A team of scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India could not find any sign of tigers in the single phase of survey they carried out in the region. And phase-II and phase-III surveys could not be carried out because of the Naxal presence in the area.
“The reserve did not report any tiger signs during the phase I survey.
However, a questionnaire survey of phase-I data indicates tiger presence,which requires field verification for evaluating the status of the population. Due to this limitation, it was not possible to estimate the population size of tigers of this state,” says the census, a joint exercise by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India.
Environmentalists, who are worried about the dwindling population of tigers in the reserve, are now concemed over the lackofany definitive word on the number of tigers.
Raghu Ram, an environmentalist working on wildlife conservation under the banner of ‘Paryavaran’ since 1990, said the core area of the Palamau reserve had been completely captured by Naxalites.
“Three incidents of poaching and five cases of Naxalite violence were reported in 1975. Recent reports show these incidents have escalated so much that the forest staff don’t dare to enter the core area of the reserve,” he said.
The state’s chief conservator of forests (wildlife), S.K. Sharma, who is also in charge of the Palamau reserve, too blames the dwindling tiger population on Naxalites, poaching, deforestation and encroachment. “All these forces together have worked against tiger conservation,” he said.
Rajesh Gopal, member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, says it isn’t a happy situation in Palamaubut the reserve does have at least 24 tigers. “The problem is that Naxalites have made that area completely out of bounds for forest guards and conservators. As a result, a credible count of tigers is not possible as of now. Based on other sources of information,we are fairly sure of about 23-24 tigers,” he said.
Incidentally, there have been no tiger sightings in the reserve for the last couple of years, but the census carried out by the forest department last year had pegged the tiger count at 33, down from 49 in 1993. The highest population recorded was 55-in 1992. In 1974, a year after it was declared a tiger reserve, the number stood at 22.
“Palamau is an area of concern.
We are seriously looking into it. But any conservation effort can succeed only after the Naxalite threat is removed,” Rajesh Gopal said.
The latest census report, which was released in February this year, had put the total number of tigers in the country between 1,165 and 1,657. The report says Palamau is a good tiger habitat but needs to be rid of insurgency.
“The reserve forms a crucial link through forests of Chhattisgarh up to Sanjay National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The forest patch in Palamau is spread across 12,580 sq km and has the potential to harbour a good tiger population. But the major problem in managing this tiger population is insurgency,” says the report. “If this problemis resolved…this could serve as a good source for population of tigers,” it says.