The Economic Times , Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

In an attempt to water down reports that the Panna Tiger Reserve has gone the Sariska way, the MP government has decided to conduct a tiger census at Panna from March 18-24, ’05, reports Gouri Shah in Mumbai. The park officials have sent out a notice inviting other external agencies — including NGOs, individuals, wildlife scientists and the media — to participate in the tiger tracking mission to ensure a “transparent process”. While park officials at Panna are confident of identifying direct and indirect signs confirming the presence of 34 tigers, experts believe that the authorities are missing the real point. Wildlife scientists say that they are not concerned with the number of tigers in the park, but with the whereabouts of animals that have been identified and tracked over the last few years. “I have never questioned the number of tigers in the park. However, I am concerned about the sudden disappearance of tigers that have been identified and tracked over the past few years,” said Raghunandan Singh Chundawat, a member of the MP Wildlife Advisory Board, who has been heading a tiger research project in Panna for the past nine years. As per his findings, nine breeding tigers, which were radio-collared, have gone missing during ’02-05. He claimed that 21 young adult tigers may have disappeared too. However, the authorities are not concerned with these claims. “Tigers do not have a permanent address. We are concerned with the tiger density in this area and the census should give us a clear indication of the real situation. Furthermore, tracking specific tigers is not an easy task in Panna which is said to have the most dense forest cover in MP,” said Sanjay Mukharya, conservator of forests & field director at the Panna Tiger Reserve. The process of undertaking a tiger census through the pug mark method has been long disputed by wildlife experts — they believe that the process is based on estimation and may not be an accurate method. The absence of a proper scientific method has left enough room for error and in some cases even fudging of data, experts say. “Figures can be altered by officials to ensure that no one is hauled up by the authorities. Very rarely will you hear about reports of poaching or poisoning,” said an expert who did not wish to be named. Mr Chundawat is of a similar view. “There is something wrong with the way we go about wildlife management. It needs to be more scientific. There needs to be more emphasis on monitoring and protection,” he said. While the situation seems bleak, park authorities are confident of meeting the figures. “This is a week-long process and forest officials have been out collecting tracings. These will be gathered on the final day, and then through a process of elimination, we should be able to determine how many tigers are still in Panna,” said Mr. Mukharya. The MP forest authorities will release the final figures on March 24, ’05.

SOURCE : The Economic Times, Wednesday, March 23, 2005