Drastic and immediate steps are required to prevent the ''tiger catastrophe'' in the country which now have a dwindling strength of around 3000. According to Mr P K Sen, Director of ''Project Tiger,'' the Ministry of Environment and Forests needs more focus.
A special ministry for forests should be created, says Mr Sen in a study on the 'status of the tiger' released in Dehradun.
More than 100 tigers died in the country in the first six months of the new millennium due to poaching, man-animal conflicts and other reasons, says the study published in ''Tigerlink,''a linkage of concerned people and organisations across the globe to save the tiger.
''Globalisation ruthlessly plunders our natural resources and we enter a doomsday scenario for the tiger,'' says Mr Sen in the study.
"People living on the fringes of forests must be given the right to choose and make their decisions and the ''so called human activists ''should not be allowed to act as their advisors," he says.
Mr Sen stresses that one per cent of the country's landmass should be made completely inviolate and ''dedicated to wildlife.'' This one per cent of land should be immediately identified, he says.
"The eastern, north-eastern and eastern sea borders with Nepal and Bangladesh should be sealed to prevent large scale smuggling of wildlife derivatives and tiger skin and bones," Sen writes.
''Few realise that tiger habitats not only harbour tigers but also recharge most of our river systems.'' Thoughtless development activities have increased the pressure on our forests, both from humans and cattle.
Full protection should be given to those looking after our natural resources
without political interference, demands the director of ''project tiger.''
''No one really cares whether the tiger survives, be it a politician, bureaucrat, industrialist, human activist or villager,'' says Sen. The future is bleak but if we want to prevent the tiger catastrophe, these steps must be immediately taken, he adds. ''Otherwise there is no hope for India's wild tigers,'' the study concludes.
Bureau Report
