Unused to being hemmed in from all sides, the tiger is hitting out with aggression when prodded by human intervention

Yes, the cubs of Avni, the tigress who was hunted in Maharashtra in a state-sanctioned kill, are alive and well. They are being kept in captivity and awaiting rehabilitation in a forest area conducive to their growth. But relocating or translocating them poses an even bigger challenge following recent reports of a tiger kill from Odisha’s Satkosia tiger reserve. The National Tiger Control Authority (NTCA), in an attempt to improve tiger density here, had assiduously worked on developing a prey base for years and translocated a male and female from Kanha and Bandhavgarh respectively, the first inter-state transfer experiment. But the male has died, having fallen to poachers’ traps and the female is currently being kept in captivity, fearing attacks by aggressive villagers who have already proclaimed her a man-eater. The Avni killing was just the tip of the new dynamic of the man-animal conflict, one where man is challenging prevailing conservation efforts and legitimising his claim of ownership of the forests, reducing the arc of the wild habitat and throwing it into disarray. The male fell to poachers’ traps in the core area, which is anyway constricted, just about capable of sustaining no more than five tigers. Any addition and they could stray into buffer zones. Wildlifers say that Satkosia has 102 villages in both core and buffer zones with 50,000 cattle entering the park every day. They may have begun as encroachers but are now an encashable demographic of settlers. Without making them a stakeholder in conservation efforts of the tiger, keeping them invested as park patrollers and monitors, generating a subsidiary tiger economy that ensures them revenue, incentivising forest produce and enhancing the tiger gene pool that can promote “sighting tourism,” the tiger will continue to be their enemy. Though tiger density has increased through sustained efforts from 1972 — and there are still viable tracts of pristine forests that can be turned into reserves by relocating animals from overpopulated stretches — fact is forests are a state subject and an inter-state agreement on shared corridors needs to be ironed out and coordinated if translocation is to succeed. Meanwhile relocation needs are mounting as are funding operations. The entire process cannot be fast-tracked but needs to be graded and spaced out to ensure tigers’ acceptance of a new territory as their own household. Apart from peripheral villagers, a new tiger also has to deal with resident cats or in the total absence of its kind, reconcile to being a lone ranger and sync up with other relocated companions.

The tiger is a roamer and can cover long ranges for survival but natural transit corridors connecting forests are vanishing fast due to human encroachment and development. Unused to being hemmed in from all sides, the tiger is hiding out for survival and hitting out with desperate aggression when prodded by human intervention. This is the reason why we are hearing about tigers charging at vehicles and intruders in areas where they have never displayed such behaviour for decades. This mutative behaviour needs to be addressed immediately. And if three tiger cubs straying into rail tracks in Maharashtra were mowed down by a running train in the wee hours, it only shows how wayward they have been forced to become. Agreed that it may not be possible to realign existing roads and rail tracks that cut through forests, but care must be taken to ensure that newer transport corridors skirt the periphery of parks and reserves. Also bypasses, whether as an over or under passes can be created around existing railway tracks to let the animals pass through. World over, park managers have noted that over time, the wild animals re-programme themselves to use these passes, thus preventing accidents and adjusting their migratory routes. One must see the larger picture of evolution. The tiger sits on top of the food chain in the forest and by saving it and giving it a home, we are protecting all sub-species and curating a biosphere that even includes grasslands and rivers.