By Dr. Corinne Taylor-Smith | Project Leader
Thanks to your amazing support we have achieved so much since we launched our Patrolling Equipment project in late Summer 2022. Your generosity has helped us to equip the brave men and women who keep wild tigers safe so that they can cope in all manner of weather conditions and with the challenges that the terrain, the miscreants and the wildlife throw at them. Post pandemic we found it hard to keep pace with the rate at which renewal and replacement kit was needed, let alone attempt to equip the patrolling teams with better more reliable equipment. As always, we try to support the local economy when purchasing clothing and equipment for the brave patrollers as we know that by doing so, we give the locals a vested interest in wild tiger survival too.
Today we know that without your amazing support many of these 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.
Our aim is still to replenish and replace worn out essential equipment and provide the new equipment that modern anti-poaching patrollers need, so we still have a way to go, we hope that with your help we can do this together and if we can complete the task by this time next year it would be truly amazing. It is a mammoth task, as some of the equipment which still needs replacing is more than 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 420 patrollers, 150 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.
Uniforms, Boots and Flashlights are Urgently needed
Wearing a uniform is very important for the brave men and women 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 230 of the brave men and women patrollers still lack a full uniform and sturdy boots to wear as they keep wild tigers safe. In challenging situations, wearing the uniform helps the patrollers to command the authority and respect they deserve. When the patrollers lack the 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 these 230 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 into the monsoon peak poaching season and the heavy rains fall almost daily, deadly snakes are more active too and patrollers lives are at risk due to snake bites when they don’t have the right kit. As a consequence, we frequently receive requests for more Snake rescue kits which will provide vital protection for both the snakes and humans too. It is not uncommon for snakes to enter peoples’ homes or patrolling camps looking for a warm place to sleep. Venomous snakes present the biggest danger to a sleeping, off-duty or resting patroller as they cosy alongside the warm body and inflict an often-fatal bite should the poor unsuspecting patroller move. Thus, equipping patrolling camps with a snake rescue kit not only allows patrollers to rescue snakes from people’s homes and relocate them into a safe part of the forest; they allow patrollers to rescue their fellow patrollers from a potentially fatal bite whilst they are sleeping too. It is hard to imagine that snakes actually kill more than 58000 people annually, which is significantly more than attacks by wild tigers, yet tiger attacks make more headline news! Over three quarters of people killed by snakes annually are children and young adults. 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.
The heavy monsoon rains also bring darker days, 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 wet and treacherous conditions. With this in mind, we are prioritising more rechargeable powerful flashlights alongside the uniforms highlighted above. There are over 855 patrollers without a powerful rechargeable flashlight, and we would like to reduce this number by at least 100 in the next few weeks but it will cost £1660 ($2135) to achieve this. At present, we are adopting a sharing method whereby one powerful flashlight is shared between two, three or four patrollers who are on duty together, but even this method leaves us in need of 205 more powerful flashlights as a minimum (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 Dangerous
Our patrollers report back on the daily dangers they face, and after more than 8 years of patrolling, we are getting used to learning how the encounters with other humans are those which strike the greatest fear into them. Every patroller we ask says the same thing, the most dangerous moment in the forest is when they encounter humans! Our patrollers tell us that humans are 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
At this time of year, encroachment into the forest always increases as lush shoots of new grasses, plants and fruits which provide food for humans and their livestock. The rural villagers often take advantage of the opportunity to encroach into forest land at this time of year too, as this increases their growing capacity for crops too. Illegal logging, illegal sand mining and illegal fishing are also a bit problem during the monsoon rains too. All these activities, also mean that anti-poaching patrollers must be extra vigilant to spot strangers as they are most likely to be poachers who are disguising themselves as villagers so they can slip into the forest unnoticed. Just last week, a group of strangers were caught in the forest and placed under arrest as they had been setting traps to kill wild boar and profit from the sale of the meat. The higher number of people moving in the forest inevitably leads to human-wildlife conflict too when unsuspecting villagers stumble upon a wild tiger, a leopard or wild elephant and suffer an attack which can lead to their death or the death of their livestock. It is strange that despite the safety education training, banners and warnings these villagers are still risking their lives to graze their cattle in the forest! Most tiger attacks are serendipitous, where the tiger mistakes the crouching human for a grazing deer. Sometimes, however, the tiger attacks in self-defence as it retaliates for being hit by a stick as the villager tries to protect his/her livestock. The tiger instinctively senses that the human isn’t prey but an intruder in its forest home, the attack is in defence, and the intruder has been defeated. Tigers can also be indifferent to the human presence, but tigresses with nearby cubs are always extremely dangerous when humans approach. Sometimes the human is startled by the sudden appearance of the tiger and stands upright quickly whilst waving their arms around aggressively. The tiger sees this action as a threat and strikes the first blow. A human weighing around 65kg (143lbs) doesn’t stand a chance against the mighty tiger’s 230+kg (506+lbs) and the single blow can prove fatal if the person’s head hits the ground with force or deep wounds bleed out quickly.
Victims of human-wildlife conflict are often the only income provider in the family, and this often leads to retaliatory attacks on the tiger by the villagers or them leaving poisoned bait for the tiger and cubs to eat. Our patrols always need to be extra vigilant when there has been a tiger attack, not just for retaliation but also for the tiger returning to attack again. It is a fine balance, but it is worth remembering that more humans kill tigers every year than the reverse, and that more people are killed in Bandhavgarh by snakes than by tigers. It doesn’t mean that it isn’t a massive loss to the family concerned, but it does emphasise the role of our anti-poaching patrols in providing safety information to those they encounter in the forest; and educational resources which help to protect both the wildlife and human populations.
What else are we doing to help?
We have quadrupled our patrols to the highest levels to counter the increased risk of encroachment, retaliatory poisonings and poaching during the monsoon and have made a commitment to maintain a minimum of triple patrolling for the remainder of the year. Our work at four new permanent wildlife waterholes is currently underway with repairs of six solar pump systems having been our priority prior to our commencing work on the Bhainsmooda waterhole project, which should be complete in the next week. 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. Post monsoon, 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.
With the peak encroachment and poaching season already here, we urgently need your help to provide another 230 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 £6500 ($8320) 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. Any help you can give will be most welcome: https://goto.gg/56553. Even the smallest donation will be a huge help in these difficult times.
Making a Difference
With your continued support, we can cover an extra 1000 km (624 miles) of wild tiger territory per month with our increased patrols, without essential equipment this may reduce! 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 60 tiger cubs born in the last two years, we have many more wild tigers to keep safe now. We need your help. 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 are facing:
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.
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