The Glamorous Cat!

Royal Bengal Tiger! The most glamorous species I have ever seen in wild.

We have the Royal Bengal Tiger, the subspecies of tiger found only in India and Bangladesh. I happened to visit the kanha National Park in Dec 2003 as a part of the MSc Environment Science Curriculum. It being one of the largest national park in India with rich biodiversity, covering an area of 1945 sq.Km, is located in Madhya Pradesh. One of the scenic and picturesque national park. As soon we reached the ‘Mogli resort’ in the buffer area of the national park, we were divided into group of 5to 6, with each group in one gypsy. Our trails were supposed to start the next day. It was a different experience, a trip with no network to mobile phones, no television, no traffic, no fast food, no pollution, and the most important, no concrete jungle.

Early in the morning at about 4 am, we got into our respective gypsys; someone mentioned that one has to be lucky to have a glimpse of tigers. We all had crossed our fingers hoping that we see atleast one tiger during our stay of 4 days. Our gypsy driver and guide were with us to accompany for 4 days for our trails. While we were going through the kacha roads in the forest, our driver and guide were telling us stories of when and how many times they have seen tiger. As it is usual to see cows, cats, pigs, dogs on our streets, we could see Chitals (Spotted deer), Egrets, Langurs, Peacocks, Bisons, Sambhar (not the South Indian dish!) while passing by different paths in the jungle. We did also see Barasingha, Barking deer and Nilgai. Suddenly we heard the calls of Langurs and Chitals were different and then the guide said, “yahin kahin pass mein hain woh”. Sooner he spotted the tiger in the grassland and everyone was very excited and all eyes were stuck at the tiger through binoculars. That was the first time when I saw tiger in wild and I could feel the power of tiger in wild. How other animals reacted and gave alarm calls to each other to be aware as the tiger was nearby. There was a behavioural change in wild among all species. He was 8 feet in length, and was approximately 800m away in perpendicular direction from the gypsy. As soon as the tiger was located, all gypsys gathered there within 4-5mins. Some foreigners went crazy and started taking shots of the glamourous cat with their Nikon cameras. Silence was maintained so that the tiger should not be disturbed and leave the place. After few minutes, tiger that was sitting initially, stood up and started a few steps towards us. All the gypsys, about 8-10 of them, all went reverse half km. Wow! Such a terror that species had created. We had seen tiger roaming in Wilderness. It is difficult to describe in words, but it is damm adventurous and thrilling to see tiger in wild.

In 1972, tiger census was conducted and only 1800 odd tigers were left in India. After that, ‘Project Tiger’ is wildlife conservation moment initiated in India in1973 and was launched at Corbett National Park to protect Royal Bengal Tiger. Various Tiger reserves were created and now there are more than 40 tiger reserves in the country.

Number of tigers is reduced. Poaching has to be stopped! But despite of measures taken by officials, poaching remains one of the biggest threats as it is practically difficult to control such big areas. In addition to that, loss of ecosystem, the niche that a tiger needs, is decreasing. Enchroachment, Deforestation, urbanisation and industrialisation has taken away the home of wild species! It is believed that Chinese medicines use tiger bones in their preparation. Because of such beliefs, one gets a high price and poachers tend to kill wild animals. Environmental awareness towards conserving such species is also essential. But to whom? I suppose the environmental officials are very well aware of conserving the biodiversity. They know the repurcations of loss of such species which is at the apex of food pyramid. Then where is the gap? Latest news is that PM announces New Department of Wildlife under The Ministry of Environment and Forest.

We hope people become more aware and also environment officials become more alert, then we have the hope to save the extinction of our National animal. It is not only that the government officials are supposed to do their bit, but we all should as common man be alert and contribute our ways to save our Tiger. I believe Eco tourism is the one of the upcoming stream and has good prospects and our country will be able to earn more revenue by conserving this species as foreigners do pay handsome bucks to see this species in wild. Poaching activities would be at loss then and ecotourisms will be the profit face. Through means of Ecotourism we could generate revenue and thus to save tigers, we will automatically have to conserve our forests.

Only 1411 left! Aircel’s initiative ‘Save our Tigers’ is creating lot of awareness by showcasing sports persons as their brand ambassador of the campaign. I don’t know how this campaign will help at ground level conservation measures, but we can start our bit by supporting such initiatives to save the glamourous cat! http://www.saveourtigers.com/JoinTheRoar.php

Image courtesy: pirun.ku.ac.th/~b4803075/tiger.html