For two weeks I stayed in Alwar, a town east of Jaipur, close to Sariska Tiger Reserve and directly adjacent to the park’s buffer zone. From here the focus was to continue watching STCO members conduct wildlife rescues, as well as, conduct interviews with individuals living near Sariska Tiger Reserve on issues related to wildlife conflict. Twelve villages were visited representing all sides of Sariska (North, North East, South, South East and West, West and East). All villages were within 15 kilometers of Sariska and regularly have “Sariska animals” coming out of the park and “trespassing” on their land. The vast majority of participants characterized wild animals as belonging to the park or to forest department and described them as trespassers in human areas when describing encounters with leopards, tigers, hyena, boar, and ungulates. However, many animals “pose no threat” and have “been here since the beginning” and thus should continue to be there, including tigers and leopards. Initially, informal interviews without a concrete set of questions were chosen as the methodology to gather data about life near Sariska. However, it became clear at the very first village that a focus group approach with a semi-structured set of questions would be more beneficial. Being a foreigner and traveling to very remote locations that most vehicles cannot reach often drew small crowds with big eyes and lots of questions. To have singled out individuals or tried to conduct several individual conversations would have been impossible in this setting. Likewise, because most homes are extended families with several generations living together and relatives living very close by, a focus group allowed for differing generational opinions to be shared and reacted to within the community. While at times multiple people would try to speak or respond to a question, overall, single responses were given followed by additional (and often differing) opinions from other members. When appropriate my partner and interpreter Chinmay Mc Massey when then ask for responses from groups who did not give their opinions. For example, asking women to comment after men had finished their answers, or asking young men to respond to the elder member’s responses. In each village differing generational or gender groups seemed open and honest about their responses in that they often differed from their elders’ and male leader’s responses. Roughly eight questions were asked with every focus group. To start, questions on what type of animals they see on their property, how often and the emotions that follow after a sighting were asked. Secondly, how the area/place has changed post “evacuation” (world choice of first participants) of Sariska’s original tigers (all poached/killed by 2004) and post reintroduction (tigers were reintroduced from Ranthambore 2008-2009). Often the conversation focused (by their conviction to describe in detail) on how the “original Sariska tigers” differed from the new reintroduced “Ranthambore Tigers.” A range of 45 minutes to an hour and a half was spent at each village. At around the 30 minute mark I asked/double checked the community was ok to continue talking or needed to return to work. It was over 115 degrees Fahrenheit each day of focus groups. As a result, most participants were already lounging under shade or napping. Very few were interrupted to participate and even then (three participants left nearby fields to join in the group), all participants seemed eager to talk about the issues and visit with me. Not only were the focus groups possible because of Chinmay Mc Massey’s interpretation but he and other members of STCO have conducted wildlife rescues in many areas near these villages. Thus, in several of these places an awareness of STCO was present and allowed for quick trust and openness I believe. In a partnership with STCO the focus groups were conducted followed by small educational discussions about the animal(s) community members feared or came into contact with most often. Fliers were handed out with STCO information and hotline number (some members already had this) for rescues.
Like most wildlife-conflict research around the world this small study endorses the largest worry to people living near wildlife reserves and parks are large herbivores and wild boar. Here, nelgui and wild boar are common and painfully destructive to crops. However, this study and preliminary analysis also shows large carnivores impact people’s daily routes, livelihoods by way of restricted access, and most importantly a loss of animals from a place can have lasting impacts on people’s appreciation for their home’s and wider lived landscapes. For more than a week I have been out daily on multiple animal rescues with STCO (Sariska Tiger Conservation Organization). On these rescues my goal is to see conservation on an individual basis, animal by animal. Most conservation efforts are large, species based operations that rarely put so much value on individual animals. STCO on the other hand is focused on individual animals at all trophic levels. Even though STCO members all over Rajasthan rescue every type of animal, from civet cats, crocodiles, ungulates and even big cats most operations are snakes. Snakes can easily sneak in from nearby forested areas into peoples’ homes, wells and walls. Thus far, I have been on rescues in Jaipur and Alwar (and surrounding areas). The rescues have been: sand boa, krait, monitor lizard, checkered keelback, king snake, and a few unsuccessful attempts (due to people not watching the snake as we make our way there) to rescue cobra, civet, etc. It is fascinating to see several members of the STCO team putting their lives, personal funds and time on the line over and over again for individual animals that would otherwise be killed. There are primary sites of release that the team has official permission to release in. Jhalana reserve forest is the primary place for release for Jaipur (where we spotted the leopard). The founder, secretary of STCO, Chinmay Mc Massey, has been releasing animals there for 2007. He, and forest official at the gate agree, because of the large quantity of snakes released, about five miles inside the forest by STCO, the number of peafowl (peacocks – males) have increased. As a result the number of leopard has increased from around 7 to around sixteen. It is this mind set; that each animal is critical to conserving the entire ecosystem is inspiring. So often this focus is missed. Conducting participant I am focused on a few topics: 1) observation the costs (in fuel, time and energy) every day without any compensation of STCO members to conduct rescues 2) the households (family structure, class level, and demeanor) where rescues happen 3) location of rescues (almost all directly on the edge of green space 4) how the crowd (usually all household members and several neighbors form large crows that stand incredibly close to STCO members even when the animal is a krait or cobra) responds to the STCO team and rescue techniques (usually in aww at the professional tools such as U stick and snake tongs) and 5) how people react to the animal during and after the rescue (when it is out of site) through short conversations and a few interpreted interviews. Geotaged photos and video of the rescues are taken; observation and conservations are then collected into field notes after each rescue and release. And of course the best part is I get to transport the smaller (snakes, lizards and small palm civats) on my back in the pack as we ride the bike to the release site! Full participation! |