Its gone: The sad story of the Tiger.

 

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,         
In the forests of the night :
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
 

So said William Blake 200 years ago. Unfortunately today the same fearful symmetry is being wiped out. The latest Tiger Census 2007 reveals that India has only 1411 tigers left in the wild. To put that in perspective, probably an apartment in Metropolitan India will have more residents. The Tiger Census in 1997 had stated that India had 3500 tigers. Why this alarming fall then?

There are two reasons. The earlier censuses were all conducted through the pugmark method, a highly inaccurate and misleading method that over-inflated the real figure many times over. But there is no denying that poaching has increased manifold in the past decade with Tigers being summarily wiped out of large swathes of India.

In 1900, India still had 40000 tigers. The icon of royalty and the pride of India, it was relentlessly hunted down by the Maharajas and the Britishers. Organised poaching was negligible in those days. By 1947, that figure had halved to 20000 beasts. Preoccupied with Economic development and other human-oriented programs, the Govt of India turned a blind eye to wildlife. Concurrently, demand in China for the tiger’s body parts (to be used in Chinese “medicine”)  led to its large scale massacre in India. By 1972, barely 1872 of these magnificent animals still remained. Alarmed at the rampant massacre of the National Animal, the then PM, Indira Gandhi started Project Tiger. A path-breaking initiative, it led to several hot-spots being designated as Tiger reserves simultenously with stringent Anti-poaching measures. All these had a salutary effect and in 25 years, the population almost doubled.

Sadly, complacency soon set in. A burgeoning human population, large scale clearing of forests, inefficient and corrupt forest departments and relaxation in the laws prohibiting exploitation of the forests led to the influx of poachers, again! The notorious tiger killer, Sansar Chand and his gang within a span of 5 odd years managed to kill each and every tiger in Sariska Reserve, Rajasthan’s most well known reserve after Ranthambore. Bribery played a large role in his remaining undetected. By 2005, the stench of the tiger corpses throughout India finally reached the Govt. which constituted a Tiger Task Force and an official survey. The Tiger Task Force sadly became a bickering point between environmentalists and the politicians and its net achievement in 2 years has been zilch! The Govt also passed the outrageous Forest Land Rights Act which gave virgin forest lands to tribals. The land in reality went into the hands of the Forest Mafia who are now all set to rob India of its remaining forest wealth.

The Royal Bengal Tiger found in India is the most widespread sub-species of the animal. About three others have already become extinct throughout the world. The massive demand in the Far East is fuelling this killing trade and the inefficent bureaucracy is an active conniver. Its not that the tiger is the only victim. The extremely endangered Asiatic Lions were killed in dozens in Gir, Gujarat; their last resort. The Gujarat Govt refuses to relocate some of them to another state as it fears a loss in tourist revenue!! Siberian Cranes are being murdered in Orissa. The Koeladeo Ghana wetlands in Rajasthan are being deliberately dried up, The King Cobras face an uphill battle in South India. 5 rhinos have been killed in two months in Assam and virgin forest is being raped by Granite Mafia in Satyamangalam. Our forest cover has declined to a mere 10% of the total area, way below the sustainable 33%.

Its not that there is no hope. Corbett National Park has shown how a dedicated approach can yield results. It is the only Park where the Tiger population has not fallen. Unfortunately our greed doesnt allow us to see the vital role forests and animals play in the climate and food chain. The common people along with the Govt have to take the initiative and protect this irretrievable resource. However that seems a fond hope. The Tiger looks all set to join the Indian Cheetah, the Pink Headed Duck and the Chinese River Dolphin in the list of hapless creatures that fell a prey to man’s uncontrolled lust.