After a spurt in poaching and reports of escalating incidents of man-animal conflicts from the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) in Uttarakhand, there is finally hope for big cats in the State.
The forest department has decided to add two forest ranges under lansdowne forest division to CTR’s buffer zone. This will also link up Corbett with Rajaji National Park which is on its way to become the second tiger reserve in the State.
According to a reply filed under RTI, about 28 tiger deaths have taken place in the Corbett Tiger Reserve during the past 3 years. Of these more than 50 per cent of these deaths have been due to unnatural causes including poaching, poisoning, beaten to death etc, due to straying of big cats in human landscapes.
However, in a welcome move, the Uttarakhand forest department has decided to add on the Kotri and Duggada ranges under lansdowne forest division to CTR’s buffer zone. “Corbett has one of the highest tiger densities (of about 18 tigers per 100 sq kms) in the world. This new addition will certainly ease pressures from the saturated Corbett Reserve”, said Chief Wildlife Warden, SS Sharma.
Further, landsdowne Forest Division serves as an active corridor that is heavily used by tigers and elephants. But since it was not a part of the Protected Area network, it was very vulnerable to various pressures--including poaching. However, its addition to CTR buffer will certainly ensure stepped up protection mechanism ,he added.
Pointing to the vulnerability of these areas , the sources reminded out that no so long ago notorious poacher Bheema, was arrested in August 2012. He had confessed to skinning two tigers in Kotri range, lansdowne Forest Division.
“The proposal to include the two new ranges will give a new lease of life to a vital corridor connectivity and the exercise if carried out can be the first of its kind in the country”, pointed out Bijendra Singh, Member, National Tiger Conservation Authority and Honorary Wildlife warden CTR since the past thirty years. Otherwise, these forests would have been reduced to fragmented islands, leading to more incidents of straying of wild life and man animal conflicts, he added.
Adding to the above, the proposal to make Rajaji into a tiger reserve is also in full swing. According to well-placed sources, Member Secretary, NTCA, Dr. Rajesh Gopal has made site inspections prior to the final nod.
According to Dr Bibhash Pandav, Wildlife Scientist from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), monitoring has revealed the presence of at least a dozen tigers in Chilla and Ghauri ranges, of Eastern Rajaji. This recovery has been made possible due to strong connectivity of Eastern Rajaji with Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) through the lansdowne Forest Division (FD). Now, the ongoing efforts will certainly give a further boost, he added.