India turns poachers into gamekeepers to save tigers

Periyar Tiger Reserve, India, (Reuters)

India is turning poachers into gamekeepers in a bid to save its dwindling tiger population.

The primitive Mannan tribespeople who once plundered the jungles of tropical southern India, destroying the ecosystem and driving the dwindling number of tigers deeper into what was left of their habitat, now risk their lives to protect them.

By guaranteeing the Mannan a comfortable, legal income from its Project Tiger, the government has made conservation worth more than poaching, says reserve deputy chief Pramod Kishnan.

"The moment the tiger is gone, that money is gone," he says. "We are converting the destroyers of the park into its protectors. With their help, we have caught about 150 poachers." About 500 Mannan families live in round, thatch-roofed huts in a new government settlement on the edge of the park. The men - armed with ancient bolt-action .303 rifles - work mainly as rangers and guides.

The village women make voluntary patrols, giving up one day every two weeks to slog through the jungle. The only equipment the government gives them is a next-to-useless thin plastic raincoat and a green baseball cap with a tiger face on the front.

"We realise now that we were doing such bad things. It was becoming a desert," says Leila Kasim as she prepares for a patrol. "Now, it's more alive." In March, wildlife experts and the media suddenly started talking of an alarming drop in big cat numbers across India, home to almost half the world's surviving tigers, saying some of the 32-year-old Project Tiger's showcase reserves now had none.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ordered a police investigation and announced a special wildlife anti-crime taskforce.

"We have a problem at hand and if we don't tackle it effectively, I think we could be doing irretrievable damage to our heritage," he said last month on a tour of Ranthambhore reserve a few hours from New Delhi. "The future is in our hands."

Singh did sight a tigress, "Lady of the Lake", although some newspapers said that was more than likely thanks to an old ranger trick to keep VIPs happy: use a bait to lure an animal whose habits are known close to the guest's pre-planned route.

A century ago, there were about 40,000 tigers in India. They were a major danger to villagers and explorers and a test of hunting skills for flamboyant maharajas and officers of the Raj.

Now, officials estimate there are about 3,700, but wildlife experts say the number is closer to 2,000. Hunting is illegal and trade in tiger parts banned, but a single animal can fetch as much as $50,000. Organs and parts are popular in traditional medicine. Bones are worth $400 a kg (2.2 lb), a penis almost $850, a tooth $120 and a claw just $10. With a penalty for poaching of three years' jail and a fine of 25,000 rupees ($575), the potential rewards are rich in a nation where millions live on less than a dollar a day.

Tigers are also vulnerable to the poaching of the animals they hunt and to habitat destruction.

Periyar, 777 sq km (300 sq mile) of almost impenetrable jungle, patches of undulating open grasslands and a meandering dam studded with the skeletons of dead trees, is comfortably carrying its capacity of about 40 tigers, 800-900 elephants and thousands of monkeys, deer, wild boars and other species, says Kishnan. About 500,000 tourists visit a year, gawping from tour boats as they glide past elephants and other wildlife drawn to the water's edge. But the main human pressure here is the 5 million pilgrims visiting the Sabarimala Hindu temple within the park.

They pay nothing towards the reserve's upkeep. But the temple in honour of Lord Ayyappa, one of South India's most revered Hindu deities, is a major site for for all castes and religions.