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Electric fences killing tigers in Maharashtra(The Hindu) And Delay in the protection of corridors threatens tiger population(The Hindu)
Context
- The electrocution of a tigress in the Chimur forest range in Chandrapur brings the tiger death toll due to electrocution in the Vidarbha area alone to five this year.
- Delayed action to protect crucial wildlife corridors, despite the availability of relevant ecological knowledge is another reason killing the big cats
Why are tigers dying?
- In a desperate attempt to prevent herbivores from destroying their crops, farmers often set up illegal high-voltage electrical fences around their fields
- Tigers, which use human-dominated landscapes including agricultural fields to move about, die when they come in contact with these fences.
- In some places, poachers erect live wire traps using overhead 11 kv lines to kill animals
Why are there more incidents now?
- Seven tigers have been electrocuted in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh alone
- Habib’s team had radio-collared four tigers to study their movement outside protected areas in the landscape; three of them died due to electrocution this year.
Why is this a problem?
- These tiger deaths are just the tip of the iceberg and point to a larger problem, says Milind Pariwakam, wildlife biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Central Indian Programme.
- Experts admit that electrocution is one of the major threats to tiger conservation in central India.
What are authorities saying?
- The threat of electrocution seems to be higher in villages near the core regions of the protected areas where crop raids by wild animals are more frequent, prompting farmers to put up high-voltage fences.
- Nearly 200 villages that are prone to such a conflict and where tiger electrocutions are also highly probable.
- The campaigns will highlight the illegal use of such fences for crop protection: stealing power from overhead lines amounts to theft, and animal deaths that result from the erection of these fences are offences under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
