Wildlife Rescue
WCF works on wildlife rescue and rehabilitates them to feasible habitats that are preferred by individual species. Wildlife has made its home in places that are ecologically fragile by individual species – from Snakes and Lizards to Leopards and Tigers. When humans overtake their territory and build houses inevitably most of these species enter human landscape that was otherwise their evolutionary home. Whenever people find these unwanted guests inside their recent home, they call us to rescue it, we have to rush to the spot immediately and relieve the intruder who has made it his/her home way before people built it. The restrained animal’s health will be checked and released immediately to feasible habitat or it will be kept on observation and then released.
At a time when wildlife experts nurse divergent views on Tiger problems and the means to address them, we as National Tiger Conservation Authority (MoEF&CC) (NTCA) representatives, feel darting and relocation holds the key instead of killing it. We have illustrated how managing man-animal conflict can be effective by capturing stray Tigers in Bandipur and Nagarahole Tiger Reserves.
WCF as a part of the rescue and relocation team, work with the Forest Department, veterinary doctors as constituted team to capture the big cat. “The easy way to track and tranquilize a Tiger is by mapping its path and monitoring individual history that is now more or less available through trap camera repositories”. As a part of the front line rescue and relocation team, with innovative techniques tracking the Big cats trails in forest – once we have identified the Tiger that needs to be tranquilized – constituted team goes ahead atop Elephants. Tiger do not generally attack Elephants and we get a vantage point to tranquilize it. This way, the risk of getting attacked by the Tiger is minimized
Tigers that have been attacking people in the fringe areas of the forest see people as their competitors who take away their prey (Livestock – usually cattle). We need to identify the problem much before a Tiger begins to enter human settlements and relocate such old Tigers. This way we achieve – capture and relocation – capture and translocation. Not killing the Tiger and elimination.
WCF team has worked with the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) in rescue operation of 26 Stray (conflicting) Tiger, 20 Leopards that were in distress.