Jairam stands between shooter’s gun and Corbett tigress

Will the Sunderkhal tigress at Corbett Tiger Reserve be terminated?

Differences have cropped up between Union Forest & Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and the Uttarakhand Forest Department on a directive issued by the latter to eliminate the big cat following reporters of three human kills.

Chief Wildlife Warden S Chandola confirmed to The Pioneer that the order to terminate the tigress was issued on December 30. At the same time, Ramesh told this correspondent that the tigress would be tranquillised and relocated in the core area.

The tigress has been active in Sundarkhal, Garjia and Dhikuli ranges and has killed three persons during the past one-and-a-half months.

According to Corbett Tiger Reserve field director Ranjan Mishra, the tigress killed two women — Nandi Devi and Devki Devi — in the area on November 12 and December 29, respectively. One Kalpana Devi was killed on November 12, in Chukum area, under Ramnagar Forest Division.

He added, “The nature of killings indicates that her actions had been intentional. In such a situation, the Forest Department has to address grievances of the local population. Hence, the order (to shoot her) has been passed.”

Mishra said the tigress had not been sighted in the past two to three days, though five teams are searching for her. “A team of hunters has been sent to the jungles to kill the big cat,” he noted.

The Corbett field director was of the opinion that it is not possible to tranquillise a moving tiger.

Warden Chandola pointed out that after a tiger is found with human kill, there is no way out but to terminate it. In this case, the tigress was identified through pug impression pads (PIP) made by preparing a layer of fine soil about 2 cm thick on forest paths and animal tracks. Her pugmarks have been discovered near the human kill, according to him.

Experts, however, observed that PIP is an obsolete method of tracking. “Sunderkhal is a very important corridor area, at the periphery of Corbett and connecting Almora and Nainital Forest Divisions. The passage is often used by animals, including carnivores. In such a situation, it is important to identify animals actually responsible for the killings,” said one expert.

The more scientific DNA tests should be adopted in such cases, they opined.

Further, they pointed out that there had been no tiger chart mapping done to identify big cats in their respective territories. With another tiger in the same territory, how can it be said with certainty that the same tigress has made all three kills?

Locals also noted that the affected village — placed as it is in the periphery of the reserve — is an encroachment and the cat’s termination order, politically motivated. “The Forest Department should come out with long term plans to check increasing man-animal conflicts in the region. Merely killing a tigress will not solve the problem,” said an expert.

All may well not be over yet. On the basis of statements made by Ramesh, sources in the Ministry of Environment & Forest gave indications that the tigress would eventually be tranquillised and relocated in the forest. “After all, political pressures in the periphery of the forest have to be pacified… so the termination order was issued,” a source added.