Enforcement agencies are playing catch-up with Tiger poachers

Mar 22, 2025 07:18 IST First published on: Mar 22, 2025 at 07:15 IST

In the early years of this century, tiger poaching went out of control in several protected areas in the country. By 2006, the animal’s population had dwindled to less than 1,400. Since then, concerted conservation efforts have led to an appreciable recovery — India today has more than 3,600 tigers. However, in recent years, experts have flagged a significant number of tiger deaths that remain unaccounted for. The needle of suspicion points towards poachers. Now, an investigation by this newspaper — it tracked arrest records and court documents and interviewed former poachers who have become informers — has revealed that illegal traffickers in animal parts have claimed at least 100 tigers in the past three years. Poaching networks today are leaner and more mobile compared to 20 years ago. The poachers are also savvy vis a vis the digital medium and are active on social media. Worryingly, law enforcement agencies are being forced to play catch-up.

After the tiger crisis, the government revamped the country’s conservation edifice. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), established in 2007, discarded the approach that focused solely on protecting the animal in individual parks. Recognising the fact that the animals are mobile, it emphasised the need to conserve them as a “meta-population” — inter-breeding tigers in geographically connected reserves. A centralised Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) was established to tackle poaching cases. However, the CBI and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have continued to pursue animal trafficking cases. These agencies rarely coordinate with each other. Understaffed state forest departments, too, do not keep track of poaching incidents outside their areas of jurisdiction despite the fact that syndicates operate across multiple states. At the same time, there is enough evidence to show that tigers today do not confine themselves to the boundaries of reserves and move out in search of mates and prey. So, unlike 20 years ago, poachers do not necessarily have to enter a protected area to kill tigers. The WCCB is ill-equipped to deal with this exigency. The agency has a sanctioned strength of just 10 wildlife inspectors who can gather intelligence and nearly a fourth of the Bureau’s total posts are currently vacant. Moreover, the regular inspectors are usually enlisted in the WCCB on deputation from paramilitary forces. They lack domain expertise. The poachers, in contrast, deftly use the dark web to plan their operations. Though conviction rates have improved post-2007, the lack of specialised staff to pursue investigations means that more than 90 per cent of poachers who are nabbed escape punishment.