A young tigress caught in a village cowshed near Nagarhole National Park was released in Bhadra National Park last month. She did not survive.
Nagarhole now boasts a saturation density of tigers — 10-15 animals per 100 sq km — leading to frequent territorial battles. A tigress probably lost such a battle and had settled in a plantation close to the park in December, 2008. Experts identified her as the same cub-rearing tigress photographed inside the park a few months earlier. A young tigress was also spotted in the area and some felt she was the daughter of the displaced tigress.
The supposed mother-daughter duo lived on a livestock diet. They had to dodge angry, armed villagers on many occasions and there was no warranty that they would be able to feed on their hard-earned kills as the carcasses were often snatched away.
After one such major chasing operation involving hundreds of people, the older tigress disappeared. Since this April, the young tigress made a few kills and lost most of them to villagers. On June 28, she was surrounded by a mob and was tranquilised at point blank range. She scampered to a nearby cowshed and collapsed. Her last three kills had been recovered by villagers. She looked emaciated and was all of 18 months.
The young tigress’ ordeal had just begun. The local forest staff had little infrastructure or skill to handle such a situation — not even a veterinarian on call. Under mounting public pressure, they did not have much of a choice either. The range officer did his best to sedate the tigress and secure her in a cage. Nobody knew what do with her. The news reached top bosses in the state and Centre. Big and small scientists were contacted for advice. This brainstorming continued even as the tigress regained consciousness.
Since the tigress had never attacked people, some suggested that she be radio-collared and released near the capture site. But fearing mob fury and future dispersal from Nagarhole, the forest department decided to take her to Bhadra. While the decision took shape, the tigress waited and starved. Then she suffered a seven-hour drive to Bhadra, awake in a jumpy cage. By the time she reached Bhadra late on June 29, she was in no state to drink or eat.
In Karnataka, search was on for a radio-collar. A biologist from Maharashtra agreed to fly a spare collar. Experts and veterinarians from different NGOs congregated at Bhadra with the coveted radio-collar on the morning of June 30.
Still not ready to drink or eat, the tigress did not look good at all. Experts found her too weak to be tranquilised. After another round of hectic debate, around 3 pm, she was finally released in an area apparently unoccupied by a resident tigress.
Four days later, the tigress was found dead. Did she die of capture myopathy (stress) aggravated by the long journey without sedatives? Was she too weak due to starvation? Or did another big cat kill her? This episode raises a number of questions.
One, if it had been scientifically established that Nagarhole had reached a saturation, why was there no strategy in place to deal with the increasing number of dispersing tigers? Why debate the possibilities after caging it?
Two, how do we know for sure that all such individuals are dispersing tigers and not part of a local sub-population? In this case, some veterinarians claimed that the tigress was about three to four years old, implying that she was not the daughter of the older tigress but an unrelated adolescent tigress roaming the same area.
Three, why is there no policy on dealing with public pressure for removing a tiger that never attacked people? Why is there no policy to stop recovery of carcasses that force hungry animals to make more kills? Why is there no policy of fast and reasonable compensation for livestock losses to minimise public anger?
Four, why have forest staff not been trained to deal with such emergency situations? Why was there no coordination with the district administration to control mobs? When it came to trapping, where were the mandated cages, radio-collars and trained veterinarians?
Five, why take an already stressed animal for a seven-hour drive without sedating? Sedating an animal on two consecutive days would be risky, but if the authorities had been clear about the plan, the tigress could have be driven straightaway to Bhadra after capture and released with a radio-collar.
Six, who would be responsible had the stressed out, displaced tigress wandered out of Bhadra in search of its lost territory and attacked people in the course?
Sadly, these questions are not unique to Nagarhole or Bhadra and demand honest answers. But we would rather be philosophical every time an animal dies in our hands. Since we are inside the system, our efforts must always have been the best, and since we are not poachers, our intentions always right.
The writer is an independent journalist and filmmaker
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