How is India managing its tigers and their need for natural habitat?

Not many people are aware in this world that India gives shelter to more than sixty per cent of the planet’s population of tigers. Is the country really sheltering and nurturing its tigers? This is a matter of much contemplation and debate. What are the major hurdles faced in conserving the growth of tigers in India? Loss of habitat and poaching remain major obstacles. Tigers continue to face threat and extinction from loss of natural habitat and the wicked machinations of the poachers; all in the name of development. However, forty nine years ago, a project was initiated and it was called `Management Effectiveness and Evaluation of Tiger Reserves’. This was part of a grand scheme known as `Project Tiger.’ This project is aimed to safeguard the population of Bengal tigers in natural habitat. It has also helped in preserving regions of biological importance as part of a natural heritage connected with a diversity of ecosystems across tiger distribution in India. There are forty-seven tiger reserves in India and they are all necessary for the survival of this wonderful species. These reserves are not being monitored just for the terms of the tiger count and population growth; but also for the health of the tiger habitat and even prey population, which is very essential for its survival. In 2014, an additional program was launched towards this aim – it was the NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority). (1) Why has the tiger population dwindled in the last three centuries in India? The population of tigers dwindled in India in the last three hundred years primarily owing to the fact that India was colonised by the East India Company (the British Raj) and most of the people in powerful positions during this regime were fond of hunting and killing not only tigers but many wildlife species. Then human greed and wickedness played its part in the shape of poachers who hunted these tigers for the sake of trade. The poachers are after the tigers on account of their body parts, ranging from the whiskers to the tail. The third important factor is that urbanisation spread its roots into forest and jungle regions, forcing the tigers to face heavy losses in their natural habitat and their marked territories. Their habitats have been invaded and encroached upon in a big way as selfish and greedy humans have cut down forest areas to satisfy their personal needs. Forests were turned gradually into agricultural lands and timber goldmines. This led to a major conflict between humans and tigers as it boiled down to a fierce competition for their own spaces. Another major and the fourth factor in the decline of tiger population over a span of three centuries is prey depletion. It is a well known fact that tigers decline in numbers as a result of prey depletion as against being killed. A tiger, in order to stay healthy and fit, needs to eat about six thousand pounds worth of living prey each year. If he prey base is sufficient and protection measures are good, then tiger population will thrive as this species breeds at a rapid rate. The fifth factor that affects tiger population and its decline is the ever present risk of climate change. The rising sea levels on this planet as an effect of global warming are indirectly playing their part in wiping out fertile regions in India like the Sundarban forests. Mangrove trees are being damaged and they happen to be the largest shelters for tiger habitat, particularly of Bengal tigers. Forests do have substantial diversity of wildlife and when they get affected in a negative way, it indirectly affects all species, living in that particular region. It comes as a shock to students of environmental protection studies that the number of Bengal tigers has dropped by more than sixty-five per cent since the advent of the twentieth century. In the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, tigers were able to roam freely not only across India but in most Asian regions; but today, they are restricted to just about ten per cent of their original range, both in grasslands and in isolated forests. As habitats are shrinking with each passing day, India is finding it hard to manage the survival and thriving of the big cats. So, to summarise, it was the British and the Indian royal perverts who were responsible for the speedy decline in tiger population. Secondly, it was the demand for tiger body parts by the Chinese, who are rich and can pay anything for such rarity that drew the poachers to hunt the tigers. Last, but not the least of the reasons was loss of habitat due to overpopulation of the two-legged species. While all conservation efforts are being focused at increasing the count of tigers in India, global experts are suggesting that India will have to prepare for an unexpected challenge of reaching the limits of its project’s management capacity. As of 2014, India had 2,225 tigers. The Head of the Global Tiger Forum feels that India’s current capacity to host the big cats ranges from 2,500 to 3,000. Another official from the forum also feels that almost 35% of the tiger population in India has now started living outside of those protected reserves. These officials have pointed out that there were various challenges apart from the dwindling of core forest areas along with the simultaneous shrinking of the tiger corridors or those strips of land which allow the tigers to move freely across varied habitat. To add to such woes, we also face the issues of man-animal conflict and poaching. These are all hurdles to achieving success in the goal of tiger conservation. Despite these hurdles, statistics present a different and an optimistic picture of the growth in tiger population in India. In 2006, India had only 1,410 tigers and this rose to 2,225 in 2014. There is not much doubt that this was possible on account of enhanced conservation measures and revised and innovative estimation methods. (2). How can we go about conserving tigers and their growth in numbers? Steps were taken almost fifty years ago in India with the initiation of Project Tiger. This was a distinguished plan to save tigers, not only in India but on the whole planet. In 1973, there were only nine tiger reserves, to begin with. Five decades later, that figure has grown to fifty-one. How can natural habitats be conserved? They can be conserved by not cutting down forests for man’s business needs and greed. We can all start helping protect our forests and, at the same time, saving natural habitats of tigers. We can start showing preference for sanctuaries or reservoirs over zoos. Wildlife sanctuaries offer larger spaces and when they are amidst nature; tigers feel very much at home than being caged in zoos. This is the reason why we have to encourage in preserving more natural reservoirs and sanctuaries in order to protect biodiversity. Let us all try and allow the tigers in India to live happily in natural habitats and let them breed more without fear of losing their territories. Unfortunately, man has never had a dialogue of `live and let live’ with tigers. How can climate changed be controlled and have a bearing on the rearing of tigers? There is all talk and not much real and practical effort to halt the adverse climatic changes. We are silently observing things go from bad to worse in areas of climate change. Drastic increase in environmental heat is melting ice reefs and raising the sea levels to an alarming degree. (3) People of this world are not bothered about any other species except themselves. They are ignoring the fact that tigers may be isolated only in few regions in the world, but they happen to be the largest species of the cat family and, without any doubt, one of the most iconic creatures on Planet Earth. The statistics themselves tell the whole picture of what I am trying to say – about a hundred years ago, there were over a hundred thousand tigers roaming on this planet but now there may not be more five thousand left, all over. There is plenty of work that has to be done in order to preserve and then improve the numbers of tigers on this planet. (4) If we allow the tigers to thrive in their natural habitats, we are indirectly making our ecosystem healthy. India, currently, has habitat potential that will be able to support even ten thousand tigers but the numbers have been low on account of degradation of forests and rapid overlapping of development with lands occupied by tigers. State-wise Performance concerning Project Tiger If we want to see how each state has performed in preserving the growth of the tiger population, maybe seven or eight states have been largely responsible for the steady progress made in this respect while most states have been indifferent and have let down the tigers. They allowed habitat degradation and backed businessmen to take over the forests and drive the animals away. Greed is the only answer for the reason behind this act. (5)(Refer Chart on State-wise Bengal Tiger Population in India) The South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are home to nearly 40% of elephants, 35% of tigers and around 30% of leopards in the whole country. The Northeast states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, West Bengal and Tripura account for 5% of tigers and 30% of elephants in the country. The national parks in the country are Category II protected areas that fall under IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). The first national park was established in India in 1936 and that was the Hailey National Park which later on went on to become Corbett National Park (named after Jim Corbett). It is in the state of Uttarakhand. By the year 1970, five national parks were set up and they were followed three years later by the launching of the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger. These goals were meant to safeguard the habitats of tiger species in India. Good work has gone behind conservation in the past fifty years as we now have five hundred and fifty wildlife sanctuaries in the country which cover close to 120,000 square kilometers. Among these are fifty-one tiger reserves which fall under the governance of Project Tiger and they are particularly significant towards the conservation of the Bengal Tiger. The government of India has set up eighteen biosphere reserves. This has been done to protect vast areas of natural habitat and they are not similar to animal sanctuaries or national parks. These reserves have been established along with buffer zones which are open to economic uses. Protection is not only given to the tiger population but also to the fauna and flora of these regions and to the human communities that inhabit these places. Significance of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve under the Project Tiger Scheme Sundarban was considered under Project Tiger in the inauguration year, 1973. It was one of the first among nine Tiger Reserves declared under the Project Tiger scheme that year. The National Park area of the Tiger Reserve is a natural World Heritage Site as declared in 1987. The Sundarbans Tiger Reserve is a part of the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, which is one of the few globally recognised Biosphere Reserves in the country. It was declared as a Biosphere Reserve in 1989. It makes up over 60% of the total mangrove forest area in the entire country and has 90% of the total Indian mangrove species. The Sundarbans has been classified as a Tiger Conservation Landscape of global priority, as it is the only mangrove habitat (along with Bangladesh), that supports a significant tiger population. (6) The Tiger Reserve is home to a large number of endangered and globally threatened species like the tiger, fishing cat, estuarine crocodile, Gangetic and Irrawaddy dolphins, king cobra and water monitor lizards. It also gives harbour to river terrapins that have become extinct from all other regions of the world. Sundarbans is also the nesting ground for marine turtles like Olive Ridley, Green Sea Turtle and Hawksbill Turtle. The mangroves serve as garden centres to shell fish and fin-fishes and maintain the coastal fisheries of the whole east coast of India. It is considered as a kingfisher's paradise as out of a dozen species of kingfishers found in the country, ten species are found here. Also found are a couple of species of horse shoe crabs (they are considered as living fossils dated at over four hundred million years). The mangrove forests also act as an innate shelter belt and shield the surrounding environment from storms, cyclones, sea-water seepage and incursions. What are the challenges faced in managing the Sundarbans Reserve? The boundary poses a problem as it is shared with Bangladesh. The next issue is the staff strength which is inadequate, facing almost a fifty per cent vacancy in frontline staff deployment. There is a significant biotic pressure on these forests by the villagers dwelling at its perimeters for wood as fuel, crab collection, catching of fish and tiger prawn seeds. This cannot be helped as the socio-economic condition of these villagers is in the low income cadre. Frequent cyclones also pose a threat to this reserve on account of climate change and global warming. To add to these woes, staff confronts tigers’ straying from their territories with imminent conflicts with humans. It has to be noted that this is a difficult terrain of a corrosive nature and with unstable soil. Prospects The entire reserve is quite well demarcated with its natural boundary, making a vast majority of the area encroachment free. The whole area gets inundated on a daily basis on account of the tidal fluctuation, reducing the risk of forest fire. As there is diverse presence of species, the region is also grazing free. There is plenty of scope for growth and development in eco-tourism in this permitted zone. The chart below will give a fair idea about how this reserve has thrived – (7)(Refer Chart in Annexure concerning increasing population of tigers in Sundarbans Tiger Reserve) Valmik Thapar’s take on what is really happening concerning the Indian tiger scene Valmik Thapar is one India’s foremost recognized conservationist and a wildlife expert. His writings have captured and analysed the shortcomings and the partial failure of `Project Tiger’ that was created by the government as a conservation apparatus. We can look at his writings as a critique and understand the issues of mismanagement by forest departments and their bureaucracy, mainly on account of the staff not being scientifically trained in relevant skills. Oxford University Press has published a book written by him called ‘The Last Tiger’ that spells out a strong case about the shortcomings of Project Tiger. Thapar has spent several decades following the country’s fortunes in preserving the growth of the tiger population in the country. We cannot deny the hard work he has put in as a steward of the `Ranthambore Foundation’. He became a member of the `Tiger Task Force’ in 2005. This scheme was also initiated by the Government of India. In his report, he expressed his disagreement at the entire approach of the forces that managed Project Tiger. He criticised even the Tiger Task Force and pointed out that it was diplomatically focused on prospecting towards co-existence of humans and tigers. In his view, he maintained that it was not consistent with the main objectives of the scheme. He also felt that the Task Force never paid proper attention to bigger questions facing conservation of tigers by neglecting the menace of poaching and absence of science with hurdles to research work as posed by bureaucracies. Thapar’s writings have analysed the shortcomings of Project Tiger. He felt that it was mismanaged by bureaucratic forest departments who were equipped with staff that was not scientifically trained. Thapar has been recognized for his selfless work done for the conservation of tigers in India and his strong bonds with several tigresses, such as `Macchli’ and `T-24’, as is gathered by some of his chronicles. While India’s population has doubled from 630 million to 1.4 billion, the tigers have just gone from a mere 1,800 in 1973 to around 4,000 currently. It is sad to note that several tiger reserves such as Dampha, Buxa, Periyar and Palamau have very few tigers left. A tiger reserve like Mukundra is now declared tiger-less. Thapar has been shouting from the rooftops that flawed policies need to be addressed. He maintains that the number of tigers will grow with adequate regeneration of habitat and field protection, with minimal human use. The real increase in tiger numbers has taken place in states like Maharashtra who have done commendable work – the Tadoba Tiger near Nagpur reserve is a case in example. This is because of better connectivity between tiger habitats with restored strips. The state government is following an imaginative policy in the form of village relocation and meeting the demands of villagers to relocate to other and better lands for their economic stability. Thapar felt that the tiger gets overhyped in India as it commands attention of the public from all over the world. The fact that cannot be overlooked is that almost seven hundred million people go to see tigers in zoos. While trying to preserve tigers in India, Thapar said that other species such as birds and smaller mammals are being neglected. Schemes are under way now to preserve dolphins in the Gangetic belt. Work is being done also on leopards, lions and great Indian bustards. However, problems surmount as much of the forest governing bureaucracy is actually ignorant to the real needs of wildlife. As per Thapar, only two states have done selfless work towards tiger preservation and they are Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Maharashtra has initiated the `Jan Vaan Vikas Yojana’ (Man-Tiger Co-Existence Scheme) while Rajasthan has initiated the `Vaan Dhan Yojana’ (Tiger Wealth Scheme). These state strategies, he feels, could mitigate conflicts between tiger landscapes and people effectively. Minimum interference by the Central Government and more power to the State Governments is the best way forward as per Thapar for maintaining healthier statistics for tigers. More participation of the younger generation of people from the non-governmental sectors will be essential to bolster positive change and new concepts. Thapar laments that Vanyavilas and Ranthambore National Parks have experienced rapid dwindling of tiger numbers. He also mourns the state of affairs at Corbett Park in Uttar Pradesh. The tiger tales of Jim Corbett have remained legends and just that. The poachers have left nothing much for the coming generations. (8) Billy Arjan Singh’s Conservation Efforts His efforts towards conservation of wildlife are well known as he successfully reintroduced tigers and leopards into the wild regions of Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh, India. He started all this in 1973 (The same year as the initiation of Project Tiger) by nurturing an orphaned male cub of a leopard and called him `Prince’. He subsequently brought up two orphaned female leopard cubs so that he would be able to provide opportunity of mating at a later date. The female cubs were named Juliette and Harriet. Three years later, in 1976, he again introduced a female tiger cub that was hand-reared and named her `Tara’. He had picked her up from Twycross Zoo in England. She was reintroduced into the wild regions of Dudhwa National Park with a sanction from then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Billy Arjan Singh has always kept a close eye on the mating and growth of these tigers and leopards since then. He has taken the help of CCMB (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) in Hyderabad, then Andhra Pradesh State by sending hair samples and getting them analysed using mitochondrial sequence analysis. The results that were achieved after such an analysis brought out facts that the mitochondrial haplo-type suggested that some mothers were Bengal tigresses while others would suggest that several tigers had alleles in a couple of loci, contributed by Siberian and Bengal tiger subspecies. Epilogue Despite what the optimism is about the conservation of tigers in India, I will lament on their dwindling number when compared with the figures of a century ago. I visited Corbett Park, Vanyavilas and the Ranthambore National Park. I was disappointed by their actual numbers there; the only place that gave me a gleam of hope was Tadoba National Park in Maharashtra. When I was at Corbett Park, Uttar Pradesh in 2007, I was excited and hoped to come across at least one tiger during my stay there for three days. I came back disappointed for I saw none. There were pugmarks at some places or were they? I am not alone in this; there have been several people like me who have come back from these parks disillusioned with zero sighting. The tiger tales of Corbett have remained just legends and nothing more than that. The poachers have left nothing much for the coming generations. The reality is that actual number of tigers is falling rapidly in India. One of my friends has recently sighted a tiger in Nagzira and the Koka Forest. Elsewhere in Ranthambore, big cats were sighted in Rajasthan. Was I plain unlucky or the others have been smarter than me? India has always been famous for the Taj Mahal and the Bengal Tiger. The Taj Mahal is easy enough but the Bengal Tiger is pretty elusive. Sooner than you expect, this magnificent tiger will probably disappear from the face of the planet Earth. I wonder if there are more than five thousand tigers left on earth today. I curse the bloody British/Nawabs/Rajahs and their hunting expeditions, the evil poachers and the encroachment of people into the animal habitats which have collectively taken their toll on this now rare species in India. In the distant future, the coming generations in India will only be able to see tigers in tiger tale books and this animal will join the myth and folklore species. Coming to grips with the current situation, if you are planning a vacation to look out for tigers, perhaps Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan may be the place to go for or the Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Nagpur, Maharashtra. You may be able to catch a face to face situation and realize that you managed to look at a big cat before it went extinct. In the pre-independence era, tiger hunts were considered fashionable with the British officers and the elite of the Indian society. They perhaps still are with the Bollywood eunuchs. These hunts provided entertainment for the Maharajas. Even after independence, hunts were organized when the Royalty visited. One specific extravagant hunt was organized in 1961 by Maharani Gayatri Devi for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip when the royal couple visited Jaipur. It took twenty five years for an independent nation to initiate a nationwide ban on tiger hunting. The Wildlife Protection Act came into being in 1972. It became illegal to hunt tigers or take ownership of their body parts. The Tiger Task Force was set up in 1973 and, at first; nine forests were declared as tiger reserves. Will any poacher or any Wildlife Preservation Organizations rise and look the culprits if they are asked about the tiger being declared as an endangered animal in India? Why are tigers so important for this planet? This is mainly because tigers are apex predators in the food chain and it goes a long way in keeping our environment lively and healthy. This is the way things work in a natural way in wildlife regions. Predators are as important as the prey they depend on. To give an example, herbivores or plant-eaters such as deer are principal consumers in the food chain; but, without enough tigers to eat the deer, herbivores are more than likely to start overgrazing and can begin to damage land environment, resulting in the disruption of balance of nature in a local environment. We all know that local human population depends largely on a healthy environment for its food and water supply and various other resources, additionally. Hence, by protecting tigers and their growth in numbers, we also help in taking care of the regions where they inhabit and this is essential for everyone’s good in that particular region.