Move to revive tiger reserve

Over 1,000 families, predominantly tribals, residing in the core of the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam tiger reserve are likely to be relocated as part of the efforts to revive the sanctuary, considered to be one of the largest in the country.

The Central government, under whose purview the project lies, has initiated negotiations with the families likely to be affected by offering a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh each for their relocation. “We are working with these families. We cannot shift them forcibly,” Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh says. Mr. Jairam Ramesh, who is currently in the tiger reserve on a two-day visit, sees “great potential” for revival of the area.

MONTHLY PAYMENT

Mr. Ramesh said in an innovative measure to protect the dwindling population of tigers, 400 youth hailing from the Chenchu tribes had been recruited and entrusted the task of monitoring the tiger population in tiger reserve. The tribal youth will be offered payment of Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 4,000 a month for fulfilling their responsibility. “Police and forest guards alone would not be in a position to protect tigers and we have preferred local youth for the purpose,” he said.

Mr. Jairam Ramesh, who held extensive interactions with the ‘new recruits', told The Hindu that these local youth would forthwith be the ‘tiger watchers and protectors'. Though the department had taken up similar initiatives elsewhere, “it is really taking off in Andhra Pradesh.” He said the department was also facing one of the biggest threats to the protection of ecology in the form of grazing. Close to four lakh cattle came to the reserve for grazing and efforts had been initiated to identify lands where fodder could be grown or areas which could be converted into grazing grounds to prevent cattle from entering the reserve. In addition, the location of nine temples in the sanctuary area was creating hindrances in the revival efforts. “We have to first regulate the traffic flow through the forest area and a mechanism is being evolved in this direction.”

He said the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam tiger reserve, spread over 3,600 sq. km, was by far the number one among the 39 notified areas in the country, but suffered destruction over a period of one decade from 1994 to 2004. Efforts to revive the reserve had started yielding results with the current tiger population, pegged at 70, showing “great scope for revival”.

Keywords: Tiger reserve, Srisailam, Jairam Ramesh

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article431151.ece

Cat got Goa babus’ tongue!

Any State that discovers the presence of unaccounted tigers would double up with joy. After all, the national animal is an endangered species and a massive countrywide campaign has been launched to revive its dwindling numbers. But strangely, forest authorities in Goa are desperately downplaying the recent discovery of four new tigers during the ongoing State wildlife census.

While the official response is that the authorities would wait for the analysis of the pugmarks and scat before endorsing the discovery, wildlife activists allege that the Forest department was dragging it feet because official confirmation of tigers would directly hit the politically powerful Rs 6,000-crore mining industry that operates in several ‘tiger zones’.

According to the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the tigers — including a tigress with two cubs — had not been accounted for in the 2005-06 tiger estimation survey.

Although, wildlife activists and greens in the State are all upbeat, the Forest department has been lukewarm to the findings.

Speaking to The Pioneer, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Shashi Kumar, said it was premature to rejoice. “It would be too early to say. We shall await the results and then break the news.” He added the evidence found — scat and pug marks — would be analysed at the Dehradun-based institute.

“Suspected tiger faeces was found at Surla and Nandran, within the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary at Mollem and pugmarks of a tigress and two cubs along the water’s edge in Anjunem dam near the Goa-Karnataka border,” was all that the reticent Principal Chief Conservator of Forests ventured to say.

Shashi Kumar had earlier caused a furore when he claimed that tigers were not endemic to the State but were ‘migratory’, for which he was debunked by experts.

Wildlife and environmental activists in Goa have long been demanding that Goa’s sanctuaries be notified as tiger reserves. They have accused the Forest department of denying the presence of tigers to appease the politically and economically strong mining lobby.

Goa’s open cast iron ore and bauxite mining industry is digging through most of ‘protected’ forests of Western Ghats that feature in WWF’s 12 topmost biodiversity hotspots of the world.

According to wildlife campaigner Rajendra Kerkar, “It is beyond doubt that these forests are a home for tigers. However, if the State’s handful sanctuaries are notified as tiger reserves, mining — illegal and legal — around these, carried out with the blessings of the politicians and State administration would have to cease”.

Kerkar, also a freelance journalist, recently brought to light the poaching of a tiger in the Mhadei Wildlife sanctuary through his articles. Ironically, Kerkar was made abettor in the poaching crime after the former accused the Forest department of sabotaging the probe into the killing of the Schedule 1 animal. The Forest department had to later drop his name after an uproar in the local media.

“Look, many places in Goa are named after tigers. The official census doesn’t show any tigers from Goa when this is a tiger place. The tiger-poaching incident itself reflects that, which means the national count of 1,411 tigers goes up. The Forest department seems to be more concerned with conserving mining in the area than conserving wildlife,” well-known environmentalist Claude Alvares caustically remarked.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/256249/Cat-got-Goa-babus’-tongue!.html