16 MAY 2012
Mumbai: The Maharashtra
government believes that 25 tigers are likely to be targeted by poachers
from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.
The Forest Department in Maharashtra says that an advance of 40 lakhs has been paid to the poachers. It's not clear yet who has commissioned the deaths.
Maharashtra has 169 tigers; most of them inhabit three tiger reserves in the Vidarbha region.
"My people will move about in the forests and monitor watering holes and routes leading to those, as they are the most vulnerable", said A K Nigam, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Western Maharashtra. Mr Nigam also told NDTV Range Forest Officers (RFOs) will meet villagers to get information and publicise awards for clues that could help locate the poachers.
All leave sanctioned for forest guards has been cancelled till mid-June to ensure there is maximum protection for the tigers.
The alert was issued after a tiger was found dead last month in a poacher's trap in the Tadoba Tiger Reserve at Chandrapur, a 1.5 hour drive from Nagpur.
Anish Andheria, director, Wildlife Conservation Trust told NDTV, "When you find a jaw trap near a water body in a park, in our past experience we have seen, it is not a one- off event. If one (tiger) goes, you have to believe that twenty will go of you don't take steps. In Tadoba recently, there were jaw traps found - 2 tigers were trapped. One died, the other is struggling. The department has become alert. I feel there is lot of stress not just on tigers in Maharashtra but even in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It's not just in Maharashtra but all states need to come together on a crime that seems to be not just some random event but a planned one."
At the First Stocktaking Meeting of Global Tiger Recovery Programs in Delhi on Tuesday, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said that in the last four months, 30 tigers have been killed in India.
Sources in the state forest department said that the government is working on a multi-pronged approach to increase conservation and this plan includes active participation of villagers. Recently, the state also announced a secret fund that would be used for intelligence gathering and appointment for forest guards under the Special Tiger Protection Force.
Less than a fortnight ago, the Centre had also issued an alert to several states about 'wandering gangs of poachers' who frequent national parks to kill tigers. The Centre has asked states to immediately launch special drives to tackle this threat, including increasing vigil near watering holes, and keeping a close track of tigers who may have wandered outside buffer areas.
The greater concern is that poaching of tigers also has an indirect impact, on cubs. A tigress takes care of her young ones for almost two years before they can be independent enough to fend for themselves. An orphaned cub has very little chance of survival in the wild. The Tadoba- Andhari Tiger Reserve currently has as many as 36 cubs, making this threat even more alarming.
40 lakh supari for 25 tigers in Maharashtra
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| Dr Sanjay Kumar Cardiac Cardiothoracic Heart Surgeon India |
The Forest Department in Maharashtra says that an advance of 40 lakhs has been paid to the poachers. It's not clear yet who has commissioned the deaths.
Maharashtra has 169 tigers; most of them inhabit three tiger reserves in the Vidarbha region.
"My people will move about in the forests and monitor watering holes and routes leading to those, as they are the most vulnerable", said A K Nigam, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Western Maharashtra. Mr Nigam also told NDTV Range Forest Officers (RFOs) will meet villagers to get information and publicise awards for clues that could help locate the poachers.
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All leave sanctioned for forest guards has been cancelled till mid-June to ensure there is maximum protection for the tigers.
The alert was issued after a tiger was found dead last month in a poacher's trap in the Tadoba Tiger Reserve at Chandrapur, a 1.5 hour drive from Nagpur.
Anish Andheria, director, Wildlife Conservation Trust told NDTV, "When you find a jaw trap near a water body in a park, in our past experience we have seen, it is not a one- off event. If one (tiger) goes, you have to believe that twenty will go of you don't take steps. In Tadoba recently, there were jaw traps found - 2 tigers were trapped. One died, the other is struggling. The department has become alert. I feel there is lot of stress not just on tigers in Maharashtra but even in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It's not just in Maharashtra but all states need to come together on a crime that seems to be not just some random event but a planned one."
At the First Stocktaking Meeting of Global Tiger Recovery Programs in Delhi on Tuesday, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said that in the last four months, 30 tigers have been killed in India.
Sources in the state forest department said that the government is working on a multi-pronged approach to increase conservation and this plan includes active participation of villagers. Recently, the state also announced a secret fund that would be used for intelligence gathering and appointment for forest guards under the Special Tiger Protection Force.
Less than a fortnight ago, the Centre had also issued an alert to several states about 'wandering gangs of poachers' who frequent national parks to kill tigers. The Centre has asked states to immediately launch special drives to tackle this threat, including increasing vigil near watering holes, and keeping a close track of tigers who may have wandered outside buffer areas.
The greater concern is that poaching of tigers also has an indirect impact, on cubs. A tigress takes care of her young ones for almost two years before they can be independent enough to fend for themselves. An orphaned cub has very little chance of survival in the wild. The Tadoba- Andhari Tiger Reserve currently has as many as 36 cubs, making this threat even more alarming.
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