Looks like, the forest department is getting frustrated. It has been
trying to cage the local tiger that has repeatedly been sighted close to
outskirts of the town so that it could be tanslocated to a tiger reserve, but
the tiger has proved to be elusive. Even some trained elephants have been
commandeered from a neighbouring reserve but those have been of no avail.
According to the latest report, they tried a bait to capture it but it was
devoured by another tiger.
Obviously, if the department
wants to make Bhopal jungles free of tigers it would now have to cage not one
but two tigers. The question is whether the department has considered all
aspects of the matter. One wonders whether it has looked into the reasons for
the tigers to wander out of the Ratapani Sanctuary, i.e. whether the Sanctuary
has more tigers than what it can host or whether the prey-base has shrunk
forcing the tigers to look for greener pastures. I do not remember to have seen
any report to this effect. However, in either case, translocation would not be
a solution as after removal of these tigers a fresh crop from crowded Ratapani
may come looking to mark their own territory in these jungles.
Because of the seriousness of the effort, though so far failed, of the forest
department one wonders whether the intention of the government is to confine
the straying tigers in Ratapani and colonise the forests near Kerwa and
Kaliasot dams. Already, thanks to the mindless magnanimity of the government,
some houses and educational institutions have come up on these forested lands.
Apparently, it never thought of the larger issue of impact on the environment
of sacrificing forests for progressive urbanization. For years there has been
talk of saving forests to absorb the excessive amount of greenhouse gases
pumped by us into the atmosphere. In fact, saving the tiger as a species is
intimately linked to the efforts of saving forests. Its presence in the forests
not only saves them, it also provides a kind of an umbrella for myriad other
species to survive and enrich not only the immediate eco-system but the entire
planet. In the days of a warming planet sacrificing forests for concrete
jungles would seem to be a crime against humanity.
A well-known retired forester has come out in the defense of the Kerwa
tigers. He has asserted sighting tigers near Bhopal is nothing unusual. They
have been around and have been seen off and on. Sometimes because of excessive
poaching in the jungles their numbers might have reached such a precarious low
that they were perhaps not to be seen in nearby jungles. If they are being
sighted and even reportedly multiplying it only is reflective of the good
health of the forests. In any case, the other big cat, the leopard has always
the present and had even beeen seen in the Museum of Man and in the Indian
Institute of Forest Management complexes. That Bhopal had a lot of game in the
area which is now New Bhopal was confirmed by an elderly Pathan timber merchant
who once recounted to me how it used to teem with game. No wonder, the local aristocracy
used to roam around the town in their customized jeeps with sacks of net
hanging from the rear of the vehicles to carry their trophies.
The National Green Tribunal has already taken notice of the presence of
the predators close to Bhopal and a case has since been filed in the MP High
Court against the supposedly unauthorised efforts to cage the animals with a
view to translocating them elsewhere. A very large number of local people seem
to feel that the tigers should not be disturbed and that Ratapani sanctuary
should be declared a tiger reserve, the government of India having already
approved the proposal in principle. It seems, rehabilitation of tribals
residing inside the Sanctuary is holding up the matter. It is, however, not
understood if the tribals can live and thrive in the Sanctuary with tigers all around
why they should not be allowed to continue to live there after conversion of
the Sanctuary into a tiger reserve. After all despite their presence the tigers
in the Sanctuary, from all accounts, have shown a healthy growth in their
numbers.
Perhaps, the proper course of action would be to let the tigers be. Suitable
action needs to be taken to ensure that they do not advance further and stray
out into inhabited areas threatening human life. This seems to be the most
practical and easy solution. Whatever is being attempted is, in Shakespearian
language “Much ado about nothing.”
*Photo from the internet
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