The Government has woken up perhaps too late to the tiger crisis. In an affidavit to the Supreme Court, the Centre said that 411 tigers have vanished from across the country from 1999 to 2003.
Of this 238 were poached, as seizure records indicate. This comes as an embarrassment to the Government as presently an international convention, CITES (Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species) Tiger Enforcement Task Force Meeting, is taking place in Delhi.
The data collected records 411 cases during the five years out of which 238 relate to seizures of tiger skin and bones and 173 records relate to mortality, some of which could also be poaching or cases of poisoning.
However, the Government still believes that the poaching numbers are not so high as seizure of body parts in different times and places could be indicative of the same tiger.
This, however, is not well-received by experts. "It is two years too late," says member Tiger Task Force, Valmik Thapar. "I am shocked that these figures have been released two years later. I fail to understand what's going on. In every forum, including the National Board for Wildlife meeting, poaching was blanked out as an issue."
If the Government was aware of the scale, why was it remain silent even as tigers continued to die? Affirms former director, Project Tiger PK Sen, "In the figures given to the annual CITES report, the Government figure for tiger poaching and seizures does not reflect this scale."
Experts are also demanding the source and rationale behind the death count, most agree that this just represents the tip of the ice berg. "Anyone - including those in the Government - who has worked with tigers knows that if these are the recorded numbers, then the actual must be double, if not three times than the stated. Where have the tigers gone? What are we doing about it?" questions Thapar.
Agrees Trustee, Wildlife Trust of India Ashok Kumar, on whose public interest petition the apex court had sought the affidavit from the Centre, "There have been over 700 skin seizures in the past ten years, and lately these instances have gone up. Skin seizure is a direct evidence of tiger poaching."
According to Dr Rajesh Gopal, Director Project Tiger, an independent agency was commissioned to compile and analyse the available country-level tiger poaching data over a period of five years (1999 to 2003). The data collected records 411 cases during the five years, out of which 173 records relate to mortality and 238 records relate to seizures, the affidavit said. The data was compiled and analyzed by Delhi-based Peace Institute, Dr Gopal informed.
According to the Government, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are the main hot spots for poaching.
Why one wonders is there no mention of Rajasthan as a troubled state, where tigers have been wiped off in Sariska and Ranthambhore has shown a serious dip in numbers? Also, there are reports of tigers not being seen in Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal, where the director has excused his laxity by explaining that most of the tigers have walked across the border into Bhutan.
"We cannot afford to make excuses right now, we would be lucky if we have even 2,000 tigers in the country today," says a ministry official.
A majority of seizures was recorded from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal and Andhra Pradesh, the ministry said. From the 238 seizure of tiger skins and body parts in 219 cases, Madhya Pradesh topped the list with 57 cases followed by Uttar Pradesh (44), West Bengal (39), Maharashtra (19), Uttaranchal (15) and Andhra Pradesh (11), the Ministry said.
The ministry pointed to the easy access poachers and smugglers have across Indian borders to sell their haul. "The international border of India with Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar is relatively porous which facilitates illegal transfer of contraband including wildlife items across these borders," the Government said.
