Saturday, January 19, 2008

Tiger Census in the Dooars

Each one of us,specially the nature lovers must be excited about the tiger count in the North Bengal's Buxah Tiger Reserve,24 as claimed.
I was present just a couple of days before the census was carried out on the 19th to 23rd November'07.Made numerous trips to the jungle to sight the big cat.During my trips I was told about the tiger census and the process in which it is carried out.
Buxah happens to be a dense jungle with marshy and grass lands and three rivers,normally remains dry during most of the year.
The tiger census is normally carried out as per the following ways.
  1. Pug marks collected from the river beds and jungle and getting a paris image of the same
  2. Imagery process with cameras being placed at strategic locations and collecting the pictures.
  3. Human counting which happens to be the most authentic way.
  4. Radio collaring and collecting the wherabouts.
  5. Droppings
All the above processes are taken into account while the census is being done in the most authentic and reliable way.
Now let's see the bio diversity of the region.
  1. The Buxah region is covered with grass lands which makes it impossible to get the image of the pug marks.
  2. I have been to the region numerous times but has never found any pug marks on the dry river beds as the bed is primarily filled with stones and pebbles which again makes it impossible for the pug marks to be collected.
  3. There has never been the utilisation of hi definition cameras for the imagery process in the tiger counting.
  4. Humans or people employed for the job remains intoxicated throughout the day and never follows the job with passion,authentic information from them cannot be expected.
  5. Radio collaring needs expertise which is found wanting.
The claim of 24 tigers is just to manage the crores of funds which comes with the claims.
The guides and people employed are not paid well and moreover you employ people who misses the passion in them...jungle,nature,animals.

The people employed are associated with the hotel business in the area and they are more interested to keep the rooms booked rather then showing interest in flora and fauna of the area.

This is a matter of grave concern and we the animal lovers should take action immediately to save the cats from extinction,not only the cats but also the elegant elephants which are mowed down by the speeding trains.There are around 150 species of birds and variety of animals which are to be taken care of,being guardian and protecting them from extinction
Let's join hands and build a community to protect the animals