The arrest of tiger poacher Omprakash Bawariya from Ramnagar in Uttarakhand on Wednesday has revealed the vulnerability of the adjoining forest areas, the poorly patrolled counterparts of the more high-profile Tiger Reserves. Protected forests which don’t come with a celebrity tag may just not be enough to protect India’s tigers.

A joint operation between the Uttarakhand Forest Department, Himachal Pradesh police, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and the Wildlife Protection Society of India led to Bawariya’s arrest who confessed to killing a tiger in Uttarakhand three months ago. Shockingly, the accused was earlier caught in the same area in 2003 with iron traps which are used to lure tigers. Poachers like Omprakash have taken advantage of less guarded forests, say sources, while the same operation would be more difficult within the actual tiger reserve.

The tiger, which sources say originated from Corbett Tiger Reserve, was poached from an adjoining protected forest in the Ramnagar Forest Division, scientifically classified as Corbett landscape but not a part of the Reserve.

Though the National Tiger Conservation Authority has asked for the above mentioned Terai west and Ramnagar areas to be notified as part of the reserve, the Uttarkhand Government has not yet responded to the advisory. Becoming part of the reserve would mean additional protection through the Tiger Protection Force.

Two months ago, officials from the Corbett Reserve had written to the Ramnagar Forest Division warning of the threat to tigers in the area and alleging that one tiger had in all probability been killed. The National Tiger Census conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India had also pegged Kaladungi, near Ramnagar, as a poaching hot spot. But despite the warnings and the old crime record, Omprakash was able to kill more tigers in his demarcated area.

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