"Save Tigers"...
It’s the tiger’s worst hour. In the first two weeks of 2010 – the International Year of the Tiger – India has lost four tigers. A skin was seized in Kerala, and two are suspected poaching cases, though official reports say otherwise. Of particular concern is Corbett, where four tigers have died in 28 days in the cusp of this year.
Though Corbett officials insist that all were ‘natural deaths’, doubts are being raised, particularly about a young male tiger found dead in Dhikala on January 11 – in the core of the reserve. A senior official of the National Tiger Conservation Authority affirmed that poisoning is suspected. The cancer has reached the tiger’s last bastions – Kaziranga, celebrated as a success story, lost 15 per cent of its tigers in the space of an year, populations in Kanha ‘the jewel in the crown’, have crashed, with some ranges showing little, or no sign of the tiger; and poaching has reached the heart of Corbett, again.
In 2009, we lost a tiger almost every fourth day – 85 tigers in 365 days. These, of course, are only the recorded instances – minus all those skins that sneaked out across the border, and beyond – largely to China which writes its own laws on consumption of tiger derivatives even as it signs on international treaties dictating otherwise.
Two reserves Sariska and Panna have been emptied of tigers, “and 15 others are in a very, very precarious position, where tigers could go extinct,” says the Minister of State (Environment and Forests,) Jairam Ramesh. He called 2009 'the worst year for the tiger'. Good, that finally the government is acknowledging that there is a problem – denial of a tiger crisis as has been the norm till date has only accelerated the process of extinction. Ramesh calls the current tiger crisis “an emergency.”
Why has the situation come to pass; inspite of the creation of Project Tiger, the biggest initiative of its kind, and a network of 38 tiger reserves and strict protectionist laws? Tiger numbers today are lower than ever before at 1,400 and declining?
In a nutshell, we have failed to protect the tiger and its habitat. While the demand, and price, for tiger parts accelerates, protection systems are non-existent. Reserves are managed with a meagre, underpaid, unequipped staff. The condition of the foot soldier has remained unchanged in 35 years of Project Tiger. Coupled with the fact that implementation of laws is virtually non-existent, barely one per cent of poachers have been convicted, forests are a risk-free treasury, open for loot.
While the central government has taken some initiatives to push tiger conservation, states are simply not interested. Funds reach after inordinate delays, apathetic officers man reserves. Political will at the state level is an imperative, for they ‘own’ the habitats, and by default the tigers! And for all its good intent, Project Tiger, forgive the pun, remains a Paper Tiger.
Tiger habitat continues to be degraded and fragmented. Protected areas, barely five percent of India, must be made sacrosanct and not ravaged by mines, flooded under reservoirs or bisected with roads and railways. A Special Protection Force, on the lines of the army, should be inducted *now*, to protect the tiger – each reserve will soon be a Sariska. And our national animal, extinct.
People wake up... Put ur hands together to save our national animal... It's time to wake up guyssss!!!
It’s the tiger’s worst hour. In the first two weeks of 2010 – the International Year of the Tiger – India has lost four tigers. A skin was seized in Kerala, and two are suspected poaching cases, though official reports say otherwise. Of particular concern is Corbett, where four tigers have died in 28 days in the cusp of this year.
Though Corbett officials insist that all were ‘natural deaths’, doubts are being raised, particularly about a young male tiger found dead in Dhikala on January 11 – in the core of the reserve. A senior official of the National Tiger Conservation Authority affirmed that poisoning is suspected. The cancer has reached the tiger’s last bastions – Kaziranga, celebrated as a success story, lost 15 per cent of its tigers in the space of an year, populations in Kanha ‘the jewel in the crown’, have crashed, with some ranges showing little, or no sign of the tiger; and poaching has reached the heart of Corbett, again.
In 2009, we lost a tiger almost every fourth day – 85 tigers in 365 days. These, of course, are only the recorded instances – minus all those skins that sneaked out across the border, and beyond – largely to China which writes its own laws on consumption of tiger derivatives even as it signs on international treaties dictating otherwise.
Two reserves Sariska and Panna have been emptied of tigers, “and 15 others are in a very, very precarious position, where tigers could go extinct,” says the Minister of State (Environment and Forests,) Jairam Ramesh. He called 2009 'the worst year for the tiger'. Good, that finally the government is acknowledging that there is a problem – denial of a tiger crisis as has been the norm till date has only accelerated the process of extinction. Ramesh calls the current tiger crisis “an emergency.”
Why has the situation come to pass; inspite of the creation of Project Tiger, the biggest initiative of its kind, and a network of 38 tiger reserves and strict protectionist laws? Tiger numbers today are lower than ever before at 1,400 and declining?
In a nutshell, we have failed to protect the tiger and its habitat. While the demand, and price, for tiger parts accelerates, protection systems are non-existent. Reserves are managed with a meagre, underpaid, unequipped staff. The condition of the foot soldier has remained unchanged in 35 years of Project Tiger. Coupled with the fact that implementation of laws is virtually non-existent, barely one per cent of poachers have been convicted, forests are a risk-free treasury, open for loot.
While the central government has taken some initiatives to push tiger conservation, states are simply not interested. Funds reach after inordinate delays, apathetic officers man reserves. Political will at the state level is an imperative, for they ‘own’ the habitats, and by default the tigers! And for all its good intent, Project Tiger, forgive the pun, remains a Paper Tiger.
Tiger habitat continues to be degraded and fragmented. Protected areas, barely five percent of India, must be made sacrosanct and not ravaged by mines, flooded under reservoirs or bisected with roads and railways. A Special Protection Force, on the lines of the army, should be inducted *now*, to protect the tiger – each reserve will soon be a Sariska. And our national animal, extinct.
People wake up... Put ur hands together to save our national animal... It's time to wake up guyssss!!!
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