Talking Point
TreeTake Network
Madhya Pradesh, which earned the sobriquet of 'tiger state of India' on account of the high concentration of big cats, has reported a sudden surge in feline deaths recently, causing alarm and a widespread clamour for detailed investigation. Some green warriors have even demanded a CBI probe. Earlier, as the tiger deaths mounted, the forest department which investigated the issue pointed out negligence and procedural lapses in handling tiger cases in its report. Consequently, a special committee was formed to investigate 43 tiger deaths in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (34 deaths) and Shahdol Forest Circle (9 deaths) from 2021 to 2023. The committee comprised Indian Forest Service officer Ritesh Sonfia, chairman, principal officer of State Tiger Strike Force; Dr Kajal Jaiswal, assistant professor, School of Wildlife Forensics and Health, Jabalpur, and Archana Joshi, advocate and wildlife officer, Katni.
The committee submitted its report to the acting Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) on May 14 and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest & Head of the Forest Force (PCCF-HoFF) on July 15. As per the report, in many tiger death cases due to electrocution, mobile forensics, CDR, electric trip data, etc. were not there and no efforts were made to extract information on revenue and private land ownership. The report also highlighted improper probes into possible poaching cases, lapses during postmortem examination, and medical negligence leading to deaths. The committee report said in at least 10 cases, the probe was not adequate Higher authorities and forest range officers were disinterested in discharging their duties, and arrests were made in only two out of five cases where unnatural death was found, or body parts of the animal were seized.
The committee's report made the shocking disclosure that in 17 cases, there was no detailed investigation, and the deaths were shown as caused by infighting. The findings of the committee cited lapses in investigation, postmortem issues, and other gaps as reasons for tiger deaths. For instance, it said that in cases where the deaths were attributed to infighting or fights with another animal, no efforts were made to identify the other animal. Similarly, there was nylon wire embedded in the metatarsal of a female tigress which died during treatment. The wire was not detected during treatment.
Small wonder wildlife activists saw red. Some of them said the report had exposed many irregularities and lapses and planned to approach court because the state authorities said poaching was under control. After the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) sought a response from the Madhya Pradesh Wildlife Department regarding the concerns highlighted in the committee report the forest top brass acknowledged the lapses and even admitted that some officials were negligent and disinterested in big cat conservation but attributed most lapses to staff shortage. They also cited part of the committee report that said no organised gangs were working in these forests.
The Indian government has poured in a substantial amount, in fact, thousands of crores, to save tigers. In this context, each tiger is priceless. Project Tiger has been a resounding success and has managed to increase the number of big cats significantly. With India being home to around two-thirds of the world’s tigers, this is an impressive score. However, fatalities like those reported in Madhya Pradesh threaten to skew the success story.
Tigers are susceptible to habitat loss, genetic isolation, disease, territorial fights, rail accidents, and poacher gangs. All this, coupled with official negligence, hastens their death. It is high time each tiger death is investigated thoroughly, and each official held accountable, protection intensified, and conflicts mitigated if we want the already endangered species to thrive.
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