Facts Regarding DNA News about Tiger Poaching in Tadoba

Dear Friends,

Following is the news given by Mr. Ashwin Aghor Of DNA on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 1:48 IST. The Link is http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1256978

20 tigers feared poached at Tadoba in past 5 months

Ashwin Aghor Tuesday, May 19, 2009 1:48 IST

Mumbai: Environmentalists are worried about the turn of things in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), considered the best tiger reserve in Maharashtra. The man-tiger conflict in this Chandrapur forest area, which had grown alarmingly in the last three years, has suddenly come to an end in the past five months.

"The sudden end to the conflict should be taken seriously since it is an indication that the tigers in the conflict area are in serious trouble," said Kishor Rithe, president of Satpuda Foundation, an NGO working for forest conservation in central India. It is feared that around 20 tigers have been poached in the recent past in the Reserve.

The man-tiger conflict in Chandrapur district had become serious with 11 human deaths in 2006, 13 in 2007 and more than 26 in 2008. Surprisingly, only one incident of human death -- on January 21 -- has been reported this year.

Three reasons could be cited for this: 1. The tigers have uncharacteristically decided to stay away from humans; 2. Tigers and humans in the conflict area have "arrived" at a consensus not to invade in each other's domain and 3. All the tigers in the conflict area have been wiped out.

"First two possibilities are out of question and there are more chances that all tigers in the area are wiped out," he said, adding, "Tigers have no future outside TATR in Chandrapur district."

Even the forest department officials are accepting the fact. A senior forest official agreed that the tigers in the area must have been poached. "We have information that an organised poaching syndicate from Katni in Madhya Pradesh is active around Bhandara and Gondia," he said.

According to the official, there are around 40 tigers outside TATR and available information indicates that eight tigers have been poached leading to either death of three cubs and removal of two cubs from the forest, out of them one later died at Maharajbaugh Zoo in Nagpur.

The official said that there was an urgent need of undertaking 'know your tiger' exercise to create a data base. "Since poachers are far more advanced than the forest department, we should at least have detailed information about the tigers in the region. The poachers must have killed around 20 tigers in the region in past five months," the official said.

I don't want to raise any question about the information source or reliability of the news. The only thing which I want to discuss here is the confusation created in the minds of readers, Nature as well as Wildlife and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) lovers. The continuous querries from so many people, that if it is true that the 20 Tigers have been poached in TATR, leads me to clear the fact.

If we carefully read the news, it can be clearly noticed that the fear of tigers being poached is outside the Tiger Reserve and the reason of confusation is just due to the HEADLINE and the FIRST LINE OF THE NEWS. Even the news itself mentioned clearly that TATR is a safe heaven for Tigers.

"Tigers have no future outside TATR in Chandrapur district."

The facts are:

1. There is no Human-Animal conflict, regarding Tigers, inside the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve except 2 cases in 2007-08.

2. The area which faced most of the Human-Animal conflict cases is Nagbhid-Sindewahi area which comes under Brahmapuri Division.

3. The Conflict later leads in the direction of Chandrapur area. Some of the cases registered in Chandrapur area were very close to Chandrapur City.

4. Remaining facts given in the news are correct.

Dear Friends, Please do not keep any confusation in your mind. Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve is still a safe heaven for Tigers. It is emerging very speedily as one of the best Tiger reserve in India.