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Kanha's rules for saving the tiger
The Kanha Tiger Reserve has achieved a tremendous success in providing a sound ecological status to tigers, writes Rakesh Shukla.
Controversies about the status of tigers in some of the most prominent Tiger Reserves are emerging thick and fast.
The past week witnessed the watchdog and the protector, both equally concerned about the tiger, busy writing reams of papers on and explaining exhaustively about some aspect or the other of tiger conservation, leaving the readers frustrated and confused, and the future of the tiger bleak.
Everybody, however, hopes that all possible measures would be taken at all levels to ensure that a viable population of this super predator inhabits, albeit under the ever increasing biotic pressure, the wilds of this country for at least another hundred years.
Strain your memory; we have also proved some of the renowned tiger-watchers, mostly western, wrong in the past, when they predicted that India would step into the twenty-first century without its magnificent tigers. Did not the current century welcome us all with our tigers roaring full-throatedly, numbering a few thousand?
Easier said than done, however, this formidable task of saving the tiger, with the uncontrollable vast sea of humanity closing in, by the year, on forests in general and wildlife protected areas in particular, and the paucity of funds due to prioritization in favour of Homo sapiens’s unceasing demands based on greed rather than need, requires the application of the sincerest of the intentions of, including, of course, honest and amicable coordination among, all the custodians of tiger conservation, regardless of their discipline within it.
The constitution of empowered regional panels all over the country with experts could also be one of the solutions in this direction. Finding faults and taking potshots shall lead us nowhere. The need of the hour is not conflict but cooperation. The relegation of this heady one-upmanship will also save us from such sarcasm as “the country where there are more tiger experts than tigers” from the rest of the world, watching us - a laughing stock - amusingly. And mind you, nobody, regardless of his/ her affiliations, has been spared by this remark, aimed at us all collectively.
Come on, readers have already had enough of the gloomy talk and the worst of prophesies about the Indian tiger. In spite of so much skepticism and pessimism about the state of tiger conservation in the country, there are still several Tiger Reserves where the great cat still rules the roost, as they say it administratively!
Fortunately, there is no single biogeographic zone in India which is deficient in a viable tiger population. After reminding this plus point in tiger conservation, I hasten to add that in no way whatsoever am I trying to downplay the concerns of the conservationists, or propagandizing the false optimism of “all well” without cautioning to form a good strategy based on the consensus of the best brains involved in the business.
Agreed, our country, a rapidly growing economy, a caged tiger as they say it (!), in the world has inevitably taken its toll on pristine forests, restricting our wildlife in a much smaller area than it was some sixty years back. There are, however, still several Tiger Reserves, hats off to them, which are doing excellently despite typical Indian biotic as well as other unfavorable factors. Some of the finest Tiger Reserves whose names come most readily to the mind are, the Bandipur and Nagarhole, besides the Sunderbans and, of course, Kanha. There are also a few which are very promising and might, in future, equal one of the above.
The Kanha Reserve
Situated in the Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, the Kanha Tiger Reserve is undoubtedly the finest wildlife protected areas in India. If somebody objects to it, I may come down a bit and say that it is the first among the equals! These wilds chronicle the annals of a magnificent conservation history of almost a century, introducing them to the national and international community of naturalists, writers, hunters and marksmen.
The Kanha Tiger Reserve, now a synonym of excellence in wildlife conservation, has achieved a tremendous success in providing a sound ecological status to these wilds through concerted efforts under Project Tiger. The protected area has also earned the unique distinction of conserving the endangered and last world population of the hard ground Barasingha in its scientifically managed habitats, and its conservation concerns come before that of the tiger! The flagship species, the tiger, has increased progressively in number and reached 127 in 2004. Above all, there is a remarkable recovery of the ecosystem as such, resulting in the restoration of biodiversity.
What has sustained this protected area for so long, and, of course, so excellently, and what toil has gone into the making of this nature heritage called Kanha? Is this a handful few unsung heroes doomed to go into oblivion without even so much credit as mere mention of their missionary zeal at the expense of their social lives and other problems? This is something which has to be physically seen to believe and appreciate. Any other way of knowing about this pristine wildlife ecosystem and its keepers would be forgettable, and this expression is simply not created to go with the Kanha experience!
Years of daily grind, unwavering toil, receptivity to learning, minor upsets, and, of course, a natural way of adopting “adaptive management”-long before the word was coined outside India-has ultimately resulted in the “commandments” of tiger conservation in the protected area. And the Kanha Management has been intrinsically following these ten conservation commandments under a comprehensive pragmatic approach to tiger conservation:
Thou shall....
Protect tooth and nail: Going by the simple maxim that “what you do not protect, you cannot manage”, protection has always been assigned the topmost priority among all the conservation practices in Kanha. The Tiger Reserve is known to have adopted a protectionistic attitude since long, with its reliable communication system and a time tested multifarious protection strategy throughout the year. The protection strategy chiefly includes a very effective network of patrolling camps/ beat camps all over the reserve, regular foot patrolling by staff, including senior officers; patrolling of vulnerable areas, special monsoon foot patrolling, patrolling by elephants, frequent salt lick and waterhole checking, and checking for electrocution etc. Protection practices are seriously reviewed every month and action taken accordingly.
Observe keenly: The Management believes that the day to day monitoring is the principal way in which it can identify trends or changes, and so assess the effectiveness of its managerial inputs. The management has included several simple monitoring exercises in the routine duties of the staff. The management ensures that the monitoring parameters relating to vegetation, population structure of ungulates, evidence of tigers and panthers, and other relevant information are entered daily in the prescribed registers at each patrolling camp.
Relocate humanly: Initially, it proved a very unpleasant and awkward task, requiring, on the one hand, a lot of patience and sympathy towards the target villages, and on the other, sheer tactfulness, persuasion, and many confidence building measures. The Park Management has successfully relocated as many as 27 forest villages outside the National Park, and this is regarded as a historic achievement. Though the relocated deserve full sympathy and utmost care, it is difficult to visualise the present National Park with all these villages still inside and steadily undergoing the typical dynamics of Indian demography and animal husbandry. The entire relocation was phased in, with the desired/ appropriate inputs such as site clearance, house construction, ploughing of fields, approach roads and drinking water facilities etc. provided at the relocate sites. Now these old village sites are undoubtedly the finest habitats of ugulates - the main prey base of tigers in Kanha. There are still 18 forest villages in the National Park and 150 villages in the Buffer Zone of the Tiger Reserve. Some of them are willing to be relocated to get the most out of the policy.
