Sariska’s tigers prefer to feed on cattle than wild animals: Study
ALWAR: A study conducted on the dietary pattern of tigers and leopards in Sariska Tiger Reserve shows that big cats are now preferring cattle over other wild animals.
The study conducted jointly by Govind Sagar Bhardwaj, former field director of STR and member secretary of the Pollution Board, and Hemant Shekhawat, former Deputy Field Director of STR, reveals that there is very high anthropogenic pressure in the reserve leading to drastic dietary changes among big cats.
“Among the reported tiger kills, 77% were livestock, especially buffaloes, which shows a manifold increase of over 10.4% a decade back and 19.4% in 2012. This has given rise to increasing number of human-wildlife conflicts, which induced further resentment among the local communities which dented both law and order situation and conservation prospects in Sariska. The leopard diet also consisted an alarming proportion of 84.2% livestock prey as compared to 7.1% in 2012,” said Shekhawat.
As per the report by Bhardwaj, a meagre 548 sq km of actual inviolate area is available for tigers out of the total 1213 sq km area of STR due to immense anthropogenic pressure. Around 175 villages are located in and around STR, out of which 26 are lying within the critical tiger habitat.
The human population residing in the villages inside the reserve is over 1700 and the livestock population is more than 10,000, mainly buffaloes and goats. Apart from this, there is a large human and cattle population present in villages around STR. Villagers often take their livestock to graze and drink water well within the reserve. The commercialization of milk products, especially the milk cake, famous across the country, is also one of the key reasons behind large cattle rearing and ultimately grazing within the reserve.
Leopards, on the other hand, being smaller in size, prefer smaller preys, and their natural primary diet is cheetals. When tigers were poached away from the STR around 2005, leopards occupied key areas, but as the tigers were reintroduced and their population flourished, leopards were pushed to the peripheral areas. This resulted in them preying on smaller livestock population.
World’s first Tiger reintroduction program was launched in 2008, when tigers were brought to STR from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. But owing to high anthropogenic pressure, the tiger population did not flourish till 2012. Currently, Sariska is home to 22 Tigers; 11 adults, five sub adults and six cubs.
Attacks from tigers and leopards are often responded with violent retaliation by the village folks. Lately, retaliatory killings have become an even bigger threat than poaching to the already sparse tiger population.