Vanishing Stripes: Save the Bengal Tiger

Hello Supporter,

Wildlife crime has been a persistent threat to the mighty Bengal tiger. They are poached indiscriminately for their skin and other body parts. This month, we narrate to you our experience of dealing with snares- a tool to trap and kill animals.

A ductile metal is always considered to be a property of added advantage until wires were used as snares to choke our magnificent tigers and other wildlife, with a slow and painful death. In the last decade, as per records India has witnessed twenty-four tigers and hundred and ten leopards getting entangled in wire snares. States like Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have been high on the snare radar. Snares are low investment traps made of easily available material such as clutch wires, fencing wire and others.  Being light weight and easy to carry around, make them the most effective way of trapping an animal without its notice.

Recently this June in Tipeshwar Wildlife sanctuary, a tiger was sighted limping with a nylon rope entangled in its paw. This raised some serious concerns across all tiger reserves in India. Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) has been consistently conducting anti-snare walks with the forest department and local organisations in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and other states. Alarmingly, within a span of two months’ field teams have been able seize/destroy over 400 snares from a single landscape, which shows the rampant use of snares by hunters and the sad plight of our wildlife in their habitat.

Team WTI has been training the forest department’s frontline staff and involving local communities in the anti-snare workshops to help conduct regular anti-snare walks across landscapes. We are also working with selected people from the local hunting community who help share their traditional hunting insights with the forest department and thereby assist in identifying potential trapping sites and snaring techniques.

Many such anti-snare walks and workshops are being planned in wildlife habitats. We are eternally grateful for the support that our GlobalGiving family has lent us.  It is because of your faith in us that we can dream of securing the natural heritage of the country. As we continue resolving the threats looming over the tiger population, your support would be most sought after.

Best,

Team WTI