Common man tigers now appear in figures or on YouTube. They may have come out on the streets in lockdown, but the fact is that due to human intervention, their population and freedom is in danger. Figures can be breathtaking, scary or comforting, but the tragedy of figures is that they cannot be felt by touching and seeing. The eyes want to see the figures on the ground and there are figures that do not even see the ground.
There was also reason for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be excited over the release of the fourth tiger census report on International Tiger Day in 2019. The new system shows a 33 per cent increase in the number of tigers. There are three states of the country (Nagaland, Mizoram, North West Bengal region) where tigers have perished. In the states like Jharkhand and Goa, their number is only five and three. Not only this, the number of tigers in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh-Telangana, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh and Sundarbans region has stabilized. Similarly, there are not a single tiger in three tiger reserves, Buxa, Dampa and Palamau, whereas 62 percent of tigers exist in four states. This uneven distribution of tigers not only raises many questions but also explains how many states have maintained tiger extinction due to lack of proper management.
Free in lockdown
The corona infection forced humans to sit at homes. However, the silence on the roads in the lockdown proved to be beneficial in nature. Pollution went away and the wild animals hiding in the dense forest during the day, flocked to the streets with ease. Similarly, four tigers flocked in Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. There is good news from the Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR) of Madhya Pradesh. Eight new tigers are seen here. Now his family has risen from 44 to 52. These include two to three cubs and other adult tigers.
Why wonder
Whenever rare species of animals are seen in such areas, people are surprised. Whereas we should think that we have fallen so far behind in the blind race for development that we have forgotten these unique ones. Now when they appear on their own land, we consider it to be our achievement that this has happened due to our care, whereas not at all. These animals are in their own areas, It is their compulsion to hide from us humans. The tigers show the health of the forest and the availability of vegetarian wildlife. They have the right before us on nature and its forests. Until we accept this thing properly, we will have to go through this kind of despair. Overall, we need not be happy just seeing the increased number of tigers. We have now reached a stage where better management is needed. In addition, intensive campaigns should be launched to reduce uneven distribution. At the same time, there is a need to balance the level of development and conservation.
