It is very disturbing that India has lost 26 tigers to poaching in the last four months. It is even more distressing that an NGO is allegedly the reason for a tiger’s death in south India.
In its quest to trap a poacher, a Karnataka-based NGO funded one of its WCS India Program associates (Jaychandran from Ooty) to employ a decoy to lure a poacher. In turn, Jaychandran contracted B Selvakumar (from Metupalyam) to execute the covert mission. Subsequently, the decoy (Selvakumar) set out six men from Satyamagalam to ‘nab’ a poacher.
With the promise of a big reward dangling, Shekar, Palaniswamy, Murthy, Nanjappa, Marimuthu and Vadivel (now in custody) shot a tiger in Tamil Nadu’s Satyamangalam forest, adjoining Karnataka’s Billigiri Ranganathaswamy Temple (BRT) tiger reserve. They delivered the tiger bones and nails to Selvakumar.
To Selvakumar’s misfortune, he was caught red-handed by the Karnataka forest department at Punanjur wildlife range in BRT, en route to deliver the tiger body parts to Jayachandran. He had 43 tiger bones and a nail in his possession. A forest offence case (FOC, 02/2015-16) was filed by the conservator of forests, BRT on October 1, 2015.
NGO intervention:
It would have been a simple case of arrest and conviction had the Ullas Karanth-chaired Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) not interfered in the investigation. But, the NGO yearned to prove that the forest department had erred in arresting its decoy.
Two WCS members, including its associate director and a central government employee, were deputed to brow-beat the Karnataka forest department and bail out Selvakumar and Jayachandran.
Initially, the poachers had averred that the tiger had been poisoned. But forensic examination proved that the feline had been shot.
Buoyed by Selvakumar’as confession that he had been hired by Jaychandran to trap a poacher, Karnataka sought to arrest Jayachandran. But, Jayachandran eluded arrest. He is still at large.
Fearing that the investigation would lead to its involvement, WCS has been running from pillar to post to absolve itself of its alleged crime. It has approached senior forest officers and has had prolonged discussions with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) south zone representative, desperately seeking to clear Jaychandran’s name. Why?
“A senior WCS member argued that the forest department had made a mistake in arresting Selvakumar. But, I advised the NGO not to interfere in the investigation,” said Somashekar, NTCA representative.
Alleged Atrocity:
It is baffling that Selvakumar has filed an atrocity case against a senior forest official in Tamil Nadu, alleging that the conservator of forest had ‘manhandled’ his wife while arresting him in Sirimugai, Mettupalyam (Tamil Nadu).
But as records manifest, Selvakumar had been physically nabbed at Punanjur wildlife range in Karnataka.
“It is the common modus operandi of most forest offenders. They use this as a ruse to escape conviction. In this instance, he had been nabbed in our jurisdiction (Punanjur wildlife range). The atrocity case will not hold water,” said a senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer.
If WCS was confident that it had no part to in the killing a robust tiger, it should never have interfered with the investigation. Is it worried that its smelly under belly would be exposed by the international media? Foreign funds would dry up, right?
Shamefully, it has encouraged a group of journalists to defend its ‘integrity.’ Thankfully, there are others who write for conservation, without worrying about the identity and clout of an individual or NGO.
WCS once worked for tiger conservation, defending forest rangers who dared to arrest forest encroachers, timber smugglers and wildlife poachers. Now, it is seems to be working against conservation. Why?
If WCS’ intent is true conservation, it should step aside and allow the investigation to run its course. Only the guilty will throw a spanner in the works, right?
It is not only the poaching mafia that is killing our tigers to meet the demand of sex-obsessed homo-sapiens in South Asia. Even NGOs, in their greed for greenbacks and publicity, are decimating our tiger population. In this case, a tiger fell to the ugly machinations of an NGO. It seems.
Renowned film-maker Ram Gopal Varma recently made a movie on forest brigand Veerappan. He could possibly explore doing a short movie on the other ‘Veerappans’ in our country. Why blame poachers and politicians for the precarious situation of our endangered tiger, when NGOs themselves are party to the killing.
Forensic report:
The samples of the bones seized were sent to CCMB Hyderabad on 07-10- 2015 for DNA analysis. The Investigation Officer obtained a report on 29-10- 2015, which established that the bones belonged to tiger species.
As there was blood stain on one of bones, the entire lot was sent to the Karnataka state forensic laboratory on 07-10- 2015. The investigation officer, pursuing the tiger poaching case, received a report from the FSL on 26-12- 2015, which categorically said the cause of death for the animal was by bullet wound (report attached).
The writer is a senior journalist, wildlife conservationist and member of Karnataka Wildlife Advisory Board
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