In Sunderbans, rising tiger population is eating into human space

Human displacement may be the price West Bengal will have to pay for the success of its Project Tiger. As per the preliminary findings of the ongoing tiger census, the big cat population is expected to go up both in Sunderbans and Buxa tiger reserves of the state, needing expansion of tiger habitation within the two reserves.

The number of tigers in Sunderbans is likely to increase by at least another 35, upping the feline population to 131 from 96 at the last count three years ago.

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In anticipation of an increased tiger population, the forest department has sent a proposal to the state government to expand the core area of the tiger reserve by designating three more areas as forest ranges.

Tiger reserve to expand

Currently, the reserve has four ranges, namely Basirhat, Sajnekhali, National Park (East) and National Park (West), comprising an area of 2,585 sq km divided into the core and the buffer zone. The total area in the Indian side of the world’s largest mangrove delta, split into the tiger reserve and human habitation, is a little over 4,000 sq km.

West Bengal forest minister Jyotipriya Mallick said Matla, Raidighi and Ramganga will be the three new ranges to be included in the expanded tiger reserve.

Also read: Delta of decay: Human folly, nature’s fury ravage the Sunderbans

Following the creation of the three new ranges, the reserve will be bifurcated into two divisions — the tiger reserve east and the west, the minister added.

The east division will include Basirhat, Sajnekhali and National Park (west) ranges while the west division will comprise three new ranges of Matla, Raidighi and Ramganga and the National Park (east), according to the forest department’s proposal to the state government.

Once the core area is expanded, the buffer zone will have to be further pushed back towards the populated area of about 1,400 sq km, which might require relocation of a few villages in the fringe areas of the reserve, according to a forest official.

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in a recent report to the forest department, already sounded an alarm stating that the delta has already saturated its tiger carrying capacity, the official added.

The hostile terrain of Sunderbans has the carrying capacity of three to five tigers per 100 sq km, the WII told the department. But in multiple areas the peak density of tiger population is more than that, the WII reportedly told the government attributing it to the growing human-tiger conflict in the delta.

More than 40 persons have been killed by tigers in Sunderbans since 2019.

Relocating forest villages

Meanwhile, the growing tiger population is posing a threat of similar conflict in the state’s another tiger reserve forcing the state government to consider relocating some forest villages. The forest department estimates that around 12 tigers inhabit the Buxa Tiger Reserve in Alipurduar district.

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A tiger was sighted in the reserve after a gap of about 23 years in December last year. Due to the enhanced presence of the tiger, the government is trying to relocate 15 forest villages with a population of about 300 each within the reserve to a safer location.

The forest minister said residents of Bhutia Basti and Gangutia have given their consent for the relocation.

The Buxa and the Sundarbans are among the country’s 53 tiger reserves governed by the Project Tiger, a tiger conservation programme launched by the Centre in April 1973.