Wildlife Crime Bureau to probe tiger deaths

Ten tigers in Kaziranga,Assam,and seven in Kanha,Madhya Pradesh,have died since November 2008.

Ten tigers in Kaziranga,Assam,and seven in Kanha,Madhya Pradesh,have died since November 2008. An alarmed Ministry of Environment and Forests has deployed teams from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) to investigate into these deaths. While one team reached Kaziranga on Wednesday,another one is on its way to Kanha.

In its report to the ministry and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA),Kaziranga officials have said of the 10 tigers that died since November 12,one died due to poisoning by people living near the park,three due to old age,two due to infighting. The reasons behind the death of three others are not known. The ministry is,however,not fully convinced. Many of the deaths are from one single range. This is unnatural. We need to further investigate into the death of these tigers. The ministry has sent a team from the WCCB there, said Rajesh Gopal,Member Secretary,NTCA.

The situation in Kanha,one of the most significant tiger breeding parks in the country,is more alarming with poaching cases linked to some of the deaths. On Wednesday,a tiger was found injured in Kanha. Recently,all the tigers in Panna went locally extinct.

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As per the Field Directors report to the ministry,seven tigers have died in Kanha since November 1. The first tiger died due to electrocution in a poaching trap. Since then,six tigers,including two cubs,have been found dead,with one found with severe facial injuries. Worse,a tiger skin was seized from Balaghat on November 11,and the tiger was possibly poached from Kanha.

I have never seen so many tigers dying in Kanha in such a short span of time, said National Board for Wildlife member Belinda Wright. The number of deaths is likely to happen over five years,not five months. We need to investigate why Kanha is losing its tigers. Its possible that poaching of one dominant male or female in Kanha is leading to a disturbance in territories and infighting, she said. Added Gopal,I have served in Kanha for 11 years,but have never seen so many tiger deaths in such a short span of time.

Significantly,Madhya Pradesh,which has the maximum number of tiger reserves in India,chose to translocate a tigress from Kanha to Panna,which has lost all its tigers,even as the population in Kanha was under threat. For the re-population of Panna,the ministry had given permission to translocate two young tigresses,which had not yet created their own territories. It was understood that both the tigresses would be translocated from Bandhavgarh,but in an apparent hurry to complete the translocation process,the state Forest Department translocated one tigress from Kanha and the other from Bandhavgarh,choosing easily visible tigresses which had already established territories,going against the NTCA guidelines. The NTCA has said that all action will be taken after the WCCB submits its reports.