Blog: Tiger! Tiger!

Tiger News from India
WPSI (Wildlife Protection Society of India) has received 4 new “Tiger Conservation and Anti-poaching Awareness Vans” bringing the total to 7. They operate in the villages that fringe the forests of several major parks including Khana  and Bandhavgarh.

The problem: local people often have their lives disrupted by tiger conservation: their cattle are predated upon; fire wood collection is prohibited and access to their local forest banned; and sometimes whole villages are relocated. Great for tiger conservation, inconvenient if you’re one of the locals.

Tiger safari India

The campaign was launched in 2011 with the aim of getting local people on-side with tiger conservation. The project uses audio-visual that is taken to villages and screened, in the local language; the film is called ‘The Truth About Tigers’ https://vimeo.com/17468170 . The WPSI team is often accompanied by forest officers and meaningful discussions are held with the villagers to find solutions for their grievances.

The aim of this project is to reduce the antagonism between local people and the Forest Department, and to inform the villagers of government projects that they could benefit from such as compensation and employment schemes. The programme has been successful at reducing corruption, speeding up compensation claims and receiving poaching information. The dramatic increase in tiger numbers bears witness: 2006 there were just 1,411 tigers; 3,891 in 2016. Not too shabby!
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