A young Royal Bengal Tiger was recently caught by the Nandankanan Zoo authorities when it came to the sanctuary from the wild. The big cat was traversing the Chandaka forests for about a month before being caught by the zoo authorities.
The Chandaka forest is not the home of this Royal Bengal Tiger. It migrated from nearby ecological systems under forced conditions as is evident from the situations. There are various reasons for such an animal migrating from its habitats to other places. The reasons may be scarcity of food, environmental pollutions, unusual interference of man, degradation of prevailing climate, biological needs like mating behaviour and temporary relief from the activities of the other tigers in the habitat.
This tiger must be from the Daspalla forest, which comes under the Satakosia Gorge sanctuary. The area of the sanctuary is 795.52 sqkm, which also comes under the physical jurisdiction of the Eastern Ghat. The Satakosia sanctuary is cut across by the river Mahanadi, the longest and biggest river of the Eastern Ghat of the region.
This sanctuary is much disturbed for too much interference of men and depletion of ecological system. This sanctuary is under the proposal of second tiger reserve of the State. The poaching of herbivores, theft of timbers, bamboos and felling of fruit bearing trees have been creating permanent nuisances in the Satkoshia Sanctuary. All kinds of pollutions like sound, light and vehicular activities are perpetual nuisances, apart from blasting explosives for mining of minerals within the close proximity of the sanctuary. Man-made wild fire for collection of forest produces like Mahua flower, Sal seeds, Kendu, mango and other fruits also create disturbances. These disturbances are found in Balukhand, Bhitarkanika, Badarams, Kuldhia, Similipal, Hadagada, Karlapat, Ushakothi, Khalasuni, Chandaka, Dampara, Kapilash, Chillika, Kothagad, Sunabeda, Dibrugarh etc too. Due to these continuous disturbances, big animals like tigers, elephants, bears and panthers etc stray to human habitations, causing man-animal conflicts.
The big cat which is trapped in Nandankanan Zoological Park is a male tiger and is quite a young one. It might be that the animal was not getting a young female to satisfy its sexual appetite within its habitat. Every young male tiger has its own territory which the female or old male can’t maintain.
Nandankanan is earning a dubious reputation of late due to the death of the captive Royal tigers. The natural habitats of the animal as far as practicable should be maintained. Supplying animal flesh to the Royal tiger will damage the preying habit of the wild cat. So the Nandankanan Zoo authority should be very careful in dealing with the Royal cat.
Now various sections of local people around Nandankanan are demanding to keep the Royal cat within the zoo for breeding operations. It is said that the wild cat is giving mating calls to the female tigress within the tiger safari park. It’s very much clear that the young male came to the safari park in search of a female partner. However, it is said that the captured Royal tiger is given the flesh of buffalo, where attempt is being made by the Nandankanan zoo authorities to domesticate the wild animal.
The writer quite remembers about 20 years back one female Gharial crocodile from the Satkoshia Gorge had strayed to a hatchery pond at Tikarpada to meet a male Gharial which was within the hatchery enclosure. In another incident, one female tiger came to the Nandankanan zoo a few decades back jumping over the fence of the tiger safari. Ultimately, she was captivated by the zoo authorities.
The whole purpose of a zoological park is to breed animals or birds which are getting scarce or are on the verge of extinction. After breeding takes place in the artificial conditions, the babies are released in to the wild. Hence, the wild tiger should not be held a captive in the zoo precincts. After breeding, it should be released into the wild.
Every rich eco-system should be protected from the ravages of mining and industrial activities. The distance between the mines and sanctuaries should be decided carefully so that flora and fauna are not affected by various kinds of pollutions including light and sound. The sound and light pollutions are more inimical than anything else, especially in case of the wild animals.
Now most places in the State are under the grip of scorching heat. It is happening due to rapid destruction of density of the eco-systems. The top canopy of the forest and the ground flora provide coolness to the atmosphere. But due to the drastic reduction of ground flora, the atmospheric temperature has been rising up. The increasing atmospheric heat also is forcing migration of wild animals from their habitats.
Female tigers are not easily available within the Satkoshia George Sanctuary and marshy forests of Baudh-Kandhmal. This is an indication of sharp depletion of tiger population.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist)