Wildlife activists up in arms against tiger poaching in Kawal

A slew of city’s

wildlife

activists and citizens staged a protest against the rise in cases of tiger poaching at

Kawal Tiger Reserve

at the Dogs’ Park on the

Necklace road

on Sunday. The protesters also alleged that the oldest sanctuary in northern Telangana has become a hub of unlawful activities such as illegal tree felling, illicit

sand mining

and smuggling.“The Chief Conservator of Forests and Reserve has recently confirmed that two tigers have been poached in last two months in the reserve but we suspect that the number is more than that. Most tigers in the reserve come from the adjoining areas of Bela and Tadoba in Maharashtra and there are active poaching gangs in the reserve. And going by the department’s response on the issue, it seems they are not interested in safeguarding the majestic animal,” says Sanjeev Siva, a wildlife activist whose online petition on the issue has garnered a staggering 2,130 signatures from city’s wildlife activists and enthusiasts in just 11 days.

By addressing the petition to Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao and Assistant Inspector of Forests Central Zone among others, Sanjeev has stressed how every tiger in the reserve and its adjoining areas is the responsibility of the forest department. “Since 1996, over 20 tigers have gone missing from the reserve. Not just tigers, the poachers are

trapping

and killing other animals as well. In fact, the failure of the forest officials in curbing the menace can be gauged by how it failed to rescue a K4 tigress in Chennur forests after it was caught in a snare trap and was moving around with it for two years. That’s not all, in 2016, the department couldn’t do anything when poachers skinned a male tiger, Jyestha, and buried it in the reserve,” he adds.

Shiva also alleged that a lot of illegal activities such as illegal timber logging, sand mining and smuggling are common inside the reserve. “In the last four years, I have collected over 75 cases of illegal activities reported from Kawal Reserve in various newspapers and dailies,” he says.

Refuting the allegations, Chief Conservator of Forests and Reserve’s field director of Kawal Tiger Reserve, C Saravanan says, “The data of 20 tigers being killed in the reserve isn’t accurate. The activists are just trying to sensationalise things. It’s true that there have been two cases of poaching in the reserve in the last two months but in the last two years, there have been only one such incident. We have been conducting joint patrolling with the police department and have put up awareness camps in the villages to sensitise the people.” He adds that most of these animals die due to the electric traps the villagers have put up to protect their crops. “When animals get caught in these traps, the people should immediately inform the department,” he adds.

With over 2000 km in area, Kawal is one of the largest tiger reserves in Telangana.