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Fishing nets are being used in the Sunderbans to ward off attacks from tigers, says Amitava Das Subhas Jotdar of Samsernagar in Sundarbans lives in a house wrapped in discarded fishing nets to protect his family from tiger attacks. "Fishing nets protect us better than boundary walls. Tigers of the mangrove forest are only afraid of nylon nets and fire. They do not care for humans," he says while pulling down the nets before taking a nap after lunch.
He says the Forest Department has since 1998 also been fencing the deltas of the tiger reserve with nylon rope fence erected on embedded wooden poles to stop tigers straying into the villages. It has been more effective than the previous practise of fencing with mangrove logs, he says. "Other measures include bursting crackers, beating drums, illuminating river banks to ward off the wild cats coming from Sundarbans Tiger Reserve," Jotdar says, standing in the courtyard of his house on the bank of the 25-ft wide Kurekhali river separating the jungle here in Hingalganj block of North 24-Parganas district. Most of the houses here are fenced with fishing nets fixed on bamboo poles. "Roars of tigers from the jungle are as common as the caws of crows in the cities. Children grow up seeing tigers roaming and listening their roars," Menoka Baidya, a village woman says, pointing to fresh pugmarks of a tiger that crossed into the village from the jungle 30 feet away. Non-electrified deltas like Samsernagar, Kumirmari, Annpur, Jamespur, Dayapur, Lahiripur, Gosaba, Kultali near Arbesi, Sajnekhali jungles of the tiger reserve are brightly lit at night by power generators to keep tigers away. "Villagers have also armed themselves with search lights, firecrackers, fishing nets, kerosene oil and tattered jute sacks to make fire. Tigers primarily target the cowsheds which they break in to prey on tethered cattle," says the convener of Aila-affected People’s Committee, Bikash Sasmal. With the cyclone taking away most of the fishing nets and the littering period of tigresses approaching, thousands of villagers in Sundarbans deltas now live in fear. "Mostly young tigresses come to the human-inhabited deltas to protect newborn cubs from tigers which kill them," says Mukherjee of STR. Director, School of Oceanographic Studies in Jadavpur University in Kolkata, Sugata Hazra says that the natural food for tigers have been scarce and their habitat is shrinking in Sundarbans due to climate change and rising sea levels. "Satellite imagery study shows that tiger habitats of Bhangaduani and Bulcherry are shrinking. There is a reported increase in tiger straying in the villages fringing the forest," says Hazra. Meanwhile, tigers often
swim the rivers to foray into the villages for cattle and tigresses
come to litter cubs in the paddy fields. "Ten persons died of
tiger attacks this year. More than 20 incidents of tiger straying into
human-inhabited deltas have happened since cyclone Aila on May
25," says Field Director Mukherjee. He says fishermen often make
holes in the nylon nets to enter the jungle, making tiger passage
easy. "Tigers often break into the rickety cattle sheds to catch
livestock at night. The wild animals are often seen to roam in the
jungle. We are helpless and pray to god for his blessings to protect
ourselves," says Menaka. — PTI
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"It
is one of most effective and harmless methods. Tigers stay away from
the nets in the fear of their nails in the claws getting
entangled," Field Director of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, Subrat
Mukherjee said.