Times of India , Thursday, May 26, 2005

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The environment ministry officials will spend Thursday in a day-long, closed-door meeting discussing how best to save not just the tiger but also the vulture. What is arguably called the tiger crisis has brought into focus the effects of a deadly cocktail — poaching, habitat fragmentation, the plight of people living in reserves and the impact of tourism. Somehow, the vulture has crept onto the agenda. The recorded crash in vulture numbers over the 1990s just hasn't attracted the same attention as the tiger. Yet, this dedicated sanitation worker's presence is being missed even in reserves. Giving one example, Vishwas Sawarkar, a former Wildlife Institute of India director who evaluated Ranthambore and Sariska for the government, says vultures hovering over a carcass was one of the signs for tracking a dead tiger in the wild — otherwise a very difficult task. On Thursday, state chief wildlife wardens and field directors of Project Tiger reserves at a meeting chaired by environment minister A Raja will discuss what the Centre and states need to do. First, perhaps, is the immediate strategy for protecting tigers during the monsoon. This is the time when poaching peaks since patrols are less mobile and heavier grazing pressure in certain reserves makes it difficult to distinguish between illegal herdsmen and poachers. Among those who will attend the meeting are MPs from the high-profile Tiger and Wilderness Watch group which has boasted of the presence of young MPs such as Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Manvendra Singh and ministers Natwar Singh and Renuka Chowdhury. Members from the PM-appointed tiger task force chaired by activist Sunita Narain will also be present there.

SOURCE : Times of India, Thursday, May 26, 2005