Officials face issues curbing tiger straying in Pilibhit due to delay in fencing approval

PILIBHIT: Regional forest officials are facing issues trying to curb tiger straying at the periphery of the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve due to the "sluggishness" of the state forest administration in approving chain-link fencing work at the site.
A proposal in this regard was submitted to state authorities by regional forest officials in May 2018 for the fencing of the 148-km-long periphery of PTR. However, only a scanty part of 17 km has been approved so far.
This has intensified the woes of the affected village communities, especially at a time when the sugarcane harvesting season is near. Farmers are bound to remain under constant fear of the tigers’ presence in their cane fields, which are located in the proximity of the forest.
The proposal for an eight-foot-high chain-link fencing had been drafted by the then conservator of the forest of Bareilly division, PP Singh. It had envisaged mitigation of man-tiger conflict in over 200 villages that had faced several killings.
As per wildlife experts, the total "core" forest area of PTR, stretched to 603 sq km, is capable of providing a home to a maximum of 30 tigers. However, the latest tiger census as announced by the National Tiger Conservation Authority in 2018 confirms the presence of as many as 65 tigers in the area. These include 57 resident and eight transit felines.
“As the tiger is a territorial wild animal, cubs aged two years or above need to set up their independent territories, which may extend to 90 sq kilometers in case of a male tiger and up to 50 sq kilometers in case of a tigress. This innate characteristic of tigers makes an overpopulated tiger reserve confront the menacing situation of tiger straying and man-tiger conflicts,” said GC Mishra, former field director of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.
The official record of PTR reveals that as many as 30 villagers have lost their lives due to tiger attacks since 2015 after PTR’s notification. Many such fatal attacks were made by tigers in sugarcane fields during the harvesting period.
“We had recently sought permission for 10-km long fencing in Barahi and Mahof forest range areas, of which the state approved a part of 4 km. We are carrying out fencing work in both forest ranges across 2 km length each, with a cost of Rs 27 lakh per kilometer,” said Naveen Khandelwal, the divisional forest officer of PTR.
“Our lives will not be protected from tigers and our crops from the destruction of wild herbivores unless the entire wild periphery, touching the village belt, is properly fenced,” said Sudhanshu Rai, a marginal farmer of village Mala in Pilibhit.