Hyderabad: Security in the state’s tiger reserves is weaker than in other states. The Kawal tiger reserve has 120 personnel and the one at Amarabad 180. The number of tigers is said to be between 14 and 16.
In comparison, the Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve in Maharashtra, from where tigers wander into Kawal; Ranthambore in Rajasthan; and at the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam tiger reserve in Andhra Pradesh have at least 500 personnel manning them.
The NSTR, which is linked to Amrabad, has around 45-55 tigers. “We have 64 base camps in the tiger reserve and 250 trackers specially deployed to track the tigers,” said an official from the Andhra Pradesh forest department.
Ranthambore and Tadoba tiger reserves have tighter security arrangements.
According to Ranthambore field director Mr Y. K. Sahu, the last tiger poaching case registered in the reserve was in 1992. For the Tadoba reserve, the Maharashtra government appointed two district forest officers, one for the core area and the other for the buffer zone.
Ranthambore has 300 forest staff and takes the help of 50 to 100 home guards every month, depending on need. The reserve has about 50 adult tigers and 17 to 19 cubs and they are guarded by a Special Tiger Force with 112 personnel.
“For the protection of tigers, we have taken 50 village wildlife volunteers from villages in and around the reserve. This is a joint programme of the forest department, tourism department and NGOs,” Mr Sahu said.
The state government has recruited about 2,000 personnel for the forest department. The department has a sanctioned strength of 5,000 but it had fallen to around 2,500.
The state forest department received information regarding the recent seizure of tiger skin from central teams and NGOs attached to tiger conservation.
