By Dr. Corinne Taylor-Smith | Project Leader
Thank you for your incredible support in these challenging times, without your help many of the brave men and women who risk their lives to keep wild tigers safe wouldn’t be able to work as effectively. Your generosity helps us to equip these brave men and women to cope in all manner of weather conditions and with the challenges that the terrain, the miscreants and the wildlife throw at them. For the last four years it has been incredibly difficult to keep pace with the rate at which renewal and replacement of vital kit was needed, let alone attempt to equip the patrolling teams with better more reliable equipment. To be sustainable and ensure that those living alongside wild tigers have a reason to keep them safe we always support the local economy when purchasing clothing and equipment for the brave patrollers as this gives the locals a vested interest in wild tiger survival too.
Without your amazing support many of these brave patrollers would be suffering during the seasonal weather extremes with inadequate or inappropriate kit. Your generosity helped us to provide waterproof clothing to keep every single patroller dry during the harsh rains of the monsoon season; and to provide warm jackets to help 80% of the brave patrollers to stay out on patrol on the coldest winter days and nights. Thank you, we couldn’t have achieved it without your amazing support. You’ve also helped us to provide uniforms and sturdy boots for 520 of the 650 patrollers who didn’t have them at all.
We still aim to replenish and replace worn out essential equipment and provide the new equipment that modern anti-poaching patrollers need, and have quite a way to go, so we hope that with your help we can do this together and if we could complete the task by this time next year it would be truly amazing. It is a huge task, as some of the equipment which still needs replacing is over 13 years old. Your amazing support helped us to provide 1005 essential waterproof clothing sets for the anti-poaching patrollers in little over a year; whilst also providing 804 warm winter jackets, full uniforms and sturdy boots for 520 patrollers, 250 powerful flashlights and the snake rescue kits which save human and animal lives. Thanks to you, the brave anti-poaching patrollers in Bandhavgarh are better equipped to face their daily challenges. This gives us the hope we need to raise sufficient funds to provide the essentials still needed.
More Uniforms, Boots and Flashlights are needed Urgently
Wearing a uniform is very important for the brave anti-poaching patrollers who keep wild tigers safe, it is more than just protection from their work environment, it distinguishes them from forest intruders and interlopers. Sadly, we’ve been unable to provide sturdy boots and uniforms for 130 of the brave men and women patrollers who still don’t have proper clothing to wear as they keep wild tigers safe. In the last few weeks, we have ordered 100 uniforms and pairs of sturdy boots or the situation would be even worse. In challenging situations, wearing the uniform helps the patrollers to command the authority and respect they deserve. When the patrollers lack proper uniforms and kit it frequently leads to their requests being ignored or disrespected by those encroaching into the forest or conducting illicit or illegal activities. We want to prioritise full uniforms and boots for the remaining 130 brave individuals to ensure that they can conduct their patrolling efficiently and safely. We need to raise another £6500 ($8320) to be ensure that every patroller has a full uniform and sturdy boots when they’re on duty. The right equipment is fundamental to ensuring that these brave patrollers who risk their lives to keep wild tigers safe are protected whenever they are on foot (https://goto.gg/56553).
As we’re already heading into winter residual rains make the days and nights cooler so a lack of appropriate clothing and boots can make patrolling duties a real challenge. In just a matter of weeks the overnight temperatures will plummet close to freezing and sandals or bare feet will afford no protection at all. On a positive side snakes are less active at night in the colder months so fatal snake bites whilst patrolling are less likely, however, the risk of venomous snakes finding a cosy spot to sleep in a patrolling camp is still high. We still hope to equip every patrolling camp with a snake rescue kit, in time, and ensure the patrollers are trained to safely remove and rehabilitate the snake into the forest safely. Each snake rescue kit costs around £220 ($275) and can save many lives (snakes and human) as they can be used over and over. It would be great if every remote patrolling camp could be equipped with a snake rescue kit but there are many other urgent needs too and only a small number of patrollers are currently trained in their safe use. (https://goto.gg/56553). Such needs will certainly keep us busy for many years to come.
Winter brings darker days and nights, especially under the forest canopy where new foliage blocks out the little light which remains, this results in more patrolling in darkness or twilight, often coupled with cold and foggy treacherous conditions. With this in mind, we are prioritising more rechargeable powerful flashlights alongside the uniforms highlighted above. There are over 750 patrollers without a powerful rechargeable flashlight, and we would like to reduce this number by at least 100 in the next few months but it will cost £1660 ($2210) to do this. Meanwhile, patrollers are sharing one powerful flashlight between two, three or four patrollers who are on duty together, but even sharing like this means we still need a minimum of 205 more powerful flashlights (https://goto.gg/56553).
The equipment needs of our patrols are constantly changing as poachers and other miscreants deploy new techniques to avoid capture or discovery. Modern patrolling equipment needs to be lighter, more versatile and more durable than before. As a result, fundraising for new and replacement equipment is likely to be a long-term project going forward. At night, in pitch dark conditions, wooden canes, head torches and powerful flashlights are invaluable kit to provide reflections in the eyes of wild animals and of the metal from hidden snares and traps, and to provide a means of disarming those traps without losing a limb.
Patrolling is Always Dangerous
Our patrollers report back on the daily dangers they face, and after over 8 years of patrolling, we regularly learn how the patrollers’ encounters with other humans are those which strike the greatest fear into them. Every patroller says the same thing, the most dangerous moment in the forest is when they encounter humans! Our patrollers say that humans are far more dangerous than wild animals because they are unpredictable. They could have guns or other weapons and launch unprovoked attacks. They could react badly to being caught in the forest, and when they outnumber the patrolling team, they will frequently try all means to get away, including attacking/beating up the patrollers who have discovered them. Sometimes, the humans save their retaliation for later and may attack an off-duty patroller as they return home after a long shift in the forest. To counter these risks, we always try to ensure that a patrolling vehicle is close by, in case back up or rapid transfer to a medical facility is needed. Thankfully, attacks by wild animals on our patrolling team are quite rare and we adopt a safety in numbers approach to foot patrolling to reduce the risk of human attacks whilst on duty.
Human-Wildlife Conflict is Increasing - Elephant Attacks
It has been a traumatic week in Bandhavgarh with the death of 10 wild elephants due to poisoning. Just two days ago, I received reports that the 3 surviving elephants from the poisoned herd had attacked 5 humans, two of which had died whilst the others were in hospital for ongoing treatment for their injuries. Such moments are both heartbreaking and devastating but also a sharp reminder of the fine balance between conflict and tolerance for the human and wildlife populations. The deaths of 10 elephants have wiped out over 18% of the total wild elephant population in Bandhavgarh which is devastating because many of the dead elephants were breeding age females so the impact will be felt for many years to come. In the last 5 years, wild elephants have contributed to large increases in human-wildlife conflict as they travel hundreds of miles each day consuming 1 -2 tonnes of food each as they go. Some farmers have lost entire rice and wheat crops in a single night when the elephants have bulldozed their way into their fields. Crop losses leave families distraught and hungry, some farmers have taken their own lives from the resulting despair. Finding solutions which keep the elephants safe and the farmers happy is not easy. Tigers4Ever has installed solar street lighting at the key entry points from the forest into 20 villages and plans to install more at 25 new locations in the coming months but these will protect the children sleeping in their homes, the schools from destruction and the livestock from nocturnal predators too. In keeping the wildlife out of peoples’ homes we have improved tolerance and reduced human-wildlife conflict, especially from tigers and leopards, however, it would be impossible to put solar powered PIR sensitive lighting encircling every village against potential elephant attacks so other methods are needed. Retaliatory poisoning is one of the most heartbreaking methods used in and around the villages to prevent wildlife intrusions and attacks as it has far-reaching and devastating consequences beyond the obvious. Something which has been painfully relived in recent days, in the last 9 and a half years our anti-poaching patrols have fought really hard to eliminate the retaliatory poisoning of wild tigers because its indiscriminate consequences kill multiple tigers, jackals, hyenas and other scavengers, vultures, other birds and insects which feed on the poisoned carcass and the carcasses of those which ate the poison too. Now with 10 huge elephants poisoned, how many more animals will die from infected food and soils? Our anti-poaching patrols will desperately need everything we can equip them with to fight this silent but most deadly killer!
What else are we doing to help?
Our anti-poaching patrols are tripled and on high alert for signs of poisons around the edges of villages and near waterholes especially. Our work at four new permanent wildlife waterholes is continues as heavy monsoon rains hampered some of our progress, as did the need for repairs of the dam stopped wall at one of our newest waterholes at Bhainsmooda where flood waters washed away the retaining wall during the heavy late monsoon. We have also extended the size of another seasonal waterhole in the Pachpedi core forest and installed a new pump system to ensure year-round water going forward. Our attentions will then focus on another waterhole in the Magdhi core forest to provide a solar-powered pump system and make a seasonal waterhole year-round and creating a new large wildlife waterhole in the Pachpedi-Birulhi buffer which will provide year-round water at a new location for wild tigers and their prey. On completion of these works, we plan to start work on another permanent wildlife waterhole in the Kithauli core zone. We have also installed solar street lighting at the forest entrance to 20 villages where human-tiger conflict is rife, to reduce the conflict by deterring tigers entering the villages at night. This is a new initiative which is based around a similar scheme which is helping to reduce human-tiger conflict in the Sundarbans. In the next few months we plan to install solar street lighting at 25 more locations where human-wildlife conflict is rife.
We urgently need your help to provide another 130 full uniforms and boots so patrolling can continue for every patroller at the optimum level. To equip every patroller with a uniform and boots, we need to raise another £4020 ($5350) so that the brave men and women who risk their lives each day to keep wild tigers safe can keep going in the challenging conditions ahead. We also desperately need more powerful waterproof flashlights for the brave patrollers which if we get the minimum of 205 will cost £3405 ($4565) so we are hoping that our Giving Tuesday bonus matched funding campaign on 03 December 2024 will help. Nonetheless any help you can give will be most always be most welcome: https://goto.gg/56553. Even the smallest donation will be a huge help in these difficult times.
Making a Difference
Your continued support helps us to patrol an extra 1000 km (624 miles) of wild tiger territory per month, without essential equipment this may reduce as winter takes hold! It is vital to ensure sufficient time to search for snares; traps and signs of poisoners around forest areas where human encroachment is widespread; and around the periphery of villages where crop raiding and livestock killing is rife. Increased patrolling helps us to curb human encroachment into wild tigers’ territories and allows us to provide safety advice for those trying to protect their crops and livestock from wandering elephants and tigers respectively.
With over 210 tigers to keep safe now, we need your help to ensure we can keep going. Your gift today, however large or small can make a huge difference as to whether Bandhavgarh’s wild tigers can survive the unprecedented threats they currently face:
Without our help, we know that more wild tigers will die; and more humans will be mauled or killed due to encroachment or human-tiger conflict. Sadly, with every human life lost comes another threat to the wild tiger’s survival in the form of retaliation; thus, we must protect both if we are to ensure that wild tigers can have a wild future.
Please don’t hesitate if you can help, your donation can be the difference between life and death for a wild tiger, as it helps to keep our patrolling going when it is most needed. Every tiger and every tiger cub counts. Thank you for making our fight against poachers, the changing climate and human-animal conflict possible. (https://goto.gg/56553).
May I take this opportunity to thank you again for your amazing support.
Links:
By Dr. Corinne Taylor-Smith | Project Leader
By Dr. Corinne Taylor-Smith | Project Leader
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
