Locals poison 2 tiger cubs in Ranthambore...

Below is the article which appeared in Timesofindia...

JAIPUR: Even as India struggles to keep its tigers alive, in a shocking incident, two 17-month-old cubs were found dead, allegedly poisoned by villagers on the outskirts of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve on Sunday.

Forest officials said it could have been revenge by the villagers, upset over the killing of their livestock by tigers. Officials say that such incidents may happen again, as straying of tigers from the over-populated reserve was expected. The tiger population in Ranthambore reserve has now come down to 39, which has capacity for only 30.

With the death of the cubs, the worst fears over the growing tiger population and their shrinking habitat leading to their killings have come true. According to forest officials, the two cubs had strayed from the park about two months back and were seen roaming in its outskirts ever since.

''It's not a case of poaching as the body parts were intact. It appears to be a case of revenge killing,'' said Rajasthan's chief wildlife warden R N Mehrotra. Local MLA Allauddin Azad has called for an inquiry.
Forest officials said they found carcasses of two goats from the place where the dead cubs were found.
''Prima facie it appears that the tigers ate the goats that were set as bait and got poisoned. The tigers had vomited,'' the official said.

''The tigers have been attacking livestock in villages. But on Sunday, they were poisoned by the villagers near the Talawara village, about 15 km from the park, on the banks of the Banas river,'' the official added. Officials recovered their carcasses and conducted a post mortem. The viscera has been sent for forensic test and the bodies have been burnt.

''The two adult cubs were from the same litter of the Chirolee tigress and were roaming on the outskirts. When their bodies were traced they were together. They seemed to have been lying for two days and had developed maggots. However, their mother is within the park limits and is safe,'' the official added.

''Had we relocated some of the tigers to Sariska, we would not have seen this day. We could have relocated five tigers to Sariska by now and there would have been space for these cubs in Ranthambore,'' said Rajpal Singh, former member of the empowered committee.
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The discussion here is not to show anger becasue 2 cubs have been poisoned / killed, but to understand where the gap is.... and how to close it - ensuring that there are no more killings..

I reqeuest all members to express their opinion and if any of the memebers have more info on the same..

Lets condemn the killing..

This is very unfortunate. This shows that lot of people are still not aware of the reality. The villagers had to face loss of the cattle being killed, but poisoning the tigers is surely not the solution. The possible solution, is to educate the villagers that Tigers are more precious and if they are suffering any loss, they should make the Forest department aware about it.

The committe members are now realising that possibly relocating the tigers to Sariska would have benefited. I hope they wont delay it further.

I agree. I think it is imperative to educate the villagers living around national parks and make them understand that tigers are more important. I personally feel that part of the revenue earned from the national parks should go in relocating villages around the parks or at least benefit them in some way. Once they see the commercial aspect they would themselves want to make sure that the tigers survive as it could lead to their prosperity. My two cents.

Pictures of the poisioned tigers from Aditya Singhs Album

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dickysi...7623581386146/

and the detailed first hand report from Aditya :

http://www.dickysingh.com/2010/03/tw...tiger-reserve/

Though not directly connected i would like to draw attention to an another discussion on the forum recently. The importance of Local participation and sensitivity to conservation and protection cannot be over emphasized.

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/sho...6411#post16411

Without that balance which Ramesh is referring to while we will be dishing out our whims and fancies on protection measures the villagers who live right next to these protected areas will turn hostile to everything which is even remotely connected to conservation and animal rights. We have to understand that these people have been living here in harmony with nature for thousands of years, long before people like us started pontificating borrowed (scientific ????) conservation theories and opinions. This is but a natural reaction. It is the ground support from the sons of the soil that is most critical to the future sustenance of any conservation measure. Any body with even little field experience in areas where the local population is hostile to a protection measure will vouch how badly this can backfire on the very purpose of the ban.

But on the other hand we should also look at a workable solutions as one would agree that normal traffic through the Reserve should be banned and it will be very difficult to pick and choose on the grounds of domicile on the fringes of the park. This again is very susceptible to misuse by poachers.

On the good news front the Karnataka HC hads upheld the ban through bandipur :thumbup:

http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/10/stor...1051050100.htm

Regards
Roopak

Article regarding ranthambhore :

Yet again, Ranthambhore is in the news for all the wrong reasons.Two sub-adult tigers were found dead last Sunday and the forest authorities accepted that the big cats died due to poisoning. This was the latest in a series of mishaps that have cost Ranthambhore at least seven tigers in the past three years.As the news spread, officials within and outside the forest department quickly swung into action. First, they told the media that Ranthambhore’s tiger population had reached saturation mark and that the surplus tigers would always be at risk when they moved out.They also claimed that the only way to avoid such tragedies would be to shift these tigers toSariska and blamed the Centre for putting the tiger translocation process on hold. Next, they pointed fingers at a few local hoteliers who did not want tigers to be moved to Sariska as fewer tigers in Ranthambhore would hurt their
business interests.
To be fair, a lot has changed for the good in Ranthambhore over the past five years. The tiger population has bounced back in Ranthambhore since 2005 when the reserve recorded just 26 tigers. Today, the number stands above 40. But Ranthambhore tiger reserve is spread over 1,300 sq km — too large an area to become crowded with 40 tigers. Corbett National Park, for example, has more than 150 tigers in as much area. So how did the state forest bosses claim that Ranthambhore was over-populated? Obviously, by Ranthambhore,
they meant Ranthambhore National Park which is just a small part of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve.

Most of Ranthambhore’s tigers are inside the prey-rich,well-protected 300 sq km national park area. The rest of the tiger reserve — about 1,000 sq km of Sawai Man Singh sanctuary, Kela Devi sanctuary and reserve forests — is not protected at all and, therefore, has no natural prey left. Tigers have little option here but to feed on cattle and, in turn, invite retribution. When the forest authorities say that tigers are moving out of Ranthambhore to die, tigers are only moving from one part of the reserve to another.The latest poisoning deaths were reported from Taldakhet, a small village in Kela Devi sanctuary and very much inside the tiger reserve. It is indeed shocking how a 1,000 sq km tiger forest has been surrendered to grazing and encroachment and accepted by the forest authorities as death zones. After the Sariska lesson, authorities should have tried to restore the entire reserve as prime tiger habitat. Next, they should have gone ahead to reclaim the corridors to Kuno in Madhya Pradesh to Ramgarh Bisdhari sanctuary near Bundi for natural dispersal of tigers. Unfortunately, they have just given up on these areas and are now seeking to save tigers by airlifting them to Sariska. And therein lies another example of conservation myopia.The tiger translocation programme has been put on hold in Rajasthan after three siblings were arbitrarily picked up from Ranthambhore to repopulate Sariska. Recently, the Centre ordered DNA tests to ascertain the breeding compatibility of Ranthambhore tigers before translocating them.

This embargo has further irked the state forest bosses who were already at loggerheads with the Centre in 2008 when National Tiger Conservation Authority made it mandatory to pick up only floating sub-adults for translocation. Tigers seek out individual territories by the time they are three and a settled tiger, if moved, only tries to return. The catch is that identifying and tracking a floater takes much longer than picking up a resident tiger. On top of that, the order for DNA tests has only made state forest officials more impatient. Good science is a must for the success of the world’s first wild tiger repopulation drive in Sariska. But good science is often laborious and time-consuming. So many in Jaipur seem keen to exploit Ranthambhore’s fatalities to fast-track airlifting of tigers to Sariska.They have even offered an imaginative twist to this Centre-state tussle by involving “a section of Ranthambhore’s hoteliers”.

Indeed, the Ranthambhore tourism lobby may have the clout to engage conservationists who can influence the policies of the Union government, but the hoteliers have little reason for
trying to plot such an ambitious conspiracy. Even if the Centre decides not to wait for the DNA test results and allows the state to resume shifting tigers to Sariska, the 2008directives necessitate that only floaters be picked up. Ranthambhore’s tourism zone is inside the national park area occupied by resident tigers. How can removal of tigers from non-tourism areas affect the chances of tiger sighting andtourism in Ranthambhore?

It is time to get real. The forest authorities need to focus on hard ground management instead of taking short cuts. For starters, they could set a deadline for reclaiming the entire Ranthambhore reserve area for the tiger. If protected, Ranthambhore’s 1,000 sq km death zone will make for a bigger tiger habitat than all of Sariska (681 sq km). Guess what, tigers do not need airlifting if they can walk free, and safe.

The author is an independent journalist

http://issuu.com/dipmaz/docs/conning_conversation

Agree with the posted comments. yet making the villagers aware about tigers importance are not only enough. Government has to take some serious steps. :confused1: