Last Sunday, as the news spread, spin doctors within and outside the forest department quickly swung into action. First, they told the media that Ranthambhore's tiger population had reached the saturation mark and that the surplus tigers would always be at risk when they moved out. They also claimed that the only way to avoid such tragedies would be to shift these tigers to Sariska and blamed the Centre for putting the tiger translocation process on hold. Next, they pointed fingers at a few local hoteliers who did not want tigers to be moved to Sariska as fewer tigers in Ranthmbhore would have hurt their business interests.
To be fair, a lot has changed for the good in Ranthambhore over the past five years. The forest department had its plate full in 2005 when the Central Bureau of Investigation confirmed the local extinction of tigers in Sariska. A few months later, poachers arrested by Rajasthan police admitted to killing more than 20 tigers in Ranthambhore. In sheer embarrassment, the state government swiftly transferred Ranthambhore's two top forest officials.
The tiger population has bounced back in Ranthambhore since 2005 when the reserve recorded just 26 tigers. Today, the number stands above 40. But Ranthambhore tiger reserve is spread over 1300 sq km - too large an area to become crowded with 40 tigers. Corbett National Park, for example, has more than 150 tigers in as much area. So how did the state forest bosses claim that Ranthambhore was over-populated? Read the full article here.
Source:Â Jay Mazoomdaar, DNA, Ahmedabad.
