M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Feb 28: Farmers’ cattle are a big issue in the Palamu Tiger Reserve. There is no day in the tiger reserve when hordes of cattle do not enter here for grazing.
The cattle get back home before the sunset. A conservative estimate put its number to around 1,50,000.
N K Mahto, a forester in the Chhipadohar east range, said the cattle invasion is a big problem and is increasing day by day. Their owners are unmindful of it.
Farmers do not bother with their ageing and unproductive cattle. They do not mind also if their cattle are detained by the tiger reserve as they know it well that PTR has neither any exclusive space to house such detained cattle nor has any fund to feed them. The detained cattle will be out from the tiger reserve sooner than later, the cattle owners believe.
The state government has imposed the Jharkhand Bovine Animal Prohibition of Slaughter Act 2005 wherein sale – purchase and transit of bovine animal, if not with paper and document, is declared a big offence.
This has led to the accumulation of bovine animals here in the families of the farmers who are in no position to either sell their ageing livestock or replace it with new ones.
The result is in the swelling of the number of cattle that intrude into the tiger reserve and build tremendous biotic pressure, said sources.
PTR has more than 190 villages in and around and there is hardly any family where there is no domestic animal like cow, calf, ox, buffalo, goats etc.
A noted wildlife expert D S Srivastav, whose NGO Nature Conservation Society is on the panel of the National Board Of Wildlife government of India, said that it is high time the PTR management in collaboration with the civil authorities finds a way out to lessen this burden of cattle in the PTR.
He said PTR can’t go solo in it. “It is just not possible. PTR can’t afford to antagonise the cattle owners for the sake of the habitat and wildlife of the tiger reserve,” he added.
Chhipadohar east forester said the cattle owners just refuse to own their cattle when forest guards and trackers detain them for invading the tiger reserve. But when it comes to paying compensation which is now Rs. 15,000 per cattle loss to wildlife in the buffer area, multiple claimants pour in for the same cattle killed.
Chief conservator of forest and field director of PTR Kumar Ashutosh said he would look into this issue seriously.
Sources said the lackadaisical attitude of the forest guards at PTR has also contributed to the enormity of the cattle invasion.
Sources said the forest guards are neo-generation youths armed with degrees in science, computer, accountancy, education etc and find it hard to resign to the new task of saving and protecting the forest.
One PTR official said some of the forest guards carry laptops on their back bag instead of the tangi (a kind of axe) when going to the jungle simply for the reason that they detest carrying tangi across shoulders as they see it as a symbol of subjugation.
This PTR official said the forest guards here have become extremely disobedient and negligent in their duties. As a result, the check and curbs on the cattle invasion are missing.
Kumar Ashutosh said he would ask the two deputy directors of the PTR to look into this matter.
D S Srivastav said adequate pastures and meadows be prepared at panchayat level on GM lands under the MGNREGA scheme by the concerned block officials. He said it will definitely keep panchayat level cattle back in the panchayat itself.
He said cattle in the tiger reserve pose numerous problems. They eat palatable grasses meant for the wildlife here in the tiger reserve. They also contaminate water bodies raised for the wildlife.
He said the cattle may also carry foot and mouth diseases (FMD) and the wildlife will be exposed to health risks.
Srivastav said buffaloes are pretty fond of sitting in water and where buffaloes sit in the water, wildlife avoids using that water for the reason it stinks just for the body odour of the buffaloes that gets into the water.
Cattle invasion in the PTR gets more acute in summer. It goes on till the onset of the rains. It is equally true that cattle entry in the tiger reserve is an around the year phenomenon.