Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary : A Wilderness of Paradoxes

Imagine a wildlife sanctuary whose entrance is through a village and which houses another village also deep inside in its core and by which it draws its name - Kishanpur , whose land stands badly encroached and where humans and vehicular traffic of all sorts ; tractors with their oversize trolleys , cycles, motor cycles and bullock carts , ply daily almost day long on the sanctuary road and yet it's being home to an astonishing variety of wildlife including the famous and only of its own kind of feline- the majestic terai tiger , the highly endangered Swamp Deer aka Barasingha, Blue Bull, Wild Boar, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer and about 400 species of migratory  avian during the season besides the local ones which include the rare Bengal Florican, the Swamp Partridge and Bonelli's Eagle. Yes this is Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary , a living example of thoughtless  human abuse vis a vis  the most resilient and forbearing side of mother nature.

Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary , a part of Dudhwa National Park , is located near the tiny township of Bhira in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. It is 13 km away from Bhira and about 196 km from the state capital Lucknow. Distanced by 30 km from Dudhwa National Park and dotted with Sal, Teak, Rohini, Mahua and Jamun trees, the sanctuary is spread over an area of 23000 hectares. The entry is through village Kattaiya and the signs of illegal encroachment become visible as your jeep rolls, past the barrier, on the bumpy earthen road leading to the sanctuary.

The first attraction of Kishanpur WLS is Jhadi Taal ; a vast wetland created by the flood waters of river Sharda which flows adjacent to sanctuary's northern boundary and flanked by an equally vast meadow. Jhadi Taal is home to about 1000 plus heads of the highly endangered Swap Deer. Their herds can be seen resting on the small islands in the water body. Climb up the nearby Machan or the viewing tower for a birds eye view of Jhadi Taal. From here you may also watch bevy of smooth coat Otters chasing and hunting fish.

During winters Jhadi Taal becomes home to an amazing variety of migratory birds. For birders therefore it is an excellent place. A round around Jadi Tall will also show the Blue Tailed Bee Eaters, Grey Fish Eagles perched high patiently in wait  for  fish , Swamp Partridge coming in the open on dusty road from their thick grass hideouts in order to pick insects and of course the noisy flocks of Parakeets taking sharp acrobatic flights from one tree perch to another.

With luck favoring a drive on Beldanda road of the sanctuary may reward you with the sighting of  elusive terai tiger. It was here on one April morning this year that I met a huge male tiger on his morning territory patrol.The tiger was busy picking up scent from here and there and also scent marking his territory around. We had spotted him from quite afar and went near him maintaining a safe distance so that he may not feel disturbed. My Guide knew his movements pattern very well and thus we got him again after fifteen minutes in another forest block while the feline was crossing the road.

From a distance  an antler watched its nemesis pass by with a nonchalant curiosity. In route I met a tiny Barred Jungle Owlet perched deep inside the woods in a Rohini tree. A Crested Serpent Eagle was also met while it was busy foraging on the ground. However the most significant sight was that of a Bonelli's Eagle perched in a drying Sal tree. Sightings of these two Eagles confirmed the robust and very healthy Eco- system of the sanctuary despite its being abused by we, the humans.

My Guide advised to wait for the tiger at the Beldanda waterhole hoping that since it was quite hot , the tiger may drop in for a drink. Thus I waited there for about an hour but without any further luck. The sun was getting harsh and unbearable. And directly in front of me was a little monkey spread leisurely on a tree branch watching me with his little eyes and perhaps wondering  what I was up to in that sweltering heat. The hint was well taken and I called off the safari.

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The Survival Crisis of Big Cats in India

India is home to the most  magnificent  of the animals on the earth - the Royal Bengal Tiger. The other big cats found in India are the common Leopard , Snow Leopard and the Asiatic Lion . While the Snow Leopard is confined to the upper reaches of Ladakh region , the Asiatic Lion is found  in the state of Gujarat only and faces no threats as such to its survival. But among the most threatened ones are the first two - the Tiger and the common Leopard.
At the beginning of the 19th century India had a sizable population of tigers in the wild - around 80,000 to 10,0000  heads. But the sport of tiger hunting and trophy gathering, which was so very popular among the British officers in India and the local Royalty , almost decimated the tiger population in the country. This situation prevailed even after the British left the country and until India put a complete ban on hunting in 1970 and then coming out with the "Project Tiger "in 1973 to rehabilitate tiger in its natural habitat  . The credit for this initiative goes to the late Prime Minister of India Mrs Indira Gandhi who really loved wildlife .  Her successors didn't commit the same zeal except for the lip service but nevertheless now India has 50 tiger reserves and its tiger population is somewhat stable ; around 1900  in the wild though the official figures are a bit hyperbolic-- 2226 as per last countdown.

The wildlife experts in India are very hopeful that the Indian tiger population can make a dramatic recovery and the country could have 5000 tigers in the wild by the end of the century provided the Government walks its talk and pays proper attention to the task of tiger conservation. The leopard population is sightly better off than the tigers. There are about 10,000 leopards in the country.

Despite the optimism expressed that appears to be a difficult task. The prime reasons  for it are two. First , the systematic deforestation and second, the menace of poaching which continues unabated.
The forests in India are under tremendous pressure. The rising population of the country demands more land for agriculture, industries, mines and infrastructure projects like irrigation dams and creation of new highways and roads. So the ages old forests have been cut and still are being cut to accommodate the demands of the civilization. As a result the carrying capacity of the existing tiger abodes has reduced considerably . A male tiger needs about 40-50 km of territory while females need about 20 km or so. Thus it becomes an uphill task for the new mature tigers to carve out a fresh territory of their own . Tigers being extremely territorial such attempts by a new contender lead to infighting which result either in death of a contender or moving away from  the core to the buffer areas which generally have human habitation on the fringes which means more chances of man-animal contact and conflicts and ultimately death of the animal by snare, electrocution, poison or bullet. More or less the same applies to the leopards also. Their own rising numbers and pressure of tigers compel them to move out of the forest and wander near human habitations in search for food. Their small size , agility and capacity to survive on a very large and varied kind on menu makes their task easy but here again conflict with humans, sooner or later, becomes imminent. And in most of the cases it is the animal who suffers most ultimately.  Under the circumstances what required is the expansion of existing buffer areas by relocating the  fringe human habitations. The new highways need to be made wildlife friendly. That means lot of underpasses in the highway/road lengths so that animals could be saved from road accidents.

Poaching of tigers and leopards for their body parts and flesh sadly continues unabated and India has earned the credentials of being the biggest center and market for illegal trade in wildlife. And for that both  the present wildlife legislation , which hardly has any deterrence, and the law enforcement agencies are squarely responsible. What India needs is a new Wildlife Protection Act making big cat poaching and trade of tiger -leopard body parts an offence inviting a mandatory life imprisonment.Similarly India requires separate wildlife courts for dealing with wildlife related offences. The existing system of civil courts also trying the wildlife related offences is deficient and needs an urgent change. The enormity of the wildlife crimes in the country can be judged by the fact that in the first 3 months of year 2018, (January-March) India  lost 162 Leopards and 36 Tigers . Out of these, 35% of the tiger and 37% of the leopard deaths have been found to be unnatural which means poaching by various methods. These killings need to be stopped with a very heavy hand with full force of law.

Mahabharata, the Hindu scripture of India , describes a golden rule of tiger conservation. It says that "don't destroy forest with tigers and don't make forest devoid of tigers. Forests can't be saved without tigers and tigers can't live without forests because forest protects tigers and tigers protect forest".(Virat Parva)

I think this sane advice is true to India  this day also as it may have been some 3000 years ago.

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