Expert disputes finding on tigers

Noted conservation biologist K Ullas Karanth has disputed the findings of the Kerala forest department on recent incidents of human-wildlife conflict in Wayanad, Kerala.

Karanth, who is the director for science with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said on Thursday that the ad hoc camera trappings being used by them had led to claims of inflated tiger numbers. They misled and aroused public anxiety and were not beneficial to conservation efforts, he added.

Karanth, along with N Samba Kumar and Narendra Patil of WCS India, noted that their organisation along with the Centre for Wildlife Studies had carried out photographic capture-recapture studies of tiger populations for over two decades.

It has identified over 600 tigers in this landscape in Karnataka and adjoining area in Tamil Nadu and Kerala (Malenad Mysore Tiger Landscape-MMTL) and the tiger population in Wayanad constitutes only a small part.

Their study had noted that this year after November 11, several cases of predation on domestic cattle by a tiger were reported from Begur village outside Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary leading to local protests.

Thereafter, the Kerala forest department had box-trapped a tiger in Periya territorial forest range of North Wayanad Division. The tiger had a deep wound on the nose and was emaciated. The officials confirmed it as a female tiger aged around 13 years of age.

This animal was released on November 14 at Kurchiyat forest range in Muthanga. In the week following this release, there were reports of more attacks on cattle near the release area leading to protests by local people around Naikkatty village. Forest officials attributed these incidents to the presence of a different tiger.

Karanth said that after studying the information using camera trap photos from long-term project titled ‘Meta-population dynamics of tigers in Malenad-Mysore landscape in Karnataka’ and from the image of the tiger released in Muthanga, “We initially identified it as tiger with the number NHT-L104, which was first photo-captured on Bulldozer Road in Nagarahole on February 15, 2005.”

“We identified the animal, whose photo was circulated as the ‘second problem tiger’, as ‘Brahma’ a male tiger currently in Mysore Zoo. This tiger was trapped on the fringes of Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, as far back as April 5, 2008,” Karanth said.

All the information from the above analysis was communicated to Kerala forest department on November 28 this year, while also offering assistance.

Based on the evidence, the WCS scientists were able to provide a permanent ID for this tiger following current protocols. It was confirmed to be a male.

This tiger NHT-L104 (NHT-243) is an unusual individual. It is likely that this animal was unable to compete and establish a territory in Nagarahole between 2005 and 2007, when it was a sub-adult, and became a transient moving through the larger landscape involving several parks before it was captured on November 14.

Given the high density and reproductive potential of the Nagarahole-Bandipur tiger populations, a surplus of either sub-adult or evicted older tigers is likely to spill over on to the wider landscape. Additionally, parks such as BRT and Mudumalai may also be adding a surplus to this overall population. Thus, conflicts are inevitable on the fringe areas such as Wayanad, Karanth remarked.