Special Report

It has been over five decades since Corbett made the grim prediction about the extinction of the Royal Bengal tiger. Corbetts large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage has been struggling to live in a world, it once lorded over. Every few months, one comes across new stories of how the majestic tiger is doddering on the precipice of extinction.

Experts have been crying hoarse over the catastrophic decimation of the species. Yet, for the past many years, the country was lulled into a fall sense of security that all was well in the 30 odd wildlife reserves in India. The babudom claimed time and again that not only were the tigers safe and sound, they were in fact thriving in the tranquility of the reserves. Nothing could be more further from the truth.

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) based in Dehradun burst that bubble by presenting the real truth a few months ago. According to WII estimates, the tiger population in 16 of the countrys 28 tiger reserves in 2006-07 had fallen by over 50%. From 1,233 tigers in 2002, the reserves across Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh currently house close to 490 or so tigers.

The results raised a storm. What had really gone wrong? Where did all the so-called tigers suddenly vanish? Everyone wondered. Though, to be fair, these were the paper tigers that had vanished. It was a simple case of technology showing the real picture. Indeed for over two decades the science of census had been turned into an art by the officials manning the 28 tiger reserves in India. Using pugmark methodology, the census artists arrived at numbers that were vastly exaggerated and no way matched the numbers on the ground. Like it had happened in Sariska. In December 2004, a news report highlighted the fact that there were not any more tigers left in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan. It came as a rude shock, as till then the official record showed a healthy population of around 25-30 tigers in the reserve that is spread over an area of about 880 sq km with three core areas (areas where no human are supposed to be present) and buffer zone (forested area with tribals).

"Sariska was a simply a case of inaction. The poachers dealt a fatalistic blow to the few tigers that existed there. While all the time officials were talking about 25 tigers in Sariska. Every researcher knew it was a farce, because no one had sighted a tiger for quite many years. Those were just paper tigers, that existed solely on paper," says Valmik Thapar, a renowned tiger conservation activist and an author of quite many books on the tiger, the latest being, The Last Tiger. He was also on the Tiger Task Force set up by the Prime Minister.

A Tale of Tall Numbers

At the turn of the twentieth century, there were an estimated 40,000 tigers in India. Indiscriminate hunting and loss of habitat resulted in a drastic dip in the numbers, and by the 70s not more than a few thousand remained. There was an international uproar as India housed close to 50% of all tigers, and if they disappeared here it would effectively mean the end of the species. The future of the tiger looked dreary. The Prime Minister at the time, Indira Gandhi launched Project Tiger amidst much fanfare in the 1973.

Initially Project Tiger was conceived for six years, from 1973-79, and was launched by setting up eight tiger reserves across the country. Over the years, the project received much success and was even termed as the most successful wildlife conservation program in the world by reputed international agencies. Gradually the number of tiger reserves increased to 30, and by 2005 India had 90 national parks and 501 wildlife sanctuaries.

By 2007, there were 28 Project Tiger wildlife reserves covering an area of 37,761 sq km. According to the estimates available Project Tiger helped increase the population of these tigers from 1,200 in the 1970s to 3,600 in 2001-02.

Thus, going by the official figures, there were over 3,600 tigers in India by 2002. But the real story was something else. The figures had been arrived using pugmarks, which according to many is a faulty procedure. As it was solely based on human discretion, the figures could be easily inflated to reflect an increase in numbers while there was none.

"Pugs mark census methodology was turned into an art by the officials. It was used to fabricate numbers. By the 90s, we all knew that the tiger population was declining, yet the reports would show that the numbers had actually increased," says Indias premier tiger scientist and conservation activist Raghu Chundawat

Even still, the director of Project Tiger, Rajesh Gopal contends that the number of tigers in the reserves is intact and actually it is the tigers in the wild that have disappeared.

Arriving at the Right Numbers

In the latest survey conducted by WII the institute used advanced technology like DNA sampling and camera trap techniques to arrive at the current figure. The WII estimates showed that tiger numbers had fallen in Madhya Pradesh by 61%, Maharashtra by 57% and Rajasthan by 40%. "Tiger count is a wrong terminology being used by everyone. We are not counting tigers; we are estimating the density of the tigers in a given area using scientific methodologies to arrive at the figure. Numbers by itself can be quite an erroneous game," says BC Choudhary, senior scientist, WII.

Camera trapping is one of the technologically advanced ways of estimating the population of tigers. In this, cameras are placed across the jungle and whenever a tiger crosses the beam, the camera captures an image. As every tiger has a unique stripe coat, there is no question of the numbers being duplicated.

"Fortunately, after 40 years of wasting public money and effort, the pugmark census total count methods have been abandoned. I have been saying for 22 years that it did not work but the bureaucratic lethargy carried it so far...at great cost to tigers and tax payers. Now even the government appears to be switching over to sampling-based methods I have used since early 1990s," says renowned Indian scientist K Ulhas Karanth, director, India Program, and technical director, Tigers Forever Wildlife Conservation Society

The Poaching Menace

Without an iota of doubt, the biggest threat to the tiger is from the two-legged animal that violates the park rules and comes armed with sophisticated guns. Poaching and illegal trafficking of tiger body parts is big business. Data available at the Project Tiger Directorate indicate that out of 173 deaths of tigers during 1999-2004, 83 were due to poaching. Selling tiger skin and body parts is a highly lucrative proposition in foreign and domestic markets. Apart from tiger skin, tiger nails, bones, tooth, fat, male genital parts etc fetch anything from $300 to $500 dollars per item. Tiger parts are high in demand in China, where they are used in traditional medicines. Other countries like Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore are also known to be destinations for tiger parts. Not only those, the sheikhs and the emirs in the Middle East are known to pay high price for tiger skin.

To ensure that poachers are punished swiftly, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) has created a central repository of all these crimes against the wildlife, a veritable of whos who of Indian poachers. "At WPSI, we work extensively with enforcement agencies such as the Forest Department and the police. We have found that one of our most effective tools is our wildlife crime database which has over 15,000 records of wildlife crime from in and around India," shares Onkuri Majumdar, senior project officer, WPSI.

"Analyzing the records in our database allows us to monitor trends in wildlife crime, which, in turn, allows us to advise enforcement officials. Secondly, we often find that poachers and traders linked to organized wildlife crime networks tend to stay in the business all their lives, and work in close knit cliques of relatives and family friends. Our database allows us to track these criminal networks as well," she adds.

Thus if the WPSI team finds that a recently arrested individual has been arrested/convicted before for a wildlife crime, they pass the information to the public prosecutor so that the criminals bail application can be opposed more strongly. This database is regularly updated at WPSI and is a big asset in the fight against poaching.

On the Tigers Trail

One of the best-known methods to trail a tiger or a lion is through radio telemetry. In this a tiger is tranquilized and a collar containing a radio antenna is put on the tiger. A researcher armed with a receiver can easily track a tiger with the aid of radio telemetry.

"Radio telemetry is a very good example of how technology can help. Tiger as a species is difficult to see. By nature tigers are very elusive and quite hard to spot in the tall elephant grass. Also it is a fact that they travel quite long distances. A male tiger often lords over an area of around 250 sq km. Thus, without radio telemetry it would be hard for a researcher to track him down," says Chundawat. In the past Chundawat has had immense success in discerning tigers behavioral patterns using radio telemetry and satellite collars.

"The biggest issue in use of technology, say radio telemetry or chemical immobilization, is the problem of getting research permissions. The officials managing wildlife are usually rather ignorant of science and technology and the utility of sound research. As a result, despite tremendous support to technology in other fields like medicine, ICT, agriculture etc the field of conservation is held back by archaic mindsets. Sadly our science policy leaders are ignoring this problem," says Karanth on a sad note.

Mapping the Forest

Another ambitious project launched by the government was digital mapping of all the wildlife sanctuary and tiger reserves in India. It is important as an understanding of spatial factors, such as connectivity between forest patches, can help managers plan where and how to assign resources and efforts in general. Geographical Information Systems (GIS), in general, are an essential tool to both wildlife managers and researchers alike.

"With the development of technology, the use of Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS) is also coming into vogue. It has been used to track the movement of Siberian Cranes and sea turtles. Some tigers radio collared recently have a small GPS attachment which puts itself on at a certain time of the day as programmed and then searches for satellites for fixing the location of the animal. The unit switches off by itself. It also transmits data to handheld devices which can be transferred onto a GIS," says Banerjee.

"Project tiger makes much hype about use of technology, but the performance on ground has been rather poor. They claimed of providing Web-based access to their survey data three years ago. I see no sign of it at all even today. A lot of hype really," says Karanth

George Schaller, a globally renowned field biologist, and known as the greatest naturalist of the 20th century, sums up the issue beautifully. "Field biologists, such as Karanth and Chundawat, can use technology in the form of satellite radio-collars, camera-traps, DNA analysis of scats and other techniques to determine population size, movement patterns, and other aspects. That provides extremely valuable information. Such knowledge is essential for conservationbut it is not conservation. Conservation, in the final analysis, is culture, economicsand politics," he mentions.

How, according to you, can technology be used for the conservation of tigers and lions in India?

The use of technology in the conservation efforts has been steadily increasing over the years. Recently, the biggest breakthrough in technological advancement was the refined tiger estimation process using camera-trap and DNA mapping technology. Field rangers have been provided with high-end cameras and communication equipment to coordinate work in the Project Tiger sanctuaries. We are also in the process of inter-linking all the tiger reserves in India on the Arc IMS Platform.

We also constantly update the website: http://projecttiger.nic.in, to provide an interactive medium for exchange of information. We are using GPS and GIS solutions to track and protect tigers in the reserves. We are also compiling a database of poaching and other illegal activities, so that it can help in legal cases. Finally, IT is being employed for eco-tourism, providing a nice and trouble-free experience to tourists.

How have foreign countries used technology in their battle with poachers, and how does India compare to others in terms of techno-savvines?

India is as good as any other nation, if not better, in terms of employing the latest technological solutions. As these majestic animals tend to live in seclusion and lord over vast tracts of land. The topography and the jungle habitat is not conducive for manned observations. Even then, we have been protecting the tiger quite well.

But the census says the numbers are dipping...

I beg to differ. According to recent results the number of tigers in the reserves are not declining. It is the tiger population outside the reserve or what we call the wild, that is declining

What is the biggest challenge that you face in protecting the tigers?

Number one is definitely, poaching. We are trying all that is possible to end the illegal trade of tiger parts and we are involving the local community in the process. Until the tribal people living in and around the reserves are involved in the conservation efforts, poaching as a menace will persist. We intend to end this. We are also working very closely with local authorities, NGOs, and wildlife experts.

There are often the reports that adequate funds are unavailable for conservation purposes, do you agree with the contention?

Certainly not. I do not think that funding is an issue and the government has been doing everything it can to protect the national emblem.

Silver Lining, or None?

The complete report by WII will be out by December 2007. In such a gloomy scenario, one wonders if there is really any hope left for the lord of the jungle. "Technology can enable informed decision in a timely fashion and, more importantly, make the whole process transparent, making people accountable for their decisions and actions. This is what has been missing in Project Tiger," says Chundawat.

Thapar sounds skeptical. "The real fact of life is that tiger protection is not a priority for the government. So all it does is provide lip service. In many ways, it was only under the Gandhi familys direct rule that the tiger was safe. After Rajiv Gandhis death, the numbers have been fast declining. Even the current government does not seem keen. There was the talk of setting up a state-of-the-art Wildlife Crime Bureau, but it exists only on paper," says Thapar, ending with a note of caution, "There will not be any recovery. Damage done is damage permanent."

But Gopal feels that the danger to the tiger, while being real, is greatly exaggerated.



"I do not agree with those alarmist reports that talk of near extinction of the species. According to the recent results the number of tigers in the reserves are not declining. It is the tiger population outside the reserve or what we call in the wild is declining. All these stories do not reflect the ground realities," he says.

As Schaller says with characteristic brevity and clarity, "India has to decide whether it wants to keep the tiger or not. It has to decide if it is worthwhile to keep its national symbol, its icon, representing wildlife. It has to decide if it wants to keep its natural heritage for future generations, a heritage more important than the cultural one, whether we speak of its temples, the Taj Mahal, or others, because once destroyed it cannot be replaced. If the answer is yes, then plans can be made and implemented."

Indeed India needs to take a callwhether we want a tiger or we dontit is no use spending millions if you are not sure and not strong enough to take hard decisions. The government needs to come clean on what it wants to do with the remaining tigers. People need to get involved in the issue in a big way. Only then will the lord of the jungle be saved, lest the tiger becomes a part of the Indian folkore and imagination only.

The stories of the tigers extinction have been so numerous, that Indian population seemed to have become numb to the scary fact. There is often a karmic stoicism with which these stories are taken. The stoicism is nothing but a concoction of ignorance and sloppiness. It is this that is killing the tiger more than anything else. The only way the majestic tiger can be saved is through us. It would be imprudent to let the government alone take the onus of ensuring tigers survival, when they are often struggling for their own. Tiger can only be saved through vigorous participation and not stoicism. The future would certainly not condone this folly. The large hearted gentleman needs you, and needs you now.

Shashwat DC