Panna Tiger Reserve, February 25, 2014: They say the experience of seeing a tiger in the wild is one that is never forgotten. And for one to truly immerse onself in conserving this keystone species, a ‘sighting’ in the wild to observe the mammal in its natural surroundings becomes imperative. Keeping this in mind and in a bid to boost tiger conservation efforts globally, International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) in collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) is hosting two Russian forest officers in India under the ‘Tiger Watch Programme’ to facilitate the same from February 24 to March 4, 2014.

“While there are 13 countries with naturally occurring tiger populations, with India hosting more than half of the world’s wild tiger population, the country has become a popular site for spotting this magnificent beast in the wild. While in certain areas in India tiger density can be as high as one for every 10sq km, in Russia forest officers may sometimes go a considerably long duration or even their entire career without actually seeing a tiger in the wild, given the sparse population of the animal in the ranges in Russia,” said Dr Jagdish Kishwan, Chief Advisor to the ED & CEO, and Head of Policy, Wildlife Trust of India.

Having started in 2005, fourteen Russian forest officials have visited India so far under the Tiger Watch Programme which has always concentrated on giving the officers a compact training on the conservation of this species. This year as well, as part of the training and capacity building programme a workshop will be held in Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh where the officials will be oriented on basic management practices of monitoring tigers in one of the more high density ranges of the country.

The officials will be accompanied by Skripnik Tatiana (Deputy Director of Department of RosPrirod Nadzor, Russia) and Dr Anna Fillippova (Campaigner, IFAW-Russia) during their journey, where they will also be interacting with representatives from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) Secretariat and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), India.

Dr Anna Fillippova commented on the training saying, “Such trainings are very crucial and help the officials become more devoted to the cause. It forms an excellent basis for the Russian rangers, who’re some of the best the country has to offer, to learn about the different modes and methods being applied for conservation, expanding their horizon and in turn improving conservation efforts in Russia.”

Dr Kishwan elaborated on the choice of Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) as the apt location of the orientation, saying, “After the entire tiger population was eradicated from the area, this area has had an extremely successful re-introduction programme which has now become a globally acclaimed and standard model for tiger re-introduction. PTR visit will serve well for practical exposure of Russian officers in the field of tiger conservation and management. With wild tiger numbers dwindling at an alarming rate nationally and globally, such workshop and training efforts go a long way in strengthening tiger conservation world-wide.”

Dr Aniruddha Majumder, the Technical Officer for the GTF from WTI commented on the visit saying, “Such interactions form an excellent basis for exchanging valuable information from both sides where both countries stand to benefit from each other’s experiences on multi-fold levels- practical, theoretical as well as in policy level. Formed under an aegis of the Ministry of External Affairs, the sub-group formed between the countries has for almost a decade now contributed significantly, enhancing each others’ knowledge base.”