I have been to Sariska National Park at least couple of times but have never seen a tiger in the wild. I thought it was just my bad luck. Unfortunately, it appears that this was not the case. I read, much to my dismay, that the tigers in Sariska have actually vanished.
According to experts, 750 tiger skins have been seized in the past 10 years. If we assume that for every skin seized, at least one poacher got away this means India's forests have lost at least 1,500 tigers in the past decade. Even official figures reflect a drop from a peak population of 4,300 in 1989 to 3,500. Meanwhile, the demand for products made from the body parts of the tiger has only risen. The market value of a tiger is reckoned to be Rs 60 lakh.
As tiger numbers have fallen elsewhere in the past 10 years, poachers have turned to India, which has the world's largest tiger population. After initial success with Project Tiger, negligence has set in. Recruitment of guards has fallen, the forest service is badly equipped, there is little political initiative and industrialisation has fragmented the buffer areas around the Zones meant for tigers. In contrast, the poacher is now better equipped and well connected.
A survey reveals how one-third of the Project Tigers reserves have kept losing their tigers. In Manas National Park, for example, the numbers have fallen from 125 tigers in 1997 to 65. This brings the credibility of the annual tiger census and the efficiency of the Indian Forest Service into question.
A friend of mine told me that no one ever forgets his first sight of a tiger in the wild. If we don't turn back the tide that threatens this magnificent animal, future generations will never even get that chance. Letting a species lapse into extinction is not just a conservationist's nightmare. It is a national shame.
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