Participants were also introduced to monitoring and mitigation tools, including conventional and artificial intelligence-enabled camera traps, the Animal Intrusion Detection and Repellent System (ANIDERS) and quadcopters
Kolkata: The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) on Saturday trained 33 newly inducted Primary Response Team (PRT) members, including 10 women, in managing human-tiger interactions and promoting coexistence in Kultali block of South 24 Parganas district. Since 2018-19, WTI’s project on fostering human-tiger coexistence in the Indian Sundarbans has built a network of 98 PRT members, including 18 women, in Kultali. The volunteers assist villagers and the forest department in preventing conflict and help monitor and maintain around 24 km of nylon-net fencing along the block’s eastern coast.
Participants were also introduced to monitoring and mitigation tools, including conventional and artificial intelligence-enabled camera traps, the Animal Intrusion Detection and Repellent System (ANIDERS) and quadcopters.
Their basic understanding of conflict and coexistence and upskilling is essential such that they can manage situations of tiger ingression in villages on their own without having to depend on an external entity most of the times,” said Prosenjit Sheel, project head at WTI. Abhishek Ghoshal, manager and head of WTI’s Conflict Mitigation and Coexistence Division, said local myths and misconceptions about Sundarbans tigers often influence how villagers respond when a tiger strays into a settlement. “Our training orients the PRT members on basic concepts of conflict and coexistence, natural history, behaviour and scientific mitigation measures, that allow the members to function effectively in a humane and respectful manner, ensuring safety of both people and tigers,” he said. Ajay Kumar Das, a veteran PRT member known as Bagh Bondhu (Friend of Tiger), said the volunteers had a dual responsibility. “We are the local guardian of tiger and mangrove forests of Sundarban, and at the same time equally responsible for the safety of villagers when a tiger comes into a village,” he said.
The training was held at Sundarban Prakritishala, also known as Sundarban Education Centre, at Ambikanagar Haripriya High School. It was conducted by WTI’s Conflict Mitigation and Coexistence Division, with support from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) through its Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Program (ITHCP) and the West Bengal Forest Department. The sessions covered human-wildlife conflict mitigation, tiger behaviour and tracking, and the role of PRT members as first responders. Community engagement, awareness meetings and post-conflict reconciliation were also part of the training. “PRT members play the role of voluntary stewards for fostering human-tiger coexistence in the landscape. They act as the bridge between local people and the forest department.
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