Better habitat management will also enable better genetic dispersal of tigers, which are territorial animals.
The killing of the man-eating tigress of Yavatmal and the subsequent controversy has brought into focus the lack of man-animal conflict management in habitats outside protected areas such as wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. Wildlife experts have stressed on the need for breeding habitats to be declared as tiger reserves for better management, conservation and protection.
Jaydeep Das, honorary wildlife warden, Nagpur, noted that some wildlife sanctuaries like Tipeshwar and Umred Karhandla and Kanhalgaon have not been declared as tiger reserves even though they breed tigers.
"These areas with a viable breeding population must be declared as tiger projects," he added, stressing that tigers and humans could coexist in such landscapes with little conflict with the development of a buffer zone, landscape management, livelihood development, protection and an increase in prey-base due to habitat development. Tiger reserves have good wildlife management practices, he observed.
Better habitat management will also enable better genetic dispersal of tigers, which are territorial animals.
Bilal Habib, Scientist, Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, noted that declaring Tipeshwar and Umred Karhandla wildlife sanctuary (UKWLS) as tiger projects could lead to additional funds being given for conservation. "Now, the management is not focussed around tigers. This will be done. Locals will also be involved in their livelihood," he added, stating that these schemes could be implemented under the Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan-Van yojana.
Ramzan Veerani, zoologist and honorary wildlife warden of Yavatmal, said sustainable conflict management and landscape management measures should be put in place before non-protected areas are upgraded to protected areas or declaring protected areas as tiger projects. This included doing away with misconceptions among locals about tigers being aggressive and involving them to monitor their movement.
However, forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the proposals for the two tiger projects did not meet the criteria in terms of the size of the area needed.
In 2015-16, the forest department had proposed converting the 148.63 sqkm Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary to a tiger project by clubbing it with the Painganga sanctuary (400.28 sq km). The female tigress, who was shot on Friday night, had migrated to the landscape located around Ralegaon from Tipeshwar. Tipeshwar, which is linked to the Kawal tiger reserve in Telangana, are estimated to have one male tiger, three females tigers and six cubs.
Similarly, upgrading the 189 sq km UKWLS, which has around one male and three females and five cubs, to a tiger reserve, is also a long-pending demand. In 2016, Maharashtra's iconic tiger Jai, who was the dominant male in the sanctuary located near Nagpur, went missing and in 2017, his offspring Srinivas was found poached via electrocution in Chandrapur.
A committee of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which was formed to assess the suitability of the UKWLS as a tiger reserve, had suggested that the entire UKWLS be designated as a core critical tiger habitat. The connecting forests between it and the Bor, Navegaon-Nagzira and Tadoba tiger reserves could be declared as the buffer.
"Every area cannot be declared as a protected area (PA). This will make locals take a position against wildlife and affect conservation. Designating a habitat as a wildlife sanctuary entails the creation of an eco-sensitive zone around it and the subsequent restrictions on development activities," said a former forest department official with extensive wildlife management experience.
He added that it was not possible to prevent dispersal of tigers outside the protected areas and said the forest department was already taking measures to reduce the dependence of people in the periphery on forests for firewood and sanitation by distributing LPG cylinders and building toilet blocks. This will reduce conflicts between them and animals.
GOVT'S TAKE
Forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the proposals for the two tiger projects -- Tipeshwar Umred Karhandla wildlife sanctuary (UKWLS) -- and did not meet the criteria in terms of the size of the area needed
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