Monday, April 19, 2010

Interview: Tiger Crusader, Dr Rajesh Gopal Is Confident

Though the tiger population has fallen drastically in the wild over the last ten years, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) member-secretary Dr Rajesh Gopal is confident that the majestic beast could make a dramatic comeback if tiger reserves are managed scientifically.

Dr Gopal, who has given his life for tiger conservation and virtually run from pillar to post to get the powers-that-be to wake up to the grim situation, spoke about issues related to conservation of the endangered species.

This interview was done quite some time ago. But the situation hasn’t changed much, reflecting the apathy of the forest ministers in tiger states.

All of us -- government, senior forest officials, publicity-seeking NGOs, media (print and electronic), common man… -- need to take responsibility for driving the majestic tiger to this predicament.

Excerpts of the interview:

What is the present status of the tiger?
It is not a happy situation. However, it has shown where we must prioritize to protect the species. Certain things could have been done earlier. But we cannot blame the government alone. Professionals and experts in the field are also to be equally blamed. 25 years ago we should have been as serious as we are now. We could have identified the weaknesses. Sadly, we got lost in the battle of numbers.


Is the conflict between the department and researchers cause for the tiger crisis?
The conflict between the department and experts has unfortunately created animosity. The NTCA has decided to end this cold war. We need to rope in expertise from outside the system. We will get good practices in place soon.

Has resettlement of forest dwellers hampered the process?
We can't close our eyes to reality. If we allow disturbances in our forests, the tiger will be in great danger of extinction. The status of the tiger, co-predators and prey species is very important. The situation is very serious in nine reserves. We have set out advisors to these reserves to put an effective management system in place.

How much space does the tiger require to do well?
An area of 800 to 1000 sqkm is a must for a viable population. There should be a minimum of 20-22 tigresses in the core area. In such a scenario the population could lead to 65 over a period of time. If the buffer zone could be expanded, we could have anywhere between 80 to 100 tigers in an area of 800 to 3000 sqkm.

But to achieve those figures, we have to ensure all the 17 tiger reserves are made inviolate. So far 14 reserves have already been notified as inviolate areas and forest settlers are leady being relocated.

The government has set aside Rs 600 crore for the tiger, but temporary staff are being paid their salary once in six months. Why?
I admit this is a very serious issue. It is the common in several states. But some are pro-active and reflect this expense in their budget. They adjust the amount when we release the funds. The delay for some states is not from the government of India. Some states do not send their APO (Annual Plan of Operation) in time.
To address this issue, we amended the Wildlife Protection Act (1972) in 2006 to allow tiger reserves to create a Tiger Conservation Foundation (TCF). The TCF could provide for these expenditure and be paid when the funds come in. We have issued detailed guidelines. Unfortunately, there is dichotomy in some forest departments.


Are you happy with the system that is being followed?
We need to improve the delivery system. We need to have a sub-cadre to manage wildlife. We need to have scientific inputs to save wildlife. Without an effective delivery system no amount of guidelines will work.

Can the tiger survive extinction?
The blue print is ready. The relocation package has been increased. We still have scope to save the tiger. I am confident that we will succeed if the habitats and corridors are kept intact. I am glad that civil society institutions have woken up and the general public is aware of the crisis faced by the tiger.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Another Tiger Bites The Dust

It is increasingly frightening, even depressing, that we are recovering tiger pelts virtually every second month in and around the Bandipur and Mudumalai tiger reserves, where there is a viable, sustainable population of our flagship species.

On Tuesday (April 14, 2010), the Tamil Nadu Forest Department (TNFD) recovered a tiger skin and arrested five poachers and two of their accomplices in the Sigur range, near Anaikatty, indicating that all is not well in Karnataka’s neighborhood as well.

That there has been uncontrolled fire in this region (Sigur and surrounds), intriguingly since the TN government served notices to illegally established wildlife resorts in the elephant corridor near Masina Guddi, is a matter of grave concern.

Wildlife conservationists allege that irked resort owners could have possibly set the bush fire which raged for three and a half days. They are intrigued that the forest staff did precious little to stop the fire which engulfed almost 30 acres of forest cover in Thengu Marada.

It is surprising that this incident (fire) occurred, despite having a proactive district forest officer (DFO, north) in K Soundarapandian, who has done remarkable work since taking charge of the tiger reserve.

Obviously, some wildlife resort owners in Masina Guddi are up to mischief. We learn through "on ground" sources that the resorts, which have been asked to close shop to recover elephant corridor, have backed the Gudalur "rasta roko" bundh called by local tribal leaders on April 19. They are protesting against the night traffic ban which has imposed by the Chamrajnagar Deputy Commissioner and upheld by the Karnataka high court.

That one of the poachers arrested in Sigur allegedly belonged to the Paniya tribe, has infuriated the locals to take up the cudgels against the Tamnil Nadu forest department.

The latest tiger pelt recovery indicates that poachers are active in Sigur and Upkara ranges in Mudumalai and Gundre, Maddur and Mulehole ranges in Bandipur. For the record, as many as 14 tigers have died, some to territorial fights, in as many months in these “supposedly” inviolate, critical tiger habitats.

Wildlife activists allege that range forest officers (RFOs) have been squabbling over gate collection at the Kalhatti gate (which leads to the Ooty) and in their greed for quick bucks are allowing poachers to have field day in Mudumalai.

There have been reports that deer, sambar and gaur (Indian bison) meat are being sold in the markets at Masina Guddi and Gudalur, which has become the epicenter of wildlife trade in the southern India. It is believed that some hotels in the vicinity offer “wild meat” to their regular customers.

While it is obvious that poaching is rampant, there is also a lingering fear that tigers and leopards are being poisoned in this region. A fortnight ago, the decayed remains of a six-month-old (presumably) tiger cub was discovered in the Maddur Range of the Bandipur national park, near the carcass of a cow. Though there are reasons to believe that it could have been poisoned by irate villagers, the postmortem report suggests it had died of natural cause.

Instead of getting to the root of the cause of death, it is becoming fashionable for senior forest officers to lay the blame on territorial fights. If someone is murdered in Bangalore or Chennai , Delhi or Mumbai, every effort is made to get to the bottom of the cause of death. But when it comes to wildlife, everything is swept under the carpet to ensure that the officers involved in protection don’t waste their time filing forest offence cases (FOC) and attend court.

Now that five poachers, including two forest dwellers, have been arrested, the wildlife crime bureau would do well to cast its intelligence net far and wide and break the poacher-buyer nexus.

That as many as four tiger pelts and other body parts have been recovered in the last eight months in Bandipur and Mudumalai is indeed startling. Hopefully, our slumbering forest officers will awaken to this rude “Alarm Call.”

Else, more tigers, which have become increasingly vulnerable to poaching in our reserves, could be on their way to the flourishing body-parts markets in Nepal and the Far-East.



Sunday, April 11, 2010

An Ode To My Dying Bamboo Friends

Goodbye My Lofty Swaying Friends

Whither My Lofty Swaying Bamboo Friends
For Thine Time Hath Come
To Render Our Forests Bare and Brown

In Thine Demise And Barren Throes
Let Wisdom Sow From Thine Fallen Seeds
Let Not Our Forest Managers Repeat Blunders They Have Done To Thee

Let Thine Seeds Spring Forth Perspective Scientific Management Plans
Let Thine Seeds Enrich Our Natural Forests
Making It Luscious Habitats For Our Endangered Friends

We Pray Elephants That Browsed On Thine Succulent Nutritious Leaves
In Thine Time Of Opulence And Tender Green
Don’t Fall Prey To Electrocution And Gun

As They Trudge Yonder In Search Of Fodder
Trample And Devour Sugarcane, Banana and Maize
And Meet The Ugly Wrath Of Enraged Farmers

Awake Dear Slumbering Forest Managers
For Thine Time Hath Come To Introspect, Plan And Perform
Before Famine Bares Its tentacles Again On Our Abused Land.

Goodbye My Lofty Swaying Bamboo Friends
Until Thine Seeds Germinate To Thrive Again
In Thine Demise Let Wisdom Reign

----
Note: Bambo which constitutes 13 per cent of the forest mass in Karnataka has dried up completely in Nagarhole and Bandipur national parks. Elephants which browse on the swaying fronds and tender leaves have started to move into village environs in search of food. Unfortunately, the Karnataka forest department, despite having experienced this natural phenomenon of bamboo flowering and drying in the Bhadra wildlife sanctuary, has no scientific forest management in place to tide over this situation.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Coffee estates, resorts thrive in tiger habitats, but wildlife researchers get the boot

Now that the Karnataka Chief Wildlife Warden, B K Singh, has cited the National Tiger Conservation Authority order (N. PS—MS (NTCA)/2009 Misces, dated April 22, 2009) to stop research work and field interventions in core/critical tiger habitats, we could expect him to apply the same document to stop illegal poaching, timber felling, mining and tourism activities in Karnataka’s shrinking wildlife habitats.

While we should appreciate Mr B K Singh for being a honest, upright and principled Indian Forest Service officer, we also have to critique his knee-jerk action in stopping wildlife biologists/ researchers from pursuing their work for bettering wildlife management in our reserves.

The Minsitry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) and union minister for environment and forest, Mr Jairam Ramesh, have categorically encouraged the non-intrusive camera-trap method to enumerate tiger numbers in our reserves. They understand that molecular biology has been a handy tool as well.

Wildlife biologists and conservationists have been fighting against odds to put the future of the critically endangered tiger in perspective employing these methods. But suddenly, the CWW has woken up from his slumber, retrieved an old NTCA document from the KFD cupboard, and stopped all field research workers in their tracks. Wonder what he envisages to do or achieve.

If he truly has the interest of the tiger and all our wildlife species at heart, he would do well to address these issues:

1.There is rampant felling of trees and poaching in Bandipur Tiger Reserve. And as many as three tigers have been poached since he has taken charge. Yet, he has been unable to do anything about it. Also, the paws and claws of two dead tigers were removed. But no recovery has been made yet.

2.We find cattle grazing deep inside the forests, posing threat to wildlife populations. In the past foot and mouth disease had consumed several heads of gaur. Recently, a tiger cub was found dead in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve near a cattle kill. While there is suspicion that the six-month old cub could have been poisoned by enraged villagers, B K Singh deemed that the cub had been killed by its mother. When there was scarcely anything left of the cow and the tiger to conduct a post mortem, how could he/ vets conclude on the actual cause of death. We need a proper / true explanation, don’t we?

3.The NTCA tiger management plan clearly states that there should be no interventions in inviolate, critical tiger habitats. But there are five estates in the very womb of the BRT wildlife sanctuary, where the tiger population has increased manifold (33 now). If the same yardstick is being applied to evict tribal settlements, why shouldn’t estates be demolished and critical elephant corridors be restored?

4.The NTCA guidelines imply that tiger states should expand on the buffer zone in tiger reserves, but the CWW, who for some quaint reason believes that there are tigers and elephants in California, has done very little about. Should we ask, how much area of buffer zone has been added to Karnataka tiger reserves since he took charge?

5.As a matter of fact, though there is a restriction on the carrying capacity (tourism) in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, more and more resorts have been given permission to entertain their quests/ clients. He would do our harassed wildlife a favor, if he could also retract the tourism permits issued to resort operators, as he has done with the permission to wildlife researchers.

6.Again, if the CWW sincerely has the future of our flagship species at heart, he would do well to rid our wildlife parks of lackadaisical, incompetent and corrupt officers from eight of the 12 ranges in the Bandipur national park. Could he possibly relocate such range forest officers?

7.Since he has precious little background in wildlife and has a Field Director (Project Tiger) who is equally ignorant, he should talk the B S Yeddyurrappa government (if it cares) into relocating him in a position where he would be comfortable. He would do this if he has interest in saving the tiger from extinction in Karnataka’s forests.

8.More importantly, he has to motivate the field staff who are utterly demoralized. When range forest officers themselves don’t get the CWW’s backing when they take on poachers and timber smugglers living in the vicinity of the reserves, you can well imagine how the guards, watchers, trackers, who are effectively the nose, eye and ear of the forests, feel. With frugal salaries and emotional support, most of the staff are already looking for greener pastures.

9.BK Singh has stated that the Karnataka Forest Department would look after all issues related to protection of the tiger and its habitats. But the fact remains that the staff are just about learning the nuances of using scientific tools in assessing the tiger numbers in our reserves. He should understand that wildlife conservationists, researchers and NGOs have been active stakeholders in protecting Karnataka’s precious wildlife and its habitat. Without them, a lot more tigers would have made it to the lucrative markets of Nepal and the Far-East.

10.There are more questions that can be posed to this honest, upright senior IFS officer. But he would do well to address at least three of these issues, before hamstringing wildlife biologists and researches from doing what they are doing in the larger interests of our dwindling wildlife.

11.Is the CWW worried that wildlife researches would expose the nefarious happenings/ goings on in our tiger reserves?

Dr Rajesh Gopal, Member-secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority, should be kicking himself to have such officers in crucial decision-making positions, especially when the tiger is under serious threat of going extinct.

God save our wildlife.




Friday, April 2, 2010

Spare Tuskers; Relocate Spineless Forest Officials

There is a move to tranquilize, capture and relocate elephants in the fragmented forest reserves of Karnataka. This was on the agenda of the discussions during an inter-action between the Project Elephant authorities, elephant task force, NGos and stake holders.

Eephant 'expertes"e met in Bangalore on Good Friday morning, discussing ways and means of stopping hungry, foraging elephants in their tracks. From what we gather, the agenda was on how to contain the growing man-animal conflict (crop raids, trampling and electrocution)in Hassan and Kodagu districts, more so in the periphery of Bandipur, Nagarhole and BRT.

While some suggested that the elephants be either be relocated or culled, others felt there was an urgent need to relocate jumbos from 'over-populated' parks, or those that have settled in small, isolated pockets of forests in Kodagu and Hassan.

A couple of NGOs are believed to have suggested that the government first address the man created problems (crop pattern, encroachment)before taking up the cudgel against forgaing elephnats.

We are losing elephants frequently to electrocution, poaching and infantile deaths. Our forests are shrinking. There is pressure from quarrying and mining. Poachers are shooting down tuskers for their ivory. There is mayhem in our forests. But the government does not seem to care about losing 200-300 elephants each year.

The recent Project Elephant exercise, to take the views all stake holders, seems to suggest our elephants are breeding like rabbits! We have taken have their habitats and destroyed elephant corridors (Raman Sukumar can throw light on how the Cicada Resorts came about in Bandipur). Yet, we blame the elephants for stumbling into our territory.

Is Project Elephant gathering consensus for culling. Wonder what Raman Sukumar, our elephant guru, has on his mind. Is he trying to please the government, which has been under pressure from MLAs from Kodagu and Hassan to rid their coffee estates of roving pachyderms? Somebody should ask him.

Sukumar and company could have done well to tell the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) to get its act together, than relocate and cull jumbos. The KFD has comprehensively failed in its management plan. If it had bene prudent/ proactive, it would have planted bamboo saplings in its reserves, keeping in mind that the existing bamboo would flower sooner than later. Today, the entire bamboo crop, has flowered in Bandipur and Nagarhole. They are dry.

Though B G Hosmath, Field Director Project Tiger, had been approached by former conservator of forests, Mr A C Lakshman to plant bamboo saplings in Bandipur and Nagarhole, he had failed to respond the latter's call. We are told that he didn't bother to retunr the CCF's call.

According to Mr A C Lakshman, bamboo accounts for 13 per cent of Karnataka's forest cover. That means less food for our lovable elephants. Now that the bamboo has dried up, there will be pressure on villages adjacent of the forests, leading to a rise in man-animal conflicts and eventual death of more elephants.

The expert committee meeting could have probably been called keeping this in mind. Our forest officials seems to have knack at finding a way around the problems than finding long-lasting solutions. This knee-jerk capture-relocate, cull strategy will not help in the long run.

The experts and KFD should keep in mind the effect of the silastic hormone on elephants in Kruger national park in South Africa. The hormone had an adverse effect on elephants phsyology / cycle.

As early as 1994, the then Chief Wildlife Warden, M K Appayya, who had on-field experience unlike most other wildlife wardens, had talked about the need of culling elephants. At that point in time though, man-animal conflicts were not as intense as it is now.

Even if there is a boom in the elephant population in our parks, is this way out? There has to be a far-sighted solution to the elephant menace, accentuated by man's greed. Rather than taking (implementing) the recommendations of the elephant expert committee, the government should take the opinion of the masses before deciding on the fate of our jumbos.

As someone suggested, our spineless forest officials, who don't stand up for their on-field staff who are in the line of fire, should be relocated/ castrated. Not our Tuskers.