(IN): Sunderbans scripts a story of tiger protection

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Sunderbans scripts a story of tiger protection

*7 October 2007

Sujoy Dhar

 

Bali Island (West Bengal), Oct 7 - He used to be a poacher, but today Anil

Krishna Mistry preaches conservation with a missionary zeal in the

Sunderbans, India's biggest tiger reserve and the world's largest mangrove

gene pool.

 

And he also symbolises the massive initiative under way in the archipelago

that is turning villagers, once foes of the big cats, into its friends.

 

'Killing animals was a habit we inherited. I was into poaching till I got

involved in conservation efforts from 1999. That changed everything and from

poacher I became a protector,' says Mistry, now principal field officer of

noted conservationist Belinda Wright's Wildlife Protection Society of India

(WPSI).

 

His stoic face breaks into a smile as hundreds of children in this island -

as part of animal week celebrations - shout out a pledge to protect the

endangered tiger population of the Sunderbans.

 

Today the likes of Anil inspire so many, says Wright.

 

'Small boys and girls now go to the villages and tell their parents,

relatives, neighbours not to kill animals. The Sunderbans children are real

tough and they say 'don't kill the deer, don't kill the tiger'.

 

'It is a modest beginning but a very positive one,' says Wright aboard a

launch that cuts through the vast Sunderbans canvas.

 

Wright, whose WPSI now implements a conservation project in Sundarbans, was

in the island to celebrate with a large number of school children the World

Animal Week that is observed every year from Oct 4 to 10.

 

'We go about telling people that tiger is our pride and we have to protect

it. We also tell them that if we kill deer we will only cause peril to

ourselves since tigers, which prey on deer for food, would then stray into

our human habitation and prey on us,' says Parthapratim Mandal, a

15-year-old boy.

 

Mandal is a member of the nature club of Bijoynagar Adarsha Vidyamandir

(BAV), a school on Bali island.

 

Today every school in the Sundarbans has a nature club. Of the total 1,247

students at BAV, about 400 are members of the club who campaign against

poaching and promote conservation of the biodiversity in the Sundarbans,

which is a Unesco World Heritage site.

 

The change in attitude is unthinkable given the hostility between the

Sunderbans villagers and forest officials until just a few years ago.

 

© Indo-Asian News Service

 

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