KOLKATA (S.N.M. Abdi in KHALEEJ TIMES), May 26, 2005:
CHRISTIAN charities are responsible for Kolkata's best old-age homes. Built during the Raj or soon after independence, most of them are in the heart of the city. Real estate developers are forever eyeing the prime properties. But the sprawling homes for senior citizens have so far held their own.
Now an altogether different kind of old-age home is being planned. It will not be made of bricks and mortar. Nor will it be built in Kolkata. It is being set up in the Sunderbans mangrove forest tiger reserve — a sanctuary which is the pride of West Bengal — for ageing tigers.
Atanu Raha, chief conservator of the Sunderbans forest, says that sick and ageing Royal Bengal tigers that can't hunt any more will be rehabilitated in the rescue centre so that they don't fall prey to poachers. 'It will be like an old-age home. We will try and make it a near-natural habitat so that the animals don't feel they are in captivity.'
The old-age home would also treat injured and ailing tigers. After treatment, they will be released back into the wild. Last year, a census revealed that there are as many as 274 tigers in the 10,000 sq km riverine mangrove marshlands of the Sunderbans straddling West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh.
Old or wounded tigers often slip into villages on the edge of the reserve and prey on people and cattle. Raha says that once the age-old home becomes operational, ageing tigers will cease to be a threat to humans. Tigers are in the news for various reasons. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has just completed his first year in office, sighted his first tiger this week in the famous Ranthombore reserve in Rajasthan.
Singh — a synonym for tiger — set up a tiger task force last month to review the management of reserves around the country after reports that between 100 and 125 tigers are being killed each year in the country. Official estimates put India's tiger population at around 3,700, but conservationists say it could be less than 2,000 as the majestic animals fall prey to bullets, poison, explosives or traps in so-called sanctuaries across India.
A century ago, the number was thought to have been 40,000 but hunting and rampant poaching of tigers for their body parts — used in traditional Chinese medicines — has brought the animal closer to extinction. Experts fear that by the next Chinese year of the tiger — 2010 — there may be only 1,000 tigers left. Most reserves do not receive the allocated funds on time, resulting in low morale — and 40 per cent of posts are vacant.
The situation has worsened by insurgency and law-and-order problems in many reserves where forest guards have only batons to tackle well-armed attackers. Singh says he is giving highest priority to saving tigers. Not too long ago, over 300 Members of Parliament signed a memorandum demanding high-level intervention to save the endangered species.
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