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Tiger Relocation in India

Rajasthan Tiger A 051.jpg

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Through the wild date palms and the morning mist of Sariska National Park a truck of men from Kankwadi village which lies in the core area of Sariska National Park travel to land assigned to them by the government. The move of almost 100km, is the beginning of the government's relocation plan that intends to provide a viable habitat for the re-introduction of tigers into Sariska. It was always a controversial decision to re-introduce tigers into Sariska without first relocating those communities who live in the park. Apart from the remote danger to human life that the presence of tigers presents, human's deplete vegetation, and therefore the tiger prey-base, by gathering firewood and allowing their animals to graze on park-land. Little vegetation beside the palms survives in this part of the park because human habitation encourages livestock grazing. ..Sariska National Park in Rajasthan was once home to dozens of tigers but by 2005 poaching had resulted in their complete eradication. Recognising the urgent need for intervention, the Indian and Rajasthan-state governments began the reintroduction of tigers into Sariska. Two cats were airlifted 200 km from Ranthambore National Park in June 2008. On November 5th an attempt to relocate a third tiger was postponed until later in the month. This relocation strategy is certainly an important part of the tiger conservation effort but many, including those like Dharmendra Khandal of the NGO Tiger Watch, argue that it will never be entirely successful without properly confronting the three essential issues that threaten tiger populations: poaching, habitat loss and the hunting of prey-base animals. In turn, these three issues cannot be addressed without acknowledging the malign influence of caste, poverty and poor administrative accountability. Poaching is almost exclusively undertaken by extremely poor and marginalised groups, including the Mogia caste who, without education, land and access to credit have limited alternati
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Tom Pietrasik
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2912x4368 / 2.3MB
Through the wild date palms and the morning mist of Sariska National Park a truck of men from Kankwadi village which lies in the core area of  Sariska National Park travel to land assigned to them by the government. The move of almost 100km, is the beginning of the government's relocation plan that intends to provide a viable habitat for the re-introduction of tigers into Sariska. It was always a controversial decision to re-introduce tigers into Sariska without first relocating those communities who live in the park. Apart from the remote danger to human life that the presence of tigers presents, human's deplete vegetation, and therefore the tiger prey-base, by gathering firewood and allowing their animals to graze on park-land. Little vegetation beside the palms survives in this part of the park because human habitation encourages livestock grazing. ..Sariska National Park in Rajasthan was once home to dozens of tigers but by 2005 poaching had resulted in their complete eradication. Recognising the urgent need for intervention, the Indian and Rajasthan-state governments began the reintroduction of tigers into Sariska. Two cats were airlifted 200 km from Ranthambore National Park in June 2008. On November 5th an attempt to relocate a third tiger was postponed until later in the month. This relocation strategy is certainly an important part of the tiger conservation effort but many, including those like Dharmendra Khandal of the NGO Tiger Watch, argue that it will never be entirely successful without properly confronting the three essential issues that threaten tiger populations: poaching, habitat loss and the hunting of prey-base animals. In turn, these three issues cannot be addressed without acknowledging the malign influence of caste, poverty and poor administrative accountability. Poaching is almost exclusively undertaken by extremely poor and marginalised groups, including the Mogia caste who, without education, land and access to credit have limited alternati