Chandrapur: In the Tadoba National Park, which is famous for the habitat of tigers, on the one hand, the increasing number of tigers is considered satisfactory, while on the other hand, the tigers in Tadoba have to move towards the residential settlements due to the lack of natural habitat, due to which the district Now a worrying situation has arisen for increasing conflict between human-wildlife.
Every fortnight in the district, there is an incident of death of villagers due to tiger or leopard attack, but in the last three days such incidents are happening in the areas adjoining the metropolis.
Three innocent people died in the district in three days in the attack of tiger and leopard. Two of these deaths occurred in Chandrapur city itself. On Wednesday, a worker named Bhojraj Meshram lost his life in the CTPS premises. This worker, who was returning home after finishing his duty from the power station, did not even realize that, a tiger ambushed in the thick bushes in the middle of the way could also become the cause of his death.
There was still mourning about this incident that in Durgapur, located in the same area, a 16-year-old teenager named Raj Bhadke became a morsel of a leopard hiding in the bushes. It was not even 24 hours after this incident that a woman named Dnyaneshwari Mohurle was hunted by a tiger in Kosambi of the original tehsil.
Due to such incidents happening one after the other, there has been a continuous increase in public anger in villages, cities and other residential settlements adjoining forests like Tadoba, Andhari, Junona, Caravan, Kanhalgaon. People are blaming the alleged poor functioning of the Forest Department.
The increasing number of wildlife like tigers, leopards, bears in the district and their increasing entry towards residential settlements is becoming a cause of increasing conflict between human and wildlife.
According to an estimate, the number of adult tigers in the district has crossed 200. This number is continuously increasing. The natural habitat of Tadoba and other forests of the district is proving to be the best for the breeding of tigers, which is why, here one tigress is giving birth to 4 – 4 cubs at a time. This is the reason, the tigers are now facing the lack of habitat in Tadoba and other forests of the district.
The initial area of Tadoba National Park was 116.55 km. When this area started falling short for wildlife, then 508.85 sq km area of Andhari was added to Tadoba and the total core zone of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Project became 625 sq km. When this area also proved to be less for wildlife, then 1107.77 sq km area adjoining Tadoba-Andhari area was connected to the main forest forming a buffer zone. Despite the continuous expansion, this area is also falling short for wildlife. And their steps have started moving towards the residential settlements in search of safe place and prey.
Due to the rapid urbanization of villages adjacent to forests, agriculture, mining, industry, housing, hotels, resorts, etc., due to commercial reasons, the area of the tiger’s movement is continuously shrinking.
According to wildlife experts, the male tiger has its own jurisdiction. This area can also range from 60 to 100 sq km. In this jurisdiction, the male tiger does not accept the entry of any other male tiger, so there is always a bloody conflict between the two male tigers. This tiger decides the area of his authority by feces on trees or by excreting urine or by scratching with nails on big trees. In this jurisdiction, this male tiger only accepts the entry of female tigers. The female tiger keeps her cubs with her only for 2 years, later these tigers who become adults also find their jurisdiction for themselves.
Highest growth of tigers in Central India
In the survey conducted in the year 2018, the total number of tigers in India has been estimated at 2967. Which is 70 percent of the total tigers found in the world. Of these, maximum tigers were found in Madhya Pradesh 526, Karnataka 524, Uttarakhand 442, Maharashtra 312, Tamil Nadu 264, Uttar Pradesh 173, Kerala 190, Rajasthan 91, West Bengal 88 and Andhra Pradesh 48 officially. In the year 2014, 2226 tigers were found in the country.
The total number of tigers in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh was estimated at 838. There are a total of 5 zones in the country for the protection of tigers, in which the Central India zone has seen the highest increase in the number of tigers as compared to others. There were 688 tigers officially in the year 2014 in the Central India region whereas in the year 2018 this number was 1033.
It is also worth mentioning that there are a total of 53 tiger projects in India, which include Tadoba, Melghat, Pench, Bor, Navegaon and Sahyadri in Maharashtra.