Reduced activities increased grassland cover; this supported more herbivores & consequently, tigers
A tiger. Photo: iStock Authorities in Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) have credited the rise in the protected area (PA)’s big cat numbers to a reduction in human activities, including restrictions on illegal mining in its eco-sensitive zone.
VTR Field Director Neshmani K told this reporter that a total ban on sand and stone mining inside VTR, and strict restrictions on mining in its eco-sensitive zone, helped increase grassland cover. This, in turn, caused tiger numbers in the PA to rise to 54 earlier this year, up from 31 in 2018. In 2014, there were only 28 tigers in VTR.
According to a senior officer of Bihar’s forest, environment and climate change department, herbivores — which big cats such as tigers prey on — depend on grasslands. An increase in grassland cover thus helps in supporting the prey population, in turn increasing the chances of the carnivores’ survival.
Neshmani added that the PA’s focus now is to manage and sustain the tiger population by working to minimise human-wildlife conflict. This, it would do by creating awareness among local residents and keeping a check on mining in and around the reserve.
However, a local police official posted at a police station near VTR said the ban on illegal sand mining is only on paper. The powerful local sand mafia is loading sand on tractors from within and outside the reserve in broad daylight and ferrying it away.
More than half a dozen Himalayan rivers flow through VTR, and the sand mafia harvest sand from them in gross violation of the ban on mining in the eco-sensitive zone.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had officially announced the increase in VTR’s tiger population in July. The reserve has witnessed a 75 per cent increase in tiger count that was praised by NTCA. The organisation placed the reserve in the ‘Very Good’ category.
VTR is spread over 899 square kilometres (89,900 ha) in the Valmiki Wildlife Sanctuary. It is located in Bihar’s West Champaran district, bordering Nepal to its north and Uttar Pradesh to its west.
Bihar is working for a second tiger reserve in Kaimur district by 2024. The state government is waiting to obtain NTCA approval for declaring Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary as the state’s second tiger reserve after VTR.
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