Bigcats News

[Sanju]

Gujarat transport drivers, conductors spotted tiger over last two months

While a school teacher may have been the only one to provide photographic evidence of the existence of a tiger in the Sant Matro jungles of taluka, the drivers and conductors of state transport (ST) buses that ply on the Godhra-Panam Dam route had spotted the tiger over the last couple of months.

Gujarat State Road (GSRTC) buses ply at regular intervals on the route. The route passes through the area where the tiger has been moving around. One of the drivers spotted the tiger in the last week of January while others have spotted it earlier.

Maksud Tekravala, a driver, said, “I saw the tiger standing on the road in the light of my bus in the night. This was either on January 28 or January 30 when I was on duty on the route.

People had been telling us about its presence, but it was for the first time that I saw it.”


Udesinh Baria, a conductor who plies on the same route, said he had seen the tiger about two months back near Gadh village. “It stood on the side of the road for a few minutes and then walked into the trees. The passengers in the bus also saw it. There are other drivers and conductors too who have seen the tiger,” said Baria.

Another bus driver Rafiq Peerzada said that he too saw the tiger near Gadh in the morning about a month back. “The tiger was crossing the road. A man who was riding a motorcycle had also seen the tiger and had stopped on the road,” he said.
The bus crew members hold that the animal was distinctly different from a leopard and was a definitely a tiger. It seems to have sneaked into the jungles from the road on seeing the buses coming close.

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And Again... after Kanha, now in Mowgli forest. @Rage2277 @Rishi @Pckts

Cannibal tiger kills & eats another in Madhya Pradesh's Pench national park

*This image is copyright of its original author

Carcass of an adult tiger found from Pench National Park


Cannibalism among tigers claimed another big cat in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. A day after two sub-adult tigers were killed and eaten by a cannibal tiger, carcass of an adult tiger was found from Pench National Park. The fresh case was reported from Pench National park in Seoni on Thursday where the forest patrolling squad found carcass of an adult tiger in the Khamarpani buffer zone.

"This tiger too was killed by another tiger. There were hairs and blood of another tiger in its claws indicating that a fierce battle took place at the spot leaving one dead," said Vikram Singh Parihar, field director of Pench National Park.

"Half of the tiger was eaten by the one which killed it. We don't find it uncommon. Similar incidents were reported in Kahna in the 1980s," Parihar added. However, it is not yet clear whether it's the same tiger that has killed and eaten three tigers in Kanha. Officials say Kanha and Pench are connected and have a well-protected corridor.

Tiger killing and eating only tiger is something strange

Madhya Pradesh wildlife department is likely to initiate a study on cannibalism among tigers in protected areas. Officials say tigers killing tigers is natural, but a tiger killing and eating only tiger is something strange - that too when the forest has no shortage of prey.

Two sub-adult tigers were found ripped to shreds in Kanha National Park on Tuesday. According to an official press release, a patrolling squad had spotted the carcasses at Kanhari area around 9.20am. An adult tiger was found sitting on the two kills.

Quote:In all, MP has lost six of its tigers in last few days which includes one in Gujarat and three in Kanha.

Important to address human-tiger conflict
After the tiger was found in Gujarat, officials of the Madhya Pradesh government had written to Gujarat to take care of the animal and keep a tab on its movements.
Though the exact reason for the tiger’s death is yet to be ascertained environmentalists are sus.pecting it to be a case of poisoning of the animal.

Quote:“Both states, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, are responsible for the death of tiger in Lunavada, Gujarat because they failed to provide protection to the tiger that was moving near villages. There is no prey base in Lunavada (Mahisagar),” Ajay Dubey, a wildlife activist who works with a non-governmental organisation ‘Prayatna’, told Mongabay-India.

“Despite the serious problem of conflict, the lack of coordination between states is the root cause of death,” he added.

*This image is copyright of its original author

A tiger was found in Gujarat after 30 years. Photo provided by Gujarat’s forest department.

In the past two decades, the issue of human-wildlife conflict has gained the attention of policymakers and conservationists. There has been a significant number of deaths of animals like tigers and elephants as well as humans in such conflicts.

According to the data of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which is India’s nodal body for work related to welfare and protection of tigers, in 2018, India recorded 100 tiger deaths. It was for the third straight year that the number of tiger deaths in India touched the 100-figure mark. The reasons for their deaths ranged from natural deaths, electrocution, poisoning to poaching and in-fighting.

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Quote:Read more: Tiger deaths hit the 100-mark again, but number down from previous year

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According to information provided by Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), while replying to a query in parliament, at least 137 people have been killed in a human-tiger conflict between 2015-2018 (till December 31, 2018).

To protect tigers, India had started focused efforts in the 1970s when project tiger was launched. In the past 15 years, India has seen a rise in their numbers from 1,411 in 2006 to 2,226 tigers as per the 2014 estimation. India’s tiger population is about 60 percent of the global tiger population of 3,890 tigers.

The latest assessment is expected to be released in the next few months and the population is expected to register an increase but problems like human-wildlife conflict, habitat fragmentation and poaching continue to pose danger to their survival. Right now, India has 50 tiger reserves in 18 states accounting for nearly 2.21 percent of country’s total geographical area.

What does not help the case is that a significant population of Indian tigers live outside the tiger reserve which threatens their security. The latest incident of MP’s tiger found dead in Gujarat once again highlights the dangers that tigers face outside the tiger reserves including human-wildlife conflict.

Meanwhile, the authorities claimed that everything is being done as per the protocols. “The NTCA is involved in investigating the exact reason of death of the tiger in Gujarat. We have proper protocols to follow in such cases. We are doing our best to minimise the cases of human-tiger conflicts,” said NTCA sources. Reply