Guidelines for Declaration of Bigger Cats as Man – Dangerous in India
Both tiger and panther are included in scheduled I of the Wildlife (Protection/) Act, 1972 and have been given full protection against hunting under section 9 (1). They can be hunted only if they become dangerous to human life or if they are so disabled or diseased as to be beyond recovery. Under section 11 (1) (a), only the Chief Wildlife Warden has been given the authority to permit any person to hunt such as animal and before doing so, he has to state in writing the reasons thereof. Tigers and panthers turned man eaters on the past and continue to do so even now. Inspite of several theories being propounded about the non-existence of maneaters, it is a stark reality that tigers and panthers turn man-eaters and action is to be taken to remove the menace to human life. It is not intended to give here the various reasons and circumstances that turn these animals into man-eaters, but the fact has to be recognized that tigers and panthers do turn into man-eaters and it is necessary to lay down some guidelines to help the Chief Wildlife Wardens in deciding the circumstances and the stage at which an animal could be declared a man-eater. The following guidelines are indicated: It is necessary to differentiate between man-killing and man-eating. There are several circumstances under which human beings are attacked accidently by tigers and panthers and may as a result die, but these cases are to be considered only as accidental killings. Such circumstances include.
- Approach by man to an area when a tigress is sheltering her cubs.
- (ii) Approach accidentally to a sleeping tiger/tigress specially by grass cutters, wood collectors, etc.
- (iii) A bent-in posture by man when a tiger takes him to be an animal and attacks. In such cases, the tiger/tigress does not eat the dead person in the first case, but it may start eating the dead body if the tiger/tigress come across such accidents more than once. If the tigress is with cubs and is confined to a limited area with shortage of natural prey, she is more prone t o eat the dead body. The mere fat that the dead body has been eaten does not prove that the animal is a man-eater. Similarly, the fact that a particular animal has killed more than one human being also does not prove it to be a man –eater. The circumstances under which the animal killed the human being has to be examined in detail to arrive at any conclusion.
If a tiger/panther begins to seek out, stalk and wait for human beings and has after killing a person, eaten the dead body, it is established beyond doubt that the animal has turned into a man-eater. It is not necessary in such cases to wait till several human lives are lost. It may be difficult to establish such cases after the first case, but after the second case of human kill it can easily be decided if the animal has turned into a man-eater. The place where the human kills take place should also work as a guide. In certain area, where forests are disturbed due to intensive working, grazing or fire, tigresses tend to move to adjoining sugarcane fields to litter. Labour and farmers working in the sugarcane fields get killed by such tigresses, and their dead body is eaten by them. As given in para (1), such animals are not to be considered man-eaters. But in case, a tiger starts living in such sugarcane fields, he is more likely to turn into a man –eater, as he goes out there for food. He seeks after pigs and animals in the field and can kill and eat human beings also. A male tiger killing a human being near a village or in sugarcane field will in all probability be a man-eater. This evidence should not be used against panthers, which usually live close to villages and move in the night even though the village in search of dogs, unless the panther has begun to lie in wait for human beings. Even if enough evidence has not come forth to establish an animal as a man-eater, but there are definite grounds to suspect after one human kill that the animal has the tendency to turn into a menace, steps should be taken to trap it. Trapping of panthers will not be difficult, but may be so in the case of tigers. Efforts to tranquilise such animals should start immediately. Where it is established that the animal is a man-eater, it has to be declared so without delay and steps should be taken to destroy the animal. Efforts to trap and tranquilise the animal should, however, continue along with the steps taken to destroy it. But in no case efforts to destroy it should slacken for the sake of trapping or tranquilising to succeed. When a tiger has been declared a man-eater, only experienced and senior forest officers should be authorized to destroy it. In no case permits should be given to others. There is such a heavy demand from shikaris and others to get a permit to destroy man0-eating tigers that they bring heavy pressure, both political and otherwise on the authorities to declare a tiger as a man-eater. To remove the chances of such pressures working against innocent tigers, it is necessary to eliminate outside from getting any permit for their destruction. This also destruction of only the genuine man-eater. In the case of panthers, operating in hilly tracts, it may be necessary to take the help of experienced shikaris, as young and experienced persons are needed to operate in these hilly areas. On account of complete ban on hunting of tigers and panthers since that last one decade, and also due to the rise in the price of arms and ammunitions, it is difficult to find a young forest officer, with adequate experienced who can be authorized to destroy the maneater. Unlike the case of a man-eating tigers, where age does not work as a handicap and where middle-aged forest officers can take care of the animal in the plains, the man-eating panther needs an agile and young shikari who can over miles and miles of difficult hilly terrain on foot. No authority other than the Chief Wildlife Warden is legally competent to permit any one to hunt such animals. Cases have, however, occurred where civil authorities have unofficially authorized and encouraged hunting of such animals by shikaris, experienced and otherwise, leading to a ‘free-for all’ in the area of operation. Such irresponsible action on the part of any authority should be severely dealt with by the Government, as it leads not only to the destruction of several innocent animals, but may create more man-eaters through injury caused by these shikaris. Normally no reward should be announced or given for the destruction of man-eaters. Where it is necessary to engage a shikari, who cannot himself take care of the financial burden involved in the operation, all assistance and material help should be provided to him by the Government. Government may also consider the release of the trophy of the animal destroyed in favour of the hunter (GOI).
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With wildlife veterinarians calling upon the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to revamp the prevailing guidelines/SOP to deal with conflict big cats (tigers and leopards), certain changes have been brought in the procedures to be followed by the tiger range states in India from November 11, 2019. This puts an end to hiring of hunters / sharp shooters for capture operations of big cats as also calling conflict tigers as ‘man-eaters’ and finally, leaving major decisions to skilled wildlife vets for the big cats’ survival in the wild.
Standard operating procedures to deal with emergencies in straying of big cats:
- A tiger cannot be called as a ‘man eater’, should be declared as ‘dangerous’ to human life.
- Elimination to be done by government department personnel, not by any hunter / sharp shooter from outside.
- Elimination using the fire arms with appropriate bore size (not below .375 magnum).
- If expertise not available with the department, expert to be co-opted from other competent government department.
- After darting, a time lapse of 10-15 minutes should be given prior to taking any further action on the darted animal.
- Since induction time varies depending on physiological status, all action should be left to the judgment of the vet.
- Skilled team should have vets who are proficient in animal anaesthesia.
- Dosage administered should be left to vet in the team as drugs of choice provided is not exhaustive and concentrations given are indicative only.
Standard operating procedures for dealing with tiger deaths:
Post mortem team will now comprise –
- Two vets in the team.
- Authorized representative of NTCA.
- Veterinary officer of the tiger reserve.
- Veterinary officer with experience of working in wildlife.
- NGO expert nominated by Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW).
- Tiger reserve Field director or officer of equivalent rank but not below DCF rank under whose jurisdiction the area falls.
For disposal of tiger / leopard carcass or body parts:
- Only the field director or a DCF rank officer to be present in case of any exigency.
Welcoming the changes, wildlife veterinarians say this was long overdue and has come as a result of rising incidents of human conflict with big cats and continuing botched up cases of tiger and leopard captures. With tigers / leopards spilling over from tiger reserves to human settlements in states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, rising conflict and people’s anger have been seen frequently in the recent times. So the SOP to deal with emergencies arising due to straying of tigers in human landscapes has been revised and now the post mortem will have two wildlife vets and henceforth the issue of proving man eater tiger does not exist, vets add.
According to the Society of Wildlife Veterinarians, the 2013 guidelines clearly need a change with the country witnessing tigress Avni’s killing by hired sharp-shooters, which drove the final nail in the coffin of conflict tigers. Many capture operations in the tiger range states had in fact resulted in death of big cats due to wrong darting procedures and over dosages administered by unskilled forest staff. In fact, during Avni’s case, wildlife vets had raised the question of darting by Nawab Shafath Ali Khan (Avni was darted on the face) and later it was killed in cold blood, over-ruling expert advice.
Society of Wildlife Veterinarians, Southern Region, Executive Committee Member and Secretary, Dr Prayag H S says, “Looking at ground realities, wildlife vets can take decisions rather than sticking to outdated guidelines. However, the present changes should be followed in letter and spirit, thereby, saving both wildlife and affected people. In the case of elimination of dangerous animals, now only government department shooters are empowered which will be put an end to self-invited shooters/ hunters who come in the guise of capturing tigers and later end up killing them.”
Guidelines for Declaring big cats as man eaters
