Panna Tigers are No More

Lalit Shastri

Courtesy People’s Post (June 28, 2009)

Wildlife experts and researchers, who have been voicing concern over last several years over the missing Tigers of Panna are now convinced about the ground reality and have accepted the fact that the last of these magnificent Tigers have been annihilated either by poachers or excessive biotic pressure.

Despite grave warnings, the Madhya Pradesh Forest department and its officials manning the Wildlife Management wing, found no alarming signs in Panna and failed to act in time. When the situation started getting out of hand at the beginning of 2009, they scurried into action and relocated two female tigers, one each from Bandhavgarh and Kanha, to Panna. Realizing that even male tigers were missing from this habitat, the Forest Department has initiated steps to even relocate a male tiger to this territory.

It was in May 2007 that the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Tiger Conservation Authority had jointly revealed at a seminar organised at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, the figures indicating a major decline in the number of tigers in Madhya Pradesh. The WII-Tiger Conservation Authority figures at that time indicated that the estimated tiger count in the Protected Areas and the adjoining landscape in the State had come down to about 276.

The estimated tiger population in the Kanha landscape was 89 (confidence interval of 73-105). The estimated tiger count was 47 in Bandhavgarh and adjoining forest division (confidence interval of 37-56), 33 in Pench landscape (confidence interval of 26-39), 39 in Satpura (confidence interval of 26-51), 24 in Panna (confidence interval of 15-32), and a mean count of 4.5 tigers (3-6) in Kuno, 18.5 tigers (14-23) in Jabalpur, Damoh and Sagar, 12 tigers (9-15) in BetulHoshangabad and 9.5 tigers (7-12) in Raisen. Based on these figures, the number of tigers in Panna in May 2007 was only about 16 and this included even the habitat or areas where no tiger had been detected during the survey. If one excluded the non-tiger habitat, then the area where tiger was present in the Tiger Reserve was 360 sq. km (according to WII report submitted to the Supreme Court). If one were to extrapolate the estimated tiger figure from this report, the number of tigers present in Panna Tiger Reserve at that time could not have been more than 11. This obviously indicates that the maximum loss of tigers was in the Panna landscape.

Even if one were to take a look at the Kanha Tiger Reserve, there were 120 tigers in this Protected Areas, according to the Tiger Census conducted before the WII - Tiger Conservation Authority survey concluded that there were only 89 tigers in the entire Kanha landscape, which includes a large area outside the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Balaghat, Mandla and other adjoining districts. This area is considered as the best protected Area (PA).

Madhya Pradesh has the biggest tiger habitation area measuring 15614 square kilometers followed by Orissa- 9144 sq. kilometers, Andhra Pradesh- 8141 sq. kilometers, Maharashtra- 4273 sq. kilometers, Chhatisgarh- 3609 sq. kilometers and Rajasthan- 356 sq. kilometers.

The sordid state of affairs in Panna got amply reflected by a note sent to this author by Raghunandan Singh Chundawat, a well known authority on Panna Tigers and a former Member of the Madhya Pradesh Wildlife Board. He wrote, “Our camera trap based estimation calculated 29 tiger in 418 sq. km area sampled in 2002. If you supplement this estimate with our field research information, it included eleven breeding tigers (territorial tigers, three males and eight females). Seven of the females had fourteen/fifteen cubs which brings the population to 25-26 and rest others were transient. This gave a density of 7 tigers per 100 sq. km. Now in recent census there was only one cub and if this was true for last couple of years then ecologically it is impossible to have 35 adult tigers in this space. I don’t think it will be possible to convince them (the State Forest Department) with scientific sense, when they are determined to prove there were 35 tigers in Panna. Only when there won’t be a single tiger left in an area, then only we can convince them, like what happened in Sariska. As long as there are a few tigers left, the imaginary figure of 30 plus will continue to float.”

In a report titled “The Missing Tigers of Panna” submitted to the State Government on the status of Tigers and its habitat in Panna Tiger Reserve in February 2005, it was pointed out by R.S. Chundawat that to save an important tiger habitat and prevent the imminent extinction of its resident tigers it is crucial that immediate action is taken. Such action is also important as a precedent to prevent the situation being repeated in other Protected Areas of the State. This conclusion came after 9 years of the Tiger Research Project in the Panna Tiger Reserve. This is the only study in the ecology of tigers in the dry forest, which is the largest tiger habitat in India. Dry forest is the habitat where tigers are most vulnerable. In these forests, they are disappearing much faster than other forests.

The findings of the Tiger Research Project in the Panna Tiger Reserve are quite revealing. From 2001 onwards, there was excessive emphasis on tiger shows and more elephants were moved in for tourism purpose. It was obviously when revenue generation through tourism became the new goal; the availability of elephant for patrolling was refused. This on the ground that it will entail loss in revenue generated through tiger shows although elephants were procured for patrolling and protection purposes and their expenses came under these heads.

During the course of this research, it was found that there was a rapid decline in the number of tigers between 2002 and 2003. Between November 2003 and February 2004, the research team saw over fifteen animals with nooses around their neck inside the Park. They also found a large number of snares around some of the important water holes and on tracks. These incidents were reported to the management regularly and some of the snared animals later succumbed to death. The first tigress was lost in October 2002. She was located over a cattle kill for several days but all of a sudden disappeared mysteriously. After the first alarm, another soon followed when the second breeding tigress was killed in December 2002. At that time, she was raising a litter of nine month old cub. She was located at one place for several days but could not be visited on foot as no elephant was available. By the time the area was visited, the tigress was dead– caught in a snare placed for deer. Also found near her was one fresh Sambhar deer in a similar trap. There were a few more signs of Sambhar carcass nearby. Ironically the Tiger Reserve management confiscated the film roll from the research team and never returned it. Thereafter, instead of increased patrolling, the management focused their attention on the research project team and targeted it by curtailing its movements and putting pressure on the research project. They even restricted night monitoring of tigers—that is when the poachers are mostly active.

From the later months of 2002, the research team found that the Park authorities started clearing and thinning the forest cover along the major tourist roads to make a clear view. Trees were felled and removed. Even the vital browse vegetation was cleared to well above a height where any ungulate could reach. Age old trees growing from the cliff wall at tourist view spots were recklessly axed. The management also started burning xtremely wide fire lines and extensive forest areas were burnt as cool season burning. They also went in for complete removal of Zyziphus bushes from grasslands in spite of these being important browse species for tiger prey species and other animals.These activities were in gross violation of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and the Supreme Court orders and were not included in the sanctioned Park management Plan. The Tiger Research Project concluded that there was loss of tigers at an alarming rate; widespread and increased paching of tiger prey; felling, uprooting and burning of thousands of trees along the roads to create view line for tourists; extensive burning of forest; removal of important browse species; burning of excessively wide fire lines, reckless quarrying and removal of sandstone blocks for departmental construction work causing extensive damage to river beds in core areas of the park; damage to wildlife habitat by elephant; and death and injuries caused to wild animals by barbed wire and chain link fence near the Park boundary.

The State Forest department and Wildlife authorities have several questions to answer. The burning question is: What action was taken regarding the violations of the Supreme Court orders and Wildlife Protection Act by the Park management in the Panna Tiger Reserve after the report submitted by the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court?

The Park management is in the dock for cutting and digging roots of thousands of trees on either side of the tourist roads, burning of large tracts of forest and in the process destroying important wildlife habitats, illegal sand stone mining by the department itself inside the National Park for use in departmental construction works, destruction of important grassland by removal of “ber” (an important browse species), creating large water bodies, construction of forest chowki in the middle of the grassland, and poaching of tigers and its prey species.

The Central Empowered Committee also found management responsible for damaging the Park’s habitat and for taking up large-scale construction activity without prior permission of the Supreme Court. It also took serious note of the “general apathy of the senior officials”.

_____________________________________________________________

sad saga

July 2005

• Poacher is nabbed at Chhatarpur Mohd. Rais is arrested at Chhatarpur (a town close to the Panna Tiger Reserve) in July 2005. In his statement to the police he admits to trading in eight. He also said that these mostly came from Panna forests.
• Supreme Court asks for fresh assessment using camera trap. Supreme Court asks the M.P. forest department to conduct another assessment using camera traps. Census was conducted in early 2006.

May 2006

• Another Tigress with two cubs dies from poisoning during the census operation. Forensic report confirms poisoning.

October 2008

• Recognising the Panna tiger population as “alarmingly low”, Tiger Conservation Authority Member Secretary requests urgent action from the Field Director to improve protection and “secure” the park; he further requests camera traps be deployed “at the earliest” with assistance of the Wildlife Institute of India.

December 2008

• Brainstorming Meeting is organised hurriedly at Khajuraho As situation in Panna becomes desperate, with no signs of tiger in the park in Oct/Nov 2008.

January 2009

• Third assessment by WII. It is once again (for the third time) asked to assess the tiger population. Their interim report finds no camera captures of tigers in the Reserve. A larger team is sent with fifty cameras distributed extensively. The final report is yet to be submitted.

March 2009

• Two tigresses are moved to Panna One tigress is brought at night by road from Bandhavgarh and one, midst protests, is flown from Kanha. There is no longer a male left in the Park. The State authorities have now requested permission to translocate a male too. However the Ministry of Environment and Forest has asked to explain what has happened to all the males that were claimed to be still there.

April 2009

• MoEF constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the disappearance of tigers in Panna. Their interim investigations confirmed that there were no tigers in Panna.

• The last tiger evidence – pugmarks of the remaining male – were seen in Panna in-mid January 2009. By now it was certain that the tigers of Panna were no more; even the management could not make zero equal to 35.

Courtesy- R.S. Chundawat Report