BENGALURU: Somewhere in a forest, a bureaucratic rulebook imagines a forester in a tiger mask and striped work robes, doused in big-cat urine and faeces, moving towards an orphaned cub. Conservationists say the picture is less wildlife science and more indignity.
The instruction comes from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change.
Its ‘standard operating procedure’ for handling orphaned or abandoned cubs and old, injured tigers in rewilding (rehabilitation) centres says handlers must wear a tiger mask and striped clothing “smeared with tiger urine and faeces” to minimise human imprinting “to the extent possible”.
This has drawn strong opposition from all quarters, particularly as the Karnataka state government has approved the creation of the state’s first rewilding centre – a peri-forest environment to house captured tiger cubs before they are released into the wild.
Conservationists and wildlife experts view this SOP as “inhuman”, similar to the practice of manual scavenging in which workers manually clean, carry, dispose of, or handle human excreta (night soil) and raw sewage without proper mechanical equipment or protective gear.
They pointed out that if this directive is implemented in Madhya Pradesh’s Kanha Tiger Reserve, where the country’s first re-wilding centre has been set up, it should be stopped immediately.
‘Tigers cannot be fooled into natural wild behaviour’
Some conservationists added that if it is implemented in the state, they will approach the courts to take legal action.
S Girijashankar, former state wildlife board member, in a letter to Karnataka, Forest, Environment & Ecology minister, Ramalinga Reddy, said tigers rely heavily on a combination of highly sophisticated olfactory, auditory and cognitive cues, which means they cannot be fooled into natural wild behaviour by simple disguises worn by human care givers – and so, the forest department must ensure that the inhuman process of forcing lower staff workers to apply tiger excreta and urine on themselves, as mentioned in the NTC, SOP – a grave atrocity – is stopped, he said.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Bishwajit Mishra, said there are many guidelines listed, and all of them cannot be followed. The SOP of smearing tiger excreta and urine cannot be followed. It is not being followed in any rescue centre or zoo, he said.
Foresters said the guidelines also allow using female/male urine/scat samples sprayed near enclosures while laying traps to attract and capture elusive wild tigers and leopards. This is being implemented in some cases and the samples are collected from zoos, instead of the wild.
The forest department had proposed to create one rewilding centre in Bhadra Tiger Reserve, but the plan was dropped following stiff opposition from locals and conservationists to setting up the centre.
Stiff opposition
The Karnataka forest department had proposed to create one rewilding centre in Bhadra Tiger Reserve, but the plan was dropped following opposition from locals. The forest department is now scouting for another location
