Poisoning of tigers and leopards with pesticide by vengeful villagers is threatening the survival of big cats
Coimbatore: The
big cats in western Tamil Nadu are facing a new threat, not from
ruthless poachers but from poisonous pesticides. Poisoning of tigers and
leopards with pesticide by vengeful villagers is threatening the
survival of big cats in Western Tamil Nadu, say conservationists.
Farmers who lose their cows and buffaloes to the big cats are lacing
pesticides on the carcasses of their cattle to kill the predators.
The
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve has lost a tiger and leopard to poisoning
this year. A putrefied tiger carcass was found lying on the border of
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, close to Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve on
February 16. The tiger was found to be poisoned. Four persons were
arrested for poisoning a leopard on the Sathyamangalam forest periphery
in March this year, says Sathyamangalam District Forest Officer
K.Rajkumar.
"Old tigers and leopards which grow
weak and are unable to hunt, may take to killing cattle bred by
villagers abutting forest boundaries. The villagers get infuriated over
losing their cattle which is their main source of livelihood and tend to
take revenge by killing them. They poison the carcass with insecticide
and the big cat that comes to eat its kill dies instantly," said K.
Mohan Raj of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement.
A
fortnight ago on September 25, a male leopard was poisoned by a farmer
in Mettupalayam. The farmer, V. Nanjan, 52, from Kallar village poisoned
the seven year old male leopard to avenge the loss of his cattle. The
leopard had mauled his two cows to death. He poured insecticide into the
carcass of the cow to kill the big cat. "This is the first incident of
poisoning death to be reported in the Coimbatore forests in the last few
years.
The situation is not alarming and there is
nothing to worry," says Coimbatore district forest officer M. Senthil
Kumar. However, conservationists and animal activists are perturbed over
the rising incidence of poisoning of big cats. They want the forest
department to take stern action to curb such tiger killing. It is not
enough if poachers are kept at bay, poisoning villagers should also be
sternly dealt with, they say.
In an earlier
incident in the first week of May, four persons, who had brought tiger
and leopard skins to Coimbatore from Kodaikanal to sell to a potential
customer, had confessed that they had poached the animals by poisoning.
"It is an organised network of smugglers. We are on the lookout for a
few more persons in the case," said a forest department official.
The
jungles of Moyar valley, known for a large presence of tigers, also
witnessed at least two incidents of tiger deaths due to suspected
poisoning so far this year.
A tiger was found dead in the
Thengumarahada jungles in May while another tiger died in the north
Nilgiri division on January 21. According
to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), 11 tigers have
died due to different reasons so far this year in Tamil Nadu as against
just two last year and five the previous year.
While
tiger mortality has come down across India with 47 incidents so far
this year as against 63 last year and 72 the previous year, it has
increased manifold in Tamil Nadu, worrying wild life conservationists.
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