SEMADOH (MELGHAT): Although direct sighting of tigers did not happen in the rugged terrain of Melghat during the five-day exercise of wildlife and habitat estimation, it still produced substantial evidence about the wild cats' presence- raising hopes of their long-term survival here.
The in-house exercise, conducted from January 27 to 31, with the help of 400 staffers and around 25 volunteers in 230 beats of Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), comprising Akot, Sipna and Gugamal Wildlife Divisions was testing time for the field staff.
This was revision of a similar exercise carried out all over India by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, between January 27 and February 3 last year.
Tigers have always remained elusive in MTR, fondly called the 'Kipling Country' and known for its mystifying landscape with high hills and deep valleys. Tourists in the past one year (December 2010 to January 2011) have reported just three tiger and five leopard sightings. Yet, clinching evidence of carnivores like pugmarks, scrape and scent marks, scats etc. show tigers and leopards are very much around. They are rarely spotted due to complex landscape and dense forest cover. Also, large areas are not accessible to tourists.
The officials' joy knew no bound when they received reports of direct sighting of leopard and two cubs and a tiger each in Semadoh and Chourakund forest ranges in the Sipna Wildlife Division.
"It is a good sign. For the past over two years, the field staff has been rigorously monitoring their respective areas and maintaining registers about sightings. This is helping us know of the animals' presence. For those who don't believe there are tigers in Melghat, we can present them the evidence. We have maintained complete transparency," said A K Mishra, field director & conservator of forests of MTR.
Apart from indirect evidence of leopards and tigers on pugmark impression pads (PIPs), direct sightings of herbivores like chitals and sambars were also reported from transact lines. There was also good evidence of bisons, porcupines, hyenas too. Melghat, where poor prey base is still an issue, even direct sightings of herbivores came as a good news for the staff.
Volunteers were disturbed to see cattle sharing territory with wild animals even in core area. "We saw cow dung and pellets of sambar on the same transact lines in Semadoh area, indicating that grazing was a big problem in Melghat," said Sandeep Dhahad, a volunteer from Nagpur.
Mishra admits grazing is the biggest threat in the reserve. "It has affected prey base in Melghat, but for the past two years, we have been tough on grazers. Offences against unauthorised grazers were brought down from 103 in 2008-09 to 36 in 2009-10.
"Tracking down signs and collecting evidence on transact lines on hillocks and river banks was not a child's play. At one point, we felt like giving up due to many ups and downs in the three-km transact. It came to traversing nearly 10 kms a day but it was also an exciting experience," said Smith Malkan and Adarsh, both students from Mumbai, who participated in the exercise for the first time.
"Our day started at 5.30 am and ended at 11.30 am. The transact lines were located two km away from Semadoh, where we were based. We saw pugmarks of two different tigers on both days in Jawaharkund area. A farmer also claimed to have seen a tiger near the periphery of the reserve," both added.
Some volunteers were disappointed at not sighting animals despite moving in core zone. Mishra explained, "Over 80% of the MTR is teak forest. Since December, the trees have been shedding leaves. You can see carpet of teak leaves everywhere. The rustling of leaves makes sightings difficult and also proves a hurdle in collecting evidence."
Despite 70% of the MTR field staff being above 50 years, the exercise went well as almost all participated seriously. Praveen Kumar Badge, deputy conservator of forests (DyCF), Sipna, says, "We have tightened screws on field staff that was in habit of absconding from duty without prior information. In the past two years, several surprise checks on protection huts have been conducted and erring employees have been punished. This has yielded results," he says.
IMP BOX
55 tigers in Melghat?
In 2010, the exercise of all India monitoring of tiger, co-predators, prey and their habitat, was carried out. The data have been compiled and submitted to Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The field data collection shows tiger occupancy in almost all areas of critical tiger habitat (CTH) of the MTR. The carnivore signs for tiger collected during the exercise indicate presence of tiger in 55 out of 87 beats of Gugamal Division and 63 out of 96 beats in Sipna Division. Official sources claim due to terrain, topography, density of the forests and biotic interference, sightings are difficult. But group patrolling, protection camps, sighting reports, captures by camera trap, cattle kill etc. are regularly carried out. Proper documentation is maintained at different levels and data collected show presence of 40-55 tigers.
However, in 2005-06, the monitoring had revealed that Melghat, part of the Satpuda landscape, has tiger presence in 1,828 sq km, and supports a population of 21-39 tigers. The tiger distribution in Melghat is contiguous with the population in Madhya Pradesh. The latest result shows that Melghat has come up silently.
Testing time for staff
The in-house exercise to count tiger, co-predators, prey and their habitat was a testing time for the forest guards and foresters of Melghat, who, for the first time, had to appear for an exam of 100 marks at Semadoh on the first day (January 27). "This was just to test the knowledge of the staff and had nothing to do with their appraisals," said field director A K Mishra.
The descriptive paper consisted of rights and duties of guards and foresters. Besides, there were objective type questions, fill in the blanks and match the following on issues like wildlife crime, monitoring, patrolling, forest fires, line transact method etc. This is perhaps for the first time that a test for field staff has been conducted. "It will refurbish the knowledge of the staff," felt Praveen Kumar Badge, deputy conservator of Sipna Division.
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