Yesterday a young man was killed in a tiger attack in Bagulahiya farm area of Nishangada range in Katerniaghat sanctuary. Four people had gone to collect thatch grass in Central State Seed Form area at early in morning. They entered in swampy wet grassland area near Lathauwa Nala, which is one of the most congenial place for the tiger to take rest. The deceased whose name was Imran, aged 20, accidentally reached near the tiger who was taking rest in a 'bojhi' near by. The tiger just slapped the man on his head and caught his neck in his mouth and the life of the young man was no more. The rest three people who had come with Imaran ran away when they heard the help call of the deceased and a deep throated growl coming form the bojhi. Tiger did not dragged or carry away the body from the place of incident. The body was intact, not eaten at all. The dead body was recovered when the range officer rushed to the spot with local police.
This is the sixth incident in the last three years when a human life has gone in a tiger attack. It is notworthy to mention that in four incidents, the body parts were eaten by the tigers or tigress. In all last five cases, I made it a point that no 'man killing' has to be converted in to a 'man eating' case and I did not leave any stone unturned..., I am happy to share that we succeeded in all last five cases. No second incident was carried out by the tigers in all last five man killing cases. I am happy that we could not only saved the life of poor people but also proved that 'accidental killings' are not 'man eating' cases. The 'human killing' cases are not 'man eating' as it is very indiscriminately understood.
I have noticed that such incidents do occur in human dominated landscapes, where people are very poor, where they knowingly enter in the mouth of wild animals for their day to day needs, where the tigers are breeding and cubs are carelessly playing with the mother tigress and where the 'transient males' are in search of new territories...
Such incidents are important if we consider the wildlife conservation in a positive way but many a times it is a great problem to face in a democratic society when people say 'go back with your tiger' or 'keep your tiger inside your forests'... Still we need more awareness, more trainings, more eco-development works..more support from all quarters..
1 comment:
A man-animal conflict results in a lot of bitterness for the wild animals. But the question is who is to be blamed ? On one hand we have the animals who do not know the boundaries of civilized living and while roaming free thinking the world to be their homes and often pound upon a person who the perceive as a threat walking into their homes. So from their side they are not at fault. On the other hand we have the human population living in and around the forest area with “living and surviving” primary in their minds . They too need the basics of living and also want that “development” to take place around them so their point of view is also correct. Then who is to be blamed ???. Well the answer lies in the fact that human population irrespective of the geography has increased rapidly and so have the pressure exerted by the population on the natural resources. Often the human victim of a wild animal, has actually gone too close to the wild animal and thus resulted in inducing the animal into attacking them. Another reason for these attack can be decrease in the prey base of the carnivores (again due to human related factors like deforestation etc.) which makes animals venture near the human population. What worries me more is that with the present declining populations we have reasonalbe numbers of conflicts , then whether the recent campaign to protect the Tiger, which in turn may result in a larger population of carnivores in general be supported by our present jungles or would it result in more conflicts.
We have to set priorities as to whether we need to protect these carnivores and the jungle or the human population. Both cannot shake hands and move along as one is a wild animal and another a selfish species. People living the forest areas have to understand the basic safety requirements they are required to meet and also that they live in a dangerous area and so might result in some casualties (similar to a person living in say the border area with Pakistan and who understands the dangers of shelling from the other side) and also to be respected is the fact that animals do not have a voice to defend themselves for their actions.
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