Jharkhand: PTR struggles to retain lone tiger sighted after 3 years
According to officials, the tiger is estimated to be around eight-year-old and his picture was captured on a mobile phone camera in Kutku range of the reserve by PTR (North) deputy director Prajesh Jena on March 18.
Close to 40 camera traps and 30 forest officials have been deployed to guard a lone tiger spotted in Jharkhand’s Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) that was declared a big cat habitat 50 years ago when India launched Project Tiger to protect the endangered species.
On April 1, India will celebrate 50 years of Project Tiger, when Palamu, along with Ranthambore in Rajasthan and Corbett in Jharkhand, were declared as tiger habitats.
On April 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be releasing latest figures of the estimated tiger population in Mysuru, Karnataka.
As per last tiger census in 2018, India had 2,967 tigers, which constitute 70% of world’s tigers in wild. PTR had none.
According to officials, in 2020, there was report of a tiger found dead in PTR. In November 2021, there were reports of tiger sighting but the cat could not be captured on camera trap.
On Sunday, PTR officials claimed to have captured a tiger on camera trap.
“We now have concrete evidence about tiger’s presence and we are making all efforts to ensure we are able to retain the big cat in our reserve,” said Ashutosh Kumar, PTR’s field director.
According to officials, the tiger is estimated to be around eight-year-old and his picture was captured on a mobile phone camera in Kutku range of the reserve by PTR (North) deputy director Prajesh Jena on March 18.
“A team of the forest officials was on the tail of the tiger after information of a big cat having hunted an Ox in the area,” he said.
Forest officials suspect the tiger could have come from Chhattisgarh as the area where it was spotted is close to the neighbouring state border.
“This area is part of the tiger corridor that stretches to Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Its movement is subdued in the reserve and we don’t want to share location because of security reasons,” Kumar said, quick to add that the tiger is hunting like a “king” in the reserve having food prey base and likes his new home.
The India Gandhi-led Congress government, on April 1, 1973, had declared 1,129 square kilometres in Palamu hills, 160 kms from Jharkhand capital Ranchi, as a tiger reserve to protect the big cats in the country, whose number then had gone below 3,000 from over 10,000 because of hunting.
As per the forest department officials, PTR had 22 tigers in 1972, just before the area was notified a reserve. It gradually increased to 71 tigers in 1995 but after that their population started dwindling. It came down to 3 in 2014 before registering zero presence in 2018 census.
“As part of the 2022 census, we sent pug marks and scats of two tigers. But, as photographic evidence has now been mandatory. Now we are sending the images of this tiger as evidence to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for its inclusion in the Tiger Census report, which is expected to be released soon,” said Kumar.
Independent observers said Maoist activity in the area, since late 1980s, and the counter measures by the security forces in the area, were primary reasons for the decline in tiger population in the reserve.
“Increased naxal activity led to several problems in the area. Forest field staff, who earlier used to man almost all corners of the reserve, found themselves restricted to the forest range offices due to threat from the naxals. Several other illegal activities started in guise of naxal activity as well,” said D K Srivastava, retired professor of botany and a wildlife expert, who had also volunteered in the 1972 tiger census in the area. This, he added, led to entire ecological balance of the habitat going haywire, leading to decline of the tiger population.
Forest officials said they are now focusing on ensuring that the big cat stays in Palamu. “We have installed 40 trap cameras to monitor his movement and field staff have been deployed to constantly keeping a watch,” an official said. ““The images that have been captured on trap camera shows it is comfortable in the reserve.”
He added that the villagers have been asked not to panic because of tiger presence and have been assured of compensation if they lose their cattle to tigers. There are 289 villages inside the reserve.
Srivastava said retaining the tiger and increasing its population won’t be possible without community participation.
The official said the department is considering setting up “soft release centres” in the reserve to ensure prey base for the big cat. “The Betla National Park has a good number of cheetals (spotted deer). We can bring cheetals from there and release them at the soft release centres for which we have identified four locations,” an official said.