REBIRTH OF CUBS

It was August 18, 2009. The rain had cast its green spell all around and the forest was enveloped with heavy and tall undergrowth. With its three lactating cubs she had an increased and frequent diet requirement. Pataur’s Tigress had been unable to grab a sambhar or a chital kill as the heavy green cover had limited her visibility and stealth and had offered better food availability for herbivores, so they were no more localised to the hunting grounds of this tigress. Hunger was making things unbearable for her and the cubs. On that day, the unwritten pact of peace between the humans and the tiger broke down. As the night set in, this tigress, mother of three small cubs and obviously driven by the need to feed her family, entered the closest hamlet and killed a cow. The sleepy hamlet of Pataur shares its boundaries with Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. The prey was too heavy to be dragged into the forest and having given herself a good meal for the night, she decided to come back for a subsequent helping. Some villagers of Pataur were quick to react. As generally happens across India, they laced the cow’s carcass with poison and patiently waited for her return.

Everything went on expected lines from that moment onwards. The tigress came to the kill late that night and took a few bites of the poisoned meat. Before she could realise it, the pesticide started acting and she immediately rushed in search of water, which she found some three kilometers away under a pulia. However, it was too late by then. In the next 72 hours, internal hemorrhage caused a painful death, under the same pulia.

A tragedy it was but a bigger tragedy lay ahead. She had left behind three cubs. The four-month old cubs were entirely dependent on their mother for food and nourishment. They had not learnt anything about hunting on their own and were certainly doomed to perish in a few days. The cubs waited and waited for their mother to return. This is when the forest department of Bandhavgarh stepped in.

Several patrolling parties were rushed to the region and the cubs were finally tracked down in the afternoon of August 19. They were tranquilised and shifted to an enclosure in the Magadhi zone of the tiger reserve.

It was the afternoon of a busy day of August end when I got a call from the forest department giving details of the episode and asking for my possible help, contribution and guidance. Should they be sent to a zoo and imprisoned for the balance of their life or should we try to give them a chance of rehabilitation in the forest? Discussions went on and on! CK Patil, the Field Director and HS Pabla, the Chief Wildlife Warden of MP, then embarked on an uncharted and unheard of course of action. They decided to teach the cubs the ways of the wild. But soon, the realisation dawned that it was easier said than done. For one, it is the mother which imparts training to the cubs. Secondly, there was no reference material or scientific study to fall back upon because this work was never undertaken before on the planet by humans.

This is when I chipped in. The forest department graciously accepted my request to let me install close circuit CCTV cameras at the enclosure. This was essential to monitor the cubs movement as well as their individual personalities. As the park ranger Lalit Pande remarked to us, it was primarily because of the CCTV footage they received during next nine months and understanding of the challenge and their behaviour that the prospects of success started to emerge.

Although busy with my schedule as the Managing Director of Raheja Developers, I made it a point to visit the enclosure at least once every month mainly to monitor the situation and to ensure that the experiment was proceeding in the right direction. The cubs were very cautious and alert. They always detected our presence and would not appear unless we remained in the camouflaged machan we had constructed overlooking the water pond in the enclosure. Ajay Suri, Asif Khan and I, along with Patil Saheb, would hide ourselves in the machan for days together. Initially, say for the first four months, the cubs were fed on dead meat. They were also lovingly named by the staff as Raja, Rani and Rajkumari. I must add here that for over a year, no tourist Gypsy was allowed near the enclosure. This was important, to prevent unnecessary human imprinting on the cubs.

Gradually, live meat in the form of chicken, goats and piglets were pushed inside the enclosure. After a few hits and misses, the cubs started tackling the small game with ease. And they also started gaining mass, as well as developing individual streaks. The male, Raja, turned out to be the boldest of the three, while the two females preferred to take the back seat.

The first big kill, of a padda, was witnessed by us through CCTV with lot of intrigue and challenges. As the cubs, now eleven months old, came closer to the padda, it charged back on them. The subsequent two days, CCTV footage showed the padda became the hero in the enclosure making sub adult tigers run for their lives and it did not allow the tigers to sleep. This competition to survive lasted for two days when the faculties of the padda gave way and the tigers, by then overwhelmed with hunger, had learnt how to work with a collective strategy and strength. The padda was finally pulled down by Raja and Rani attacking together first, while Rajkumari joined the fight later.

By now, the cubs had grown to 15 months and the enclosure height became accessible as we realised one night. Rajkumari ventured out of the enclosure jumping over the link chain fence. Our CCTV monitor was about 200 yards away from the enclosure in the forest chowki at Magadhi.

Luckily the caretaking forest guard saw her jumping outside the enclosure on CCTV and promptly informed the authorities. We too were informed and asked to join in the operation to put her back in the enclosure.

We were able to collect some 20-25 persons and gave them all lathis, cans and drums to make noise for a haka party so that the tigress could be driven back into the enclosure. The possible eventualities and caution was discussed through training and instructions passed on in the training session. Everyone looked upbeat and courageous enough to handle in case the tigress charged.

The haka started and the tigress also started to encircle the fence looking for any entry that could send her in. Asif and I were on our makeshift machan some 8 inches above the ground and highly upbeat with the video that was being shot.

And suddenly all hell broke loose, as the tigress charged on the haka party. So strong was the roar and charge that every braveheart ran helter-skelter for his dear life. The lessons of bravery and collective action went up in smoke for a moment. No one was visible as everyone took shelter, be it in the vehicle parked or the closest tree.

I thought it was my turn now as for the first time I realized that a height of 8 inches would not guarantee my life from a marauding tiger which had already jumped across over the 7-inch fence.

Well, it was too late to think and evaluate. We were within reach of the tigress in rage and abandoned our cameras for going into a silent huddle in the machan. The charge had stopped for well over 15 minutes and everyone had started communicating from their safe settings, when I lifted my head to see where the tigress was…and I saw her inside the enclosure with her brother and sister. As we were the only ones overlooking the enclosure, I took courage to inform Patil Saheb who promptly acted by taking the guards to close the enclosure gate.

After about 18 months, the male was shifted to another enclosure nearby (to prevent any chance of inbreeding). By now, the three could easily kill any spotted deer put in their enclosure.

Finally, they had learnt how to hunt! By the end of 2010, it became crystal clear that the tigers learnt all those tricks which their mother would have taught them. But the big question remained unanswered: Would they be able to survive in the wild? Unfortunately, in 2011, one of the tigress’ died. And the forest authorities have planned to release the two soon, probably in Panna or some other forest reserve of Madhya Pradesh.

As I am concluding this story, waiting to board the aircraft, I called CK Patil, the Field Director of Bandhavgarh and according to him, both cubs are doing fine under his personal care and supervision. Their early release in the wild will give birth to a new generation who again will be roaring free in some part of the planet.

So this is how I put in my two bit for the sake of an animal which has held me under its spell for the better part of my life.