Amateurs mar animal census

They don8217;t know the difference between a cheetah and a leopard, they don8217;t think creatures like nocturnal birds exist and they mistake shoe marks for animals8217; pug marks.

They don8217;t know the difference between a cheetah and a leopard, they don8217;t think creatures like nocturnal birds exist and they mistake shoe marks for animals8217; pug marks. They are the volunteers in charge of conducting this year8217;s animal census at Sanjay Gandhi National Park. On a night out with these census takers, this correspondent failed to spot any animals, but humans ignorant about the animal kingdom were in abundance.

In Phase-I of this year8217;s census8212;conducted from April 27 to May 18212;Forest Department officials and NGOs patrolled the park from 6.30 am to 11.30 am recording pugmarks, animal markings, faecal matter, signs of hunting and fighting.

Phase-II, which kicked off from May 2, saw volunteers and guards waiting for animals atop machans watchtowers near watering holes. According to wildlife officials, a 24-hour watch is maintained from the machans because animals visit a familiar watering hole at least once a day.

However, no animals were spotted. Not very surprising, considering that the machans were built too low, there were no wildlife experts around and not too much time was spent looking out for animals. Further, chatty volunteers8212;one could have mistaken them for overnight picnickers8212;created enough noise to scare the animals away.

And forget the 24-hour watch, many volunteers were absent from their machans till 6 pm, and were homeward bound by 7 am the next morning.

P N Munde, conservator of forests SGNP, pleaded helplessness when asked about the absence of wildlife experts and forest guards. 8220;Where8217;s the money for wildlife experts? The Rs 1 crore fund reserved for us goes towards other facilities. We have to arrange other things like food, vehicles and so on,8221; he said. 8220;There were only 16 guards for 42 teams because many guards are assisting in the rehabilitation of the encroachers,8221; he added.

While Munde claimed that special workshops had been conducted to train the volunteers, many of them seemed to know zilch about animals.

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A volunteer, who took part in the first phase of the census, agreed that it was a sloppy affair. 8220;The entire exercise was utterly disorganised. We patrolled for four days, but no forest guards were present on the last two days,8221; he said, adding that the number of volunteers visiting Vihar and Tulsi lake trickled down to only two on the last day.

A conversation between two volunteers exposed the arbitrary nature of the exercise. One volunteer stopped near the park gate and asked, 8220;Shouldn8217;t we go to the office to record our observations?8221; Another replied, 8220;Maru de forget it. Why should we go to them, why can8217;t they come to us? Anyway, we didn8217;t spot anything.8221;

So, we left the park at around 9 am, with nothing to show for our overnight participation in the animal census.