How tigers caught in traps are suffering slow deaths

NAGPUR: It was a rescue that came too late. For almost two years, a tigress in Maharashtra’s Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary had been carrying a wire noose around her neck. When the tigress was spotted on March 17 this year, her injury had worsened and maggots had collected around the wound. The animal was so weak she was barely able to move. She died just hours after she was tranquilized by forest officials in a bid to save her. Barely a month later, another young tigress was found dead -- her neck held tight by the coils of a wire snare -- in the nearby Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). And recently, a two-year male tiger was injured after his front paw got trapped in a snare at the Tipeshwar sanctuary. medium69623524Every year, tigers and leopards in India are being killed and injured by snares, a threat that doesn’t register when one lists dangers faced by big cats. But in the last nine years, 24 tigers and over 100 leopards in the country’s forests have suffered slow, agonising deaths in these traps. Untitled Carousel 68866261Sometimes it is organised poachers who lay metal jaw traps to lock in unsuspecting animals, while at others it is local communities that use wire noose snares to kill big cats preying on their livestock. In many cases, felines also become collateral damage in the hunt for bushmeat. But little has been done by respective forest departments to tackle the menace. What’s troubling is the fact that in the latest incidents of tiger deaths in Maharashtra, the snares were laid in core areas of the reserves. medium69478500The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), a non-profit organisation working to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trade, has monitored big cat deaths due to snares for the period between 2010 and 2018. It was WPSI that reported the tiger and leopard deaths apart from multiple instances of injuries to animals. Experts said that threat from snares needs to be immediately addressed and the forest department should make anti-snare exercises with use of metal detectors a regular part of patrolling. boxcontent medium nocaption69479114WHY SNARESLow on investmentSolar fence wire, bike clutch cable most preferred materialEffectiveEasy to carry, hide and install to capture many types of animalsRemain unnoticedOnce installed in animal's path, they are not easy to spotKishor Rithe from Satpuda Foundation, which works for tiger conservation, said that they had prepared a standard operating practice (SOP) to deal with wire snares in 2012 but it has since been gathering dust.“We held some training sessions at Chandrapur for field staff but the response was not encouraging. Use of metal detectors in tiger reserves during patrolling could be the first line of defence and help weed out such snares,” said Rithe. medium69478897Jose Louies, deputy director and chief, wildlife crime control division and communications, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), said thousands of animals fall prey to wire snares but the issue only gets highlighted when a tiger or a leopard is caught. Louies said that earlier local poachers used creepers and bamboo traps to poach wild animals. Now binding wires used in buildings, wires from solar fence and bike clutch cables are preferred because these are low on investment, easy to carry, hide, install and quite effective in capturing a wide variety of animals. “Once installed in an animal path or forage, they will go unnoticed,” he said, adding that anti-snare walks could help prevent poaching in fringe areas. medium69479492“WTI and the Karnataka forest department have seized over 2,000 snares since 2012. In Karnataka’s Bandipur tiger reserve, we took the help of people from fringe villages to collect initial intelligence on snaring,” said Louies. In Karnataka, anti-snare drives are now part of the patrolling exercise.In Maharashtra, forest officials admitted that they have regularly seized snares near Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). Divisional forest officer (DFO) Deepak Chondekar, who spent most of his tenure in and around Tadoba and Gadchiroli, told TOI, “Wire snares are widely used to kill animals. When I was posted in Shivni in 2010, I seized over 100 wire traps. In most such cases, there is no prosecution.” medium nocaption69534877But the death of the tigress in Tadoba reserve did spur authorities into action. Four suspected poachers have since been arrested and frequent anti-snaring drives are being conducted.Maharashtra principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Nitin H Kakodkar said, “Periodic anti-wire snare operations will be intensified in park areas with special focus on the peripheries.”boxcontent medium nocaption69483770WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONEIncreased anti-poaching patrol, anti-snare walksUse of metal detectors during patrollingTraining sessions for field staffPosters/videos to educate public on cruelty of wire snaresFinancial award schemes for local informersStrict action against those who place snares, even if outside Protected AreaInstall solar electric fences to reduce crop raids by wild animals, reducing need for snaresDr John Goodrich, chief scientist and tiger programme senior director for Panthera, the global wildcat conservation organisation, said, “Direct poaching of tigers and their prey are decimating tiger and prey numbers, especially in south-east Asia. In the short-term, this threatens the existence of tiger populations and even entire subspecies, and in the long-term it renders tigers, their prey, and the ecosystems in which they live less resilient to impacts of climate change and habitat conversion.”TOI Edit: Despite Project Tiger’s success, more is needed to protect the big catIllustration: Shreyas Bedare