Lesser tiger deaths in 2010; need for a safer new year

LUCKNOW: Only two tiger mortalities reported from the state in 2010 show it has been a good year for the tigers. The big cats remain the most critically endangered of all the wildlife species, though there are other species as well which have been clubbed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, as critically endangered. There is no denying that providing a safer haven to big cats is the fulcrum of all conservation talk.

The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), an agency that has a database of wildlife crime and also works with forest departments in some of the states, has compiled tiger mortalities for the ongoing year. The tiger mortalities have been lesser in 2010 as compared to the previous year. In 2009, 85 tiger deaths were reported in the country. In 2010, 53 tigers have died so far. The mortalities include natural deaths, poaching and also seizures. While 27 big cats were found dead, as many as 26 mortalities were found to be due to poaching and seizures. (As per assumption, 10 kgs of tiger bones seized are taken to be as one adult tiger killed).

"It is difficult to say how many tigers died natural deaths out of 27," said Tito Joseph, from WPSI. When contacted, deputy director, Dudhwa, Sanjay Pathak said, "Security mechanisms have been effectively put into place in Dudhwa." The lesser number of deaths is also a reason to rejoice for Dudhwa security staff. Out of the two tiger deaths reported from UP, one has been a case of poaching. Recently, an adult tiger was killed by another during an infighting in Pilibhit and a tiger was found dead in north Kheri in January in which poaching was the cause of death.

Even if the tigers are poisoned to death it is difficult to establish so, if the carcasses are found after a gap of few days. The poisoning is mostly not established in autopsy report. It is only within a few hours of the death that poisoning, as a cause of death, can be established in the report. It is because of this that in a lot of cases, cause of death could not be established. Even the post-mortem reports remain inconclusive.