After the zero-tiger-count scandal of 2004-05, big cats have been roaring again at Sariska with six being relocated in 2008. But one has died and the rest haven't been breeding.
Wildlife observers partly blame the vacant posts at the park at every level, and the repeated change of the top official: the district forest officer (DFO).
Sources say nobody wants to be in charge at Sariska because of the big responsibility and the possibility of more tiger deaths causing another scandal. So, as soon as a new DFO is appointed, the official starts pulling strings for a transfer.
Each DFO has got out of Sariska within two or three months since November 2010 when one of the relocated tigresses, ST1, died. The last, Sharda Pratap Singh, was shifted to the chief minister's office after just a month.
P.S. Somshekhar, Rajasthan's chief conservator of forests (CCF), claimed the state wildlife department faced a shortage of senior officials who could be appointed DFO. Read the full report here.
Source: Rakhee Roy Talukdar, The Telegraph, Jaipur.
