When the Roar is Silenced
Many evenings ago, in a beautiful forest guest house overlooking
the Totaladoh dam, I was privy to an interesting conversation of concerned
individuals who were in the thick of the human-wildlife conflict in Pench.
‘It is not just about the Bahelias, Bawariyas or the Pardhis, there are many facets now to the organized crime of international poaching’ said an officer. This statement was an alternate view to the tendency to paint an entire community with one stroke based on the alleged/proven crime of a chosen few, just like the Britishers did with their criminal tribe tag when it was recognized that the community members simultaneously operate at multiple locations at a given time within any region of the country. They literally kill wild animals like a portable slaughterhouse.
As per The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume I (of IV), authored by R.V. Russell, Bahelia are a caste of fowlers and hunters in northern India. In the Central Provinces the Bahelias are not to be distinguished from the Pārdhis, as they have the same set of exogamous groups named after the Rājpūt clans and resemble them in all other respects. The word Bahelia is derived from the Sanskrit Vyādha, ‘one who pierces or wounds,’ hence a hunter. Pārdhi is derived from the Marāthī pāradh, hunting. The latter term is more commonly used in the Central Provinces where large populations of Pardhis are known to live. Slowly assimilating into the mainstream, it is still said that not all Pardhis are poachers but invariably all poaching has a pardhi connection which speaks volumes over the deep links of poaching and these traditional communities.
‘It is not just about the Bahelias, Bawariyas or the Pardhis, there are many facets now to the organized crime of international poaching’ said an officer. This statement was an alternate view to the tendency to paint an entire community with one stroke based on the alleged/proven crime of a chosen few, just like the Britishers did with their criminal tribe tag when it was recognized that the community members simultaneously operate at multiple locations at a given time within any region of the country. They literally kill wild animals like a portable slaughterhouse.
As per The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume I (of IV), authored by R.V. Russell, Bahelia are a caste of fowlers and hunters in northern India. In the Central Provinces the Bahelias are not to be distinguished from the Pārdhis, as they have the same set of exogamous groups named after the Rājpūt clans and resemble them in all other respects. The word Bahelia is derived from the Sanskrit Vyādha, ‘one who pierces or wounds,’ hence a hunter. Pārdhi is derived from the Marāthī pāradh, hunting. The latter term is more commonly used in the Central Provinces where large populations of Pardhis are known to live. Slowly assimilating into the mainstream, it is still said that not all Pardhis are poachers but invariably all poaching has a pardhi connection which speaks volumes over the deep links of poaching and these traditional communities.
The Bahelias from Katni in Madhya
Pradesh is one such group, who have gained significant notoriety in the past decades
and have a status akin to notorious gangsters nowadays. The last thing that forest
officials want to hear is that a Bahelia gang is in town as hunters are now
going to newer regions previously not associated with tiger poaching. Madhya
Pradesh, Maharasthra[1]
and Karnataka are particularly vulnerable regions as the rebounding tiger
populations also attract poachers who rapidly transport body parts to nearby
hubs of wildlife trade, several of which have existed in these three states for
a long period. These poachers use the rapidly increasing rail and road
networks, both adjacent to tiger reserves as well as within forest areas which
have proven to be a silent yet significant contributor to poaching for the
simple reason that they provide fast and relatively nondescript travel from the
scene of crime to the trade hub.
However, identifying these groups is not
daunting as the traditional hunting families have a hitherto trademark style. They often
travel with their extended families and are known to set up camps in open
spaces or adjacent to small towns near tiger forests. These
large groups move around as a self-sustained group and usually
set up temporary businesses selling knick knacks before beginning to probe the
forest. The costs of
such roving family expeditions have repercussions for many more animals and not
just the tiger as they may either be killed for meat or poached for their body
parts.
Though evolving continuously, the modus operandi has retained
elements of the generations old hunting style. They first track the road that the
tiger takes - if there are 3-4 approaches to a waterhole, a tiger will take
either one or two or all the approaches but will definitely choose within the
available options. They track the tiger for a few days and conveniently lay a
trap after studying the behaviour of the tiger. Usually though even that is not
necessary, they prefer full moon nights to study the tiger. A jaw trap is laid
and the tiger is caught.
In pain, the tiger could either roar or be quiet. However, what happens next is unbelievable, redefining the connotation of cruelty itself. After all, poaching is what it is - killing an animal in the choicest and cruelest way possible. After the tiger is captured, he is attacked on the nose to anger him. The tiger bites the spear, thus hitting the spear directly and not damaging the skin, the spear lodges itself inside the throat of the tiger and he inevitably dies. If he does not die on the first instance, the spear is used again. This goes on and finally, the tiger dies without any damage to the skin.
In pain, the tiger could either roar or be quiet. However, what happens next is unbelievable, redefining the connotation of cruelty itself. After all, poaching is what it is - killing an animal in the choicest and cruelest way possible. After the tiger is captured, he is attacked on the nose to anger him. The tiger bites the spear, thus hitting the spear directly and not damaging the skin, the spear lodges itself inside the throat of the tiger and he inevitably dies. If he does not die on the first instance, the spear is used again. This goes on and finally, the tiger dies without any damage to the skin.
The trauma that a tiger endures cannot be
compared to any modern torture method. Perhaps medieval forms of torture come
closest to the agony suffered by the tiger and other mammals who are
unfortunate enough to fall in these traps. If the act of poaching tigers is for
a moment looked at from the perspective of animal welfare, then the sheer
brutality of the act is unforgivable and requires a strict amendment in the
country’s laws. Some professional poachers go to extreme lengths to ensure that
the skin of the animal is not torn or damaged and it is these professional
looking to earn a fortune with each kill who needs to be vigorously targeted. Even
more startling is the trend of consuming meat[2]
in addition to processing body parts of deceased tigers. Once a rarity, emerging
cases such as the recent capture of a poacher who confessed to eating the
reproductive organ of dead bears point to increasing incidences of consuming
animal meat inside the forest right after a killing.
The significance of bright moon light comes into significance now
as the tiger is immediately skinned under the light with tanning material. The
head of the tiger is hidden under a rock. The body meat is buried or thrown in
various directions away from the actual place of the kill to divert the
attention of those in pursuit. If buried, the purpose is to collect the bones after
the body decomposes in a few days.
The role of those who are engaged in the trade quickly shift as the poacher connects with his carrier. The skin and other parts are shifted to the carrier. The role of the poacher ends here. The carrier preferably takes a crowded train or the earliest bus to a nearby city where he meets a designated person, hands over the skin and goes back. Money is not exchanged. That is the story of the tragedy of hunting. If arrested, convictions are slow and rare. No one carries any proof of the crime. One tiger less in the country now.
The role of those who are engaged in the trade quickly shift as the poacher connects with his carrier. The skin and other parts are shifted to the carrier. The role of the poacher ends here. The carrier preferably takes a crowded train or the earliest bus to a nearby city where he meets a designated person, hands over the skin and goes back. Money is not exchanged. That is the story of the tragedy of hunting. If arrested, convictions are slow and rare. No one carries any proof of the crime. One tiger less in the country now.
However, poaching is no longer the forte of traditional groups as newer recruits actively turn into poachers in this low risk and high profit business. There are several cases of villagers living around tiger reserves who may also opt for opportunistic poaching such as an incidence in 2017[3] in the Pench Tiger reserve where illegal fishermen had laid a electric wire trap for wild boars but ended up entangling a tiger and burying its parts. These fishermen may not have been regular poachers but have contributed significantly to unnatural tiger deaths.
But the problem is not just in
relation to tigers. Infact, emerging data suggests that tiger body parts may
only be the tip of the iceberg as other species are rampantly poached and often
remain undetected outside the loop of enforcement agencies. India’s open
borders create a new set of problems as international gangs find it easier to
cross porous borders and escape the enforcement agencies on one side of the
border. The Indo-Nepal border and North-Eastern region are often targeted in
this pattern in order to feed the demands of consumers in China and some South
East Asian countries. Poachers in North East India cater to a growing demand
and are known to increasingly use semi-automatic rifles instead of traditional
methods of trapping animals, in order to increase the efficiency of poaching.
With traditional methods of
trapping and killing animals on the wane, newer and newer technologies are being
used to kill wildlife. Electrocution, poisoning, shooting and other forms of
opportunistic killing is being adopted by several poachers. Innovative
techniques such as designing explosive laden meat balls are also used by
poachers. Accidental deaths from traps set for smaller animals occur at a
regular interval and cause deaths for not only smaller mammals but large
animals such as tigers and bears. These deaths are often not counted as
poaching cases but possess the same devastating impact on animal numbers as
standard poaching does.
Lack of convictions and lax punishment
contribute to the growing audaciousness amongst poachers who often have
sufficient family support as well as economic commitment from traders. An
emerging trend (perhaps was as old as organized poaching itself) is the
involvement of the upper middle class and well-to-do individuals who poach for
pleasure and meat and are particularly instrumental for the death of untold
prey numbers especially chital and sambhar. Additionally, farmers whose primary
intention is to save their crops also contribute to the unceasing death toll as
they continue to lay snares in farmlands adjoining forest. Often, the captured
animals are consumed for their meat and in the case of accidental snaring of
large predators, the dead animal is usually thrown away into the nearby forest
or as in the case of the death of a young sub-adult tiger near Moharli village
in the periphery of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in 2016, the responsible
farmer was apprehended by the authorities. In situations like these, human
wildlife conflict and animal poaching converge into a sickening consequence
with animals suffering the most.
With poachers, farmers, fishermen and even
suave urbanites in the loop, the enforcement agencies have their task cut out. However,
most farmers are not poachers and end up killing tigers in order to protect
their crops or as revenge for their dead cattle. In addition to improved
wildlife monitoring, a rapid and a sensitively designed compensation programme
can go a long way in reducing revenge killings as well as stem the flow of new
recruits who may be enticed by the lure of easy money. Several government
governments and non-governmental agencies have taken a proactive stand in rapid
disbursement of compensation in order to stem incidences of revenge killing.
Poachers can be rehabilitated too as the
universally famous case study from Periyar Tiger Reserve demonstrated. The
possibility of constant income in the form of guiding tourists through the
forest convinced several poachers to give up their erstwhile activities and
added a new dimension of the role ecotourism can play in conservation. Another
successful initiative was taken by the state-run Jungle Lodges and Resorts
which absorbed poachers and fishermen involved in illegal fishing in the
Cauvery river to act as guides (or as they were called gillies). A
stable job was offered to rehabilitated poachers. The immediate and most
reassuring result was on the health of the river systems as the endangered
Mahseer rebounded with vigour in the stretch of river that was protected by the
reformed poachers. There are many more initiatives aimed at rehabilitating
Pardhi children by providing education opportunities to wean the current
generation away from the lure of tiger poaching.
Several environmental groups have taken a
lead in wildlife crime tracking and enforcement and have proven to be a strong support
to the efforts being taken by government enforcement agencies. Besides
developing a network of informers, the need of the hour is to invest more
resources for the frontline forest staff so that they are able to use tools of
enforcement and convictions more efficiently. A combination of sustained
education for the younger generation, better enforcement, greater inter-country
coordination, more support for the forest staff and exploring alternative
livelihoods such as ecotourism will add upto the larger goal of reducing
poaching and provide India’s beleaguered wildlife with a fair chance of
survival.
[1] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/tiger-dies-of-suspected-poisoning-leopard-succumbs/articleshow/67315273.cmsr
[2]
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/environment/flora-fauna/poachers-kill-tiger-and-bear-consumed-their-meat-too/articleshow/22000972.cms?from=mdr
[3] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/another-tiger-poaching-in-pench-two-held/articleshow/59402720.cms
