Sir
Apropos to the concern about decline in tiger population in J&K state in your esteemed paper dated June 4,2013 “Tiger vanishing from State”, I appreciate the concern about the protection, in general, of wildlife in Jammu and Kashmir. However, in particular reference to the tiger, Panthera tigris, or the Bengal tiger, Panthera tigris tigris, to be more concise, I would like to add that this cat species is not found in our state. No scientific reference or distribution record points towards this state as being the part of tiger home range. There is no authentic sighting record of tiger in the state by any reliable agency or any reliable expert of the forest and wildlife department of the state till date.
The tiger is indeed an endangered and most beautiful species among big cats and its extirpation is of serious concern. From the estimated 100000 in the beginning of 19th century it has dwindled to not more than eight thousand in the world today. Out of eight sub species three have vanished and the fate of the rest of the five is in peril. Whether India, being home to around sixty percent of the world tiger population, would succeed to protect its precariously declining population of Bengal tiger is yet to be seen.
While voicing the concern about tigers we should also realize that many other species, which presumably appear abundant in our state, like leopard etc, may meet the same fate as tiger. The leopard or chitra, as known in local dialect, is also an endangered species of cat family facing alarming decline in our country. The threat to its survival has increased exponentially due to man-animal conflict situation and live stock depredation. Many other species like snow leopard, Asiatic brown bear, hangul or the Kashmir stag, , Tibetan gazelle ,Tibetan antelope or chiru, Himalayan thar, musk deer, goral, chir pheasant, Western tragopan, snow cock, monal pheasant, endangered vulture and kite species and their fragmented shrinking habitat need immediate attention of our intelligentsia, lest they should be in oblivion in near future and the state would repent over the loss of its natural heritage and glory.
Yours etc…
Tahir Shawl
(Rama Lane, Talab Tillo Road,
Jammu)
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