How foresters lured tiger with smell of tigress urine

JAIPUR: Did you know that even a tiger might sometimes be ‘honey trapped’? Only, the substance to be used is not honey, but urine. The forest department of Rajasthan recently brought out a coffee-table type book, ‘Wildlife Matters’, detailing its work since 2014. This book offers an insight into how a straying tiger might be traced.
“One of the male cubs born to ST2 tigress in the Sariska Tiger Reserve moved away from its area and took refuge in the degraded forests of Rajgarh. Despite repeated attempts by the park authorities and the scientists of Wildlife Institute of India, the straying tiger could not be located for tranquilization to be brought back to the forest.


Veterinary officer Dr Arvind Mathur was then asked to collect some urine of a tigress at the Nahargarh Rescue Centre. The urine was collected and mixed with scat from the same tigress and brought to Sariska. On June 24, 2017, that urine was sprayed at some important points and trees – the idea was to lure the male tiger back with the smell of the female’s urine. By June 26 evening, the male was at the spot!”

The tiger was then tranquilized and brought back into the tiger reserve.

On World Wildlife Day on Saturday, Rajasthan, with forest area of 32,000 sq km and protected areas extending to over 11,000 sq km according to the 2013 Forest Survey of India, has much to be proud of. Jhalana Leopard Safari, which opened in March 2016, has shown how wildlife can coexist even close to the state capital -- there are over 20 leopards in this area. Over 22,000 visitors have participated in the safari since its opening, and over Rs12 lakh has so far been transferred to the local village forest development and management committee through proceeds from visitors. Since the reserve is so close to the city, the state government is currently building a wall at over Rs 15 crore to keep the enclosure safe for animals.

Rajasthan sustains not just an interesting range of big cat wildlife, it also has a far higher number of livestock, at 84% of its total human population. (The national average for livestock is 42% of human population).