India celebrates a boost in its tiger population due to "Project Tiger" but faces a crisis as 129 tigers have died in 2023 so far, the highest in a decade. Poaching, habitat loss, and conflicts with humans threaten these majestic predators, demanding urgent conservation efforts and protection measures, reports Archana Jyoti

Just as India is revelling in its distinction of being home to 70 per cent of the world's tiger population, courtesy of the country's flagship conservation programme “Project Tiger”, which has reported a rise in the felids' numbers from 2,967 to 3,167 over the past four years, there comes a note of caution from the conservation community.

Their concerns are valid. India has already lost a record-breaking 129 tigers this year, the highest mortality rate in a decade. Experts believe that the actual figures may be much higher than the officially reported numbers.

Organisations dedicated to wildlife protection, such as The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), have documented 138 tiger mortalities in 2023 so far, including 37 cases of poaching and seizures. With four months left in the year, it is likely that the mortality count will continue to rise if the current trend persists.

Contrary to claims by wildlife officials that the deaths are concentrated in the early months of the year, 2023 has witnessed an average of 15 tiger deaths per month. In comparison, there were 121 tiger fatalities in 2022, compared to 127 the previous year. Aside from poaching, habitat loss, and direct or indirect conflicts with humans are also significant contributors to the decline of these majestic predators.

The wildlife authorities have consistently downplayed the severity of poaching, asserting that the rate of such incidents is not "alarming." They argue that given the abundance of endangered tigers in reserves, the deaths should not raise alarm bells. According to their perspective, predators typically live for approximately 12 years, and natural territorial battles ensure that only the fittest survive while the rest are naturally culled.

However, wildlife experts caution that this rationale, when coupled with complacency, may inadvertently contribute to poaching and exacerbate human-animal conflicts, posing a significant threat to the welfare of these magnificent big cats. They point out that human activities exert immense pressure on the areas surrounding wildlife reserves, leading to the blockage of critical forest corridors in various parts of the country. This disruption in natural connectivity can have dire consequences for both tigers and their ecosystems.

Indeed, the signs are unmistakable. A compelling example comes in the form of a recent red alert order from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), a top-tier authority under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. Dated June 29, this order serves as a stark illustration. Its content is explicit: "This is an alert directed at the field directors of all tiger reserves and officials responsible for the peripheral areas of tiger reserves, including regions frequented by tigers."

According to the red alert, hunters/poachers are active around various tigers across India, but mainly the focus was on the six tiger reserves across India, including two of Madhya Pradesh and three districts of MP, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

“The field directors of all tiger reserves and officials concerned may immediately intensify the patrolling, visit the identified sensitive areas, look for the suspected nomadic people in tents, temples, railway stations, bus stations, abandoned buildings, public shelter places, inform the officials of all the police stations concerned and sanitise aforesaid areas as a preventive measure,” stated the order.

The red alert was issued following the seizure of certain tiger parts in the Northeastern States, said an official of the WCCB.

Just a few days later, a decomposed beheaded carcass of an adult tiger was found in Madhya Pradesh’s Satpura Tiger Reserve.  Two persons have been arrested in Betul in the State in this regard after they were found to be involved in beheading the dead tiger. This is just a tip of the iceberg.

Wildlife experts express concern over cases of dead tigers being discovered without their heads, claws, whiskers, and teeth. These incidents are often linked to poaching, poisoning, electrocution, snaring, and shooting, with traffickers luring locals into tiger trapping for monetary gain.

A study “The Tide of Tiger Poaching in India is Rising! An Investigation of the Intertwined Facts with a Focus on Conservation,” published last year on SpringerLink, based on an analysis of reports, paints a grim scenario. It highlights that there is high demand for tiger skin, claws, bones, and teeth, with nails and teeth being the most preferred items in local markets. Seized parts such as bones and flesh are predominantly found in the border States of the north and eastern States.

“The intensity of seizures is very high in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Assam. From our analysis, we predict four trade routes for the export of the seized parts: the Nepal-Bhutan border, Assam border, the Brahmaputra, and the Mumbai port.”

The authors further note that “most of the seizures are based on information given to enforcement, and the convicts arrested are mostly tribes. The data clearly demonstrates that most seizures occur near the forest ranges and the arrested ones are tribes, when the tiger parts once handed over to the network are rarely seized.”

The WCCB officials, while refusing to be named, admit that based on credible inputs received by the Bureau and revelations of the recent seizures the organised hunting gangs are seen active around various tiger reserves, especially Satpura, Tadoba, Pench, and Corbett. Amangarh, Pilibhit, Valmiki, Rajaji, and tiger bearing areas such as Balaghat district of MP, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur of Maharashtra.

On August 2, 2023, the WCCB made a significant breakthrough in the Gadchiroli tiger poaching case by apprehending Mishram Jakhad (81) a trader in tiger body parts, in Dwarka.

Moreover, given that certain pockets of tiger reserves have neared their carrying capacity, human-animal conflicts are bound to surge. “There is a greater need to decipher unnatural deaths and understand the root cause of those deaths to take mitigation measures like sensitising the community and more patrolling and intelligence while equipping the foresters with sophisticated weapons to match with those of poachers who are becoming more aggressive,” agreed the officials. For instance, on June 17, a forester on patrolling duty was shot dead by armed poachers in Odisha's Similipal tiger reserve.

This was the second gruesome killing by the poachers in the reserve forest in less than a month. On May 23, the armed poachers also shot a forest guard dead in a similar fashion. The forest guards were allegedly confronted by a group of six armed poachers near Gamuchajharan beat camp under the Upper Barhakamuda range of Similipal south division at about 2.30 am.

Data available from the NTCA till August 28, 2023 reveals that if 65 big cats had fallen prey to poachers, accidents and man-animal conflict outside protected areas nearly equal number of predators died inside their protected habitat in territorial fights and due to old age, besides poaching.

Statewise, Madhya Pradesh which is home to the highest number of tigers in the country at 785, reported highest casualties at 32 closely followed by Maharashtra where 29 predators have perished till date. Maharashtra hosts 560 big cats. The two States accounts for total 62 predators' deaths, which is nearly half of the total deaths reported from across the country.

Along with Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which have reported bulk of India’s rise in tiger numbers are also losing them at a higher pace.

Karnataka, which is home to 563 tigers, witnessed 15 tiger deaths while Uttarakhand home to roughly 44 tigers, too recorded as many deaths.

The government’s report too flags these concerns. India has 54 tiger reserves spread across 75,796 square kilometres. Approximately 35 percent of these reserves urgently require “enhanced protection measures, habitat restoration, ungulate augmentation, and subsequent tiger reintroduction,” says the All India Tiger Estimation quadrennial report. Sources said, the need of the hour is to implement enhanced conservation plans to mitigate man-animal conflicts, including the establishment of clear migration corridors for tigers to move between forests. Royal cats can cover vast distances in search of territory, provided these corridors are available.

 Tiger Status Report 2022 by the NTCA pinpoints: One of the major challenges is aligning the aspirations of large-scale  economic development while safeguarding forests and their wildlife and mitigating human-tiger conflict.

Climate change-related impacts on habitats and the loss of the quality of forests over time are other threats. Out of the approximately 400,000 square kilometers of forests in tiger states, only one-third are in relatively healthier condition. Another significant challenge is the illegal wildlife trade, says the report.

Echoing similar views researchers including George Nittu and Thekke Thumbath Shameer from Molecular Biodiversity Lab, Department of Zoology & Wildlife Biology, and Government Arts College in their study in SpringerLink sums up saying that, “We forget about the future threat of poaching because of the satisfactory increase in the number of individuals recorded in the most recent tiger census.

“....authorities should be more careful about protecting tigers from poaching and illegal trafficking. If that doesn't happen, many Indian tiger reserves will be like Sariska and Panna, which both had a lot of tigers killed.”

(The writer is a Special Correspondent with The Pioneer)