Vanishing Stripes: Save the Bengal Tiger

India’s national animal, Royal Bengal Tiger survives today braving all threats alarming their existence. Global wild tiger populations have suffered a severe decline over the years making them one of the most endangered big cats in the world. We, today stand at a critical crossroad fighting between the need for development and to also save this apex predator from extinction resulting due to habitat loss and poaching.

The Central India Landscape is well known for its network of Tiger reserves interspersed with forest patches and corridors. With a good number of National parks (9), Tiger Reserves (6) and Wildlife Sanctuaries (25) Madhya Pradesh (MP), Central India’s “Tiger state” was unfortunately recorded with the highest tiger deaths in 2017. Since 2013, 15 Tigers died because of Electrocution in MP.

Electrocution has raised concerns in the wildlife community. Often villagers from forest fringes lay down high voltage wires to deter wild boars and deer from their farmlands and sometimes also hunt them. Dozens of elephants, tigers, sloth bears, birds etc fall prey to such poorly maintained power lines around human settlements. While there are strict guidelines to keep animals safe and from straying out of their shrinking habitats, they are not strictly implemented in our country.

The grave danger wildlife in our country is constantly exposed to, there is always a need for strong enforcement initiatives and litigation to mitigate recurring tiger deaths in the country. Both wildlife and forest-related offenses are fundamentally distinct from other crimes and require a specialized skill set to put away convicts. The lack of training in filing cases and adequate documentation of legal procedures contribute to the alarmingly low conviction rate in wildlife crime cases. So to address this issue at the very root Wildlife Trust of India through its litigation project under Wildlife Crime Control division has been providing routine counseling and training to state forest departments to address wildlife offenses across several Protected Areas since 2013. As part of this programme, WTI’s regional legal consultant Mr. Yash Kumar Soni provided legal assistance to a tiger death case in Kanha Tiger Reserve reported in the jurisdiction of Mohgaon, a village located in the vicinity of the Protected Area.

Information was received from some villagers about a death of the tiger in their village. On further investigation, the body of a tiger was found buried in a remote area near the local village with its paws cut off. The forest department after post-mortem and inspection, it came to fore that the tiger was accidentally killed due to electrocution and the culprits buried the same fearing legal consequences. To add further, the miscreants had cut the paws off and portions of the Tiger’s skin to sell in the black market. With the aid of the local community, the forest department took into custody four convicts and the case is currently under judicial consideration in the District Court. WTI’s legal consultant assisted the forest department in legal documentation of this case.

WTI’s Wildlife Crime Control Division has been actively working to prevent deaths through electrocution in Karnataka, South India. These efforts have resulted in Chief Wildlife Warden of the State making inclusion of Anti-electrocution walks mandatory in Forest staff’s routine patrolling.

To help tackle the increase in accidental electrocution deaths WTI is currently developing an anti-electrocution kit which will help detect live wires and take appropriate measures before any casualty. Talks are underway with forest departments to equip and train their frontline staff to also conduct anti-electrocution walks and map power lines in and around Protected Areas. Each kit will possess a live-wire detector, pliers to cut wires and precautionary wear for the frontline staff. The cost of each kit is around 300 USD and every department will be provided 4-5 kits for selected individuals from the forest department. The selected staff will also be provided with training. Total cost for training and equipment comes to approximately 1700 USD.

We would like to request our donors to support this cause and help us raise funds to help address this rising issue of electrocution deaths, both accidental and deliberate cases and protect tigers and other wildlife in our country.