Pratapgarh Part I
In the first week of December we left for Pratapgarh, in the Chittor district of Southern Rajasthan. This area has some highly degraded teak forests – most of which have been cut down by the local villagers. These forests hardly have any wildlife left but a few leopards do live in the area. We went there for these leopards. Pratapgarh witnessed a number of attacks by leopards in the year 2004. By December 2004 leopards had killed 7 people – most of them children below the age of 12 years or so. The local officials tried to trap these leopards but were not successful. After the fourth person was killed it became a local political issue and a lot of people in Pratapgarh were demanding that the “man-eating” leopards be shot dead. The Chief Wildlife warden of the Rajasthan state (who is the officer in-charge of all the wildlife in the state) issued orders that the “man eating leopard be shot dead but this should be done only after ensuring that the leopard that is targeted is the man-eater.” This was easier said then done.
The Rajasthan Forest Department invited Tiger Watch to Pratapgarh to help track the man-eating leopard. Four of us – Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (the Field Biologist of Tiger watch), Dr. Amit Kotia (a botanist from Jaipur), Ram Singh (Dharmendra’s field assistant) and I - left for Pratapgarh, as team from Tiger Watch. Though none of us had any experience with man-eaters but all of us had spent a fair amount of time in leopard and tiger country. The forest officers were under a lot of political pressure to put an end to this menace. This was a big issue in Pratapgarh and every time someone was killed the law and order situation used to turn nasty.
In Pratapgarh, about 30 Forest Department officials were camping in a school building near the area where most of the killings had taken place. Since we reached Pratapgarh in the night we camped in the same school building for the first night. The next day we realized that this building was actually an hours drive from the place where the last incident had taken place. We thought that this was too far so we shifted to an abandoned hut about a hundred meters from the place where the last kid was killed. We collected all the information that we could get from the forest officials who were working on this project (it was called Operation Leopard) for over 6 months. We realized that except for three people (the first three to die) all the others were killed within a radius of 4 kilometers from a central hillock. The first three who were killed died in an area that was about 20 kilometers away. Most of the kids who were killed were killed when they had entered the forested area to collect the sap (gum) from a tree known as Anogeissus latifolia (locally known as Sadar) and that all these attacks happened when the kids were sitting below the tree and taking the gum out. Most of these kills happened between 1600 and 1800 hours when the kids are finishing for the day. We also realized that there was very little wild prey for the leopards in the area and they mostly must be hunting domestic cattle, goats and stray dogs.
The Sadar tree is a short, bushy tree and the gum that is secreted is done at the lowest 2 feet of the main trunk. To collect the gum one has to crouch down (to get below the low branches) and get to the main trunk of the tree. That’s why kids with their small built frames are best suited for collecting the gum. However, when they crouch down to collect the gum they look like prey to the leopard and this is when all the attacks happened. The gum sells for nearly Rupees 200 a kilogram (about 4-5 US dollars), which is a princely sum in rural Pratapgarh. The forest officials were trying their best to discourage the kids from going inside the forest area but the lure of money was too strong for the locals.
In their quest to trap or kill the man-eater the forest department was facing a large number of problems. The terrain was very tough and there were few motor able tracks with in the forested area. The ground was rocky and as a result it was very difficult to follow the pugmarks (foot prints) of the leopards. The area was pretty remote and communication facilities were very basic. Whenever someone died the information used to reach the forest control room after a few hours and by the time they would reach the area all the tracks were obliterated by the local crowd that invariably gathered there. They hardly had any resources or budget to handle such an operation. The staff that was involved with the project was just not trained to handle wildlife related problems. They had served all their lives in plantations and had no experience with wildlife. What they did have were good and hard working officers – the Divisional Forest Officer and the Assistant Conservator of Forest - who were in charge. But that is not enough.
Monsoons 2004 – July to September
Ranthambhore National Park, like all project Tiger Reserves in India, shuts down for visitors during the monsoons. Since Ranthambhore lies in Rajasthan – the driest Indian state – it only shuts down for three months of monsoons, from July to September. This is the most dangerous time for the big predators.
Due to the monsoon rains the undergrowth and grasses inside the park are lush green and this makes for excellent fodder for ungulates and cattle. The villagers enter the park with their cattle and often get into violent fights with the forest department staff. As a result many of the more isolated forest guard-houses (or chowkies) inside the park are abandoned. Many of the smaller guard-houses have 2-3 forest guards and these few guards neither have the will nor the resources to take on the more numerous and organized groups of villagers. During the monsoons the park is an “open house” for all – the illegal grazers, wood-cutters and poachers.
It is widely believed that most of the poaching incidents occur during the monsoons but this is not true. Most of the big cat poaching occurs during the summer months of May and June, when it is easy to find the big cats. During the peak of summers – in May and June – most of the smaller waterholes dry out and water is available in very few places in the park. Since the big cats during summers, particularly tigers, tend to spend most of their time in or near water, it is very easy to find them. During the monsoons there is water and fodder for the prey species all over the park and as a result the ungulates are spread out all over the park. Since there is prey and water all over, the tigers also tend to spread out all over. As a result it is more difficult to find them. So even though there is hardly any protection in the park during the monsoon months of July, August and September, tigers are generally more secure in the park during monsoons then they are in summers.
However during the monsoons there are a lot of cattle and cattle herders inside the park. Tigers often kill the cattle because they are easy prey. During such times the tigers are at great risk. It would take a tiger 3-4 days to finish eating a cattle kill. During these 3-4 days they tend to stay near the kill, leaving it only for short periods of time. Since cattle is a very valuable resource for the local villagers, even one kill can be a bad set back for them. To take revenge they would sometimes “get back” a the tiger. They do this by either poisoning the carcass when the tiger is away or by tipping off a mogiya about the kill. The mogiya then stakes out the kill and shoots the tiger when it returns to the kill. Either ways it means a dead tiger.
At least one such incident happened during the monsoons of 2004. There may have been more but we definitely know of one. In July 2004, just after the first showers, the local villagers entered the park with their cattle. For the last 3-4 years the forest department was under a lot of pressure to stop grazing in the park during the monsoons. Since this was not possible for them to do, they declared that there was “zero grazing’ in 2004 monsoons. This pleased everybody. The local forest officers did not have to face any flak, the senior forest officers in Jaipur were happy and the conservationists were happy. Only the wildlife was not happy because the park was full of cattle.
Somewhere in August a male tiger killed a bull in “Peeli ghati” near the village of Uliyana. The villagers tipped of Devi Singh Mogiya – an extremely dangerous poacher who is now behind bars. Devi Singh set up a hide (or machaan) near the carcass and when the tiger returned to the kill he shot him dead. The next month Devi Singh killed another tiger in Kachida kid eh. This is a permanent waterhole about a 100 meters away from the Kachida chowki (or guard house). The guards of this chowki regularly use this waterhole for taking a bath and doing their laundry. Surprisingly, on the day that Devi Singh killed this tiger, the guards neither heard the gun shot nor did they go near the water hole for the next few days, which was more than enough time for Devi Singh to skin the tiger and take the bones out of the carcass.
Tigers in Ranthambhore 1990s
After the disaster of 1990 – 91, Ranthambhore went through a phase of recovery that took over a decade. According to the State government after the poaching of 1990 – 91 there were 16 tigers left in the park. However, the reality was that there were barely 10 tigers left. Some people who have been living here for a long time think that the figure of 10 was too optimistic.
I don’t really know how many tigers the poachers left but one mature female and one mature male were surely left alive because in the early 1993 this female gave birth to four female cubs. Most of the present day tigers of Ranthambhore are decedents of this tigress. This family lorded over the entire park and that was a very prominent indicator that there were not many tigers left in the park. Tigers are highly territorial and they actively defend their territories from invasion by other tigers. Tigresses with cubs almost never stray out of their territories with their cubs. So if one tigress was moving around a very large part of the park with her cubs, it indicated that no other tiger had their territory in this part.
Thankfully for Ranthambhore all the four cubs of this litter survived. By 1995 the cubs were fully grown up and had separated from their mother. These four cubs established their independent territories in Kachida, Bhakola, Lake area and Lahpur respectively. All these five tigers – the mother and her four cubs are now no more. The cub that established her territory in Bhakola (we used to call her “langdi” which means lame in hindi because she had a small deformity in one of her legs) never had a litter but the other three bred successfully and repopulated the park.
In 1998 Mr. G.V Reddy was posted as Deputy Field Director of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve and the core of the reserve – the Ranthambhore National Park was under his command. After Fateh Singh Rathore (from 1960s to 1980s), Ranthambhore finally got another boss who was honest, hard working and truly cared for the park. Reddy’s tenure here was the second golden period of Ranthambhore. Within a few months of taking charge he took total control. Wood cutting, cattle grazing and poaching was reduced to very low levels. With such a high degree of protection the park soon bounced back. Tiger numbers went up to over 40 by the time he left Ranthambhore in 2003.
Reddy’s immediate boss – Mr. R.K.Tyagi, (the Field Director of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve) who joined a year after Reddy and left a few months before Reddy, did a great job in Kela devi Sanctuary (a large and important part of the Reserve). He was an honest and fair man but for some reason Reddy and Tyagi never really got along – which was unfortunate because the two of them together could have done a truly marvelous job. One good thing about Tyagi was that he ensured that the same set of rules applied to everyone, which is rarity in India.
By the time Reddy left (he served as a Field Director for the last few months of his tenure) there were over 40 tigers in Ranthambhore (including all the cubs). But he did pay for the hard work that he did. His bosses in the state capital did not like the fact that he was getting famous and he had to face over 3 dozen departmental enquiries during the end of his stay in Ranthambhore.
Tigers in India and Ranthambhore Part II
When the Project Tiger was launched in 1973, Ranthambhore was one of the first 9 reserves that was taken up under the project. At that time there were hardly any tigers in Ranthambhore. Mr. Fateh Singh Rathore of the Tiger Watch, who was the Director of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve for a long time, was in-charge in 1973. He has told me a number of times that between 1973 and 1976 they did not see single tiger in Ranthambhore. They used to see pugmarks (or paw prints) once in a few months and on that day there would be a lot of celebrations.
One of the first few tasks that the management had to take up was to relocate the 16 villages that existed inside Ranthambhore. A lot of effort and time went into relocating 12 of these 16 villages. A new village called Kailashpuri – after Kailash Sankhla (the first all India Director of Project Tiger) – was set up outside the reserve and over a period of a few years 12 villages were relocated. The other 4 villages are still inside Ranthambhore, though efforts are on right now to relocate them. However, to be fair to the present day management, it must be made clear that 1970s were heady days for the Project Tiger. Indira Gandhi – who was the Prime Minister of India at that time – was backing the Project Tiger to the hilt. The villagers around here were illiterate and did not know their rights. The Forest officers in the mid 70s gave the villagers two options – either get out voluntarily or get thrown out forcibly. It is not possible to do this now a days as the villagers are aware of their rights and human rights activists would not let such a thing happen.
A few years after the villages were relocated the forest around the villages rejuvenated. The fields around the villages became thick forests in a few years. By the early 1980s the tiger population had not only gone up but the tigers of Ranthambhore became Diurnal. That meant that the tigers were feeling secure enough to be moving around in the day in plain sight of man. The ban on hunting that was on for a decade was certainly working.
In the 1980s Ranthambhore became the best place in the world to see wild tigers. According to an estimate by the end of 1980s over 90% of all the images of wild tigers in the world were taken in Ranthambhore. 1980s was the best time for Ranthambhore’s tigers and they made Ranthambhore famous. If you have seen the National Geographic’s footage of Chenghis – a big male tiger – charging across the lake and catching a sambar deer, you know what I mean.
Tiger in India and Ranthambhore Part I
Before 1900s most of India had thick forest cover, a lot of prey for carnivores and as a result a large part of India was prime tiger habitat. Some “experts” have estimated that there were over 40,000 tigers in India at the “turn of the century. This may be a bit of an exaggeration but it can be safely said that there was no “tiger crisis” in India at that time.
By 1950s the population of India had gone up tremendously and vast tracts of forests were cleared to make way for agricultural fields. At that time the focus of the policy makers in India was on “development” and the environment was totally ignored. Tigers lost out to economic progress. Towards the end of 1960s a national level tiger census was carried out by the WWF and the Government of India and this census revealed that there were less than 1800 tigers left in the wild in India. This census woke up the Government of India and in 1972 a new Wildlife Act was promulgated and hunting was totally banned in India. In 1973 the “Project Tiger” was launched as a joint initiative between WWF and Government of India. Initially 9 forested areas were selected under the Project Tiger and these were notified as Project Tiger Reserves. Ranthambhore was one of these 9 reserves. However, unlike the other 8 reserves (which had a reasonably healthy population of tigers), Ranthambhore hardly had any tigers and the forests in Ranthambhore were pretty thrashed compared to those in the other 8 reserves.
A large part of Ranthambhore lies on the Aravali mountain range – that, extend from Delhi in the north-east to Gujrat in the south-west. Aravalis (along with the Appalachians and Urals) are the oldest mountain ranges in the world. Like the rest of India, Aravalis were thickly forested in the early 20th century. By the middle of the 20th century most of these forests disappeared along with the tigers and the other animals that lived in them. At that time these forests were considered as a Revenue source and the trees were harvested for timber and wood charcoal. By the time Ranthambhore came under the umbrella of Project Tiger, legal harvesting of timber had come to an end and legal hunting was banned. By that time years of hunting and tree harvesting had taken its toll. There were hardly any tigers left, the tree cover was minimal and the population of ungulates was at its lowest.
