Tiger the National Animal of India and a declared endangered specie lives almost on the fringes of existence in the mainland India. Poaching is something that had been haunting the existence of this Royal Specie for quite sometime. But the nuances of Encroachment and conversion of the Forests to Agricultural Land have really created another level of threat to the Tiger Conservation.
The issue over Poaching can still be addressed with strict vigilance, but the problem of encroachment is something that results in shrinking habitat for the Tigers. The Law Enforcement Agencies, the Forest Rangers and the Wild Life Conservators here face the biggest problem from the Politicians and their Vote Bank Agenda. The Political Shield that the Encroachment Mafia gets due to the Vote Bank Politics has today created the problem of co-existence for the Civil Society & the Wild Life.
If we look at the Government Initiatives on the Land Notifications for the Tiger / Wild life Sanctuaries, the area as notified is calculated as per the expected tiger population and the area as required for each Tiger as per the “Territory Demarcation for each Tiger. Yes, it indeed needs to be noticed and acknowledged that Tigers DO NOT share their territories and each Tiger has its own Marked Territory, which if is trespassed by another Tiger, the Ruling Tiger challenges the offending Tiger and a fierce fight breaks out for the winner to reign in the territory. So now, if the Human;s encroach the Tiger Territory, it indeed is a challenge to the Tiger owning that territory and thus it is a high possibility that the Tiger would attack the Human Population.
Another issue as associated with the encroachment into Forest is the danger to the diversified Wild-Life due to space crunch. This diversified Wild-Life serves as the fodder for the Tigers, so the crunch of Food for Tigers would aggravate the situation with increased attacks by them on the Human Population. They indeed need food somehow. They would not understand the difference between a Deer, a Bison or a Human Being. And if a Tiger becomes Man Eater once, it would remain a man-eater for life, so either it has to be captured and moved to some Zoo or the Human beings would end up killing and skinning that Tiger. End result, one more Tiger less in the count!!!
What is required for the Forest Officers, Wildlife Rangers and the Government Officials here is to ensure that the encroaches are actively discouraged by spreading awareness among the humans. A country-wide campaign needs to be launched to ensure that the existence of the Wildlife and humans needs to be balanced in a fashion that both can co-exist. After all, we don’t want Tigers only in zoo or say only in the History Books. The Royal Beauty of the Forests must remain where its base is and where its Beauty & Grace is best Suited.
A Tiger behind the Bars of the Zoo looks not more than a Prisoner and the King of Forests needs to be treated like a King only, nothing less.
