Fw: The tiger crisis and remedial measures:The Tribune

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--- On Mon, 12/10/09, Dr.Sandeep Kumar Jain <jeevdaya04 wrote:

 

 

Dr.Sandeep Kumar Jain <jeevdaya04

The tiger crisis and remedial measures:The Tribune

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Monday, 12 October, 2009, 8:45 PM

 

The tiger crisis and remedial measures

by Lt Gen (retd) Baljit Singh

“Once all the beasts are gone, Man will surely die from the loneliness of the

spirit.â€

That was the concluding sentence of a lengthy, very well argued letter to the US

President Franklin Pierce in the 1850s, when the Red Indian Chief Seattle

realised how close the “White Man†was to destroying American Wildlife

heritage through excessive hunting and associated commerce..

Today, we Indians are faced with the same stark reality. For if the tiger, the

master-predator, becomes extinct, the majority of India’s animal world in the

wild will perish because (a) their numbers will explode beyond the

carrying-capacity of our national parks and allied forests, (b) large-scale

deaths will follow from epidemics and starvation and © the survivors will

en-mass descend upon agricultural crops where farmers will understandably impose

the ultimate coup-de-grace.

In essence, we are close to witnessing the horrors arising from the dismantling

of the natural prey-predator food chain, triggered by filthy lucre.

One of our most knowledgeable tiger-biologists, Valmik Thapar, had made valiant

efforts in the 1980s to sensitise the Ministry of Forests and Environment on the

magnitude of tiger-poaching in India. Unfortunately, the State chose to deny

rather than listen and act. The Secretary MOEF told him emphatically that just

ONE tiger had been poached in the whole of that year and that Valmik Thapar must

desist pro-offering unasked for advice.

Now some 15 years later, the government admits to the country-wide tiger count

at a mere 1,145 and that 50 to 70 tigers died to-date in 2009 alone. Even more

worrisome is the government's attempt at naive damage-control by assigning,

among other factors, 20 to 35 deaths due to old age and a few even due to

drowning in the rivers.

Let us remember that after the tiger’s birth about 1.2 million years ago, its

southward journey on the Asian mainland ended with the arc, Kanyakumari, Java

and Bali islands. The Sunda trench, which separates Java and Bali islands, is

one among the deepest in the ocean. Yet, the tiger swam across to inhabit and

thrive on Bali island till poached to extinction in the 1930s. So, please let us

not lie about tigers dying due to drowning in the Indian rivers. They are

poached for money. Period.

Of course, tigers must perish of old age too in the natural way. But how many

and over how long? A tiger's average life span is 12 to 15 years. There is

little plausibility of 35 old-age deaths in nine months out of 1, 145 tigers of

varying age-mix. Perhaps the Prime Minister's scientific advisor could organise

a computer-simulated model-check to arrive at the truth.

The common man cares not whether the tiger survives or perishes. But nor does

the common man care for the global warming phenomena or for the diminishing

green gene-pool and bio-diversity, as the principle tools for human survival.

No, these are those vitals of survival strategies of homo sapiene race at large

which the elected governments are mandated to deliver upon.

One person who had foreseen this apathy of the common man and therefore of the

politicians in India towards our wildlife has been summed up in the personal

Journal of Field Marshal Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India in an entry for

December, 1946: 'His (Jim Corbett) talk on tigers and jungle life is of

extraordinary interest and wish I could have had more of it. He has rather

pessimistic views on the future of tigers ... and that in many parts of India

tigers will become extinct in the next 10 to 15 years; his chief reason is that

Indian politicians are no sportsmen and tigers have no votes, while the right to

gun licence will go with a vote.' What a damning but true crystal gazing of our

society.

Having said all that do I have a 'doable' plan for the tiger's assured

survival? Yes I have, though politically draconian, but it alone will save the

tiger and is as follows:

Place the existing National Tiger Conservation Authority directly under the PMO.

Place all the tiger reserves and contiguous sanctuaries and protected/notified

forests in the country under it for a period of ten years, together with all

their current administrative assets and liabilities. Offset the loss of revenue

to the states arising from this ordinance for the period of its operation,

through special budgetary allocations.

Hold an annual tiger revival audit by an independent body of three to five

experts from within and outside the country. Induct 30 per cent new members to

the audit team each year and retire an equal number from the previous team.

The Prime Minister must take the annual audit findings as mandatory fresh

in-puts for implementation and for keeping Parliament informed.

Place a moratoriam on denotifications and or alteration of boundaries of

existing national parks, tiger reserves, sanctuaries and notified forests both

by Parliament and by state legislatures through the same ordinance.

Provide legal safe-guards/immunity in the event of encounter-deaths of poachers

at the hand of forest staff inside the declared boundaries. This is what broke

the back of the ivory poaching syndicates in Kenya in the 1960/70s..

Assuming that there are about 300 tigresses in the cub-productive age (among the

1,145 surviving tigers) and allowing for the average survival of one cub per

litter to adulthood and also factoring-in 20 old-age deaths each year, there is

every chance our tiger population will reach the 2,000 to 2,500 mark ten years

hence. Most tiger-biologists would agree that in fact 2,500 to 3,500 tigers is

the optimum figure to look for given the size of our protected areas network and

the tiger prey-base availability.

Emperor Ashoka had chosen the Asiatic Lion as the symbol of Indian nationhood.

Twenty-two centuries later, we the Democratic Republic of India placed the Royal

Bengal tiger on a similar pedestal. Let us arise and save them both.

Jane Goodall was asked by an interviewer in September, 2009, whether she

believed there was “Hope for Animals and Their World†to which she

responded:

'At one time (1980s) there were just 12 Californian Condors in the wild and one

in captivity. Now there are 300. This bird would have gone but for a small group

of people who would not give up. As long as we have people like that, there's

hope for the future'.

Would Minister Jairam Ramesh consider without prejudice the remedial strategy,

please?

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20091005/edit.htm#6

 

The writer is a very wellknown wildlife enthusiast and a regular writer on

wildlife>

 

 

Dr.Sandeep K.Jain