25th March, 2012- De-"pressed' for time..

Depressing..how fast areas outside Pune city are changing.. surely as people of this country we are a deficient lot.. It was heartening to see gazelles though, but one often wonders for how long you would see them as well- these leftovers from the past. One fine day another earth shattering machine will turn up and blast the hillocks, make a road and all I'll do is shake my head in despair and write another post on this forum.. Isn't the amount of development in & around Pune enough? What pinnacles are we trying to achieve?

Some areas we passed today were, just 3 years back, a scatheless patch of grassland. But, now most are fenced, or blasted- the rock quarried, taken away and slated upon one of our many highways. On the road to development- merciless and demonic. My feelings normally remain ensconsed, under a viel of "nothing can be done about this". On a pragmatic front I even know writing about some godforsaken piece of 'wasteland' will not move any. 

I worry too often  and a little too much. But, of course we need development. I don't deny the fact that we do. But, why is the way things are changing around me hurting me so much? Perhaps, I don't realize the need for develpment or the larger importance of economics for our country's progress. Maybe, I am archaic in my thoughts, & selfish, since I want those places to remain the way they are so I could go there and watch some 'wildlife'. I feel utterly confused, torn at times. Two days from now, I'll even forget about it. Life will move on and places will change. We will shape our lands the way we want to, the way it suits us. Some may wince, but soon forget. As for me..

Playing ‘Cat’ch and mouse

Appalling as it may sound; it is not new to hear of revenge killing of an animal by irate villagers. The grueling act occurred on Saturday 24th September 2011, when a tigress was killed by a mammoth mob from Bhakru Tola village near Bamni in Chattisgarh. But this was a bomb waiting to explode. Now it’s time to point fingers and reprimand the accountable.

So who needs to be punished?  The tigress is already dead. The Maharashtra Forest Department is shirking responsibility and villagers are taking law into their hands.

But let’s go back a little- Apparently the tigress had mauled Sitaram Atram from Mendha Kirmiti and Anantrao Sondawle from Mayar village in Brahmapuri Forest division in Maharashtra in March 2011. The tigress was axed on the head by one of the victims. This injured tigress was then captured near Umargunda talao in FDCM's Brahmapuri range on April 3, 2011. It was then taken to Moharli in Tadoba and was treated in captivity for about 2 months. Finally, she was released in Navegaon national Park on June 12th 2011.

On June 19th and 22nd apparently the tigress killed two cows and injured 6 calves from Dhamditola village about 7-8 km from Navegaon. She used the forest area around Itiadoh lake, where most of the cattle depredation occurred. Angry villagers expressed their resentment and the forest department conducted a combing operation to drive the tigress back into Navegaon. Last report of the suspected tigress’s whereabouts was 4km from Dhamditola village around June 24th. For about two months from July to August no reports are available.

Around mid-September, Rajolabai Sonar, 65, from Murmadi village on Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border was killed in an attack while at work in a farm, apparently by the very tigress. It was also believed that over 30 domestic animals from the forested villages in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district had been depredated upon by the tigress in the month of September. On Saturday, September 24th, villagers from the Aamgaon Bhakru Tola village stoned the tigress to death.

In circumstances when people are mauled, once captured the tigress should not have been released at a new site. This simply transports the problem from one place to another. But to start with, was the capture warranted in the first place? If the attacks on people did not persist after the initial incident, then was she captured to treat her injuries? If the capture was to pacify the local public, then once captured why was she released after two long months, that too in a poor prey density area, like Navegaon national park? A low prey density in terms of large-bodied herbivores gives large cats such as tigers enough reason to kill slow, unguarded livestock in forest fringes. Second, many large carnivores, post release at another place, are known to track back to their original site of capture. So, where’s the wisdom of doing such ad lib releases based on horseback opinions?

Besides, wildlife researchers and serious conservationists have always been weary of such actions. But, given the ‘expert’ knowledge that hovers among many self-acclaimed authorities within the forest department, such imprudent decisions are not surprising. In the recent guidelines on managing human-leopard conflict by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, capture and translocation are last options in the case of leopards. It also clearly states that due to ‘homing instincts’ of large cats such as leopards, they should be released in the same place of capture. Tigers and leopards both belong to the genusPanthera and can be very well expected to home in, upon release at a new site. This was perhaps exactly what the tigress did when released in Navegaon.

The Maharashtra State Forest Department needs to realize that such unfounded capture-release activities will do more harm than good. Although with the best intentions, such decisions will cripple whatever little support tiger conservation has amassed in the recent years. No parks can survive without support from the local public living around them. If villagers are antagonized, retaliatory actions such as these shall follow. If not anything this incident should ring a bell about releasing captive cubs into reserves like Bor or Pench, which already have breeding populations of tigers.

“Risk varies inversely with knowledge”