For the last few days the vernacular press was bristling with reports of
tiger sightings close to Bhopal. Everyday there would be reports of sightings
close to human habitation in Kerwa area or near the Kaliasot River. Despite a
veritable prohibition on people visiting these areas, the intrepid, inquisitive
and the curious could not be restrained. They would assemble in pretty large
numbers and many photographs, though indifferently shot, appeared in the
newspapers. The tigers also became a little bolder and they were increasingly
found in inhabited areas. An elderly lady, a morning walker, had sort of a
close brush with one of the tigers as she found it one recent morning
uncomfortably close. Knowledgeable sources say there are at least as many as
seven tigers in the Bhopal forests of Kerwa, Samardha, Kathotia and so on. No
wonder, it has now been claimed that in the last 3 months there have been more
tiger sightings in Bhopal than in the state’s half a dozen Tiger Parks.
Thankfully, one of the tigers was nabbed yesterday in the morning. It
seems to have strayed into the complex of the state’s Agricultural Engineering
Institute where its weight proved to be too much for asbestos-sheet roofing and
it collapsed in a heap in an enclosure. Here it was tranquilised, caged and
packed off to the Van Vihar National Park, but not before it had given the
fright of their life to a few of the Institute workers. It has since been
translocated to the Panna Tiger Reserve. The question that, however, arises is
the tiger was nabbed more than 10 kilometres north of Kerwa on Berasia Road,
that is at the other end of the town and surprisingly the Forest Department
seems to have had no inkling that it had skirted the town and covered such a
long distance. In doing so it must have passed through densely inhabited areas.
A controversy has been kicked up in this regard by one of the retired
foresters.
Before the capture that took place the other day, the National Green
Tribunal of Bhopal had issued notices to the government and other connected
authorities to indicate the measures take for protection of the tigers that
were close to human habitation as also protection of humans from the predator.
The mandate for the government is to protect both which appeared a trifle
tricky. For the last few years there have been constant reports of tigers’
presence close to the city but nothing much seems to have been done. There are
claims and counter claims. Some people say that tiger numbers have gone up in
the neighbouring Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary and the fresh arrivals are looking
for their own territories.. The other view is that the prey-base in Ratapani
has collapsed and hence tigers are wandering out of the sanctuary looking for
prey. They seem to have found easy prey in cattle near the Bhopal jungles and,
therefore, two tigers are reported to have settled down here. The forest
department is yet to clarify which of the two claims are close to the actual
position on the ground. Apparently, they are yet to scientifically study the
problem.
Experts say the Bhopal jungles are part of the Ratapani wildlife area
where humans have mindlessly encroached and degraded the forests. The tigers
seem to be in no mood to give up their ancestral territories and hence their
permanent encampment in the area. Whatever is the truth, the government needs
to ensure that no more human establishments are allowed in the area and let the
tigers be – leave them alone.
Meanwhile, around the site of the caging of the tiger they have found
pug marks of another tiger. Apparently there are more tigers around than what
the forest department seems to be aware of.
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Photo: from the internet
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