tiger t-17 (credit: koshyk)
Had tiger T-7 heard about the reputation of the Sariska Tiger Reserve and how it lost it’s entire tiger population to poaching? Was this why he headed out from the Ranthambore National Park last August and hid in the Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary? His six months of evasion though has now ended and he is on the way to the Sariska Tiger reserve.
Missing male tiger moved to Sariska.
The 3 year old male tiger will be a valuable asset to the Sariska Tiger Reserve as the authorities try to re-establish a tiger population in this designated tiger reserve. But tiger T-7 did not come quietly. It took the park authorities 10 days of tracking and playing hide and seek before they finally managed to sedate and capture the animal.
Tiger T-7 will replace the male tiger that recently died at Sariska. The death of the male tiger means that the current tiger population in the reserve is down to one male and 3 females. The biggest concern about the current population is that all the individuals seem to be closely related and so some fresh blood in the form of a new male will help to strengthen the gene pool.
Sariska looses it’s tiger population.
Concerns over the loss of Sariska’s tigers first began appearing in 2004. Locals found little direct or indirect evidence of tigers still living in the reserve. Park authorities responded by saying that the tigers had probably temporarily left the reserve in response to the rains and would soon return.
Then a major newspaper story in 2005 by Jay Mazoomdaar claimed that there were no tigers left in the reserve. In the summer of 2004 there were thought to be 15 tigers, the previous official census (2001-2002) had put the number at 24 but by the winter of 2004 no signs of tigers could be found. This story led to an emergency census by park authorities and this confirmed that all the tigers had indeed been ‘poached’ out of the reserve. State officials began plans to reintroduce tigers to the reserve later in the year. The first tiger and tigress were introduced back into the Sariska Tiger Reserve in June 2008. Sadly so far the tigers have failed to breed in the wild.
Continuing threats to the tigers of Sariska.
Despite the reserve being a protected and designated tiger reserve sine 1978 under the India Project Tiger scheme it’s not just poaching that threatens the tiger. There is continued dolomite quarrying in the park even though the Indian Supreme Court banned mining in the park boundaries. After the court ruling in 1991 over 200 mines were closed in the sanctuary but it is thought that between 30 and 40 have re-opened in the heart of the reserve around Jaisinghpura, Malana, Goverdhanpura, Palpura and Jamwa Ramgarh
Will tiger T-7 find a safe and comfortable home in this 866km2 reserve? We can only hope that the shock of loosing it’s tiger population once will be enough for state government to give the reserve more priority in funding. While substantial funding is available through the national governments Project Tiger – now known as the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) – it does require match funding from state government to release the funds. If the Sariska Tiger Reserve were to loose it’s population for a second time it would be a real set back for the survival of the tiger.
