similar steps including allocation of more funds towards environment protection, limiting deforestation, enforcing strict poaching laws, and curbing movement inside the park and buffer zones.

“Sophisticated firearms and better equipment for forest guards will help,” thinks Roopa Esther living in Noida. Gurgaon resident Sarjeet feels strict measure such as temporary shut down of the forest for the public may also work.

Tiger Tourism: Adnan (Dubai) Nirmal Jana (Gurgaon) and Suvid Bajaj (London) think promotion of wildlife tourism with involvement of the locals can benefit the tiger. The funds collected will be used for the local people.

“Make villagers feel responsible for preserving their wildlife. Reward informants so that it is more lucrative than poaching tigers or trading in tiger parts,” are steps that AK from Montreal and Jacob George, UAE, suggest.

Captive breeding : Readers including Jatin in USA, Sathesh John in Michigan, Mukesh Samtani in Ahmedabad, P Basu and Anand from Bangalore propose captive breeding to increase the tiger population.

Export the Tiger: For Col. Vijay Rajdhan in Dehradun, and Vineet and MS Kamath (Bangalore), the tigers’ best chance lies in being sent out to a more economically advanced and environmentally conscious country. But Mukesh Samtani and Aditi Deopujari did not agree - India needed to be self sufficient.

Public awareness: Meenakshi in USA and Shrikant Ashar from Mumbai feel it is time the youth take up the cause to save the endangered animal. Schools and colleges can include the study of the environment and preservation of tigers in their curriculum.

But action had to be taken now; the day is not far when the most charismatic species on Earth, and sadly the most threatened, will only be seen in the confines of a zoo.

Chetan in Bangalore thinks the media should create public awareness. “A campaign similar to the one on Global Warming should be initiated,” he suggests. Murali Gopalan and Arun Nayak (Bangalore) and Kartik living in Chennai suggest the Times of India should take the lead...

Survival of the fittest? But this NRI in the US draws on Darwin's concepts of Natural Selection. “Are we trying to prove Darwin's theory of "Survival of the fittest" wrong? There are thousands of species that have been wiped from our planet and many will be wiped in coming years. Which species are to be saved or not is not our call....”

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