SIX-year-old Jai, the Royal Bengal tiger that has mysteriously gone missing from the Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary near Nagpur, has turned the spotlight back on India’s poor tiger conservation efforts as well as its lax laws for poachers.
SIX-year-old Jai, the Royal Bengal tiger that has mysteriously gone missing from the Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary near Nagpur, has turned the spotlight back on India’s poor tiger conservation efforts as well as its lax laws for poachers. While the forest department and wildlife activists have joined the search — more that 100 people have spread out over a 1,000-km radius and beyond — there are fears that Jai may have come to some harm. What is more worrying is the fact that forest officials have not been able to monitor Jai's movements and seem to be unaware of whether he has moved to a different territory.
According to statistics from the Wildlife Protection Society of India, 28 tigers were killed till April this year, which is more than the number for all of 2015. Authorities say this is because of the high demand for tiger parts from across the border. Some years ago, there was a seizure of 456 leopard and tiger claws from Kanpur, indicating the scale of the tiger parts business. In China, a single tiger’s skin can fetch R65 lakh. What’s more, the conviction rate for poachers is a mere 4 per cent.
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The tiger numbers, according to the 2011 census are 1,706. The global number stands at 3,890, which gives India the debatable distinction of being home to more than half the number of the world’s tigers. At the turn of the 20th century, the number stood at 1,00,000.
Why then have India’s anti-poaching efforts been ineffectual? Considering that the Royal Bengal Tiger is on the brink of extinction, would it not make sense to increase manifold the quantum of punishment for poachers? Under the current laws, the maximum punishment for poaching a tiger is three to seven years in jail and a fine of R10,000 for first-time offenders and Rs 25,000 for repeat offenders. With the kind of money involved in poaching, this punishment is not enough of a deterrent.
India needs to get serious, and fast, about protecting the population of its national animal, because it won’t take long for 1,706 to come down to zero.
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