Shashi

This is not summer but winter and hes trying get warm. Yes cats do love sun in winter.

Habitat Consumer

At one time in this world of Prey, Predators, co-predators and camp followers there was a perfect balance, without conflict. Even man was in tune with nature, hunting with his crude weapons and also feeding on left-overs which he shared with jackals and vultures. He was a part of the ecology of Tigerland. But now, with his population explosion, technical achievements and greed in storing for the future, he has bacome not only the dominant predator in Tiger-land but a consumer of the actual habitat. From this position it is obvious that he is no more a part of the ecology of Tigerland but a defier of a natural laws. The result is clear : his position is in peril.

By late Sh Kailash Sankhala, 1977.

Vijaya found her love in Shashi.

In last few weeks Vijaya aka Kankati is being seen in company with Shashi aka Bamera male. Their first meeting was little violent but since she accepted her dominance they feel very friendly to each other. They are seen mating once or twice but this mating did not last longer time. They were seen heading in different directions after a day. For cats this is not a good sign. Female cats produces egg after mating for a day or more and can abort it if they feel it as a liability or going to be tough to raise the litter size. I dont write in scientific language but one can find more material on this through Google. So they are seen together without any confrontation thats good news.

Damna and all

Today's visit to few villages around Bandhavgarh was not at all shocking for me. Every villager we spoke wanted us to help them or get some help for them from different sources. This is a subsidy generation, who are born in subsidy and they will die with subsidy. Subsidy do not allow them to work. That makes them more lazy.

Majority of them were complaining about the park. Once I convinced them that now park boundary is clearly defined then they started complaining about the fence material, which is not available out side of the park. I had to tell them in a very harsher way that after few years when you will face water scarcity then again you will blame someone so better you see your future yourself and start preparing yourself for that. They agreed in the form of that they did not disagree with my point.

Free distribution of solar gadgets has made a big impact on them. In other sense it has increased their expectations. People could not answer about the use of T.B. ridden cattle. How much they worth?? The kind of money they get in compensation, sometimes, is too much to their actual value.

Mahua. Villagers are busy collecting Mahua at present. We asked them about the economics of Mahua. Some says that a person can earn about 70-80 Rs per day and for some figure goes up to 130-150 Rs per day. Whole family get involve in this. One family we saw who brought their 3 yr old child with them and even he was helping. So even if they are not earning equivalent to normal wage through Mahua they don't want to work to earn better money at this time.

I will say its tradition.

We saw a very nice stream near Damna. We wonder how long it will last? Villagers are cutting each and every tree except Mahua so wont be surprise if in next few years time this stream dries out.

I heard that Bamboo is going to be declared as a MFP material than that will be another nail in the coffin??

Bandhavgarh

While writing the Conservation history of Bandhavgarh national park i found some interesting facts.

The peak time of Bandhavgarh has passed courtesy chain link fencing, human population growth on periphery, suttle climate change i.e lack of rain fall, and lack of long term Management plan.

Bandhavgarh started with zero Tiger, Spotted Deer and Leopard population. 1969 census done by Park people shows record of Sambhar, Muntjac, wild boar, chinkra , Neelgai and one leopard near Tala village.

Person who is responsible for creating 9 National Parks and 31 Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh told me personally that even Gaur came after 72-73 in this area.

When first tiger was sighted in Bandhavgarh sometime in 73 frantic phone calls were made to Bhopal. Bait him was the answer to the question of how to keep him in National Park boundary.

On the tunes of Kanha a regular baiting on every saturday was started here but that time there was no elephants here to show it to the tourist and this tiger also did not took those baits as often as they were offered.

This tiger must have come from Khitauli area which was a good Hunting block till 1971. Late Mr Amar Singh told me personally in presence of Late Ajay Kumar Reddy that When 7 Tigers were shot in Khitauli not a single tiger use to be seen in Tala shikargah. This was confirmed by that time CF and CCF also.

To Know more about what happened in this park please wait for my book.

Copyright Satyendra Kumar Tiwari 201, No information of this page can be used in any form without prior permission from the author.