By Shivang Mehta & Kahini Ghosh Mehta
It is not a hidden fact that millions of dollars are being poured into the conservation of the striped wonders of India but the situation remains precarious.
With fewer than 1400 left in the wild, India is going through its worst tiger crises.
Human greed and selfishness has been one of the many cause of the plight of tigers in India and the irony is that as per recent trends, the present crisis has opened up a new dimension to the greed with corporates using the cause as a PR and branding tool hiding behind the garb of conservation.
If human greed and selfishness is one of the prime reasons for the condition of tigers in India today and if greed and selfishness is a character trait that humans understand, it would be worthwhile to save the tiger for our own selfish interest. The role of the tiger in the ecosystem is indeed quite interesting and it goes without saying that the tiger is the perfect indicator of the health of a forest. The tiger protects the forests of our country by maintaining an equilibrium that is important for the survival of its prey (deer, monkeys, boars etc.) and the vegetation.
And since the survival of the forests are crucial for the thousands of rivers, a life source for millions of people in India, that originate and flow through them, it makes the saving of tigers all the more important.
However, the economics of tiger conservation is quite interesting. Let’s consider Corbett as an example. With over 70 private properties in and around the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttrakhand, wildlife tourism has become an ever-flourishing business model generating revenues for property owners, travel agents and some great employment opportunities for locals. The local youth now look up to careers like naturalists, guide cum drivers of safari vehicles as a lot of private resorts are in need of such people.
According to the Tiger Task Force data released in 2005/06, a total of 1.29 million people visited tiger reserves in 2004/05 which approximates to 58456tourist per tiger reserve every year and the number is continuously growing year on year. The nominal gate charges of Rs 25-50 gives revenue in crores to most of the popular national parks.
Corbett alone experienced a tourist inflow of over two lakhs in the last season. With a total ceiling of 600 visitors per day, Corbett can officially have 1.6 lakh tourists during the eight-month season. The numbers invariably overshoot this limit. Tourism is rampant in other popular national parks like Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Ranthambore etc. and the tiger, without doubt, is a magnet that pulls the majority of the lot.
Be it an ordinary weekend walk-in tourist, or a season wildlife researcher or photographer, the tiger is the binding force that draws visitors from across the globe.
As per Aditya Singh, wildlife conservationist and tiger expert from Ranthambore “The tourism zone of the Ranthambhore which has around 20 tigers, contributes over Rs 1 billion — directly and indirectly — to the Indian economy, every year.”
“Over 40 per cent of this amount never reaches anyone in Ranthambhore and barely three per cent actually goes to the park,” adds Aditya.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Pilibhit attacks offer hope for big cat in Dudhwa
The tiger attacks in Pilibhit may have led to fear in the district, but it has brought some cheer to the state forest department.
In an area where tiger sightings were rare, the department has identified four tigers and believes there are two more. Although the department is waiting for the results of the tiger census, officials say the presence of tigers in the area indicates their numbers are increasing in the nearby Dudhwa tiger reserve and the animals are expanding their territory.
Since May, eight incidents of tiger attacks have been reported from the Deoria range in Pilibhit and Khutar range in Shahjehanpur district.
Following this, the state forest department set traps and cameras in the area, which zeroed in on four — three tigresses and one adult tiger — as the culprits. The department has sent teams to tranquilise the animals.
The Divisional Forest Officer, Pilibhit, V K Singh, said the last time tiger attacks were reported in this area was in 2003-04. Since then, there were stray tiger sightings. “We have already managed to get the photographs of the man-killer tigers and the pugmarks make it clear that it is not a simple case of tiger moving out of its territory during monsoons,” said Singh. “The incidents started occurring much before the season and the pattern of killing shows these tigers are now establishing territory in the Deoria range.”
Tigers expand their territories only in two cases, said Singh — when their area falls short of prey or the number of tigers increases. “These are adult tigers and since the area is adjoining the Dudhwa tiger reserve, there are chances that the numbers have increased there, resulting in the tigers moving out,” said Singh.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pilibhit-attacks-offer-hope-for-big-cat-in-dudhwa/678287/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)