BHUBANESWAR: The much-awaited All India Tiger Estimation figure is out and the new magic number is 2,967. Odisha, however, continues to disappoint.
The State recorded a mean figure of 28 tigers, unchanged since the last such exercise in 2014 and lower than the 45 recorded in 2006. The vast majority of these 28 tigers are in Similipal Tiger Reserve.
The only other notified tiger reserve, Satkosia, has over the past few years practically lost all its tigers with an aged, lone wild female still surviving and one of two reintroduced tigers from Madhya Pradesh in an enclosure in the reserve. The other tiger introduced from Madhya Pradesh was poached just as it was settling into Satkosia.
With the quality and expanse of tiger habitat available in Odisha, proper management and protection could allow the State to sustain an optimum population of 300-500 tigers even today, going by tiger density in similar habitat types that are better managed in Central India and elsewhere in the country. This can be achieved in a relatively short period of time if the political and bureaucratic will is shown. Instead, Odisha has a history of refuting the estimates and even conducting its own.
To start with, the State’s step-motherly attitude towards wildlife conservation must be shunned at once. Most of our wildlife sanctuaries are full of villages that have encroached and expanded without check, have cattle grazing freely and deer and wild pigs poached relentlessly. This has led to tiger and leopard populations crashing, unsurprisingly. These forests are manned by poorly trained and ill-equipped frontline staff and vacancies remain unfilled for years. Unless these issues are rectified, Odisha’s sanctuaries will soon become silent forests.
The Sunabeda Tiger Reserve, granted in-principle approval by NTCA since 2008 must, at the earliest, be notified. It has a high potential for tiger conservation as the adjoining Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh has been notified.
A ray of hope for the State is that besides Similipal and Satkosia, tiger occurrence has been found in other habitats including northern, south-central and southwestern parts. Most of these tigers are likely spillovers from the very successful Central Indian tiger population that manage to still reach Odisha’s tiger habitats because of a high level of habitat connectivity. The Aampani forest corridor that connects Sunabeda and Central India with the tiger habitats of Kalahandi and other parts of southern and central Odisha need to be properly documented and protected.
Central India’s spillover tigers have been believed to disperse into Odisha via this corridor and also in northern Odisha via the Hemgir forest of Sundargarh district. However, these tigers usually meet their end in Odisha, often undetected. If these habitats and corridors are secured, the dispersing tigers from Central India could naturally help in establishing revived, stable populations in the State. More protected areas such as Khalasuni-Badrama and Kotgarh-Karlapat wildlife sanctuary clusters must be brought under the fold of Project Tiger.
Tigers are prolific breeders. Given adequate space, rich prey base, and safeguarded from extractive human disturbance of their habitats, they procreate fast and populations revive quickly. If Odisha is serious about conserving and reviving its tigers, it must get out of denial and ensure corrective measures diligently over the next few years.
(The writer is an Odisha-based naturalist and wildlife conservationist)