Protecting high-altitude tigers, but wary of a reserve

Idu Mishmi, one of the indigenous tribes of Arunachal Pradesh whose language has been listed as endangered by UNESCO, has co-existed with tigers as ‘brothers’ and their protectors since time immemorial in India’s only high-altitude habitat of the big cats.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), too, has acknowledged that Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary, which is home to the Idu Mishmis and spans over 4,149km, “holds utmost importance for in-situ conservation of high-altitude tigers”.
The community and the government now are at a crossroads over declaring the area a tiger reserve.
President of Idu Mishmi Cultural & Literary Society, the apex body of the tribe, Dr Ista Pulu says, “We don’t kill tigers, rather we conserve and protect them. ” Discovery of tigers in a place does not mean it mustbe declared a reserve. “We are dependent on hunting. Once a tiger reserve is declared, we cannot enter the area to hunt,” he says.
The population density of Dibang valley district is one person per sq km against national density of 382.
Pulu says, “Tiger is our brother, born from the same womb. Killing a tiger means observing ghena (periodof renouncing daily activities) for 10 days and it’s for the entire village. No one can go outside the village, there will be restrictions on food and many other things, including cohabitation. ” Funeral has to be organised in the same way as that for a human.
Not many believed the community’s claims of presence of tigers at this high an altitude (3,630 metres)in snow-clad regions inside and outside the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary.
It was in December 2012, when villagers in Angrim valley sighted tiger cubs and reported them to the forest department. This led to a preliminary rapid survey in 2013-14 by Wildlife Institute of India in collaboration with NTCA. Camera traps captured 83 photographs of tigers— 9 adults and 2 cubs.
This 4,149-sq. km sanctuary shares borders with China and faces temperatures varying from minimum 0°C to maximum 24°C and receives rainfall from both southwestern and northeastern monsoons.
The discovery of high-altitude tigers got the 11th meeting of the technical committee of the NTCA in 2021 to take up a draft proposal for ‘India’s first High Altitude Tiger Reserve: Dibang Tiger Reserve. ’
The committee recommended ‘in-principle’ approval and Arunachal forest department was requested for submission of final proposal.
The Idu Mishmi Tribe
Idu Mishmi is one of the 31 indigenous tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. It is one the four sub-groups within the Mishmi cultural group. Three of these — Idu, Digaru, and Miju — reside on the Indian side and the fourth, the Deng Mishmi, live in Zayuon the Chinese side.
The Idu Mishmi population is estimated to be 12,000 and is the smallest of the three Indian Mishmi sub-groups. They speak a distinctive dialect that belongs to the Tibeto-Burman group of languages.