ROARrrrr for Jungle Tiger
The department of wildlife, Warangal, and environmentalists are at loggerheads over the case of three missing tigers from Eturunagaram and Pakhal wildlife sanctuaries in Warangal, where three tigers roamed its forests as per 2009 official tiger census report.
The department of wildlife, Warangal, and environmentalists are at loggerheads over the case of three missing tigers from Eturunagaram and Pakhal wildlife sanctuaries in Warangal, where three tigers roamed its forests as per 2009 official tiger census report.
However, the whereabouts and existence of the three majestic animals are now under a cloud after the state wildlife department reported their absence from Eturunagarm and Pakhal wildlife sanctuaries in another tiger-cum-panther census done in May-2012.
Of the three spots where tiger presence was recorded in 2009, the first two areas come under non-wildlife sanctuary while the last area falls under Pakhal wildlife sanctuary. One interesting interpretation behind the disappearance act of three tigers at the time of 2012 tiger census by Warangal wildlife officials is that they might have ventured into non-wildlife sanctuary areas (technically known as buffer zone) when census was conducted early this May.
However, environmentalist Mr K. Sandeep Reddy, a member of Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society and Mulug-based Mahasaraswati Educ-ational and Ecological Foundation (MEEF), has slammed this interpretation. “The wildlife department’s version leaves lot of doubts as the non-wildlife sanctuary areas are prone to more disturbance from human interventions than the sanctuary areas. The three tigers reported in 2009 census left the two wildlife sanctuaries in Warangal after human rights activists-backed ‘Booporatam’ was undertaken by tribals in a massive way,”
Excerpts: Deccan Chronicle
