Bandhavgarh – Tiger Cub mowed down by tourist gypsy

I am sharing a sad news from Bandhavgarh.

The tigress in Chakradhara had four small cubs about 6-7 months old now. She used to hide her cubs in the fort area. Now that the cubs became slightly bigger, she brought them to the chakradhara grasslands.

The tigress had left the cubs behind and the two gypsys were there in the chakradhara area. One cub came out and got below the gypsy of Satyendra Tiwari. He started his gypsy immediately and the cub got badly injured. This incident had happened on 21st April. The cub was being monitored by the Park Authorities, but finally it has succumbed to injury day before yesterday.

The Park Authorities have banned gypsys from stopping in the chakradhara area.

This information was given to me by my driver who was infront of Satyendra Tiwari's gypsy, when the cub was mowed down.

May God Save the Tiger !

Sabyasachi

Sabyasachi, that is an extremely sad news. Action should be taken on the driver. Expletives beyond public approval are what I'm feeling right now. This is just not done. Things are bad enough as such, and these kind of events make you feel, can anything actually be done? I'm sorry if i sound cynical about the tiger's survival issue, but thats where things are headed. That driver should be mowed down in public...

Oh! What a pity... Actually the behaviour of the tigers is changed with so much game drives in these tiger parks. Now tigers do not scared of people and come very close to the vehicles like african safaris :(

It's really sad news that tiger cub died because of the negligence of the driver and photographer. I don't believe How one can drive a car while animal is underneath it? :(

Nowadays fools are roaming in the jungles with gypsys & big cameras without knowledge of the jungle, its wildlife & the behaviour of the animals. How one can call them so called 'Wildlife Photographers'. Wildlife Photographer should be responsible person about wildlife first and everything else comes second.

Camera don't make Wildlife Photographer, Wildlife makes Wildlife Photographer...

Sorry for the strong words but this is what i feel currently...for the irresponsible jokers and not for all wildlife photographers' community :)

Rahul,
It is actually a cub and probably it got intimidated by the sight of the gypsy and hid below it. The Chakradhara Tigress used to hide her cubs and only a few times the cubs were sighted earlier. It is only recently that the tigress had started bringing them to the grasslands. Tigers are still scared of people, else a lot of jokers posing themselves as experts before foreigners would have got killed.

My driver once asked me why photographers are still shooting when only the posterior portion of the tiger is visible. No idea what they do with those photographs. So you are right that just owning a big telephoto lens doesn't make someone a photographer. Ofcourse they are on a complete opposite end of the spectrum than photographers posting here.

I don't know the reasons, but this vehicle used to be allowed into the Park much before us. For eg. when we were expecting a tigress to turn up at jumunia talao (a water hole) in the afternoon, I was waiting at the Park gate at 2.45pm though the Park gate was to be opened at 3.30 pm. This vehicle along with a foreign photographer was allowed to enter at 3 pm. So no idea, what kind of action is going to be taken. However, it is a serious crime under the Wildlife protection act.

We don't even drive if a dog puppy gets under the vehicle. If he got worried about his client then they should have climbed onto the other gypsy that was just infront of them and should have waited before the cub got out. I have no idea what the guide was doing in the gypsy. I am too sad to curse even.

Sabyasachi,


This is dreadful news and makes one wonder whether tourism in parks needs to be restricted. The mind boggles since Satyendra has years of experience of driving in the park.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/27/stor...2756771800.htm

Apana

Somebody told me that if one contributes towards tiger protection fund(s) etc...the forest department allows those folks in earlier.

I had seen this guy with a lot of foreign customers on my last trip...he really seemed intelligent, composed and cool. Now....I don't know what to say about him.

Rumor is he has been arrested on a non-bailable warrant.

I am angry...very sad..and angry at this senseless death of the tiger cub.

Dear Friends,

It seems that the guy is running eco-tourism co. near the park by your talks....

@kiran: if some program like 'The tiger protection funds with special scheme' is running at the park than this is a one kind of bribe...and everyone has to discourage this kind of activity.

@Apana: Now i'm feeling he is in very big guilty, because he has gained years of experience in tourism and not in wildlife. I believe the safari should be continued to generate revenue with more careful approach.

@Sabyasachi: I think park is violating the safari rules and some action should be taken under wildlife protection act.

Rahul,

It is unfortunate that in India tourism is given preference over wildlife. There are rules, but people are well aware about how to bend them to suit their needs.

Money matters and people are ready to give lot of favors for that, at the cost of wildlife.
The incident at Kabini which Sabyasachi had written about a few days back, points out the same. Please refer to the following link :-

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=404

It is really unfortunate to know about this incident, I hope some strict actions are taken. But the loss is irrevocable.

Aptly said Mrudul...

Indian Wildlife has no future. Our jungles are in the hand of unkind & irresponsible people. Oh! that poor little fella & many other innocent creatures will never come on this wild world...again :(

Please read my reply on eco-tourism at...Sabyasachi's thread.

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/sho...=2891#post2891

Rahul

Read the news just this morning..... how horrible.....!!
cant imagine any body doing this.... esp in a jungle.... which is the domain fr wild life.....!!!
No on !!!... drastic action is needed to bring this under control.....

This is his wife 's version.

http://skayinbandhavgarh.blogspot.com/

What ever the truth , Bhandavgarh is a shining example of tourism gone horribly wrong and unless the operators are first willing to acknowledge that a problem exists only then can they reform themselves and find a solution. Denial and passing the buck will not get them anywhere.

I've had a run-in with the lady herself, but the less said about that, the better. The English on the blog seems suspect.

In any event, going forward what can the park do?

Since there are no elephant and rhino in Bandhavgarh, could speed govenors be fitted onto the Gypsys, to restrict their speed to 40kms per hour?

Could the park authorities make a rule that no more than 3 Gypsys may congregate in one place?

What about surveillance cameras at strategic points? These are getting cheaper by the day and most have their own hard disks and batteries, eliminating the need for cabling.

Apana

I looked at the blog link. It is pretty blatant in its effort to exonerate Satyendra. I had seen in Hindi movies that they try to convert a murder case into a suicide case by a mentally deranged person. In this case they are applying that formula on the poor cub and declaring it mentally deranged and in distress.

I have confirmed it with my driver who was just infront of Satyendra's Vehicle during the incident. And there were only a couple of other vehicles during that time. And my driver lives near the hotel (I was told they haven't named it yet for tax reasons) set up by Satyendra Tiwari and is very sympathetic to him. It appears there is a concerted effort to diffuse this case. I have nothing against the accused, but it would be unfortunate if justice doesn't prevail. This can be a bad precedent. Tomorrow, any foreigner or influential person can come and mow down a tiger and try to prove that the tiger had problems and died of natural causes. :mad::mad:

There are plans to bring Gaur from Kanha to Bandhavgarh so that people have something to photograph apart from Tigers.

Bandhavgarh is unable to handle its success. There are lot of tourists. The tourism has to be controlled. Instead of limiting the numbers, the park authorities has divided it into various zones and as a result the tala zone (where the cub was mowed down by Satyendra) has become much smaller. I would say 20 vehicles for the entire tala zone (before the break up into magdih zone) would be the right number to permit.

In Bandhavgarh a lot of focus is on maintaining roads. The out come is that the construction workers disturb wildlife. And also the outcome is people speed. To counter it, again more construction workers are sent to create humps. It is a vicious cycle.

I don't mind more gypsys congregating at a place. By limiting number of gypsys, it is like attacking a symptom not a root cause. The root cause is less area and more gypsys. Less area means, less money from tourism to the department. That is not a problem at all. Bandhavgarh authorities should open up other ranges. Better to move the elephants from tala zone to other ranges. Tourists can then go there for elephant joy ride and not crowd in the Tala zone.

Sabyasachi

Interesting to note that the post in question has been deleted from the blog. It seems this person is quite well known in the area and especially among the wildlife photographers from abroad. Anybody know anything more about this couple ?

He is out on bail after spending three days behind bars.

The drivers and guides decided that he should be helped under humanitarian grounds and hence denied that Satyendra's vehicle ran over the cub.

Nick Garbutt, a wildlife photographer from UK was in the that gypsy and was quoted in Satyendra's wife Kay's blog (which has now been take off). I am told Nick is still in Bandhavgarh camping to save him. I am sure with the fabricated evidence of the guides and drivers and concocted photographs would help in finally settling the case in Satyendra's favour.

Satyendra's wife Kay is a british. They were supposed to have met in one of the birding trips of Kay. They have successfully marketed him as the best tiger expert in Bandhavgarh. :-) He used to write emails to PPCF and other officials to complain against any guide or driver at the drop of a hat. If some one else would have been the culprit, then he would have gone to give evidence with evangelical zeal.

It is unfortunate that ultimately tiger is the loser in this case.

Sabyasachi

Busy and unable to post, but found this today:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/C...ow/4469678.cms

Apana

I have been getting a very spirited and passionate defense of Satyendra Tiwari by an anonymous visitor to my livejournal. Check it out.

http://gaur36.livejournal.com/95819.html

I did check it out. Well, it's anonymous, so what's to be said? If the poster had something significant to say he / she should have said it and left his / her name.

Apana

Bapu had said "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind".