1 female and 2 male tigers present in PTR , claims Jharkhand forest department

Ranchi: The state forest department on Monday said at least three tigers exist in Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR), negating the ‘All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018’ which did not show any presence of tigers in the reserve. The national report, which was released last week, however, showed an increase of two tigers in the state, bringing the total number of tigers to five in Jharkhand.
Speaking to mediapersons, Sanjay Kumar, Jharkhand’s principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), said, “Our findings, based on direct and indirect evidence, suggest that we have one female and two male tigers. We have been constantly getting camera trap pictures of tigers since February.” He added, “The report’s 85% data is based on camera trap evidence and the rest is based on indirect evidence. Since tigers are shy animals, they may not have been captured on CCTV cameras when the nationwide census was conducted.”
Kumar further said, “Our preliminary analysis of the report suggests that the survey team has found evidence of tigers in northern part of the reserve (Hazaribag-Chatra region) and in Saranda in West Singhbhum, which is bordered by Odisha. As a result, a total of five tigers have been in Jharkhand. However, we are doing a micro analysis of the report.”
The PCCF also mentioned that PTR, which is spread across 1,124sq km area, comprising around 400 sq km core area, is under extreme stress due to numerous reasons, ranging from anti-rebel operations to crisis of prey base, infrastructural projects, cattle pressure, among others. To tackle them, the forest department officials claimed to have been working on various fronts to improve the existing habitat. “When we talk of habitat improvement of PTR, we don’t just mean to restrict ourselves to the reserve area but advance towards the corridors of PTR which is connected to Chhattisgarh. Simultaneously, we have devised village-level micro development plans to take locals on board to decrease their dependency on forests by linking them with alternative means of livelihood,” said Kumar.
The proposal to lay the third rail line in PTR is another hindrance to the reserve. The forest department has already said no to it but the final decision is pending at government level.
Man-animal conflict, mainly involving elephants, remains a concern for the state. Statistically, around 200 persons have died in elephant-human conflicts between 2017 and 2019 alone. Similarly, about a dozen elephants have died during the same period.
Kumar said that one of the major reasons for human casualty during such situations is because of crowd mentality. “Smooth passage of elephants is always a concern whenever they venture into villages. Many tend to click selfies due to which several deaths have occurred in the recent times. To counter this, routine awareness drives are held besides other modalities,” he said.
During the media interaction, Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, the state forest, environment and climate change secretary, also listed a host of measures undertaken by the department to revive forest cover, improve water bodies and curb pollution in the last couple of years.