IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Galhano Alves, J.P. | |
| Men and tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve, India | |
| Manuscript | |
In most Indian tiger reserves tigers and other carnivores coexist with local rural people. The reserves are not only the remaining refuges for tigers hut also the remaining places were people interact with tigers in their daily lire. Few aspects of this daily interaction are known. In fact, current bibliography about tigers focuses on attacks on people, but these tragic and rare events are only one aspect of human-tiger interaction. In the Sariska Tiger Reserve ( 800 km2.),Gurjar pastoralists live in small villages in close contact with tigers and other large carnivores, such as leopards (Panthera pardus) and dholes (Cuon alpinis), and the smaller caracals (Caracal caracal). Because of a mix of empirical ecological knowledge, religious, cultural, ethical and aesthetic reasons the villagers have great respect for tigers and wildlife and their production systems are well integrated with the environment. Basically, they live on buffalo milk, which they trade in order to buy other food items and goods. Each family grazes about 20 buffaloes, just the necessary for their needs. Some families also graze some cows and goats. Being Hindus and lacto-vegetarians, the villagers never kill wild animals, and the wild herbivores share without fear the natural pastures with the buffaloes. The villagers also consume little firewood, wild grains and fruits from the jungle. Their activities have little impact on the environment, preserving the tiger habitat and allowing the existence of thousands of wild herbivores, such as nilgai antelope (Boselaphus tragicamelus), spotted deer (Axis axis), chinkara gazelle (Gazella bennetti) and wild boar (Sus scrofa), which are tiger prey. The villagers' buffaloes are also food for tigers, and in villages like Aripura, situated in the core of the Reserve, about 2 - 4% of the cattle fall prey to the carnivores every year. Farmers, who also have a great respect for wildlife, also inhabit some villages, but their small fjelds only occupy a small part of the reserve area. The villagers graze their buffaloes in the jungle day after day, and they walk in the jungle everyday so that they meet tigers quite often. After the rainy season and during several months the villagers also graze their buffaloes at night. In general, tigers, as well as leopards dholes and caracals, do not attack people. The villagers never kill or attack them, so that they do not have to be aggressive towards people in order to defend themselves. |
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