'If we leave them unattended, they die': Bandipur forest officials feed tiger cubs despite NTCA guidelines

This is another instance where wildlife conservation and animal rights part ways. If the cubs can make it on their own, that is fine,” conservationist Praveen Bhargav says.

Chamarajanagar: Forest officials in Bandipur are fostering four one-year-old tiger cubs abandoned by their mother about 50 days ago as the department is not able to locate her.

Officials are feeding these cubs which cannot hunt on their own with road kills.

Guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) don’t encourage such practices.

Wildlife experts highlight that this was against nature’s rule of survival of the fittest.

However, senior officials say they are giving them a chance to survive by feeding them.

The recent deaths of six tigers at MM Hills seems to have played a role in this decision of the department.

The cubs are being monitored round the clock using drones, camera traps and watchers.

While in North and Central Indian tiger reserves there have been incidents of forest department feeding abandoned cubs and ailing adult tigers, such practices have not been followed in south Indian tiger reserves so far.

Wildlife conservationist Praveen Bhargav says tiger reserves were not zoos to feed abandoned wild cubs.

“The goal of conservation is to manage natural habitats with the least amount of human interference. This is another instance where wildlife conservation and animal rights part ways. If the cubs can make it on their own, that is fine,” he says.

Activists say Bandipur has already reached its saturation level in tiger population and any human intervention in protecting abandoned cubs may only add to the conflict.

“As these cubs haven’t acquired survival skills in the wild like hunting from their mother, they will be either pushed to the periphery to hunt easy prey or fail to differentiate between prey and threat,” says wildlife activist Joseph Hoover.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) P C Ray says the decision to protect the cubs was taken after recommendation from a technical committee.

“Had we left them unattended, they would have died. We will provide them feed till they are able to hunt themselves. This may continue for the next five-six months,” he said.

Bandipur field director S R Prabhakaran said the department was following what had been suggested by members of the committee, which has experts from NTCA as members.

“We only assist in feeding the cubs with road kills. The cubs have started hunting small mammals. As the intervention is minimal, the cubs have to still fight for their survival,” he says.

As the abandoned cubs are in a safari zone, officials have turned the cubs’ territory into an in-situ enclosure and is out of bounds for tourists.