Tigers Disappearing Here, There, and Everywhere

It is terribly distressing to know about the disappearance of Nawab -- A Sub Adult Male Tiger From Nagpur's Forest Division.

Please Read Page 5 of the Times of India Wednesday March 14, 2018 about the Plight of Nawab.

This seems to follow the same pattern as in the case of Jai and Srinivas -- Two Male Tigers that  were electrocuted and poached.

It seems to me that Poachers are targeting Maharashtra's Famous Male Tigers who live in the verdant forests of Vidarbha.

Maharashtra has a high density of Tigers but the rampant poaching of its male tigers will cease to make it a State Rich in Tiger Density.

From Tadoba to Pench to Tipeshwar Tigers till now were abundant.

Recent Poaching cases bring this issue into question.

Why are Forest Officials not being held accountable for the untimely death of these Tigers ??

Tigers are Flagship Species of Maharashtra's Forests. It is they who control the population of Herbivorous Ungulates.

To me it seems that there is terrible indifference on the part of Government Officials at the State Level and at the Centre. Tigers are the National Animals of India but no one seems to care.

If Male Tigers are poached like Nobody's Business how can the Tiger Population Increase at all ??

India needs to take a leaf out of Botswana's Book vis a vis Wildlife Conservation.

Botswana is a country situated in Southern Africa where Eco Tourism is the Mantra.

There is a Para Military Group called the Botswana Defence Force that actively protects its Elephants and Rhinos.

Why are Forest Officials not being provided with Automatic Rifles to take on Poachers ??

When will this apathy vis a vis Tigers End ??

Is There a Future for Tigers in Wild Maharashtra ??

The Watery World of Tigers

FYI -- Sundarbans Tiger Reserve is situated in the Eastern Indian State of West Bengal.

In the Sundarbans, Tigers are everywhere.

Camouflaged in the Mangrove Forest and living in a unique water dominated habitat  with a minimal prey base, the Sundarbans Royal Bengal Tiger is a Mysterious Animal.

The Question that has been nagging Forest Officials and Conservationists for some time, is How Can Tigers be counted in the Sundarbans ??

Till recently, It was an impossible exercise to get an estimate of the Tiger Population using existing methods.

Enter The Method of Camera Traps.

In 2014, Camera Traps began to give positive results.

The Photographs, revealed 87 Unique Individual Adult Tigers in this Mangrove Forest Ecosystem.

The Results of the Camera Trap Exercise pointed to the existence of 24 Tigers in South 24 Parganas Forest Division which is outside the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve.

In this region, which is extremely close to Human Beings -- 10 New Adult Tigers were photographed.

Images of 16 Adult Tigers were captured in the National Park East Range, 19 in West Range, and 15 each in Basirhat Range and Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary.

In each of the Tiger Zones, there was a minimal increase of 5 Adult Tigers.

The Sundarbans Tiger's Main Prey are Wild Pigs. A Number of Tiger Scats were examined and found to contain Pig Hair. It is obvious that the Tigers relish Pig Meat to a large extent.

The Tigers also eat Rhesus Macaque Monkeys, Crabs, Fish, and a limited number of Swamp Deer that are found in the water logged Mangrove Forests.

This Region is the only forest in India where No Cattle or other easy prey is available for these Tigers making them swim across Water Channels for a meal.

To get an estimate of the Tiger's Prey even the Fish in the Region would have to be accounted for.

If Tigers here regularly Prey on Fish, then it would place these Tigers on top of the Terrestrial and Aquatic Food Chain.

Credits : Counting The Tigers That Roam a Water World
               By Shiv Sahay Singh
               The Hindu Newspaper
               November 4, 2017 

Tigers On The Comeback Trail

Tigers will roar again at Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal. Located in Alipurduar district, the reserve, parts of which border Bhutan, has been identified for the tiger augmentation programme by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

How big is it?

Notified as a tiger reserve in 1983, Buxa consists of moist, deciduous and evergreen forests. It stretches to a length of 50 km from west to east and 35 km from north to south.

Over the past few years, the number of tigers in the Buxa reserve has been hotly debated by wildlife enthusiasts. While Forest Department officials claimed there were tigers in the reserve, almost no sighting of the big cats raised questions about their presence. The survey of tigers in 2011 based on DNA analyses of scat put the number of tigers at 20.

Where will tigers come from? 

The Sunderbans in south Bengal is home to about 100 tigers. Experts have consciously decided not to augment tigers in the Buxa reserve from the Sunderbans, a completely different mangrove ecosystem.

Instead, tigers from the forest reserves of Assam, which have a similar flora and fauna, will be introduced in Buxa. The reserve is located very close to Assam’s Manas Tiger Reserve, and some experts believe that animals from Manas often come to Buxa using Bhutan as a corridor.

What are the challenges?

The initial plan is to introduce six tigers at Buxa, but this poses a challenge to forest officials as there is human habitation in the area.

The tiger reserve has an area of about 757.9 sq km, of which 390 sq km lies in the core area and 367 sq km in the buffer zone. There are about 38 villages in Buxa and 49 villages in the fringe area.

A number of tea gardens are located on the periphery of the reserve.

The people residing in the villages mainly work at the tea plantations. In an attempt to mitigate the human versus animal conflict, the Forest Department has started awareness programmes in the villages before introducing the tigers.

Besides the population pressure, another major challenge at Buxa is the broad gauge rail line passing through the reserve, connecting Siliguri and Alipurduar. Over the past few years, a number of elephants and other animals have died, having been run over by trains.

The Buxa reserve is home to smaller cats such as leopards which occasionally surface in the tea gardens nearby.

There are also common clouded leopards, jungle cats and fishing cats. The herbivore list includes elephants, Indian gaur, chital, sambars, barking deer and hog deer.

Credits : Where Tigers Are Making A Comeback 

               By Shiv Sahay Singh 

             The Hindu Newspaper 

             September 2, 2017 

Tipeshwar -- A Fabulous Tiger Haven

FYI -- Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra State in Western India. It has a good Tiger Density.

Tiny Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary is situated near National Highway -- 44 in Yavatmal District of Maharashtra State.

It boasts of excellent Management Practices and a Good Quality Prey Base which helps the existence of 12-14 Tigers including 10 Cubs within its 143 Square Kilometre Area.

Tipeshwar is fast emerging as a Prime Tiger Conservation and Tiger Tourism Haven despite being small. The High Incidence of Tiger Sightings in the Sanctuary has made it popular among Wildlife Enthusiasts specially from Hyderabad as well as from the State of Telangana.

The Area needs to be expanded to hold the increasing number of Tigers and because of the increase in the population of Wildlife Tourists from Tadoba Tiger Reserve situated in Chandrapur District.

The sightings of these Big Cats will increase with the onset of Summer.

Tipeshwar has attracted local youth in large numbers who have converted their status from uninformed to noteworthy wildlife photographers all thanks to Tiger Sightings.

Tiger Cubs can often be seen at Tipeshwar in a playful mood.

In Tipeshwar, Tigers are sighted by following the calls of other animals in the wild.

Credits : Tipeshwar An Emerging Tiger Haven
               By S. Harpal Singh
               The Hindu Newspaper
               February 18, 2018 

Tiger Population on the verge of the century mark

The tiger population in the two States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will soon hit the century mark, thanks to a successfully laid recovery track that channels through Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve. If Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments manage to prevent poaching in the coming years, the tiger population will grow from an all time low of 68 in 2014 to a little over a hundred by 2018.

The minimal, but encouraging growth in tiger population will come about as wildlife conservation authorities have managed to nurture eight female tigers who gave birth to an average of three cubs during the last two years. As some cubs would attain adulthood by reaching the age of two this year, conservationists say another batch will turn two by 2018.

The cubs were spotted in the camera-tracking equipment of wildlife crime control bureau that was introduced only a few years ago.

As per the latest tiger census, report of which was released in January 2014, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are the only States in South India with a depleting tiger count that dipped from 95 in 2006 to 68 in 2014.

In other South Indian States like Karnataka, the tiger population increased from 103 in 2006 to 190 in 2014.

In Tamil Nadu the population had seen a steep growth from 76 to 229 during the same period. In Maharashtra, the population increase was from 103 to 190 from 2006 to 2014 and in Kerala the increase was from 290 to 406 during the same period. The tiger population has been depleting in Telangana due to large-scale poaching of individuals for tooth, skin and nails. Hyderabad is an active market for the sale of nails, officials pointed out.

Indigenous population chips in

Conservationists have been supporting tigers with the aid of indigenous population who find their abode in Nallamala forests. “Using the cameras we could spot 20 to 22 individuals in Mahabubnagar and Adilabad part of the reserve and some of them have cubs,” said chief wildlife warden, Telangana. In Andhra Pradesh too, cubs and individuals were spotted, officials said.

According to conservationists, tigers are found more in moist deciduous forests of Andhra Pradesh than the dry deciduous forests in Telangana. “In Kawal, Telangana, we spot mostly a floating population of tigers. The moist deciduous forests in Guntur, Kurnool and Prakasam have a good population of tigers,” said Rahul Pandey, an IFS officer who worked on conservation.

Credits : Tiger Population Roars to a Century Mark
               By Nikhila Henry
               The Hindu
                July 29, 2015 

Also Read The Following Article on Tiger Conservation in Andhra Pradesh  :

Seshachalam Hills To Have Tigers Soon

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/Seshachalam-Hills-to-have-tigers-soon/article17051879.ece

The World Of The Tiger

When we think of tigers in India, two questions come to mind. How does India ––a densely populated nation with a depleted forest cover support half the world’s tigers today? And what does the future hold for the species?

The persistence of tigers in India’s human dominated landscapes is linked to the establishment of Project Tiger over four decades ago and the subsequent creation of over 50 tiger reserves.

However, it would be naïve to assume that protected areas alone have saved tigers, or that they will, in themselves, ensure the species’ survival.

The large cats’ abrupt disappearance from prominent reserves like Sariska in Rajasthan and Panna in Madhya Pradesh, and the documentation of fewer than five tigers in Achanakmar in Chhattisgarh and Buxa in Bengal are well known.

There are many factors that determine whether Protected Areas (PAs) have positive conservation outcomes- habitat connectivity, park management regimens and human acceptance of living alongside tigers, risks and costs notwithstanding.

The willingness of communities to accommodate tigers is shaped by the degree to which communities are included in environmental governance and natural resource management. Tiger Reserves in India largely censure access and rights of local communities, resulting in the real or perceived alienation of communities from forests. Resulting attrition between communities and forest administrators can ultimately undermine tiger conservation.

However, several Tiger Reserves like Periyar and Parambikulam in Kerala have made tangible headway towards inclusive conservation.

Tiger populations have also persisted in India because the species is generally resilient and adaptable and can breed quickly given adequate prey and secure habitats.

As conservation biologists, we are becoming aware of the presence of breeding populations in areas beyond extant boundaries of PAs, including areas with extensive timber harvest practices or high human use, like Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, Sathyamangalam in Tamil Nadu and 24 Parganas in Bengal.

Thus, to hedge on the species’ bet against extinction, it is important to disburse conservation resources over large landscapes that could comprise a mosaic of protected areas, reserve forests, agricultural tracts and settlements. Such a strategy is well aligned and allows for dispersal and immigration of wide-ranging mammals.

However, the ability of tigers to persist in human dominated landscapes has sharp limits. If humans and cattle overrun tiger habitats, the species’ populations may be restricted to small and isolated patches or in larger tracts that lack effective protection.

Importantly, the tiger’s persistence in modern India’s human dominated landscapes has been made possible by the acceptance of many millions of people living adjacent to tiger habitats. Tolerance for tigers is woven into India’s cultural fabric, as has been exemplified in the Terai and in Central India, where large tiger populations exist near habitations, where the felines prey on livestock, and occasionally claim human lives.

While it is clear that the species has ultimately survived in regions where people have willed it to live and co-existed with tigers, it would be imprudent to over-simplify human tolerance, or that such attitudes are ubiquitous. Regular news stories about big cats being poisoned, bludgeoned, snared and electrocuted in various parts of the country serve as reminders of these limits of tolerance.

What is then the future of tigers in India?

Poaching remains the greatest and most immediate threat to wild tigers today. In India, reported tiger deaths related to poaching reached an all time high in 2016. Worryingly, these reported figures only represent a fraction of actual mortality.

The systemic overhaul of protection measures in India has been slow and many areas still remain understaffed. Growing human populations, expanding settlements, and the proliferation infrastructure networks resulting in smaller habitats further challenge their future. Projections of sea-level rise indicate that the future of tigers in the Sunderbans also remain uncertain .

Though the challenges are many and complex, we remain optimistic. Tigers will likely persist in large, connected landscapes where the big cats can move freely and safely between habitat patches, such as those in the Terai and Western Ghats.

However, with rapidly expanding linear infrastructure these and other landscapes continue to be carved up into ever-smaller fragments. If critical corridors are lost, the future occurrence within habitat fragments may increasingly require the species’ active translocation from one area to another.

This will require further advancing of our capacity to undertake complex tiger translocations and developing systems to monitor tigers and ensure their protection. Some important steps have been taken towards these ends.

A large number of frontline-forest department staff are being trained in technology-aided law enforcement and monitoring, and are better equipped to curb poaching than they were a decade ago. This month, India became the third country to have a tiger habitat site (Landsdowne Forest Division in Uttarakhand) accredited under the Global Conservation Assured Tiger Standards scheme.

While we persevere in our efforts to ensure the survival of this majestic species, it is hard to envision what their world and ours will look like. Will cultural ethos, that today engender coexistence, remain intact and large numbers of humans stoically continue to live in the shadow of fierce carnivores? Or will we fence off our reserves, and harden boundaries between human spaces and wilderness?

Is it conceivable that we will be able to engineer landscapes, through prescient land use planning, that maintain permeability and facilitate tiger dispersal while also developing mechanisms to rapidly contain individuals that stray into settlements?

Time alone will bear witness to these questions.

Credits : The Tiger's World and Ours
               By Pranav Chanchani
               July 29, 2017
               Hindustan Times 

Bor Tiger Reserve's Katrina delivers Third Litter in 2.5 years

Bor Tiger Reserve has delivered its third litter in just 2.5 years, with a gap of just 14 months between each litter.

Tourists were thrilled to sight three 3-month-old cubs of Katrina at a waterhole. Katrina is the dominant female of the little known and smallest tiger reserve Bor (138.12 sq km), 60km from Nagpur in Wardha district.

Staff and officials monitoring the tigress since 2013 said Katrina delivered the first litter of four cubs (2 males and 2 females) in October 2014. The second litter of three (2 females and 1 male) cubs was born on January 2016, and now the third litter in March 2017.

One of the cubs from the second litter was killed by a wild dog last year. Male tiger Yuvraj and female Pinky are still being sighted by tourists at Bor's Adegaon gate. All other cubs did well and dispersed in buffer zone and other forest areas through the fragmented corridors.

"Every time, the cubs were first sighted with Katrina about two months after birth, and hence in the records the date of their sighting has been mentioned as date of birth," said Bor officials.

As per tiger science, a female can rear some 6-8 litters over her 10-12 year lifespan. However, six-year-old Katrina has delivered 10 cubs in a span of 2.5 years if one considers the first litter from October 2014 to March 2017. It means the cubs were separated in 14 months.

With six more years to go in Katrina's lifespan in the wild, at this rate the tigress at an average of 3-4 cubs can deliver 20 more cubs, breaking the record of MP Pench's Collarwali, which has so far given 26 cubs from seven litters.

Presently, Bor has 12 tigers, which includes 7 cubs, 3 females and 2 males. One of the males was the dominant Bajirao (B2). Bajirao, who mated with Katrina, had a huge territory, right from Hingni, Kharangana and Karanja in Wardha to Kalmeshwar in Nagpur.

Well-known Bengaluru-based conservation zoologist K Ullas Karanth says, "If a litter is lost, the tigress can typically mate again within a month, and have the next litter in 3.5 months. Not knowing the full history of this case, I cannot say more."

Another tiger expert and former director of Project Tiger PK Sen says, "It's very surprising. I have not heard of such happenings in my life or ever read in any book or document."

"Only once in my lifetime have I come across a tigress with one about three-month-old cub and two about 20-month-old cubs moving together in Tadoba in 1998. The elder two separated from the mother after a few weeks," Sen said.

However, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) tiger scientist Bilal Habib says though it is an unusual situation, it happens in high density areas. "Females tend to mate with males early as a strategy to save their cubs. It has happened in Tadoba, another high density area," said Habib.

Habib added Bor reserve has a good prey base, abundant water and protection, hence it has become a good breeding ground. "The area is too small to accommodate a large number of tigers, hence surplus population will have to always move out," he said.

Even in low density Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary (UKWS) in Nagpur district, the park's dominant tigress Chandi delivered 17 cubs from 2009, but all were reared till they were 2 years old, the time when males disperse in search of new territories.

Credits : Bor's Tiger Reserve's Katrina delivers 3rd Litter in 2.5 years

               By Vijay Pinjarkar 

               Times of India, June 8, 2017