‘Big cats moving in fringe area vulnerable to poaching’ | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: Similipal‘s eastern side, where the melanistic Royal Bengal Tiger was killed, is a fringe area where they are vulnerable to poachers, officials said.
The area is comparatively porous, as its boundary is dotted with human settlements and villages. Not only do villagers enter the forests through various routes to collect non-timber forest produce but skilled poachers also trespass through the routes they have mastered over the years to evade field personnel, sources said.
“We suspect that the sub-adult tiger moved towards the fringe area, and the poachers, who were present there, spotted it. Interrogation revealed the arrested poachers were not in pursuit of the big cat. They were there to kill some prey,” said Similipal field director Prakash Gogineni.
A wildlife expert said that a sub-adult tiger usually doesn’t disperse and prefers to stay around the mother, and it is puzzling how it had walked alone into the fringe zone. “Either the poachers entered deeper in the forest, or the cub was not far away from its mother. During hunting, the mother must have been around. This exposes the fact that poachers have easy access,” said wildlife campaigner Biswajit Mohanty.
However, wildlife wing officials said sub-adult tigers also keep moving out and reuniting with their mothers until they attain adulthood, when they look for new territory. “Adult tigers are only counted, and we have a database based on their stripe pattern. But sub-adults or juveniles don’t come under camera trap surveillance. So, in the case of the dead melanistic tiger, stripe data is not available. In a later stage, everything will be verified,” said chief wildlife warden Prem Kumar Jha.
Anup Nayak, former member secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), said compared to the protection mechanism a decade ago, Similipal is now well equipped with technology, skilled manpower and arms and ammunition. “The eastern side has always remained vulnerable. Those at the helm must calculate, fix responsibility, and plug the holes in the protection mechanism,” said Nayak.
The area is comparatively porous, as its boundary is dotted with human settlements and villages. Not only do villagers enter the forests through various routes to collect non-timber forest produce but skilled poachers also trespass through the routes they have mastered over the years to evade field personnel, sources said.
“We suspect that the sub-adult tiger moved towards the fringe area, and the poachers, who were present there, spotted it. Interrogation revealed the arrested poachers were not in pursuit of the big cat. They were there to kill some prey,” said Similipal field director Prakash Gogineni.
A wildlife expert said that a sub-adult tiger usually doesn’t disperse and prefers to stay around the mother, and it is puzzling how it had walked alone into the fringe zone. “Either the poachers entered deeper in the forest, or the cub was not far away from its mother. During hunting, the mother must have been around. This exposes the fact that poachers have easy access,” said wildlife campaigner Biswajit Mohanty.
However, wildlife wing officials said sub-adult tigers also keep moving out and reuniting with their mothers until they attain adulthood, when they look for new territory. “Adult tigers are only counted, and we have a database based on their stripe pattern. But sub-adults or juveniles don’t come under camera trap surveillance. So, in the case of the dead melanistic tiger, stripe data is not available. In a later stage, everything will be verified,” said chief wildlife warden Prem Kumar Jha.
Anup Nayak, former member secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), said compared to the protection mechanism a decade ago, Similipal is now well equipped with technology, skilled manpower and arms and ammunition. “The eastern side has always remained vulnerable. Those at the helm must calculate, fix responsibility, and plug the holes in the protection mechanism,” said Nayak.
