It is a typical Deccan deciduous teak forest with a good population of deer, antelopes, bear, hyena, langur and animals typical of such forests. Its population numbers a dozen now. As a result of territory reduction, their areas overlap, as they have to venture into new zones to find food. No sooner migrants are reported they are poached. Tipeshwar is a small wildlife sanctuary just across the Telangana border along NH-7, about 20 km north of Adilabad towards Nagpur. Sadly, in Adilabad, they say the government is not interested in what’s in the forest, so much as what is below the forest, and what comes out of it. Soon the forest started receiving migrating tigers from Tadoba, about 60 km away. A good part of the forest is planted teak, which can be noticed by the neat straight lines, somewhat like the hair on Virender Sehwag’s head. Tipeshwar is full.The king of Tipeshwar is a young full grown male tiger called Star Male because of the characteristic star on his forehead, which seems to give him a perpetual scowl.
A male may have a territory of up to 60-100 sq km, while females up to 20 sq km, but these numbers vary according to the habitat and the sub-species. Why do you need a so-called shikari in the first place? One hears of high fees changing hands more than once. The Maharashtra forest department has done a great job of conservation and protecting this forest.Even Naxalites don’t like tigers.Two tigers have now been noticed with wire snares still wrapped around them. They then evolve into man-eaters. The Yavatmal pair of man-eaters are Tipeshwar tigers forced out of their natural habitat. One big male and three females with eight cubs — four each of male and female — in various stages of growth.  Naxalites hate tigers as they drive away timber poachers, and timber poachers are a vital source of cash to finance the liberation war. Today it is popular with day visitors from Nagpur and increasingly from Hyderabad, who revel in seeing tigers.If the tigers migrate eastwards or northwards, they will be pushed by habitations towards Tadoba, which is not an easy passage as it would mean crossing two multi-lane national highways with heavy traffic, day and night. Tipeshwar is a small tiger reserve, and measures just about 148 sq km. Telangana is a very unfriendly place for tigers. To go southeastwards is more inviting. The Adilabad jungles used to teem with tigers. When the Naxalite dalam passed, the flash was triggered and the Naxalites realised that they were on film. To survive, the Telangana tigers need friends in high places.
There is no buffer forest. After crossing the easily fordable Penganga, they enter the Adilabad forests in Telangana and the Kawal Tiger Reserve. It will soon catch the attention of the Star Male. The Maharashtra forest department began nursing this forest in the late 1990s and the forest you see today is the fruit of those efforts. They attract attention from nettlesome NGOs, wildlife lovers, resort hoteliers and naturalists.Farmers electrify their fences to kill wild animals before they attack their crops.Tigers are extremely territorial, so they will fight other animals and even other tigers that invade their space. There is one reported near Chennur in Telangana with a steel wire wrapped around its belly, and the young male with a steel wire around its neck has recently re-entered Tipeshwar. It has had a great success in providing a sanctuary to about a dozen of India’s beleaguered tigers. Such deaths are quickly hushed up as they invite the attention of the police and the forest department, both of which are harmful for health and wealth. This problem has become more of an issue due to the reduction of their natural environment. Tigers are extremely territorial, so they will fight other animals and even other tigers that invade their space.
Last year Kawal reported two tigers after many years, but they were poached. This is where the problem begins. Imagine a small patch that will be no bigger than the cantonment area of Secunderabad or the newer part of Gurgaon. It’s no contest — and ends mostly with a cowardly night shoot. Once a tiger enters a forest and gets noticed by the outside world, poaching gets affected. Before that happens, the forest department RG58 Cables Factory has a job to do. This action was caught by the other camera, which silently went about its business. I have a friend in Adilabad who visits Tipeshwar a few times every week. Adilabad is the home district of the Telangana forests minister — who is reputed to have an abiding interest in timber. They then smashed the camera and took out the memory drive.If they migrate westwards, they enter open fields where there is no prey base and are forced to live on domestic livestock, beginning a cycle of man-animal conflicts. Like a police encounter. What happened was that out of the two cameras alongside the trail, one was with a flash.The Maharashtra forest department has done a great job of conservation and protecting this forest.
When these tigers turn man-eaters, the forest department turns to so-called “professional shikaris” — like that purported Nawab from Hyderabad, who arrive with four-wheel drive vehicles, powerful spotlights and high-powered rifles. Tigers need privacy, deep forests and a thriving prey base of deer and antelopes, and wild boar.. It has to tranquilise the big cat and free it from the steel noose, to give it a fighting chance of survival. Tigers are a nuisance to the nexus between politicians, timber smugglers and forest officials. Recently, Naxalites were caught on camera breaking a tiger-trap camera. So young adults are forced to migrate. Often tigers are caught in these and die.Of late, even Tadoba tigers are spilling over in Telangana, where they have to run the gauntlet like the Tipeshwar tigers. I am told the Yavatmal man-eater’s bounty is in the upper seven-figure range. In Telangana, this means the chief minister and his two children. Others call it a smile