Tyger Tyger no more burning bright!!

The wild cat is in serious trouble around Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) the most glorious tiger reserve of the state. Something unseemly appears to the be haunting the Chandrapur forest over past five months. The man-tiger conflict in the area that has gained alarming proportions over last three years, has suddenly come to an end. And this is the biggest worry of environmentalists.
“The sudden end to the conflict should be taken as seriously since it is an indication that the tigers in the conflict area are in serious trouble,” said Kishor Rithe, president of Satpuda Foundation, an NGO working for forest conservation in central India. The man-tiger conflict in Chandrapur district had become serious with 11 human deaths in 2006, 13 in 2007 and more than 26 in 2008. Surprisingly only one incident of human death – on January 21 - has been reported this year. There could be three reasons for this, either the tigers have decided to stay away from humans, or tigers and humans in the conflict area have arrived at a consensus not to invade in each other's domain or all the tigers in conflict area have been wiped out. “First two possibilities are out of question and there are more chances of all the tigers in the area are wiped out,” he said, adding, “Tigers have no future outside TATR in Chandrapur district.
Even the forest department officials are accepting the fact. A senior forest official, talking to DNA agreed that the tigers in the area must have been poached. “We have information that the organised poaching syndicate from Katni in Madhya Pradesh is active around Bhandara and Gondia. According to the official, there are around 40 tigers outside TATR and available information indicates that eight tigers have been poached leading to either death of three cubs and removal of two cubs from the forest, out of them one later died at Maharajbaugh Zoo in Nagpur.
According to a senior forest department official, there was an urgent need of undertaking 'know your tiger' exercise to create a data base. “Since poachers are far more advanced that forest department, we should at least have detail information about the tigers in the region. The poachers must have killed around 20 tigers in the region in last five months,” the official said.
Two cubs were rescued from village Mendki on November 1, 2008. The mother of the cubs is still missing. Similarly, three cubs were rescued from Junona near Chandrapur on January 23 this year and their mother is also missing till date. A full grown pair of tigers went missing from Adhyalmendha in Chandrapur district on March 28 and their three cubs were found dead. One sub adult tiger was found dead near village Chiroli in Chandrapur on May 6. Though the forest department officials claim it was hit by some speeding vehicle, the post-mortem report indicates that the animal died because to injuries due to 'some sharp objective'. One tiger was poached in Bhandara division in January this year while forest officials recovered tiger claws in Bhadravati division in March this year. While the latest incident of tiger death was reported from Ughdagota water-hole just outside TATR.
“One of the cubs rescued near Mandki died at Maharajbaugh Zoo. Since the department has failed to trace missing tigers, they must have been poached,” the official said, adding, “The department is aware of the loss of 17 tigers to poaching and removal from the forests. But there is no doubt that 10 other cases of tiger poaching have gone unnoticed.”