Jaipur: The increasing population of tigers in Rajasthan has become a matter of concern as territorial clashes are increasing in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. Looking at the situation now the government has to intervene. The government has recently announced an expert panel to suggest a long-term strategy for the conservation of tigers and develop new tiger reserves to provide safe shelter.
Rajasthan has recently become one more state that has more than 100 tigers. The state has 103 tigers in three tiger reserves. The RTR has the maximum with 79 tigers living in the area of 1411 sq km, while Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) in Alwar has 23 tigers in the area of 1213 sq km and one at Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR) in Kota that has the area of around 560 sq km. The Ramgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in the Bundi region has recently been approved by the NTCA as a Tiger Reserve, so this will be the 4th tiger reserve of the state.
In the meeting of the state wildlife board, CM Ashok Gehlot had directed the officials to form an expert panel to suggest new reserves in the state. He stated that the state government is working on a plan to develop new tiger reserves in the state to provide safe shelter to the tigers in line with their increasing population in the state.
It is to note that the territorial fights are frequent in RTR as the area of the park is not being considered sufficient for these many tigers. Although the total area of the park is about 1411 sq km, according to experts tigers use just about 600 sq km.
The territorial fight is also resulting in the loss of tigers. An old tiger T25 was found dead last year as it lost its territory to younger ones, while a cub tiger was found dead in May this year. The cub was suspected to be killed by another adult tigress T124 in a territorial fight.
"Although the notified area looks sufficient, tigers use just around 40 per cent of the notified area as there are villages and other human activities in the rest of the areas of the parks," said Dharmendra Khandal, the biological conservationist with Tiger Watch in RTR. He said that we can have more tigers but for that, we have to develop a proper forest. He welcomes the decision of expert panel and said that it is good that the government has come up with a panel and we can hope for good recommendations.
While a retired IFS Sunayan Sharma said that you cannot have more tigers than the carrying capacity of the park. It is not scientific management. The problem that RTR is facing is a result of tourism activity in the area. The tourism lobby is against the relocation of tigers from here but it is the only solution to this problem. "Government should identify the areas where there was tiger habitat earlier and develop them as reserves. The decentralization of tourism activities is a must and the government should not hesitate in relocating the tigers," said Sharma.
