BENGALURU: Here is a piece of news that is exciting, but is also worrying. As per internal assessments and camera trap details, more than one tiger has been sighted in the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP). The fragmented habitat, which is at the tip of Western Ghats, connects Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) and Tamil Nadu forest patches. It also abuts Bengaluru, a cosmopolitan and rapidly growing city.
“The first reported sighting of a wild tiger here was in 2015. Since then, it has been a wandering male. But now in the camera traps, two more tigers have been sighted. A healthy population of tigers has also been noticed in areas connecting CWS and BNP. In CWS, around 12 tigers have been recorded,” said a senior official of the forest department.
It shows that if a habitat is left untouched, it bounces back and becomes home for the striped cats, the official added. Since 2014, experts and conservationists have pointed out that the two forest patches are ideal potential spaces for tiger population and have stressed on effective conservation methods. But with rapid urbanisation, they face the threat of encroachment. Multiple cases of man-elephant conflicts and leopard sightings have been reported from the fringes of these patches.
BNP, especially, faces the threat of mining and encroachment for residential layout formation. The state government has proposed to denotify and redefine the BNP buffer zone to make way for residential areas and industrialisation. CWS, meanwhile, could soon see a habitat change with the Mekedatu project.
‘Census findings to aid in protection’
“The census and the findings play a crucial role in chalking out better protection measures. But it is also worrisome as people start to fear the presence of tigers in their neighbourhood. It could lead to more conflicts.
This is the reason why undisturbed corridors and buffer zones are needed. We are requesting the district administration to clear encroachments. It is ironic that on one hand, Karnataka wants to be number one in tiger numbers, but on the other, it is denotifying forest areas for non-forestry works,” the senior forest department official pointed out.