Environment ministry has no intention of banning tourism in tiger reserves

Tourists are not the problem

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh has got this one right. He has said that his ministry has no intention to ban tourism in tiger reserves, as demanded by some sections of the environment department. Those in favour of the ban have argued that an increased number of tourists and tourism-related construction was proving to be disastrous for tigers and their habitat, resulting in dwindling numbers. This is a flawed argument.

Indeed, the only way to save the tiger is to ensure that the economic

value of a live tiger is much higher than the profit to be made from killing it for body parts. This can be done primarily by making tigers and tiger reserves a tourist draw.

The worrying fall in the number of tigers in India – which stands at around 1,400 – has little to do with tourists. This has happened because of poaching and encroachment of the tiger habitat. These are the real issues that need to be tackled. Our ill-equipped and poorly paid forest guards are fighting an uphill battle against poachers. Besides, forest conservation laws are regularly flouted.

All over the world tourists flock to see animals in their natural habitat without any adverse impact. Indeed, the money from tourism is funnelled back to protecting the animals. In India, some of the mostvisited national parks such as Corbett also have the highest number of tigers. However, no one is arguing that tourism

in national parks should be unregulated. Tourists in tiger reserves must be accompanied by trained guides. Tourism-related infrastructure should not be allowed inside the core area of national parks and activities in wildlife resorts must be strictly regulated.

The Indian tiger is in dire straits. The only way to save it is to highlight how precious it is. Encouraging more tourists to tiger reserves will only help this cause.

So, the lid’s been put on the tiger tourism fracas. Official talk about turning ecologically sensitive tiger reserves into no-go zones irked the tourism lobby. That lobby’s won this round. None of this alters the fact unregulated wildlife tourism is a migraine for conservationists the world over. Yes, we love to look at untamed animals; if we can be billed for it, it’s a business to boost like any other. Only, right now, there’s a bigger priority: staving off tiger extinction. Just about 1,400 remain in natural habitats. Who knows how many will go the Sariska and Panna way?

Tiger tourism, some say, can be micro-managed. But if it’s been a neardisaster till now, what’s the chance we’ll change stripes? We all know the scandal of hotels and lodges being built on tiger corridors, damaging grasslands and causing loss of precious habitat. We all know unsupervised tourists turned picnickers and wedding guests harass the big cats and disperse their prey. As for tourism as a tool against poaching, law enforcers must net poachers anyway. If anything, serious issues like poaching and encroachment risk getting obscured in the wildlife tourism spat.

It’s argued that tiger protection needs money, and foreign tourists especially bring top dollars. That’s sophistry drawing on economic reductionism to give animals their due. It’s like saying non-human species have a ‘right’ to exist only if bred for food or fur, hunted for sport or shackled in zoos and amusement parks. Without ‘value’ extraction, who’d care for crocs or dolphins? Here’s the counter-argument. Species need conserving for their intrinsic worth. They have a life, a subjectivity and a purpose that are irreducible and inalienable. So, their ‘value’ doesn’t depend on how many of us will pay to exploit them.



By : Times of india

74 big cats outside Gir sanctuary

Gandhinagar: The 2010 census has found 74 lions in the revenue areas of Amreli, Bhavnagar and Junagadh.


Forest department officials said that the figure could have gone up to about 85-90 as those in the revenue area around Sasan were included in the count for Gir National Park. They said the state government is in process of developing new sanctuaries, including the Barda Dungar in Porbandar.

Apart from the Gir National Park, the government has declared Paniya, Mitiyala and Girnar as sanctuaries in 1984, 2004 and 2007 respectively. The area of these three sanctuaries put together is around 235 sq km. Another 190 sq km is the area of Barda, which is ready and lions would soon be moved in there.

Officials said the department was waiting for the lions to move to Barda on their own. This has delayed completion of the Barda Dungar project.

Senior forest officials admitted that the human interference was causing problems for the wildlife. With 90-odd lions moving outside the Gir Sanctuary, the attacks on the human and animal were also on the increase.

Revtubha Raijada, former member of the Wild Life Board, said, “Gir’s carrying capacity is just 270-odd lions and as of now it has well above 400 lions. The lions are moving out because they need food and also there may be a fight for the territory.”

He said that for lions, getting prey in the sanctuary was becoming increasingly difficult and it is easier to get a catch outside. “Once the animal gets used to easy killing, it will not move back to the sanctuary. Even if the lions are caught and forced back to the sanctuary, they will sneak out and come closer to the human habitat,” he said.

A senior forest official agreed with him that the animals were moving out of the sanctuary for food and territory. An adult lions requires an area of 30-40 sq km and, hence, there is always a fight for territory which results in the weaker lion coming out of the sanctuary and coming in direct conflict with the human beings, he said

NO LIONS FOR MADHYA PRADESH: MODI

Chief Minister Narendra Modi made out emotion pitch against giving some Gir lions to Madhya Pradesh lions in his first ever official statement on the issue.


While announcing the latest lion census figures on Sunday he said, “After the 2007 poaching incident in Gir, I had visited lion territory and wanted to talk to the people in and around the sanctuary. But they refused to talk to me until I promised them that not a single lion would be given to Madhya Pradesh. When I told them that the lion was killing their cattle, they said they were ready to suffer the loss as the wild cat had become part of their family.”

Modi added that even the Maldharis were ready to sacrifice their cattle to ensure that the lions stay in Gujarat. The Gujarat government has even opposed a PIL in the Supreme Court asking for some wild lions to be shifted to Madhya Pradesh. The court is slated to hear the issue later this week.

Madhya Pradesh government’s argument has been that three to four per cent per cent of the Gir lions die of unnatural death every year. Given these circumstances, there was no harm in shifting five lions to the Kuno-Palpur forest. The counter affidavit filed by Madhya Pradesh has stated that many lions were dying by falling into open wells, poaching and were even getting electrocuted.

However, Modi made it clear that only one unnatural death was reported in the last year and that too a cub had died after falling in a well.

The Gujarat government has been opposing the move on technical grounds as well, stating that tiger and lions cannot stay together. Gujarat has stated in the Supreme Court that relocating lions from the Gir sanctuary could cause irreparable damage to the sociology of lions and asserted that Madhya Pradesh could not manage the relocation as it had failed to protect its own tigers.

Roaring success: Lion numbers leap in Gujarat

Gandhinagar: Increased numbers, improved sex ratio and more areas conquered — the lion king is healthy and prospering in Gujarat. Chief Minister Narendra Modi declared the lion census figures of 2010 on Sunday which showed that there were 411 of the big cats in Gir sanctuary and surrounding areas. This was a jump of 52 over the previous census in 2005.

 

In fact, the lion is reclaiming territory much further away from the Gir sanctuary than originally thought. As many as 33 big cats were counted 250 km from Gir National Park in semiforest areas of Mahuva and Palitana in Bhavnagar. No less than 74 lions are now roaming outside the sanctuary near human habitation. These are fast turning into the new habitats of the big cat. Coastal areas of Rajula and Jafrabad in Amreli have also recorded sizeable population. Wildlife experts are excited about a number of findings. For instance, there are 97 males and 162 females. The rest are cubs. Youth power seems to be on the rise as there were 77 lions aged less than one year. Another 75 of them are categorised as subadult cubs — in the age group of 1-3 years.

 

Modi said the maximum number of lions — 297 — were found in Gir National Park and adjoining areas.

 

The sex ratio too has improved. While there were 1.2 females for every male in 2005, the 2010 census put the number at 1.67 females for every male. Taking a dig at the skewed sex ratio in several parts of the country, including Gujarat, Modi said humans should take a lesson or two from the lions.Among their new dens, the lions have shown a special liking for Girnar sanctuary. Established in 2007, the new abode has 24 lions. In the 2005 census Girnar was not a sanctuary.

 

PROWLING GLORY

1. The big cats recorded 14.4% growth over last census
2. Male-female ratio at one male for every 1.67 females is the highest ever
3. Lions found in Bhavnagar, 250 km from Gir national park
4. 18% found outside the sanctuary
5. Only one incident of a cub falling in an open well in 2009; in past years an average of 10 cubs died annually
6. More than 13,000 open wells capped
7. Census covered 10,000 sq km