Tiger kills man in Uttar Pradesh

Feline fear continues to haunt villagers in Uttar Pradesh after a tiger killed a man near a forest in Shahjahanpur district - the eighth case of human-killing by the big cat in the state's terai area since May.

Gopal Singh, 30, was killed late Thursday by the tiger near the Khutar range of Shahjahanpur forest division.

Another youth, Pratap Singh, was killed in a tiger attack in the same forest area Monday.

The remaining six human-killings took place in the Deoria forest range in Pilibhit, some 250 km from here.

'Investigations reveal that Gopal and Pratap were killed by the same tiger. Pugmarks found at the sites indicate it's a male tiger,' Divisional Forest Officer P.P. Singh told IANS on phone from Shahjahanpur, some 150 km from here.

Officials in Shahjahanpur have now contacted their counterparts in Pilibhit as they believe it could be the same male tiger that has killed six people in Pilibhit's Deoria forest range since May.

In order to ascertain it scientifically, the hair of the tiger collected from the sites in Shahjahanpur have been sent to the officials in Pilibhit who would do a DNA analysis.

'There's a strong possibility that the tiger that had claimed six lives in the jungles of Pilibhit lost its way and has now reached the forest area of Shahjahanpur,' Pilibhit Divisional Forest Officer V.K. Singh said over phone.

'The Khutar forest range of Shahjahanpur and the Deoria forest range are in continuation. In both the ranges, presence of tiger is not normally reported,' he said.

'But it could be possible that the tiger moved into the Pilibhit jungles and then to the adjoining forest area in Shahjahanpur,' he added.

Asked why the tiger was not branded as a man-eater after it killed six people in Pilibhit, V.K. Singh said: 'In all such cases, humans went inside the forest areas and the feline did not attack by coming out of the forest.'

The forest officials in both Shahjahanpur and Pilibhit districts have issued an advisory to the villagers not to venture out alone late in the evening.

'Forest officials are camping in different villages of Shahjahanpur to allay the fear of the locals. We are making every effort to trap the tiger,' P.P. Singh said.

As many as 12 pairs of cameras have also been installed in the Khutar range in order to spot the tiger.

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Video nails Ranthambore foresters' lies: Expert

KOLKATA: Fateh Singh Rathore, India's pioneer tiger conservationist, has called the Ranthambore forest officials' conduct in Bhuripahadi utterly callous and cowardly. The former field director of the national park and now head of NGO Tiger Watch Foundation said the entire episode captured on film by Tiger Watch field biologist Dharmendra Khandal, helps expose the forest officers' lies. Incidentally, Khandal has been booked for blocking forest officials from doing their duty.

Rathore said the senior officers first buckled under pressure from angry villagers and ordered their junior, a forest ranger, to fire tranquillizer darts at the tiger even as he pleaded he was not authorized to do so. When the dart-hit tiger dug its canines into ranger Daulat Singh Shaktawat's face and plucked out his right eye, two officers just fled, said Rathore.

"By fleeing after issuing illegal orders, the officers not only displayed poor and cowardly leadership, they were callous to leave the tiger as it could have either been attacked or have attacked the villagers," he added
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Ranthambore National Park: Turf war

Technically, there was always a crowd. But guided by a traditional respect for one another's domain, the occasional overlap of territory at the Ranthambore National Park was a given for the parties concerned - the tiger, the forester, the villager and the conservation brigade.

Years later, a new equation is fast emerging. The tiger, now under extreme care, has multiplied like never before, pushing the park to its seams by spreading out to peripheral areas. The forester, under global pressure, is attempting to lay down the law firmly. The villagers, pushed to the brink of the forest, are making a last-ditch bid to hold on to their land. And for conservation NGOs, grabbing the global limelight has never been easier.

The thin line of divide is fast fading, giving way to increasing instances of man-animal conflict. And tempers are running thin. Barely days after a tranquillizing bid went horribly wrong in the Bhuri Pahadi village in Khandar, with a tiger attacking a ranger amid shouts and alleged stone pelting by villagers, Ranthambore park director Raghubir Singh Shekhawat lost his cool on Wednesday as a herd of buffaloes made their way to the neighbouring sanctuary for grazing.

For years, he might have looked the other way at stray instances of grazing but not now, given the success story Ranthambore has to safeguard. The herd had moved into Sawai Madhopur sanctuary that is being developed as a satellite sanctuary to house spillover tigers. The herd and the grazer were shooed away.

Minutes after Shekhawat reached the outpost of Bodal, villagers, who are on the verge of relocation by next year, came forth with their petition. ''Most of us now have just two or three buffaloes, so what is wrong if we graze them there? Where else will we go?'' appealed 63-year-old Bajrang Lal.

After half an hour of haggling, an agreement was reached. Herders were given a little extra area to graze. ''Any further and I will fine Rs 10,000 per buffalo,'' warned Shekhawat.

The nuances of law-enforcing are not lost here. Besides helping forest authorities with eco-development work along the periphery, villagers will be required to cooperate with the voluntary relocation process that is on for securing the tiger habitat. For the villagers, bereft of grazing space, every inch negotiated is an inch won.

"The grazing land owned by the panchayat, which was once on the outskirts of the forest have been all occupied by musclemen either for mining or for cultivation, '' says Ranglal Choudhary, assistant conservator of forest at Sawai Mansingh sanctuary. "And once herders go into the forest, it is a matter of chance whether or not a tiger attacks.''

''Ranthambore had its fill way back in 2005 when the pugmark census revealed a count of 26. Now there are about 37 tigers," says Rajpal Singh, member of the state wildlife board. "Each male needs its separate territory and while the dominant ones take pride of place in the core area, the young ones look to the periphery for carving out a space for themselves. And it is when they roam here that most conflicts take place."

Records suggest in the last five years, while four people have died in tiger attacks, at least six were left injured. On the other hand, in Khandahar area alone, at least five tigers were killed in the past five years — the latest being March 7 at Talra, when two cubs strayed into a village and fell prey to a poisoned goat set up as a bait.

The concrete wall planned around the reserve is being seen as imperative to define forest and non-forest areas. ''The wall would not only prevent the villagers from getting inside the forest but also prevent tigers from straying out. We have already built 15.5km of a targeted 87km for last year and this year.,'' said Shekhawat.

That along with relocation of villages from the critical tiger habitat (CTH) area as well as the periphery of the reserve is being seen as the solution to the conflict. But of 73 villages in the CTH and 90 in the periphery, only two villages — Indala and Manchaki — have been moved out of the CTH. Relocation of five is in process in Sawai Madhopur. Until the space equation changes, and that is a long way away if at all, the line of divide is a live wire
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Veerappan's lair could soon be new sanctuary for tigers Read more: Veerappan's lair could soon be new sanctuary for tigers - Flora & Fauna - Environm

HENNAI: The Sathyamangalam wildlife sanctuary in western Tamil Nadu may soon be declared a tiger reserve. The move came after Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to chief minister M Karunanidhi in July suggesting that the area be converted into a tiger reserve since several tiger sightings have been reported from there.

"Since the area is contiguous with the forests of Chamrajanagar-Bandipur-Mudumalai, it has tremendous potential to hold a source population of tigers. The area can pick up readily with Central assistance under Project Tiger," Ramesh wrote.

The request, which has already been moved to the state environment and forests department, is being processed, confirmed state environment and forests secretary Debendranath Sarangi. "We are actively pursuing it right now," he said. "But the procedure is a long-drawn one and involves implementation of a host of restrictions. After all, a tiger reserve receives maximum security and protection. But, a census of the tiger population in that area has already been carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India," he added. Principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden R Sundarraju said the survey had been done, but the report was yet to be received.

Located in Erode district in the area where the Western Ghats meet the Eastern Ghats, Sathymangalam was for a long time the haunt of slain brigand Veerappan. However, in recent years, as reported by TOI in 2009, at least 10 tigers were spotted in these forests, possibly because the area has remained largely undisturbed through the years.

According to state chief conservator of forests Dr V N Singh, the census was only a preliminary survey to justify the establishment of a tiger reserve. "The results are very promising. The population here seems quite healthy too." The reserve's core area is likely to be in the Moyar valley
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More tigers to be radio collared

KOLKATA: Four to eight Bengal tigers will be fitted with radio collars and released in a small patch of the Sunderbans by this year-end to study the behaviour of big cats that inhabit the mangrove forests.

It will also aid in a more accurate estimation of the tiger count as the current figure of 275 tigers is widely disputed. Speaking to TOI on the sidelines of a symposium on the future of Bengal tiger, Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve director Pradeep Vyas admitted that the figure was a guesstimate. "Radio collar tracking and camera trapping are scientific means that allow a more accurate estimation than pug mark readings," Vyas said

The programme is also crucial to determine if the mangrove tigers protect territorial rights as fiercely as tigers elsewhere or have diffused and overlapping territories due to the peculiar nature of their habitation. "Precious little is known about the behaviour of Bengal tigers in the Sunderbans and wildlife researchers from all over the country are eagerly looking forward to the project," said wildlife activist Bittu Sahgal.

While tiger experts believe big cats in the Sunderbans behave no differently than those elsewhere, field officers in the Sunderbans have long held that inundation of the forest floors by tides twice a day has led to diffused territories shared by tigers.

"Tigers are aggressively territorial solitary animals. A dominant male constantly patrols his territory to ward off rivals. Tigers mark their territory by spraying urine on trees, bushes and rocks in their area and also leave scratch marks on trees and on the ground. However, there is a belief that in the Sunderbans, tides wash away such markings and hence territorial dominance may not be as fierce. Whether it is true can be determined once the movement of radio collared tigers are analyzed," said legendary tiger man Fateh Singh Rathore.

Two tigers that were fitted with radio collars in the Sunderbans earlier this year are already being tracked via satellite at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The territory of 35 sq km covered by one of these collared tigers has left foresters stunned as they expected tigers in the Sunderbans to remain restricted to a much smaller area. "It moved into Bangladesh. We do not know if it had originally strayed into Indian territory from Bangladesh or it has now strayed across the border. The tiger crossed its command area despite the presence of enough prey. Whether this is an aberration or general behaviour can be ascertained when more tigers are radio-collared," Vyas said.

The German radio collars that cost around Rs 4 lakh will be funded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, formerly Project Tiger.

The official said male and female tigers will be trapped beginning October to fit them with radio collars. "Usually, male and female territories overlap in the breeding season. But at other times, both guard their territory zealously with the male tiger being more assertive. The year-long project will reveal whether the tigers here behave in a similar manner," said Bangladeshi tiger researcher Monirul H Khan.

A caption to the photograph accompanying the story "Call for stricter poaching laws" erroneously mentions Pradip Vyas, director of Sunderban Biosphere Reserve, as S S Bisht. The error is regretted.

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