Neither here nor there

 

 

chambal is known across India as the refuge for all manner of dacoits, including the infamous Phoolan Devi, but few people know that it is also a wildlife sanctuary!

The National Chambal Sanctuary is spread over 635 sq kms across Agra and Etawah districts, and boasts of 311 species of migratory and resident birds along with turtles, otters, fresh water gangetic dolphins. But the one species which define Chambal, in wildlife terms, are the Gharials. Housing the largest population of these unique crocodiles, close to three-fourths of the world’s total, Chambal was known as haven for Gharials. Not any more, overfishing (Gharial's main food), poaching and unexpectedly, sand mining have become Gharials bane of existence. “Gharials require sand to lay their eggs, without it they are unable to breed properly”, said Fayaz Khudsar, an environmentalist. But the sand mining goes on, with a corresponding drop in Gharial numbers, with the authorities failing to stop it.

In January this year, the death of 100 Gharials caused alarm bells to ring out across the country and forced the UP forest department out of its slumber. Extensive post mortem tests on the Gharial's were inconclusive on the nature of the death, but revealed an unusually large amount of lead in their livers and kidneys. Experts conjecture that this highly toxic metal entered their body through eating contaminated fish from Yamuna (Yamuna merges into Chambal river about 40kms upstream). This latest tragedy joins a long list of tragedies in the making, with the biggest one being Gharials total extinction, if something isn’t done soon enough. panna

After a four hours safari in the Panna National Park and having spotted only two deers, two sambhars, and quiet river Ken, I was a little disappointed. "We opened in October and since then we haven’t spotted even one tiger pugmark. This has never happened before", told the guide, who spoke endlessly about the species of trees around, but almost nothing about the animals. Was it because of the size of the park (600 square kilometers dry, rocky land) or is it that the park, a hideout for dacoits for the past three years and popular with the nomadic hunter community, is now only left with shiny swaying tiger grass sans tigers?

“The clime of the place is such that the number of tigers has always been sub- optimal, the tiger’s caves in the dense forest were popular with the dacoits too. Armed struggle between the police and the dacoits caused a lot of destruction and panic", laments the Field Director of the park, L.K. Choudhary.

The park’s lack of boundary allows the animals to wander off to nearby villages in search of food where they are killed by the locals either out of fear or in anger for killing their domestic animals or destroying the crop. “Recently, we were called by villagers to tackle a tiger that had been shot by them. We went to rescue the tiger that was in pain and fury. However it died in 20 days”, recalled Indrabhaan, field representative of WWF in Panna.

A way out

With a little more will and a little more application, the downward spiral of both these national parks can be corrected. Let’s hope the authorities realize that before it's too late.