The States of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have come together to work in synergy for tiger conservation on the borders of both the states. An inter-state coordination meeting for tiger protection was held in Surai forest range to discuss this collaboration. According to chief conservator of forests, Parag Madhukar Dhakate, in the meeting between officials of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh strategies were made with regard to operation monsoon, intelligence sharing, patrolling and human-wildlife conflict mitigation. It was decided that long distance forest patrolling will be undertaken every fortnight by the forest staff of both the states.

The field director of Pilibhit tiger reserve (UP) Raja Mohan, its deputy director Naveen Khandelwal and Terai east divisional forest officer Nitish Mani Tripathi shared their experiences with the frontline forest staff during the interaction.The department is expecting that this amalgamation to strategise ways for the achievement of the common goal -tiger conservation- will achieve positive results.

The inter-state meeting which lasted two days also saw foot patrol by 40 frontline forest staff of the two states. It is expected that the joint collaboration will also prove helpful for tiger protection in the Terai arc landscape and in the border area with Nepal.

It is pertinent to mention here that tigers- like all animals do not take cognisance of inter-state boundaries. Hence, the tigers from Corbett are known to travel to the jungles in the neighbouring state and the other way round. In the past, wildlife criminals have often used the border area of Uttar Pradesh to infiltrate into the Corbett landscape. Considering this, the focus of both the states on enhancing tiger protection in the border areas is expected to further boost wildlife protection.