Strange story of the hunters being hunted

Complacency continues to remain one of the inseparable virtues of an average smug Indian - quite content with with things at his/her disposal. I would request everyone's generosity to take my generically styled statements with a pinch of salt, as a lot of it has been engendered from experiences, both personal and environmental. Success, instead of being a companion of your journey, still enjoys the enviable position of being a destination. Everyone's growth story has seen diverse routes being taken, and along its course, things continually getting trampled. And it requires a reasonable mind to see where's this going - another of those pyrrhic victories! Do we have enough reasonable minds today in India, who could look beyond material ends, and do something about what brings me to write here? Fortunately, there's a silver lining to be had, but am quite apprehensive about how it could be used properly.

Almost everyday I wake up to the advertisement which shrieks into our ears, loud and clear, that we may not have more than 1411 tigers as of today in our country. 1411? That's lesser than even the transport allowance we get from our employers! The enormity of the situation strikes you only when you realize that we are talking about our national animal here. That's when it strikes, and only if you are bothered. As our juggernaut continues to roll, we have cared even lesser for our national wealth. And when some of us have taken the pains to come out of this morbid slumber, we are left with this depleted number to struggle against and tigers' dilapidated state to take care of.

As things stand right now, we have got too little time to act fast and too many questions to contend with. It leaves you with a nebulous mind, partly under the pressure of acting fast and partly due to what we were not able to do in the past to stop this. We have been presented with a challenge, and we should not lose any time in wresting the initiative from the gloomy present. So, here's what I think about all this and expect participation from each one of those reasonable minds.

• We know the monsters we are fighting against. Our collective appeal can make the home ministry see reason and act in a way they have never done before.
• Apart from the accountability attached with forest rangers' roles, we should reward them pro-actively with incentives in cases where they had been able to arrest the slump in the numbers or had been involved in missions which have made tigers' lives better. This will give them enough reason to guard the borders intricately.
• While we provide enough safety to the tigers in our national sanctuaries, we should work aggressively towards incubating young ones in zoos across the country by providing for good food and health conditions.The safe confines of zoos would guarantee that we would be successful in doing that.
• We should have a MoU, or strengthen the clauses if one exists already, with nations where the big cats are not in depleted numbers, to have an exchange program of their ilk.
• To prevent any fringe incidents resulting in their deaths, we should undertake a campaign to educate those living around such sanctuaries of the current situation. We should also have some reward programs in place, to entice them in contributing constructively to this cause in any which way.
• We should make sure that their natural habitat is not tampered at any cost. We should have stringent laws on poaching which would act as a deterrent for those who engage in it
• Equip the rangers with latest technology to allow them to keep a tight vigilance over the area - it could be in terms of how they sweep the area on their vehicles, their ammunition and the modes of communication between various units.
• Create awareness about the impending danger, and hope that those who matter get to learn about this development and could help in formulation of a fool-proof plan.

All of this will make sense only when we have enough participation from the general public. And I have been on social networking sites, looking up at the numbers who are ready to pledge their support for this cause. It's a burgeoning list, people joining in everyday, as the word keeps on spreading. There will always be some who would have done this because it's fad to do so, to be heard or read/seen of as ones who are associated with a cause like this, but that shouldn't dampen the spirits. We should do our bit, should take it as far as we could, because we are not doing it for the animals, but for ourselves!

If you are interested in joining this campaign, here are few links you would be interested to take a look at:

1. National Geographic Big Cats Initiative

2. Save the Tiger

3. Save our tigers