(IN) South struggling to save the Tiger

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South gives the big cat a fighting chance

B Aravind Kumar, TNN 9 August 2009, 01:26am IS

 

There's a part of India where the tiger may still have a fighting chance: the

Western Ghats. The big cat roams free here and in goodly numbers,from the

southern tip right up to Maharashtra. Eight tiger reserves — in Karnataka, Tamil

Nadu and Kerala — have been rated `good' to `satisfactory' by the Centre's 2009

preliminary status report on the tiger. Experts say this is because of good

governance, constant surveillance and monitoring, pro-active local tribes, a

zealous scientific community, habitat quality and contiguity and an excellent

`prey base', which means plentiful supplies of deer.

 

In Mudumalai, for instance, tiger numbers are believed nearly to have doubled in

recent times. Field director Rajiv K Srivastava says anti-poaching watchers

patrol the deep deciduous forests round-the-clock. " The wireless network helps

rush them to vulnerable areas when they receive information about movement of

suspected poachers,'' he adds. Each watcher, mostly from a local tribe, covers

15-20 km daily.

 

The tiger has also returned to Sathyamangalam sanctuary — erstwhile Veerappan

country — after two decades. Some say this is because the guns have fallen

silent, along with rising tiger numbers in adjoining Mudumalai and Bandipur,

which sends the animals looking for more area to roam. Scientists working in the

field spotted two tigresses with five cubs at two different locations last year.

Forest officers estimate that there are at least 10 tigers in the division.

 

The 2008 status report on tigers by the National Tiger Conservation Authority

and Wildlife Institute of India estimates tiger numbers in the Western Ghats of

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala at 402, with a lower limit of 336 and upper

limit of 487. The Bandipur and Nagarhole tiger reserves are almost full.

" High-quality research on tigers and their prey base has resulted in a pool of

scientific data which facilitates reliable monitoring,'' says Ravi Chellam,

country director, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), India programme. WCS

staff range across 22,000 sq km of forest in Karnataka, tracking tigers to

gather data from the field. Every quarter, the WCS shares data with the

Karnataka forest department. " Strict protection of the forests by using science

is the hallmark of tiger conservation in Karnataka,'' says Chellam.

 

Recently, WCS scientists led by Ullas Karanth used high-tech fecal sampling to

tally and assess numbers. Tiger scat is thought to provide a unique DNA

signature allowing researchers to accurately identify individual animals.

Another encouraging sign are tiger sightings in non-contiguous areas. This

indicates the presence of a " meta-population " , ie tigers who move from one

reserve to another, thereby improving the gene pool. This gives conservationists

reason to hope that another Sariska is not waiting to happen in the south.

 

In the Eastern Ghats, the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Andhra

Pradesh is back from the brink. The Centre's report damned the reserve as

`poor'. The Naxalite presence threatened the tiger's core habitat for more than

a decade and foresters could not enter the area. But the tiger population inched

up to 53 in 2008 from just 34 in the nineties. " The Naxal presence is still

there. But the forest field staff have started going inside for habitat

improvement, a vast change from the time when no kind of administration existed

there,'' says A K Nayak, the field director.

 

But there are reasons to worry as well. At a recent seminar in Chennai, the

chief wildlife wardens of the southern states admitted they did not have enough

trained staff to take on poachers. In the rainforest habitats of Kalakad-Periyar

and Anaimalai-Parambikulam, low tiger density can be reversed only if the prey

base is protected. " The time has come for the foresters to go back to

old-fashioned conservation, that is physical protection of forests, leaving

development to other departments,'' Karanth, one of India's top tiger experts,

told the seminar.

Karanth believes tigers will survive and thrive. Perhaps the Western Ghats are a

proof that he is right.