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NTCA for fortifying corridors; WII open to discuss all plans

Nagpur: The idea of translocating 50 tigers or resorting to neutering as another step to keep growing numbers under control doesn’t seem to have augured well with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Talking to TOI, Anup Kumar Nayak, member-secretary of NTCA, said, “Maharashtra government and forest department should focus on strengthening corridors.

No doubt, the tiger numbers are increasing but we need to think beyond tranquillizing and capturing them.”

Even as the proposal of the state forest department to translocate 50 tigers from Chandrapur and neuter some 20 tigers has stirred up a debate, more reactions have been pouring in with the TOI on Thursday.

Nayak said, “In January 2020, PCCF (wildlife) Nitin Kakodkar had made a brief presentation on the issue before the governing council in Delhi, but it was neither discussed nor approved. We need to mitigate conflict by continuously interacting with people.”

Eastern Vidarbha Landscape (EVL) is an important tiger conservation unit of Central India. The landscape well establishes with adjoining states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

“Instead of capturing tigers, there is need to protect and conserve some remaining functional corridors in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) landscape like Khadsangi-Umred-Karhandla-Navegaon-Nagzira & Ghodazari-Nagbhid-Paoni-Nagzira towards north; Bramhapuri-Wadsa-Gadchiroli & Kanhargaon-Allapalli-Pranhita-Indravati towards east and Junona-Kanhargaon-Kawal towards south,” Nayak felt.

After a series of TOI reports on the issue, there were natural reactions that the ideas might have been suggested by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) working with Maharashtra forest department on long-term tiger monitoring projects.

However, WII scientist Bilal Habib said, “The idea has not been counselled, but at the same time human-animal conflict is a challenging issue which needs to be managed. The proposal by the state government needs to be discussed and evaluated and only after that line of action has to be decided,” he said. The forest department should be appreciated for their open mind for bold discussion in this direction.

Habib reiterated, “Lifting tigers from one place to another is not a solution. We need to formulate area-specific strategies by categorizing them like PAs, buffer-sink and areas apart from these both, where conflict probability can be very high.”

“Take for example CSTPS (Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station), where tigers are breeding due to prosopis. Western Coalfields Limited and the CSTPS need to remove these shrubs. Shifting tigers from here is a temporary solution. We need to think on the proposal and activism won’t help conservation,” Habib said.

Nitin Desai, Central India director of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), feels, “Whether it is shifting 50 tigers or neutering some individuals to bring down population growth, both ideas should not be dismissed summarily.”

Desai said the ideas should be worked upon so that a plan is made that is scientific and legally compliant. The solution should also encompass measures so that dispersal of tigers from Tadoba in future is not affected. There is no doubt situation in Chandrapur is volatile as far as man-animal conflict is concerned and a solution is long overdue.

“Difficult times call for drastic measures. Already, public sentiment in the area is hostile to tigers and it would get worse with every attack in future. This is a unique problem in Chandrapur district and it would be unwise to apply general rules here,” said Desai.

“It is good that wildlife managers have started thinking in this direction. People opposing such ideas are probably unaware of the sufferings of scores of family members of the attack victims,” Desai stressed.

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