One of the major impacts of the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) on the lives of people living on its periphery is damage to livestock by the big cats (tiger and leopard) and crops by other wild animals. This generates resentment among people against both wild animals and Forest Department often in the past resulting in retaliatory measures being taken by affected people. The government gives some monetary compensation for cattle killed but there are long procedural delays in disbursement.
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A villager with his cattle killed by a tiger.
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A member of the kill inspection team of the Corbett Foundation traces a tiger pugmark near a site of a cattle kill.
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The Corbett Foundation has been paying an amount called Interim Relief, to indicate its supplementary and complimentary nature to the government scheme, on the spot after inspection and confirmation of a kill case. If a kill case is reported to the Foundation within 72 hours the informer is rewarded with Rs. 100. The Foundation inspection team consisting of an inspector, tracker and driver stationed at the Foundations Field Office in Dhikuli immediately visits the site and verifies that the animal has indeed been killed by a predator and pays the Interim Relief amount to the owner on the spot.
Information about this scheme has spread to the entire CTR villages and reporting of the cattle kills is nearly 100%. In addition to the two teams at Dhikuli on the eastern periphery of CTR, two representatives are based at Sindhikhal and Rathuadhab in the northern zone of the CTR to physically verify reported attacks and disburse financial relief on the spot.
Since October 1997, the Foundation is running this scheme in association with World Wide Fund For Nature-India's Tiger Conservation Programme (WWF-TCP), which has extended funding support for payment of Interim Relief disbursed by the Foundation, a vehicle to conduct inspections and vehicle fuel charges for inspection tours. The Foundation also pays immediate Interim Relief to the family members of persons attacked by wild animals.
A project on the feeding ecology and ranging pattern of tigers has been conceived in collaboration with Wildlife Society of India (WSI) and Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University. The project entitled "Tiger-Human-Conflict in the buffer zone of the Corbett Tiger Reserve" has already completed its first phase with funding from the US Fish and Wildlife Services. The second phase of the project has commenced with funding from Mr. Gideon Egger (Forever Tigers - U.S.A.). The main aim of this project is to suggest mitigation measures to reduce tiger-human conflict in this region.
Two other important activities taken up by the Foundation in the past include selecting villages for providing solar powered electric fence to protect crops from damage by wild animals. Ringora village is the Foundation's first successful project under this scheme. Finally the Foundation staff helps in rescue operations of wild animals as and when it receives information and is in a position to do so.
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