Crusaders may be celebrating the rising tiger count, but all is not well with the king of the jungle, warned two tiger experts visiting the city for a WWF meet at Nandan recently. Ravi Singh, the chief executive officer of WWF-India, and Ranthambore man Fateh Singh Rathore argued that ground realities do not support the claims of the campaigners.
“Efforts from government and corporate quarters are welcome. But we need a more structured and planned campaign,” said Singh. A lot more funds are required, especially for the relocation of forest dwellers from tiger hubs. Also, a closer estimate of tiger numbers is necessary using the technology available and better management, he felt.
On the Sunderbans — which probably has less than one-third the official tiger figure of 250 — Singh was cautious. “The Sunderbans is a difficult terrain to count tigers. Even radio collaring is limited here as the tigers generally have smaller necks. However, it is true that tiger prey in the Sunderbans is not adequate,” said Singh.
Rathore was more forthright. “If you have 250 tigers, you need at least 250 animals as prey a week and about 12,000 a year. If such a high number of prey are to be made available, you need a huge prey base in the Sunderbans, which is clearly not there. The 250 figure for the Sunderbans cannot be true,” declared Rathore, who sighted his first tiger when the Duke of Edinburgh shot one down in 1969.
He lauded Union forest minister Jairam Ramesh for taking up the cause of the big cats but is disappointed with the “application and implementation” of the initiative.
“How a committee is expected to solve such a critical issue just by visiting forests and holding a few meetings beats me,” he said.
He is also upset with the hullabaloo over tigers — “big cats share hoarding space with Bollywood stars and private firms are all ‘saving tigers’,” he grumbled.
Rocking auto
A passenger was clinging to the sides of an auto for dear life as the vehicle dangerously dodged all other forms of traffic, boulders and pedestrians. She saw the auto-driver take off to the song Le paglu dance, composed by Jeet. Himesh Reshammiya has competition. This time from a son of Bengal, Jeet Gannguli. If Himesh’s songs made autowallahs sing out loud, Jeet makes them dance. While driving. Be warned.
Contributed by Jayanta Basu and Saionee Chakraborty
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100822/jsp/calcutta/story_12837615.jsp
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