Meera Bhardwaj:
Incidents of people deboarding their vehicles when traversing Bandipur Tiger Reserve is on the rise. On Sunday evening, a man traveling from Tamil Nadu (on the Bandipur-Ooty road) got down from his two-wheeler to take a “selfie with a wild tusker” when he had the shock of his life even as it chased him from the road to the forest and back.
It is so shameful to see people still taking videos when the man chased by the tusker fell down on the road and the elephant almost trampled him.
The road as one can see in the visual was jam packed with some 15 two-wheelers and a few four-wheelers who had stopped their vehicles to get a better view of the wild tusker and photograph the pachyderm.
Most people on two-wheelers had deboarded to take pictures and take close-ups of the tusker.
It is shocking that how could the Karnataka Forest Department allow so many vehicles to stop enroute amidst a wild tusker which was disturbed by the sight of so many onlookers and vehicles in its own habitat and home. There are two major roads traversing the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, say wildlife activists and there is an urgent need to patrol these roads so that people don’t violate wildlife rules when traversing the road in the protected area.
“The tiger reserve has enough of vehicles and they can be used for patrolling these roads which are frequented by people. The patrolling vehicle needs to have two watchers and one forest guard so that such violators can be caught and punished. However, the present Bandipur authorities have been negligent and have failed to take any action till date,” they add.
The Sunday evening incident which happened at 5.30 pm – a stupid guy being chased by a wild tusker inside the Bandipur Tiger Reserve shows how wildlife laws are being violated by people while traversing inside a protected area. This foolish individual had a lucky escape and was not trampled upon by the wild and highly disturbed tusker which was in its own habitat.
On his social media post, Joseph Hoover, United Conservation Movement says, “Bandipur Tiger Reserve has been reduced to a circus. This road show has been happening frequently on this road. Not only the field director of Bandipur should be hauled up but also the ACF and RFO. When the focus is on money, protection does take a backseat.”
Hoover adds, “This incident happened barely four kilometres from the Bandipur range forest office. The state government has to be lot more proactive, especially in tourism centric wildlife habitats. The foolish individual survived but the Karnataka Forest Department has no clue where the survivor is.”
Activists from Bandipur add that this is not the first time such an incident is happening in Bandipur Tiger Reserve as this tiger reserve has become a tourist-centric habitat catering to people’s greed for seeing wild animals very closely and sometimes, not only endangering their lives but also the wildlife which is in its own habitat. Day in and day out, people deboard from their vehicles to take selfies, photographs and videos of wildlife in its habitat without realizing the serious consequences in the event of an attack.
On this road, tigers, elephants, leopards, panthers are disturbed to no end when people get down from their vehicles and go very near to the wildlife to get a better picture or sighting, thereby violating the laws under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Wildlife activists question the Bandipur forest authorities of inaction and nil regulation when vehicles are traversing this significant area of the tiger reserve. They add, “There is no checking what time vehicles entered and what time the vehicles exited the tiger reserve and further neither any fines are imposed or their vehicles impounded due to such gross violations. Compared to Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, Bandipur has gone to dogs with no strict regulation and people taking advantage of the lax attitude of the forest officials.”