Save tigers: Death of two big cats at Kagaznagar forest exposes chinks in intelligence gathering

Adilabad: There is no denying the fact that ‘intelligence’ based operations and programmes have a high success rate no matter what the task is. Intelligence-based enforcement for tiger protection is an obligation of the concerned Tiger Reserve and the state in which it is situated but remains an untouched subject.

The death of two tigers earlier this year in the Kagaznagar forest in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district, the area being the tiger corridor linking Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra and Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR) spread over old united Adilabad district in Telangana, exposed this glaring lacuna. Conservationists opine that big cats could have been saved had the authorities had intelligence inputs with them regarding their movement.

In Telangana, there are no reports of tigers within the Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR). The presence of tigers, however, has consistently been reported from the tiger corridors the second one of which links the Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra with KTR.

The two Maharashtra wildlife parks and the surrounding forests are the prime sources of tigers found in the corridors which logically should reach KTR. Therefore, any change in tiger population by way of the death of the big cats has a bearing on tiger movement towards KTR.

Moreover, intelligence inputs will help authorities account for all the tigers that saunter into Telangana forests. Such reports have been many but none of those which went missing after some time, especially from the Kagaznagar Forest Division, has been accounted for.

"We are going to discuss information exchange with authorities of TATR in the meeting to be held soon," revealed the Telangana Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Chief Wildlife Warden Mohan Chandra Pargaien when asked about the intelligence quotient in making the corridors safe for tigers. “No effort in protecting tigers would be spared,” he vowed.

The plan to incorporate intelligence in tiger protection should include coordination between intelligence apparatus in the Tiger Reserves on either side of the inter-State border. The intelligence network should enjoy the absolute trust of people in villages along the corridors, according to conservationists.