Tiger Eye
Tiger Eye
Can India's Tigers Survive?
Can India's tigers survive against the huge odds stacked against them? Do they really stand a chance against rampant poaching, habitat destruction, loss of prey and killings by villagers? Nearly a century ago there were over forty thousand tigers in India. True many were hunted by Westerners and Indian lords decades ago but India still had thousands left at the time of its independence in 1947. Still they continued to be shot down by anybody who owned a rifle and could buy a bait to attract the tiger. Villagers grazing their herds through forests ensured that the natural prey of tiger starved to death and thus so did tigers. As a result, by early 1970's less than two thousand tigers remained in the jungles of India.
Fortunately for the striped sufferer, the Indian prime minister at that time, Indira Gandhi, took action and founded Project Tiger, to save her country's most valued asset from total extinction. For the next two decades there was a lull and tigers flourished under renewed protection in designated reserves. As a result their numbers reportedly increased to four thousand. But that was all to change in the nineties. Tiger poaching picked up. Organized gangs took advantage of the inherent laziness and corruption that ran through the ranks of park rangers and officials. As a result, tigers started disappearing. Some of the most well known, photographed and magnificent animals faded away. Some reserves like the famous 'Sariska' reserve, just a couple of hours drive from the Indian capital New Delhi, protected by three hundred rangers, was wiped clean of its dozens of tigers. Similarly tigers began vanishing from internationally renowned parks like Ranthambore and Kanha, visited by thousands of tourists yearly from around the world!
While all this was going on and calls were being made by respected scientists and conservationists like Valmik Thapar and Belinda Wright to urgently protect the tiger, the administration of Project Tiger, relying on obsolete methods of tiger counting like pug mark identification, continued to deny that any tigers were missing. hereafter newer initiatives have been taken by the Indian government and newer guidelines created, further weakening the power of tiger preservation organizations of India. Politicians are now trying to facilitate people back into tiger reserves, bringing further catastrophe to the delicate ecosystems of India's shrinking tiger reserves.
The problems that tigers face are many. First is the issue of poaching that continues unchecked owing to the negligence of underpaid, ill-equipped, outnumbered and unfit forest guards. Laws protecting the wildlife are weak. Furthermore there is a huge demand for tiger skins and parts in China, Far eastern Asia including Hong Kong, Thailand and Burma, and Tibet. Each individual tiger can bring hundreds of dollars to the poor villagers and people of India, many of which live at under a dollar a day.
Then there is the issue of human encroachment into tiger territory. Indian economy is expanding and population is increasing. It already has around one billion people and is set to become the most populous country in the world in coming years. Farmers and villagers are living at the borders of, and often right inside, parks. They graze their herds through jungles resulting in the depletion of natural food for the ungulates of forests that are chief components of a tiger's diet. As a result the starving tigers take to attacking cattle and at times humans. This brings them into conflict with locals who take no time in poisoning partially eaten tiger kills. When the big cat returns to feed upon the carcass, it dies.
Thirdly and perhaps most importantly is the attitude of Indian administration. Not sufficient concrete and long term measures are being taken by the government while tigers continue to be slaughtered in most of the so-called 'protected areas' of Indian tiger reserves. In the end, this may prove to be the final nail in the coffin of the Bengal Tiger.
All of this brings one to a single rational derivation - do tigers really stand a realistic chance in India? The latest census reports a total figure of around fourteen hundred animals. Nearly two hundred and fifty animals are being killed yearly. So in all probability, at the current rate of extinction, the Royal Bengal Tiger will be lost forever from Indian wilderness in the next decade. Unless of course there is a miraculous turn around in the way that conservation efforts are being run.
Obviously it will continue to be featured in zoos around the world. Acting as a spectacle for the human race. Rewilding projects will be talked about, planned and even possibly undertaken but will certainly be near impossible to conduct on a large scale. If the people of India don't wake up now to save their most sublime asset, they must realize that they will lose it forever in the blink of an eye.
About the Author
The author is a blogger about cats and an expert on future of Indian tigers
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Malayan Tiger
Named Panthera Tigris Jacksoni after Peter Jackson, the former head of cat specialist group of IUCN who spent forty years in tiger conservation efforts, Malayan Tiger is now alternatively called Panthera Tigris Malayensis by some after Malaysian protests that the name should reflect the area of the big cat's origin.
Similar in physical appearance to the Indochinese Tiger, the Malayan Tiger is closer to the Sumatran Tiger in size. Males weight around two hundred and sixty pounds and females are on average two hundred and twenty pounds in weight. Average body length is seven and a half and six and a half feet respectively for males and females. Coat is dark red to orange in coloration, marked by thin black stripes. Belly, cheek and area around eyes is white. Whiskers are somewhat long and so is the tail. Overall body is muscular.
Not much is understood about this big cat except that it resides mainly in tropical forests and grasslands of Malaysia and Thailand. It is known to prey on barking deer, sambar and wild boar as well as sun bear in certain parts of its range. The cat is thinly distributed in their habitat owing to low prey density. Little is known about its behavior patterns and reproductive profile.
There are between five hundred to one thousand Malayan Tigers left in the wild. Threats include habitat fragmentation and shrinkage, poaching, conflicts with humans and decline of prey species. Even as Malaysia enforces a rigid control on poaching that has cut down the loss of tigers to an extent, many of the Malayan Tigers live outside the designated forest reserves, often bringing them into conflict with farmers.
About the Author
The author is a blogger about cats and an expert on Malayan Tiger.