From the BBC newsite:


Where have all the tigers gone?

The recent suspension of eight forestry officials for failing to protect tigers in India's Sariska National Park has highlighted the setbacks to Project Tiger, a major conservation effort established in the 1980s by the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi. What has gone wrong?

Authorities in Rajasthan acted as part of an ongoing investigation into the disappearance of many - if not all - of the state's tigers.

Conservationists say the number of tigers in India has dropped alarmingly in recent years, and that forest officials in many game reserves have been covering up the problem.

The latest crisis was brought on by the discovery that for months, game wardens in Sariska National Park, one of India's most visited reserves, have been overstating the number of tigers they have.

Valmik Thapar, one of India's most respected tiger experts, told BBC World Service's Analysis programme that the alarm was raised when a team from the Wildlife Institute of India, doing a training course on tracking tigers, failed to find any evidence of them in 15 days of looking.

"Basically, there have been no tigers in Sariska since October 2004," Mr Thapar added.

"While I was there two weeks ago, there were 20 Jeeps full of foreign tourists, and the guides were pointing, saying 'maybe a tiger's going to come from the bush'. There are no tigers to come from the bush."

Responsibility and blame

India is home to 40% of the world's tigers and was said to have over 4,000 animals in the late 1980s, after the late Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, launched Project Tiger - a system of national parks and sanctuaries aimed at protecting them.

Official records now claim there are 3,723 - but many conservationists say the true figure is much lower.

The disappearance of India's most prized natural symbol has prompted a national outcry.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has ordered an investigation and already the Rajasthan state government has started sacking several of its park officials.

LN Dave, the Minister for Forest and Environment in Rajasthan, has said he accepts responsibility for the loss of tigers - but not the blame.

"I accept the responsibility - but in reality, we see that these events have taken place because of the lax attitude of subordinate officials.

"Whoever is found liable will be punished."

Mr Dave, and other state officials, have suggested that extensive mining and farming might have scared the tigers away.

It has been hopefully suggested that the tigers might be hiding, and return later.

Vijendra Pahul Singh, an MP who speaks for the state government, said that poaching is widespread throughout India.

"This has been happening all over the country, not just Rajasthan," he added.

"It's very sad that in Sariska, it was done on a bigger scale. We are very sad about it, we are very concerned about it, and we will see that this is not repeated again on other predators, like panthers."

Conservationists are more explicit about the extent of the damage poachers have done.

Low-density populations

Belinda Wright, executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, said that there has been an alarming rise in poaching across the Bengal tiger's traditional habitat, from the Indian subcontinent down to Thailand and Cambodia.

"Poaching is an underground criminal activity that is simply not addressed in our tiger reserves in India," she said.

The main reason, it is believed, is the high price to be gained from the use of tiger parts in traditional Chinese medicine.

The head, skin, claws, meat, blood and penis all command high prices. A whole body, ground down and separated into various medicines, could in total command around $50,000.

Ms Wright said she believed the true figure for the number of tigers left in India is 2,000 - "if we're extremely lucky."

"Tiger counting is a very difficult thing anyway, and for these amazing census to come out saying '30 males, 20 females and one cub' is bizarre.

"But I think there are very few parks in India that have high-density tiger populations - which is obviously the objective of all this.

"I think most of them have critically low-density populations, with the pressures and problems on these critically low populations. So I think it's very serious."

Mr Thapar said that the job of counting tigers must be taken out of the hands of the park wardens, who have, he believes, too much of a vested interest in overstating the numbers.

"Focus on protection," he added.

"Protect your park. When it's not protected, tigers die."

If you want the tigers saved, allow hunting in those reserves. This may seem as though it is at cross purposes, but wherever hunting of a species is allowed, it thrives. The reason for this is that the local people know that some European or American tourist/hunter will pay more for the privilege of hunting a tiger than the poachers can get for killing it. Elephants in Africa are a prime example of this. I would suggest that if India is really serious about saving the tigers they should consider this idea.

quote:

Originally posted by patrkyhntr:
If you want the tigers saved, allow hunting in those reserves.

What price would you set for such hunt given the current conditions?

Rustam

For an animal as rare as a tiger, I would assume (dangerous practice) that it would be out of the reach of the ordinary hunter. Heck, an elephant hunt is just about out of my reach. Starting point would probably be about two to three times what a trophy bull elephant hunt would go for, maybe more. For a WAG, I would bet that the first tiger hunts sold at auction would bring half a million USD or more. Now, that is definitely out of my range. My point is that $100,000 pays for a whole lot of conservation employees in a country like India, or any of the rest of the tiger's range.

Do they still do control work?

When was the last man-eating episode and how many did the 'ger get?

Just because we stopped hunting them, doesn't mean they stopped eating us. The news people however do not want to start scaring people with man-eaters, unless it's sharks. If they did, their souls wouldn't make it to animal heaven as a result of their part in getting man-eaters destroyed.

I don't think India has enough Tigers at present to justify being hunted. At the present time it sounds as if they need all the breeding stock they can get...I would however support the re introduction of hunting other game in these reserves especially leopard which still seem to be very numerous and are causing the locals problems in quite a few places.

Getting back to the Tiger, how about establishing private reserves and encouraging various breeding scheems as was done with the Rhino in Africa??Once certain populations levels had been reached, then perhaps limited hunting could be reintroduced...

Regards,

Pete

Interesting figures, patrkyhntr. Whatever the amount, it would have to be substantially more than what the poaching operations earn.

I agree with Pete E, that the present tiger population is far too low to sustain hunting. However, there are two possibilities. One is darting and the other is the hunting of confirmed man-eaters and very old tigers.

Other than generating revenue, providing an incentive for the local population living close by, it would also get the general public used to the idea of tiger hunting again - provided the media keeps an open mind on the subject and reports responsibly.

Rustam

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
I don't think India has enough Tigers at present to justify being hunted. At the present time it sounds as if they need all the breeding stock they can get...

But surely the stock will continue to decline as long as the tigers have no real value to the locals but kill their cattle?

Regards,
Martin

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
I don't think India has enough Tigers at present to justify being hunted. At the present time it sounds as if they need all the breeding stock they can get...

I kinda doubt we will see tiger hunting in India in our life time - at least at a price the average big game hunter could afford. There are nearly 2500 tigers DOCUMENTED as being kept as pets in backyards in the state of Texas alone. And that doesn't even count all the guys that have a tiger chained in the backyard and don't even bother to get any documentation. I would hope that the powers that be in India would get serious in saving the wild tiger- hunting sure would provide much needed capital for that purpose.

quote:

Originally posted by RBHunt:
There are nearly 2500 tigers DOCUMENTED as being kept as pets in backyards in the state of Texas alone.

A bit of lateral thinking. Theoretically some of these Tigers could be purchased and returned to India to provide breeding stock for a hunting reserve. Obviously some problems with this such as the tameness of captive animals and their ability to hunt. Mixed after 'retraining' with a wild population maybe. Or used as breeding stock in a semi-wild reserve and the young removed and placed in hunting reserves. Capital would come from future hunt fees from the sizable safari fees. Meat for the tigers could come from safari game taken from nilgai, boar, and deer species.

I would not expect any Tiger hunting to be within a normal man's means in our lifetimes. Maybe they could hold a lottery to give us poor sods a chance at them!

Are there no high fenced large reserves in India with Tiger populations with good forest / cover?

A place like that could provide a good place to start tiger hunting operation.

quote:

quote: Materius

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
I don't think India has enough Tigers at present to justify being hunted. At the present time it sounds as if they need all the breeding stock they can get...

But surely the stock will continue to decline as long as the tigers have no real value to the locals but kill their cattle?

EXACTLY. If something radical and new is not done they WILL continue to decline. Use the black and white rhino in Southern Africa as an example. It worked there.

I would think the Sunderbands (splg?) would have a viable population in Bangladesh.

Other areas?

Pete E

I don't believe leopard or tiger need to be hunted in India at this time. Both are under intense pressure from a billion people slowly squeezing them out of existance.

I have to chuckle when I hear talk about man-eaters or "problem" animals in India. The animals aren't the problem. They are doing what they were born to do. When thousands of people move into their reserve they will get attacked. Why should a lynch mob be organized to "hang" the leopard or tiger. Get the people out of the reserve.

I think the tiger is going to vanish in India because the politicians simply don't care, and the level of corruption surrounding the tiger is overwhelming. People are poor, and they need to survive. A dead tiger means nothing to them except a way to survive.

Some years ago Newsweek picked Zimbabwe as the worst country to live in if you were a wild animal. If I was a tiger I would not want to be living in India right now.

quote:

Originally posted by Marterius:
But surely the stock will continue to decline as long as the tigers have no real value to the locals but kill their cattle?

Regards,
Martin

Marterius,

I totally agree with that idea, but right now I would say the real value of the present population of tigers is in breeding stock, sort of an investment for the future.

I see the establishment of reserves where hunting is permitted for certain species as just the first step. The locals would have to get value from every aspect of it if they are going to be persauded not to over graze or poach in there.

Kensco

I am not sure the Campfire model is directly transferable in India for the very reasons you mention. As you rightly say India has a huge and growing population and keeping the reserves free of encrouchment will be a massive task. Also in many parts of India, the cow is scared so dealing with stray cattle or cattle pushed into the forest to graze, is bound with religious problems.

I favour the setting up an anti poaching force to police the areas concerned modeled on the rangers of Kenyian Wildlife Service. Initially I would advise to draw the new recruits from the Indian Army's Gurkha regiments including the Officers & NCO's.

Make service in this new unit a prestige affair with pay and perks a little higher than say a typical soldier or policeman. This unit should spend a high proportion of its time deep in the jungles/forests patroling and looking for poachers.

Secondly, set up a seperate unit perhaps part of the Police. They would have two main functions. 1) gathering intelligence of poaching especially at the middle and higher echelons but also feeding intel to the Rangers on the ground. This Police unit could work under cover setting up strings very much in the way Anti Narcotics units work.
2) Secondly part of the Unit would deal with corruption at all levels. They would actively pursue people from all walks of life from village head men to Government Officals. They would proactively try to bribe people or investigate alligations. People who reported or refused the bribes would be rewarded in some way while people who accepted would be punished. Either of these actions should be public and if at village level might include the village too so honesty benifits the whole village in some way...

Trouble is all this costs money and I simply don't know if the Indian Government alone can afford to do this...They would probably need international aid at least to get it off the ground...

Regards,

Pete

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
Trouble is all this costs money and I simply don't know if the Indian Government alone can afford to do this...They would probably need international aid at least to get it off the ground...

So what is different to what is being done now?

No 'greenie' organisation is going to fund a reserve with an objective of providing sport hunting. Even if they did it is all exactly what is happening now.

The difference would be able to fund the project by the fees from the sale of hunting safaris. Provide benefits to the local population, employment, income, fund anti-poaching.

Investors also want to see returns.

Its all hypothetical anyway.