Now divine intervention to save wild life of Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) from a very imminent poaching !
Fathers of churches have been exhorted to ask people coming for Christmas gathering and other prayers not to poach or hunt any wildlife either this festive X-Mas or on the eve of New Year or on the first day of the New Year.
Member of State Wildlife Board D S Srivastava told The Pioneer “I have personally requested Fr Joseph to help save wild life this festive time. I have requested him to persuade people in churches to lend a helping hand in saving wildlife’.
Srivastava said this holy man has assured to take up this cause with the people who will throng the churches for the coming festival. He named another Fr Sanjay who too has promised to sermon people not to harm any wild life. To buttress his point that wild life gets poached every year end Srivastava reminded that the population of bison is a total wipe out in Bareysarn in PTR which about ten years back had a good number of them.
“I do not deny some of the bisons may have become the prey of the tiger here but majority of them were killed for meat by human beings,” he reiterated.
Poaching of wild life reduces the prey base for carnivore like tiger and leopard here and a reduced prey base tells upon the health and status of wild life, he asserted.
This member of State Wildlife Board went on to say “One hears of tiger roaming in Mandar area in Ranchi district. One other tiger is sighted in lohardagga it is claimed. These big cats are the ones who have moved out from their territory for want of prey.”
A reduced prey base in Tiger Reserve Palamu exposes tiger and leopard to rely on villagers’ cattle and this is too risky. Reduced prey base forces big cats to travel down to far off places, said sources.
Srivastava explained it this way “First the farmer whose cow or ox or calf is killed by tiger or leopard will bring all the hell on earth for compensation. Again the farmer’s cattle may be an infected one and thus the eater the tiger or the leopard or down the line wild life hyena or the jackal or the wild dog or the vulture gets exposed to infections posing serious threat to its health. Srivastava agreed that straying of tiger or leopard is the first fall out of reduction in prey base for prey tigers are known to take longer walks upto 40 kilometers.