Hyderabad: Telangana State is using Chenchu trackers to collect seeds for Haritha Haram. But, 300 Chenchu trackers in the Andhra side of the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve are working for tiger conservation. However, no tiger conservation initiatives have been taken up despite dwindling tiger population in Telangana. Tigers coming from Maharasthra are also vanishing and only one is found in Kawal now.
According to wild life experts, tigers have inceased in the neighbouring states of Maharashtra, which recorded 190 tigers in 2014, up from 103 tigers in 2006. Karnataka recorded 406 tigers in 2014 up from 290 in 2006. However, AP/TS have shown a steady decline in tiger populations. Heavily forested districts such as Warangal, Khammam, East/West Godavari, and Vishakapatnam have hardly any tigers left.
The tiger habitat in AP and Telangana once extended to about 40,000 sq km. This has shrunk to about 22,000 sq km. AP is doing better with about 50-60 tigers in the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR). There are 15-20 tigers in the whole of Telangana.
Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society founder Imran Siddique said, “Adilabad district is contiguous with Maharashtra but we are continually losing tigers that cross over to Adilabad. At least 10 tigers have moved in to Adilabad and two could reach Kawal, but complete apathy has ensured that we lost all but one tiger. A rare possibility is that they have gone back to Maharashtra but that is unlikely due to overcrowding of tigers there.”
He said that in the Eastern Ghats, the forests of Papikonda, Gudem Maripakhala, starting from Bhadralachallam and extending to Vishakapatnam are perhaps amongst the largest forest blocks in India, but extensive hunting, Maoist presence and encroachments of forests have wiped out tiger and other wildlife populations.
Camera traps or CCTV cameras are used to track tiger populations in conjunction with direct spotting, pug marks collection, scat and cattle kill. There are not enough camera traps sometimes to cover the area. Mr Siddique said that no technology can substitute for foot patrols. “Chenchus know the forest well as they are born there and dwell there and are of great use to forest officials. Tiger trackers and anti-poaching teams work on informed intelligence based on patrols that cover the entire area,” he said.
Good news is that tigers have managed to colonise Kadapa. They may have moved from Gundlabrameshwara Wildlife Sanctuary to Proddatur Division to Kadapa Division, which is the extended core of NSTR and at least two in Lankamalleshwara Wildlife Sanctuary.
Numbers don’t lie
- Recent estimates suggest that there are 2,226 tigers left in the wild in India.
- However, there is a huge drop in the tiger occupancy area, from 94,000 sq km in 2010 to 72,800 sq km in 2014.
- Direct poaching of tigers, poaching of prey and loss of habitat are the reasons for decline.
- The Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society surveyed 18,000 sq km of forests in Andhra Pradesh for tiger occupancy. It does camera trapping in three tiger reserves (Kawal, Amrabad and NSTR).
