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.

Source: IPS

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