CHENNAI: Over the past 10 years, Tamil Nadu has lost 70 tigers and the state ranks sixth in the country in tiger mortality rate. Mudumalai Tiger Reserve alone lost 22 big cats during the period. With the arrest of six members of notorious Bawaria poaching gang in Sathyamangalam earlier this month, all the tiger reserves in the state have been put on high alert. The state forest department is also proposing additional measures to strengthen ground patrolling to prevent poaching.
As per the details available with National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), of the total 70 deaths, 44 occurred inside the core tiger reserve areas and the rest outside the reserve areas. The cause of deaths includes natural reasons, poaching and unnatural factors (not poaching and seizures).
With 264 tigers, Tamil Nadu is home to nearly 10% of India’s tiger population. Tiger population in the state has more than tripled since 2006. As per the last national tiger status assessment done in 2018-19, the number of tigers has gone up from 76 in 2006 to 264 in 2018-19.
However, developments like suspected cases of tiger poisoning and presence of Bawaria gang from whom a fresh tiger skin was seized have worried officials. State Chief Wildlife Warden Srinivas R Reddy said, “The Bawaria gang whom we caught through a meticulous operation has confessed to have killed a young tiger earlier this month in the avalanche area in the Nilgiris district.”
“The tiger skin images were processed with the camera trap images that we have, but we cannot identify the poached tiger. We are investigating possible involvement of the gang in other wildlife crimes,” Reddy said.
He said there is also the possibility of other gang members still on the loose in the region. “Despite extensive questioning, the arrested gang members haven’t revealed anything about their accomplices. Field directors of all tiger reserves are directly keeping vigil on movement of possible suspects. We are preparing a proposal to strengthen ground patrolling by appointing more anti-poaching watchers and increase temporary camp sites to cover remote areas.”
Meanwhile, activists allege that the Tamil Nadu state forest officials were initially slow in responding to the intelligence inputs about the movement of the gang.“What is the point in investigating after the tiger is killed. It will just be a postmortem,” rued a wildlife activist.
The officer said the intelligence tip received was generic and there was no specific alert.“We keep receiving generic alerts periodically, but yes we have to be more cautious. With the rise in tiger population, the problem of poaching is only going to get worse day-by-day. We have to equip ourselves to counter the menace,” Reddy said.