Vanishing Stripes: Save the Bengal Tiger

Dear Friend,

Hope you are doing well.

With this email, we are sharing with you the updates for the project “Vanishing stripes – Save the Bengal tiger”. Thank you so much for your generous contribution to this project and for believing in our work. We are so glad to have you as a part of our team.

You may have heard about the sad demise of ‘Munna’, the iconic tiger from Kanha Tiger Reserve, in Madhya Pradesh.  The 19-year-old tiger was suffering from age-related problems. Munna was Madhya Pradesh’s most photographed big cat due to the characteristic stripes on his forehead which resembled the word “CAT”. 

Once a dominant male tiger across ‘Kanha’ and ‘Kisli’ ranges, Munna was now pushed off his territory in the core area of the Tiger Reserve, by other younger tigers, after which he settled in the buffer zone. Due to old age, Munna was unable to prey on the wild animals, and was feeding on the domestic cattle since 2018. But after he started attacking humans, he was shifted by the Forest Department to Van Vihar National park and Zoo in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on 19^th October, 2019. Since then, he was being taken care of by the Forest Department and a team of wildlife experts.    

Given Munna’s popularity, WTI in the past gave support for printing and distribution of an illustrated book for young children curated by the Madhya Pradesh Tiger Foundation Society (MPTF). The 32-page booklet was titled “Baghon ki kahani, Munna ki Zubani” (The story of tigers as narrated by Munna).  

The management measures undertaken by the Forest Department in caring for Munna and other individuals from the species, and their dedication towards protecting India’s National animal is commendable. WTI is extremely happy to be supporting the Forest Departments across the country and providing the technical expertise and necessary equipment and field gear as needed. In the reporting period, we have supported the departments from 7 Protected Areas (PAs) in central India. We provided COVID support and field gear to the frontline forest staff working in these PAs and also helped in conflict management in this critical tiger habitat. The 7 PAs where we provided support in the reporting period include – Sanjay dubri Tiger Reserve; Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary; Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary; Guru ghasidas National Park; Pench Tiger Reserve; Narsinghgarh Wildlife Sanctuary; and Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. These Protected Areas together form a viable tiger habitat for the tigers residing in the central India landscape.

That’s all for today’s updates. We will soon get back to you and keep you posted on our work under the project. Till then, take care.

Warm regards,

Team WTI.

Dear Patron,

Hope you have been keeping well.

With this email, we are sharing with you the updates for our project titled “Vanishing stripes: save the Bengal tiger”. Thank you so much for believing in our work and also for your generous donation to the project.

The tiger population in India continues to face serious threat because of rampant poaching, rapid habitat loss, increasing human-big cat conflict, and illegal trade among other causes. It is important to be on a constant vigilance to address each of these issues and dissuade attempts to kill this iconic species.

One of the major causes of tiger deaths in the country is poaching. A common modus operandi adopted by the local hunters is to use snares that are designed to trap big cats, such as tigers resulting in a very painful death. The snares can be made of metallic wires, nylon cords, shoe-laces or even different species of climbing plants and vines called lianas. The foot and neck snares can trap a wide range of wild animals such as rabbits, bear, pangolins, deer, tigers etc.

Wildlife Trust of India has been conducting anti-snare walks in and around the Tiger Reserves and other protected areas across the country in collaboration with the forest department and local communities. Trainings on these anti-snare walks for the frontline forest staff are also imparted regularly by our teams.

Over the years and through continuous interventions, the number of snares found in the Protected Areas have considerably reduced. Our teams are on a constant vigilance to prevent and discourage the setting up of the snares and regularly monitor the protected areas and also the surrounding agricultural fields where local farmers are also using snares.

In the reporting period, anti-snare walks were conducted in 5 Tiger Reserves and 155 snares were removed. 25 snares were found and removed from Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka; 26 snares from Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka; 58 snares from BRT Tiger Reserve in Karnataka; 11 snares from Pilibhit Tiger reserve in Uttar Pradesh; and 35 snares in Sohagi Barwa Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh.

These interventions are made possible because of your generous support, for which we are very grateful. We will soon get back to you with similar updates.

Till then, stay healthy and take care.

Warm Regards,

Team WTI