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Thursday, 26th August 2021
India's 52nd tiger sanctuary was granted on July 5 by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change. The Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve (RVTR) in Bundi district would be Rajasthan's fourth tiger reserve, with a total area of 1,052.12 square kilometres and a capacity of 35 tigers. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) approved its creation last month, and the new sanctuary, located 220 kilometres from the state capital Jaipur, will provide a refuge for tigers escaping Ranthambore. It will also aid in the reduction of human and cattle attacks.
According to the 2018 tiger census, India has 2,967 tigers. Rajasthan has 69 tigers spread over three sanctuaries, making it India's tenth largest tiger population. Each adult tiger need at least 20 square feet of space. km2 of land area
The RVTR will connect the northeastern Ranthambore Tiger Reserve with the southern Mukundra Hill Tiger Reserve. The RVTR is more than twice the size of Puducherry, with a core area of 309.21 square kilometres and a forest area of 740.91 square kilometres. It is smaller than the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, which has a core area of 392 square kilometres and a forest area of 942 square kilometres. A few tigers periodically venture out of Ranthambore into the new reserve, and the government is working on a translocation plan before formally opening it up to tourists.
Striking a balance
For the past three decades, Rajasthan has been working to create a tiger corridor between Ranthambore and Sariska. They've been attempting to create regions where tigers can naturally wander outside the present protected areas in search of fresh territory. These are frequently locations that used to be their natural habitats.
However, tigers avoid new locations due to human disruptions and a lack of prey. The increasing number of tiger-human conflicts in and around Ranthambore can also be due to tigers' shrinking habitat. In an attempt to restore their lost habitat, young or weak tigers frequently leave Ranthambore and attack humans and cattle, which the NTCA and state government have now attempted to enable by building the RVTR. Tigers have murdered at least 14 people in the last decade, compared to two in the previous 30 years. More room for Ranthambore's tigers is expected to reduce such deaths, which not only fuel local hostility of tigers but also lead to revenge killings.
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Experts warn that Ranthambore's 50 adult and 27 cubs and sub-adult tigers urgently require more room, preferably via a safe corridor with less need for translocation, which has its own set of problems. Even though the population has slowly risen to 20 with 16 adult tigers, 11 tigers have been sent to Sariska, eight of which have died. The unhealthy mature tiger to tigress ratio, on the other hand, is concerning. As a result of its proximity to Ranthambore, the RVTR is viewed as a suitable option for tigers looking for new land. This is where one of the four tigers that were relocated to the Mukundra Hill Tiger Reserve, which was established in 2018. After that, a group of specialists criticised the building of the Mukundra Tiger Reserve, which had less prey and fewer tigers moving about. Their fears have come true, as Mukundra, which can hold up to 12 tigers, has lost three of the four tigers who were relocated there, as well as the four cubs that were born to them. There is only one tigress left.
Lack of resources
Wildlife experts argue that instead of developing new tiger reserves, the government should focus on improving existing ones, such as Sariska, which has a capacity of 35 tigers but only houses 16. However, Sariska, which lost its entire tiger population to poachers in 2005, is home to 1,700 people and is not regarded a safe environment for a bigger number of tigers until the villages inside are relocated, which will also help it gain national park status. More tiger reserves may be created in new areas of Rajasthan. Diya Kumari, a BJP MP and member of the NTCA, has been working to have one proclaimed for the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, which is located in her Rajsamand constituency.
Rajasthan forest officials consider it a success that they were able to add 1,000 km of tiger-protected land by having RVTR declared a tiger reserve, which gives it legal status as a land where tigers must be protected under the Centrally-sponsored Project Tiger, allowing it to receive funds for tiger conservation and other Central assistance. However, there are concerns that the Rajasthan Forest Agency will not have enough resources to monitor the new reserves, given that one-third of the 10,000 sanctioned posts in the department are empty, and there are only six veterinarians on deputation, while 17 seats for the same are vacant. The death of three tigers and four cubs at the Mukundra Tiger Reserve last year was blamed on a lack of manpower for monitoring, but the government claims that a few crores from the Rs 300 crore Project Tiger budget set aside for Ramgarh Vishdhar will help before tourism begins to contribute revenue.
Rajasthan’s poor track record with tigers
“There is an apparent lack of scientific temper in the management of the reserves, with no serious effort made to carry out research or develop the reserves,” according to the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of 2018, an audit of India's tiger reserves by the Union ministry for environment, forests and climate change. The audit downgraded two of Rajasthan's reserves, Ranthambore and Sariska, from "good" to "fair," one of only four downgrades across the country out of 50 surveyed, and chastised Ranthambore officials for failing to develop a grassland area on land freed up after 12 villages were vacated from the reserve's core areas 35 years ago. Rajasthan must avoid a recurrence of the Mukundra reserve's sad start in Ramgarh Vishdhar.
The News Talkie Bureau
Source
Indiatoday