LUCKNOW | Friday, February 12, 2010 | Email | Print |  | Back
Only forty Tigers left in Dudhwa
Sharmila Krishna | Lucknow
Dudhwa Tiger Reserve was in a bad shape and something needed to be done for it, if the tiger population had to be maintained, said noted enviornmentalist and Padamashree Ranjit Bhargava who claimed that there were not more than 40 striped cats left in Dudhwa.
He was in the city on Thursday to participate in a programme organised by INTACH and spoke to “The Pioneer”.
Bhargava criticised the Forest department claiming that it was hardly doing anything for tiger conservation. “The Dudhwa Reserve is mismanaged and disorganised. The rail routes obstruct the reserve and it is often flooded by Suheli river. The Forest department has further created problems by planting species like the eucalyptus and the prey base of the big cat is disappearing at an alarming rate,” said Bhargava.
Putting the tiger count at not-more-than 40, the enviornmentalist claimed: “This figure comes only when we add Katarniyaghat and Kishnapur areas. Even if the cubs are added, the population comes to barely 50. The census carried out by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) itself puts the figures at 109,” said Bhargava.
Bhargawa was worried about the fact that the villages within the critical tiger habitat area were not being shifted. He emphasised that things could only be improoved if a separate Wildlife cadre was created in UP.
“For saving wildlife, you have to love them, Unfortunately, those posted here have no love for animals and hence it is necessary to create such a cadre. Officials and at least two farmer leaders from peripherial villages should be sent to Kenya for training on wildlife as understanding the psychology of animals was very crucial,” suggested Bhargava.
The enviornmentalist, who while heading the WWF in 1996, had formed the Tiger Protection Committee, said that the committee was highjacked by Forest department.
On the current performance of Tiger Conservation and Sarus Conservation Societies, he said that the outfits were hardly doing any work. “There is only one way in which they can be made to work which was if the Chief Minister herself headed them. What Uttar Pardesh needs today is poltical will in saving the tigers” he added.
He, however, sounded positive about forest conditions in UP.
Commenting on frequency of tigers straying out of forests, the expert said: “There is too much human interference and loss of animal habitat. Various political persons also interfere in forests to increase their vote banks and all this needs to be controlled.”
The Padma awardee signed off with a message for the residents of UP – ‘It is necessary to work for the enviornment and the tiger.’
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