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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Tadoba Report . May - June 2017.

Tadoba was in the news from the last week of April though for reasons less pleasant. First came the news of a fire breakout in the Telia region on 27th April. The fire had spread wide destroying quite a large area so much so that the Park authorities decided to close down Telia region  for the remaining tourist season. Next there was killing of a Forest Development Corporation employee on 11th May deployed in the Tadoba lake area on fire watch duty . That unfortunate soul had gone for his morning ablutions when he was attacked and killed by a tiger. Opinions are divided. Some blame the dominant male tiger of the area called "Matkasur" while others hold the tigress P-2 aka "Maya" responsible for the killing. Anyway it could be either of the two . A week after came the news of a leopard attack in the village Mohadi . This village is located about 8 km east of Kolara gate. The feline had picked up a goat from the village taking her to a nearby culvert. Some villagers followed . Soon  about 150-200 men crowded the spot all shouting to flush out the leopard. The result was tragic. The leopard escaped but not before punishing 3 spectators for disturbing his meal.


As per my plan I reached Tadoba on 28th May and took the afternoon safari. Since the Telia area stood banned temporarily all the tourist traffic from Moharli and Navegaon gates stood diverted to Jamni- Panderpavni area. Some 50 odd vehicles , 6 Canters and about 45 Gypsies , were in competition on the road in an attempt to occupy  vantage point for  sighting and photography. The result was chaos.  The narrow Jamni road was chaotic, noisy and unruly. I wondered at the wisdom of Park authorities . Why some other area was not opened in lieu of Telia closure? That would have certainly  eased pressure on a single area and also on the animals . However despite of the chaotic conditions tigress P-2 aka "Maya" didn't disappoint . I found her at "Äinbodi" water hole and as she finished off her cooling session a Sloth Bear came in . The day was really hot. The next day I saw P-1's sub-adult cub on the Jamni road. In the evening "Matkasur "male and a fleeting cub of "Devdoh" female were sighted. I sometime wonder at the fate of Tadoba tourism if the tigresses P-1 and P-2 were not there !

Having had enough of  Jamni I decided to explore buffer areas and Kolsa range. Next day I went to Kolara buffer. The buffer jungle is very beautiful and very rich with wildlife. My guide  told me about the shifting of a few tigers there from Telia region due to the fire incident . However I didn't spot any.

I spent next 2 days at Kolsa range. Though the distance to Kolsa from Kolara gate, where I was staying, is about 50kms but it was worth exploring Kolsa .Since only 3 Gypsies are allowed from the Pangdi gate , the entrance to Kolsa , there was no traffic rush nor any chaos inside the jungle. I found Shivenjahri empty but   met the Hirdinala female along with her 3 cubs late in the evening near Sukhdibodi. The next day  brought more luck  when I met the Kuhani female with her 3 cubs. The Kuhani female is a magnificent tigress . One needs to see it on order to  appreciate her immense grace and beauty.

My next four safaris, and the last also, were in the Alizanza buffer zone. This newly opened buffer is about 12 kms south of Kolara gate in the vicinity of a village of the same name. It has a rocky terrain with two current hotspots , Kinichua and Jharna , for the big cat sightings. I found Jharna empty . The resident tigress had moved out along with her four months old cubs due to increased vehicle movements in that small area. However the Kinichua was very much alive and I witnessed some very interesting scenes there enacted  by its resident male tiger called Rana .


The Kinichua area is a small depression ensconced between  the hill slopes on its eastern and western sides.  The northern side  has a sloping green meadow of about thirty acres with a small stream flowing through  supplying water to the Kinichua waterhole  which is accessible from the northern and western sides. It's a good birding spot also. I found Kingfishers, Asian Paradise Flycatchers and Hawk Eagles there. Herbivores especially the Indian Guars come from the northern side as it provides a clear visibility to the waterhole. The western side passage, though short in approach , is through a dry Nala which is dark with a steep left turn . Rana, the tiger, ambushes it prey on these two spots and the whole area appeared to be a graveyard of the mighty Gaurs. Rana had killed a calf and the mother Gaur at the western entry a day before and was enjoying both the kills at his leisure.

                                                                               

In the  evening of my last safari when the visiting hour was about to be over, Rana stepped into the waterhole . I was near to the entrance and aimed my camera instantly. The tiger was not pleased . See his displeasure in the photo below.

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Meeting a Green Warrior

Finding people devoted to some worthy cause for the benefit of the society at large without expecting rewards or personal gains is rare indeed these days. But nonetheless such people exist. And I am glad to introduce such a person who I would call a green warrior devoted to the cause of wildlife conservation and showing people how to live harmoniously with the wild animals around them without any conflicts.




Meet Mr Anurag Kumar. Tall, humble and very soft spoken Anurag is in his forties. Despite being a government employee he finds time for what he loves most ; working for and spreading the word of nature and wildlife conservation. Operating from his modest tenement in the village of Bansinagar, on the periphery of the Dudhwa National Park which is just four kms away, he teaches wildlife conservation to village children and takes them, from time to time, on rescue walks around the village and along the Mailani- Gonda meter gauge railway line which passes close to his tenement at about twenty meters away. Many creatures, during the course of such walks, especially of the crawling type, have been saved from the impending death under the rolling  wheels of the passing trains that ply on this rail route.




I came to know Anurag a year ago just by chance. One early morning while driving to Kishenpur Wildlife Sanctuary from Dudhwa, where I was on a safari, I saw a pair of turtles crawling on the narrow public road at about five hundred meters away from the gate. I asked the driver to stop and  pick up and release them across the jungle fire line on the opposite side of the road. This started a small conversation between us when I asked the driver why the forest staff didn't patrol the park adjacent road area just to take care of such cases. Driver's reply was negative but he did tell me about Anurag saying that at some distance away in the village of Bansinagar there lived a gentleman, a wildlife enthusiast, engaged in such kind of work. After few minutes we drove past the village located on the road side about four kms away from Dudhwa National Park.




I met Anurag in the last week of November 2016 at his residence in Bansinagar where he had bought half an acre land and built  his tenement thereupon some ten years ago. Though he was interested in wildlife since childhood, it was a chance sighting of a tiger and what transpired thereafter that inspired him to work for wildlife conservation. The spark came from Anurag's Dudhwa visit where, up at the Sonaripur watch tower, he heard a tiger growling  hidden in the nearby bushes. He wished hard for a sighting but the tiger didn't oblige.






While driving back to Lakhimpur after the safari he met with a tiger head on in  broad day light  around 11.30 am on the narrow public road with a crowd of passers by stopped and transfixed watching the feline from both ends of the road. The tiger stayed in the road for about 4 -5 minutes and then crossed over disappearing in to the adjoining sugar cane fields.




Anurag was so enchanted with the sighting that he stopped at the toll tax post, which used to be there during those days near Bansinagar village, and started enquiring about  tigers and other wildlife around Dudhwa National Park. His queries went largely unreplied but for a man, incidentally from Bansinager village only, who took him to village and told him whatever he could. And while departing the host commented casually that unlike the people who visited the park, in an obvious reference to Dudhwa, for wildlife sightings he enjoyed such scenes at home as there was lot of wildlife around his village itself. That comment proved to be deciding for Anurag for he bought land there  just two months after.




Villagers were very suspicious of the people coming from outside found Anurag and so he thought of building a small two room house on the purchased land and spend his free time there as much as he could afford. Thus over the years he became a "Bansinagarian".




Anurag hopes village children to be the future champions of nature and wildlife conservation. He finds them very open minded and ready to learn new things unlike the village elders who, as per him, are less amenable to suggestions and guided more by their stored experiences, good or bad. In the course of time he appointed a lady teacher to teach children about nature conservation as this subject was nowhere in the curriculum of the local schools where the village children go for their education. I was pleasantly surprised at the subject knowledge the children had and Anurag was quick to explain that since all of them assisted their families at the farm fields some time or the other they knew a lot about wildlife. As the sugar cane is the main crop of the area, the sugar cane fields have become home to a variety of wild animals including tigers and leopards that prey upon wild boars, many species of herbivores and Rhesus monkeys that destroy the sugar cane crop. So the big cats are welcome here.

A green class in progress

                                                               Anurag at his tenement




Anurag told me about a male tiger who, he says, is a regular visitor to the village. Almost every second evening the feline is said to enter the village from the railway line side.

                                           Village pathway from railway line end. The Peepal
                                              tree is on the left.




Walking on the brick soled pathway to the village it stops and sits under the grand old Peepal tree( Ficus religiosa) which is just at the entrance of the walkway to Anurag's tenement. The tiger, being a regular  for quite some time, has come to recognise the sounds of mobile ringtones and music which permeates around from the transistor radios in the village. I was speechless to hear that.




My car, parked on the pathway to Anurag's tenement, had attracted notice of villagers for they were anxious to find about an outsider's presence in the village. Exhibiting a deer like curiosity some had gathered around listening to my conservation with Anurag very attentively. Under the circumstances their impromptu participation in the conversation was something that wasn't unexpected when  one from them opined that he was reconciled to the tiger's presence in the village and that the animal had so far never harmed anyone in the area, not even the village cattle. "Öh, don't you know the reason behind" interjected the other "that it was all due to the mercy and blessings of the 'Bramrakchhas Baba' who lived in the Peepal tree. The tiger is a baba devotee and that is why it comes there regularly. And you must  know also that it stands warned from Baba not to harm any living sole in the village be it a man or animal". Others kept silent and nodded in agreement to that very authoritative sounding statement. Anyway whatever may be the truth ,  villagers belief  in 'Baramrakchhas Baba' is tremendous . Every year in the month of October a village fair is held wherein population from the surrounding villages also participate in worshipping and propitiating the tree ensconced spirit.




Anurag took me on a guided tour around the village. We walked to the railway line and from there turned to left. It was decided that we shall go up to Nakahuwa rail bridge about 700 meters away and then cross over the railway line to descend on the other side in order to walk back to village.




Bansinagr village fields lay on both sides of the railway line and those on to our right  seemed to merge almost with the forest line of Dudhwa National Park. The sugar cane crop had matured and harvesting was to start soon when chances of sudden encounter with tigers would increase. As the tall sugar cane crop provides an excellent cover, tigers,  especially the tigresses, like to rear their cubs in the sugar cane fields. The abundance of prey  and many perennial water holes around, make the area a preferred sanctuary for tigers as they can live there for months together totally undisturbed and away from human interference and sight.

Fields merging with forest. Dudhwa tree silhouettes on horizon.

                          
                                         
  We reached the Nakahuwa river rail bridge after a brief twenty minutes walk. Like the river Suheli in the vicinity and all other rivers of the terai region, Nakahuwa is also home to Crocodiles or the  'Magar'as the amphibian is called locally. I saw many of them in the river and on the banks basking in the sunlight.

Anurag at the bridge

   

  

  Nakahuwa crocodiles

We crossed the railway line and  descended down to the other side of the village fields. Anurag cautioned me to walk very carefully and only in the middle of the narrow path lest some tiger or leopard hidden in  the sugar cane fields touching both  sides of the pathway takes a swipe at me. My adrenaline levels shot up and I did find tiger pug marks on the dusty pathway leading forward towards the village." Is tiger also walking to village with us"  I couldn't resist asking Anurag. A few steps ahead  we came across a troop of macaques busy enjoying a sweet  party.

Anurag was conferred the prestigious "Green Teacher Award "instituted by Sanctuary Asia, a prominent wildlife journal, in the year 2015 for his pioneering work. Mr Shyam Benegal, the famous Indian film director and screenwriter, presented the award at a glittering function held at Mumbai

.

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Pench Tiger Reserve

It was for quite sometime that I was planning a trip to the Pench Tiger Reserve in the Seoni district of M.P. India. Finally I booked my safaris in the last week of November 2016 and landed at Nagpur, the nearest airport . Pench from there is  about 97 kms away. It takes about  ninety minutes time  to reach there by car.

Pench is quite historical . You find its mention  in the Ain-e-Akbari of Abul Fazl . But it was late Rudyard Kipling whose 'Jungle Book' gave it the real name and  fame. The 'Jungle Book' incorporates its setting and topography from Robert Strendale's books 'Seonee' and the "Denizens of the Jungle'. And  "Mowgli", the fascinating hero of  Kipling's 'Jungle Book', portrays the wolf child who was caught by Lieut. Moor in the jungles of Seoni in the year 1831 near the village of Sant Vavadi located just ten kilometres away from Seoni and about whom William Sleeman wrote in his book  'The Journey Through the Kingdom of Oude". It is believed that Rudyard Kipling had visited Pench  while he was in the service of erstwhile state of Dewas.

Pench Tiger Reserve derives its name from the river 'Pench' which flows through the reserve from north to south dividing it in two equal parts and in two revenue districts that is Seoni and Chindwara respectively. Standing on  the Mahadev Ghat side you are in the geographical limits of Seoni while the other bank on the opposite side falls in the district of Chindwara.

 

Pench Tiger Reserve was upgraded to 'National Park' in the year 1983. It comprises an area of 758 sq km .

Dense,dark and deep that is how I will describe the Pench forest at this time of the year. Right from entering the Turia gate,  the forest on both sides of the jungle road captivates you with it beauty. Its teak tress are simply magnificent . Straight and tall reaching to about 100 feet in height ! Its two tourist zones called popularly as route 1 and route 2 take you around the forest. Route 1, in comparison to route 2, is  quite hilly and preferred by the tourists for tiger and leopard

 sightings. However both the routes are rich in their natural beauty.


Pench hosts a variety of wildlife, flora and fauna. Tiger, Leopard , Indian Bison. Jackal, Blue Bull , Spotted Deer , Sloth Bear, Black faced Langur, Wild Boar and Sambhar Deer are some of the wild animals found here. The interesting animal character 'Tabaqui'- the Jackal of 'The Jungle Book' has a good population here and so is of 'Bagheera'- the Leopard. But I didn't see any wolf . Among the birds you find Parakeets, Crested Serpent Eagles, Crested Hawk Eagles, Owls, Green Bee Eaters , Blue Jay's, Peacocks. Jungle Fowls , Drongo and many water Birds.

 My keenness to sight the big cats of Pench was successful on my last safari  almost around the closing  hours. While coming back I met a jeep on the way which informed that the 'Raiyakassa' , the famous male tiger of Pench Tiger Reserve, was still at the banks of 'Beeja Matta' waterhole. My driver reversed and speeded back and as luck would have it I got the feline walking on the bank of the water hole . It scat marked its territory  and then descended down in  the waterhole area. The daylight was almost gone and darkness has started setting in. However I jacked up the ISO setting and got some shots just for the record.

    Pench Tiger Reserve is beautiful indeed. I will visit again in May 2017.

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Some Tips for Photographing Wildlife in India

With its more than 500 wildlife sanctuaries and 48 tiger reserves spread all over the country, India offers ample opportunities to photograph its amazing flora and fauna. Incidentally India is home to the famous Royal Bengal Tiger of which about 1750 roam in the Indian wilds  as on today : the largest number of tigers living in the wild  the world over. India is home to other big cats also like the Asiatic Lion and the Leopard. The only exception is the Cheetah which went extinct from India somewhere around late 1800's.


Apart from the big cats India is home to a variety of herbivores : the deer and antelopes , wild elephants, the most endangered one horned Rhino of which only 3000 are left live in the wild, the Sloth Bear and the Dhole or the Indian Wild Dog. The avian species are also numerous roughly more than 500 native and many migratory which visit during October to March every year.




These tips are general in nature and describe my first hand experience of photographing wildlife in the wildlife reserves of  the north ( Dudhwa National Park, Katarnia Ghat  and Kishenpur Wildlife Sanctuaries) and central India. ( Bandhavgarh , Kanha, and Tadoba Tiger Reserves)




Best Time and Places: I find mid February to March end as the best time for visiting wild life parks of India. The weather around this time is very pleasant and with the onset of spring season the jungles are in their most beautiful phase. However for tiger photography I would suggest April and May when the day time heat reaches to its extreme and thus increasing chances of sighting tigers around waterholes to the maximum.


Corbett , Dudhwa and Manas in the north and northeast India, Bandhavgarh, Kanha, and Tadoba in the central India and Ranthambhore in the west India are some of the  best places for wildlife photography. In southern India one may like to visit Bandipur, Nagarhole and Periyar .




Equipment : This needs no detailing as I think every wild life photographer knows already about it.
In this age of digital photography some very good systems are on the offer by the well known photo equipment makers like Nikon, Canon and Sony. One may choose as per his personal liking and budget. Being a Canon aficionado I use  6D and 5D Mark III bodies with EF 300 mm F/2.8 L II prime and a 70-300 mm  f /4-5.6 L zoom lens. However I must emphasize on having the right kind of equipment, the camera body and glass, for this genre of photography. Birders need at least a lens of 500 mm focal length and a camera body having fast focus acquisition, tracking and burst shutter capabilities.




Know the basics of wildlife behaviour: Like the ISO, Aperture and shutter speed being the triumvirate of any photography, the right photo equipment, knowledge of wildlife behaviour and patience make the three main pillars of successful wild life photography.


I will briefly share my experience :




Birds: As a general rule the smaller the bird the more agile and unstable it is like the GBE's, Pittas, Finches and the Orioles. The reverse is true of big birds like Raptors , Owls and Cranes . However all

migratory birds are wary of humans and maintain a very safe distance preferring the middle of the water body.


Deer and Antelopes: They also like to maintain a safe distance from humans. But these are very curious animals. So when photographing them stop in your place and do not chase. And by all probabilities their curios nature will make them to stop at a safe distance and look back at you. That should be your moment to click.

Tiger and Leopard : Tigers are very stable while resting and that gives ample time to photograph them.


However  a tiger walking on or crossing a jungle road requires some understanding of the feline behaviour. Tigers are supremely confident of themselves  and seldom glance to their right or left while walking but when changing the track or crossing a jungle road they do , for once, look back or glance to the side where any object may be. That should be the moment of click. That is how I got a good shot of the famous and equally shy Mahahman tigress of Bandhavgarh in 2015.


Leopards are most elusive. It is just a matter of chance that you may get them walking on the jungle road at comfortable distances for photography.

Dholes or Indian Wild Dogs: They do not fear humans. So its easy to photograph them.

:

Sloth Bear: During summer season , in early mornings ,  you may find him at close distances. But take care and be very careful of this most unpredictable beast in the wild.

Wild Boar: Very intelligent and most unstable. They tend to run away the moment they see you. However if you spot them standing then do not pick up or point your camera in a sudden motion or hurriedly. The key is to remain motionless and let the animal indulge in its activity , An then to pick up your camera slowly and click.

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Witnessing a Live Hunt

As a wildlife photographer I visit India's prime tiger lands like Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Dudhwa and Tadoba regularly . Though all of them are fantastic in their very own individual ways, I am a bit partial to Bandhavgarh and Tadoba . And that is perhaps because I have been visiting Bandhavgarh from 1992 and that Tadoba has not disappointed me ever in the last six years. I have been fortunate to see and photograph almost all famous felines of Tadoba during this period and have written about one of its tigresses, the P-2, in my earlier blogs and who I regard as one of the most iconic surviving big cats of India today .  Incidentally this incident, which can be said to be a training hunt, is also about her.


I was in Tadoba last month from 19th to 24th to photograph P-2's three ten months old cubs. They were quite small when I saw them last in December 2015.

On 20th April I was on a morning safari at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve and parked at the southern end of the Panderpavni waterhole #1 where tigress P-2 happened to be sitting just opposite at the far end east bank of the drying lake with her three ten months old cubs. It was early morning but the April heat was oppressive. The lake was almost dry but for some water at the middle. After sometime the feline family started walking towards the lake and dashed in to waters to cool off. The cubs started swimming and frolicking. That went on for about 15-20 minutes when the cubs came out of the water chasing each other. The tigress glanced at them and then, slowly, she also came out of the water and sat down at the bank looking across the lake with her head held high. That was undoubtedly a stately stance and a classic  Royal Bengal Tiger pose. The shutterbugs went ga- ga and started sounding the rapid fire burst of their cameras. And then the tigress got up and started walking in the direction of the southern end where I was parked. But her demeanour was  changed. From her body language she looked very alert . She was now crouching and keeping her neck outstretched as if on the trail of some prey.

On the southern end, where I was parked, was a Dhak tree about some sixty feet away at 11Ó'clock position. Sitting under the shade of that tree and obscured by the surrounding tall dry jungle grass was a full grown ruminating Gaur or Indian Bison. But nobody saw the Gaur till the tigress came up walking all the way from the opposite side of the lake and made a lightening like charge in the grass at the unsuspecting gaur. That was quite natural also. You do not look here and there when a tiger comes walking towards you. You get mesmerized.

The charge was fast, precise and ferocious. In one swift stroke the tigress hocked the left hind leg of the gaur. The huge bovine could not react or get up. It was immobilised in its place and sitting helplessly there on the ground started baying painfully.



The tigress then gave out a faint growl. That was her call to the cubs to come over . The cubs arrived there in no time and started biting and pawing the live prey. The mother tigress sat nearby watching the cubs practicing their hunting skills from a close distance. From time to time she walked to the cubs to reassure them and help overcome their nervousness . She seemed to be saying " Children go on. You are doing good, And don't fear . Look I am here with you".

The poor gaur was in great agony as the cubs were biting him to death very slowly. It was very natural also. The ten months old tiger cubs neither have proper killing techniques nor the physical proportions, especially the canines, to take on big animals. 

It was just a chance that I happened to be at the right place at he right time and witness  just once in the life time like event. Now I love Tadoba even more .

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