COVID-19 is hurting the tiger community & tigers. Wild tiger attacks have killed 2 people, including an anti-poaching patroller, in just 3 weeks; a third is critical in hospital. Two tigers have died in the last week due to Tiger-Tiger conflict, as the drought season sets in. We're at crisis point. Each day patrollers risk their lives getting drinking water from waterholes used by tigers. With $400 we can install large drinking water tanks at 4 remote patrolling camps to stop this happening.
Every time patrollers use a wildlife waterhole to fill their drinking water bottle to help them cope with patrolling in 45 degree celsius (113F), they risk their lives. Patrol camps and watchtowers are placed at strategic locations around Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and some of these are fortunate enough to have a hand operated borewell pump so that they have access to clean drinking water. Where this isn't possible, patrollers need to use the wildlife waterholes to get the water they need daily.
We plan to install large water tanks in 4 remote patrolling camps which can be filled by water tankers and ensure that patrollers accessing the camps have access to clean, safe drinking water when they need it. The tanks are designed to hold several weeks of drinking water and will ensure that patrollers can access this safely day and night. Without these water tanks, patrollers will have to frequent the waterholes used by tigers, leopards, bears & other wildlife, risking their lives as they do
The lives of of the patrollers protecting the thousands of wild animals including more than 100 wild tigers will be saved by the year round availability of water in these water tanks. Furthermore they will reduce the risk of more human-animal conflict which has been on the increase in recent weeks. This micro-project will ensure that we can continue to plan further waterholes for the conservation of wild tigers their forest homes in a sustainable manner with ecologically focused solutions.
