[FEL-L] Save the Tiger campaign a success in Sunderbans

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Save the Tiger campaign a success in Sunderbans
 
 
"I grew up in these jungles. Like many others, my father came over from (what 
is now) Bangladesh to farm here. Clearing the forests and killing animals was 
a common activity and we saw nothing wrong. Today, we help prevent others 
from doing that," says Anil Krishna Mistry, 40. 

This poacher-turned-conservationist has been at the forefront of wildlife 
activism since 1999. He lives on the Bali island of the Sunderbans, a deltaic 
region to the south of India West Bengal state (WB) and adjacent Bangladesh, 
famous as the natural habitat of the Royal Bengal tiger and forming the largest 
mangrove area in the world. 

Mistry was one of the key organisers of a World Wildlife Week (Oct. 1- 7 ) 
campaign called ‘Bagh Bachao’ (Save the tiger) centred on the playground of a 
local school on Bali, Bijoynagar Adarsha Vidyamandir. Most of the participants 
were school children from around the area. Hiren Jotdar of Sashibhushan Uchha 
Vidyalaya, Satynarayanpur, walked for two hours to reach the venue by mid 
morning. "We are members of our school’s Nature Club," he said proudly. 

The headmaster, Sukumar Poira, says his school was one of the first to 
initiate creation of nature clubs with a view to inculcating the idea of 
conservation among schoolchildren in an ecologically sensitive area. Now there are 22 
nature clubs around the Sunderbans which teach students about wildlife 
conservation, the value of medicinal plants, the use to bio-fertilisers and the 
importance of "no plastic" campaigns. 

"The enthusiasm among the local people for saving the tiger is something one 
couldn’t imagine just a few years ago. Such was the hositility towards the 
predator that officials from the forest department dared not talk to villagers 
about the need to protect the animal,’’ recalls Neeraj Singhal, field director 
at the Sundarban Tiger Reserve. 

The Sunderbans is a vast area of creeks and islands, 54 of them inhabited. It 
is the point where the mighty Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers meet 
before flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The Indian side alone is spread over 9,630 
sq. km. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 and a Biosphere 
Reserve in 1989. 

Since 1973, the Sunderbans has been an important part of the Indian government
’s Project Tiger. In 1973, the government established Project Tiger to cope 
with the dwindling tiger population. But tiger killings and poaching have 
continued: there were 38 poaching cases reported in 1999, 39 in 2000, 35 in 2001 
and 47 in 2002. 

Remarkably though, in the Sunderbans, where tigers live in close proximity to 
human habitations, there have been no tiger-killings since 1990. 

According to the 2004 census (based on the pugmark method) there were 271 
tigers in the Sunderbans. The results of the January 2006 census, conducted using 
the more accurate sign survey approach, is still awaited. 

Man-animal conflict has a long history in the Sunderbans. Having to survive 
in this difficult terrain, the Sunderbans tiger has adapted to drinking saline 
water, eating anything available, even crabs. Killing of humans, 
honey-collectors, wood-cutters, fishermen etc. were frequently reported. Tiger legends, 
tiger-deity worship to allay the attacks, are common among both the Hindu and 
Muslim populations. 

As the human settlements increased, the conflicts quickly turned into open 
confrontation. But with persuasion from forest officials the tiger-killings 
stopped so much so that when a tiger began stalking a village this July forest 
officials were called in to save the animal. 

"Not a single tiger has been killed since 1990," affirms Pradeep Vyas, chief 
conservator of forests and a director of the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve. 
"This year alone about 100 animals, spotted deer, wild boar and other species 
have been rescued with the help of the local people. Considering that people here 
are generally impoverished and non-vegetarian, it’s significant indeed." 

The Sunderbans project is now being projected as a good example of 
conservation, says Vyas, adding that in a survey report by the Wildlife Institute of 
India for IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural 
Resources), the Sunderbans has been adjudged ‘the best managed park’ in the 
country. 

This positive result has meant sustained work at the grassroots. The 
officials understood that to make the Project Tiger in the area successful, the people 
had to be involved. They formed village committees and invited people like 
Anil Mistry to be part of the campaign. That initiative has paid rich dividends. 

"Today little children who are members of the Nature Clubs tell their 
parents, don’t kill the deer; otherwise the tiger will have no food and then the 
tiger will attack us. It’s the children who will carry the message of conservation 
in this are, I firmly believe," says Belinda Wright, executive director, 
Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), a non governmental organisation. 

_http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/154378/1/1893_ 
(http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/154378/1/1893) 



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