| THE STATE OF THE TIGER | |
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Madhya Pradesh: The Tiger State - Madhya Pradesh's "Tiger Census"
The means by which the Forest Department authorities measure their success is by estimating the status of the tiger populations. This inevitably leads to a pressure on staff to reflect an increase in the number of tigers in order to present the authorities in a favourable light, even when the data is unsubstantiated. In April 1997, the Steering Committee of Project Tiger recommended that long-term monitoring and sampling of tiger and prey populations, which is more "rigorous, reliable, replicable and cost efficient" than trying to make an actual count (census), be officially adopted. They recommended that the field staff employ a combination of methods to determine tiger distribution, breeding populations and prey base. The continuous collection of data would allow directors and researchers to assess trends in the population and to prioritise population and habitat management. The Madhya Pradesh authorities, however, continued with a "census" in 1997. Even before the field work had been completed, there were reports that orders had percolated down the ranks to field staff to ensure that over 1000 tigers would be counted in Madhya Pradesh, to show an increase from the 1993 census of 912 tigers. Dr. Rajesh Gopal, the Director of Kanha National Park was given the dubious honour of analysing the State's census data consisting of pugmark casts taken from tiger footprints and tracings. Though the total estimates claimed a population of 927 tigers, only 409 tracings were made available for analysis. Though he was not able to account for 55% of the tigers, Dr. Rajesh Gopal forwarded the total to the Chief Wildlife Warden, but added his concerns over the failure of some of the officials to provide any evidence of their tigers. He stressed that "in the absence of pugmark tracings from many circles, the tabulation being sent from this end amounts to a compilation only". The former State Forest Minister declined to acknowledge the discrepancy and on the 4th January 1998, he announced that the population of tigers in the Tiger State had risen from 912 "counted" in 1993 to "reveal a presence" of 927 tigers in 1997 - "a testimonial to the success of the State's wildlife conservation efforts". He also failed to point out that 29 of these tigers are captive and can be found behind bars in Van Vihar and Madhav National Parks. The Director of Project Tiger P.K. Sen, complained to the Chief Wildlife Warden for failing to ensure that his staff supplied Dr Rajesh Gopal with the full data. Mr P.K. Sen insisted that a committee be appointed to analyse all the pugmark tracings or that the exercise be repeated during 1998. The authenticity of tiger population statistics have become so dubious that the Director of Project Tiger has decided that he will not officially accept the 1997 figures. His experience and knowledge leads him to believe that there are probably less than 3000 tigers left in the wild in India and he recently stated that there may be more than one tiger lost every day as a result of poaching, poisoning and other causes. |
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