The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) in the State is facing the problem of ‘over abundance’ of the Bengal Tiger. Wildlife officials on Wednesday trapped a tiger near Thirunelly village on the sanctuary fringe following public demonstrations against the Forest Department over three cattle-lifting incidents over the past four days. The villagers continued their protests even after the tiger was trapped and blockaded roads in two places in the district in protest against the officials releasing the big cat back into the sanctuary.
Anger had been brewing against tigers in Wayanad in the recent months although their interference with public life had never gone beyond an occasional cattle lifting from the villages on the sanctuary fringe.
Cattle-lifting cases
The State Forest Department had recorded just four cattle-lifting cases in 2001-02 from the villages bordering the Wayanad sanctuary. The number went up to 15 in 2006-07 and 39 in 2010-11.
According to Chief Conservator of Forests O.P. Khaler, the villagers had always taken the occasional killing of cattle in their stride in Wayanad. The Forest Department too was always prompt in compensating the farmers for their loss.
Anti-tiger sentiment
But an anti-tiger sentiment is newly building up in Wayanad, fed by rumours that the sanctuary could very soon be declared a tiger reserve and that it would mean restrictions on normal human activities in the villages on the forest fringes. A four-month ‘capture-recapture’ camera trapping programme carried out by the Forest Department and the World Wildlife Fund in the sanctuary early this year had suggested that there could be as may as 67 adult tigers and 11 cubs in this sanctuary, having an area of 344.44 sq km.
Surprise find
This was a surprise find since the number of tigers in the sanctuary was thought to be less than 15 until 2009. Camera-trapping technique adopted for spotting the elusive big cat in the heavily wooded sanctuary in 2010 had suggested that the number could be as high as 40, virtually on a par with the tiger population in two of the officially recognised tiger reserves in the State, the Periyar Tiger Reserve and the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve.
The latest estimate indicated that Wayanad could be having even as many tigers as those in the two tiger reserves in the State put together.
‘Clarify’
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], the Kerala Congress(M) and Janata Dal have already launched various modes of protests in the district to pre-empt any move on the part of the government to declare the sanctuary as a tiger reserve. CPI(M) district secretary C.K. Saseendran said: “We will continue our protests till the Chief Minister publicly clarifies the doubts of the villagers.”
“People of Wayanad are extremely pro-conservation,” said N. Badusha, president of the Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samithi, an environmental activist group in the district.
“It will be unfortunate if their attitude is allowed to change due to the spread of misinformation about what it means if Wayanad sanctuary is declared a tiger reserve.”
Mr. Khaler said the Forest Department had already initiated measures to allay the fears of the villagers about possible additional restrictions on their activities.
“It is already a protected wildlife sanctuary. Only the regulations that are already in force will be applicable even if the sanctuary is made a tiger reserve,” he said.
Example of co-existence
“In fact, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, which has more than a hundred settlements of forest dwellers inside, is a very fine example of the Bengal Tiger co-existing with human beings.
There is no history of the tiger causing any harm to human beings in Wayanad, or, for that matter, in any of the tiger populated forests in the State” he said.
Source:The Hindu, 16 November 2012