Knowing Ustad- :
Ustad was born to Jhumroo - T20 and Gayatri T22 in 2005 and now, T24 that is Ustad has become a majestic male tiger who looks amazing and ruled out the entire Tiger Reserve in Ranthambore continuously for a period of 9 long years. In the park, Ustad lived happily with Noor - T39 and boomed around his zone independently as there had been no male competitor against him. He only had a few small tiffs with Zaalim - T25 who was his sibling too. For his free attitude, the locals named this rising star T24 - Ustad. His attitude had always been quite unique and different from all and he often ate his prey after dragging it in public. Moreover, he would never scare of human beings as they would keep on sitting on the path on seeing humans coming towards him. For all such extra-ordinary behaviours, Ustad had actually been the biggest attraction of Ranthambore National park and for this reason, he was the favourite of wildlife enthusiasts and photographers.
How Ustad Came Into Limelight :
The valiant and royal nature of Ustad was first noticed when a famous forest guard named Rampal Saini was killed by him on 8th of May 2015. Rampal was a great forest guard who was gallant himself and had been living amidst the tigers without any fear. As per his family, on noticing the intimidating ways and unusual behaviour of Ustad T24 for a few years, he also started feeling scared and nervous.
On the doomed day May 8, the forest guard - Rampal sighted Ustad at the waterbody which is 4 kms from the fort road and that remains hung around by human beings who come over there for visiting a famous Ganesha Temple located inside the tiger reserve. On reaching near Ustad, Rampal was badly clawed to death by this merciless tiger. Though the killing of Rampal was not the first human attack of Ustad, but there had been many cases of this tiger to kill locals and forest personnel in the past.
It was reported that there had been two cases of 2 villagers who got killed by this wild tiger in which one incident was from July 2010 and another in March 2012. Moreover, in October 2012, a forest guard had been killed by him also. Usually, it is seen that tigers are fearful to humans and hence, they avoid to confront them unless they won't feel any kind of harm from them. But, this notion went completely wrong with T24. According to the villagers living nearby the reserve, T24 Ustad become too aggressive and violent in a few years of time. Ultimately, his fear from humans had vanished. So, he grew a habit of chasing human vehicles and trying to catch human beings to make them his prey became his regular activity.
How Ustad Turned Into A Ferocious Man-Eater :
According to some famous conservationists, Raza Tehsin and Dharmendra Khandal, the change in the normal behaviour of T24 has a great relationship with its being sedated and restricted to cage for several days in continuous frequently for years. Whether it was because of a good purpose like a treatment for any injured paw, to cure constipation or to put up the radio collar to him, the cases of frequent tranquilization as well as injection contributed to change his behaviour. Moreover, the shift of 8 tigers from the clan he belonged from to another wildlife reserve, disturbance in the family structure in early years also fuelled up his wild nature towards humans and made him violent. Apart from these elements, tourism is a big cause which is hard to ignore as it is the biggest culprit to encourage man-eating nature of tigers. It is because the private leasing from core forest reserve areas and invasion of sight-seeing events and night tours to these reserved areas of wildlife - create those circumstances in which any tiger may go violent and frequent examples of human attack are definitely big reasons to make Ustad a man-eating creature of Ranthambore National park.
Why Ustad Relocated From Ranthambore :
After an incident of human killing by Ustad in March 2012, a recommendation was sent to national tiger conservation authority, asking for an immediate action to relocate Ustad to a fully isolated place before any other human being could become his prey. However, labelling the tiger as the man-eating animal was simply violating the rules of NTCA as well as forest authority. Ultimately, Ustad was let moved in the unrestricted area of forest reserve. But, the incident of May 2015 in which Ustad killed Rampal Saini was truly a high time as it made villagers started suffering from the growing horror of Ustad as they witnessed another merciless killing by this beast of a human. Due to this incident, a sudden outrage within forest guards and villagers took place and they protested against Ustad to move in the territory. Considering that protest, Ustad was shifted to a new location in Udaipur-Saijangarh Bilogical Park in May 2016. The new park is merely at 400 kms from the tiger reserve and is fully secluded from human communities. At this park, Ustad was lmited to the natural enclosure spanned around merely 1 hectare area which is too small as compared to that of Ranthambore reserve which comprises of a big area of 5000 hectare.
Several Protests Against Ustad's Relocation :
The time when Ustad - T24 had been moving to another zone, several protests in favour of Ustad had been raised. A lot of outrage and discontent among wildlife experts had been observed at that time. T24 the most captivating male tiger was actually a real delight and crush for wildlife lovers who loved to visit the park again and again just because of him. For a different swagger and attractiveness of Ustad, he made several big fans from the world. Though the label of Man-eater to Ustad was simply difficult to digest by his fans. As per the supporters of Ustad, the human killings of Ustad had been only accidents. Moreover, they also believed that fact that no tiger ventures out of his region just for kill humans. So, Ustad had also not ever tried to kill people moving around the temple, road and fort which falls in the zone where he resides. Further more, Bina Kak - the then environment Minister of Rajasthan state firmly supported Ustad showcasing few of his pictures moving calmly aside the villagers carrying water.
People took social media platforms to promote the come-back of T24 Ustad to the reserve and hence, the relocation faced many demonstrations and protests from supported in many ways. Rallies, candle marches and many other things had been conducted to spread across the story of Ustad to global media. Moreover, the legend of Ustad encouraged international media networks like Al Jazeera and BBC to cover the story and hence, Ustad got more and more popularity.
Favouring these protests, Chandra Bhal Singh - a tiger enthusiast and Pune resident filed the petition against Ranthambore forest officials and forest department of the state in Supreme Court of India objecting the relocation of Ustad abruptly and discretely to a new land - Udaipur Biological Park without asking from NTCA. After that, a plea to Ministry of Environment & Forests had also been registered for having answer from the Rajasthan Government on quickly translocating T24 Ustad without making formal intimation to related authorities. Though the case is yet due, a special committee is organized to look after rehabilitation of Ustad. The decision to keep Ustad in new Zoo or to bring back in Ranthambore Reserve where he will be given a strict watch is lying with NTC and forest department of the state.
Wildlife Experts & Conservationists' Point Of View On The Relocation Of Ustad To New Zoo :
Opposite to the points made by supporters of Ustad and nearby villagers, they said that they had been hounded by Ustad T24 a number of times when they had been coming back from their work after sunsets. The scene of T24 licking Rampal's blood brutally was seen by Dharmendra Khandal himself who is a wildlife expert and was studying ecology and tigers in the reserve for many years. Not only him but another famous tiger expert and ecologist-Valmik Thapar also claimed that there had been intense danger in Ustad's eyes which he observed a many times.
Latest News About Ustad-T 24 :
As of now, Ustad is trying to get settled in new place amidst fragmented sandalwood trees and a devoted team of experienced forest guards is taking care of each of his needs like good health and medical care. The booming roar of Ustad keeps on raising the nerves of officials day and night. He is desperate about having a new partner in life as he loves going as well as sitting at the edge of his cage to listen to Damini's roar. Damini is a tigress living in an adjacent cage and Ustad can see her clearly from his enclosure.
In Ranthambore Reserve, Noor - his female partner and his young cubs in which one is of 4 years named Sultan and 2 cubs are of 14 months only are waiting for their fortune as they don't know how long they would survive as they have threat of being hurt or even killed by other ruler of the region. With a goodwill for Ustad, we only pray for his return to his own place and take over his authority and family once again.
Interesting Questions About Ustad :
Though the forest department of the state as well as NTCA are battling over the legal regulations and practices that has to be followed while translocating Ustad to the new place, we are left with several unsolved questions about this case. The question is if the government of the state had done right by relocating Ustad, considering him a man-eater who became a real threat to human beings? If this decision was an impact of the burden put by hoteliers who felt Ustad was a threat for not their life but their business? Or if it is true that Ustad actually became a man eater? If the answer is yes, then who is responsible for turning him into man eater? Aren't we - the tourists who occupy the wild territories of wildlife and thus, making them hostile? Just like these, there are many more questions which are yet not answered. But, being human, we should understand that it is our responsibility to make a right balance in our eco-system; so that wildlife can also live up and enjoy in their natural surroundings. Ustad was a man-eater or not is still in question mark, but the thing is; if we would not think of correcting our practices by invading wildlife territories, then there can be many more wildlife like Ustad who would reflect in news line for attacking humans or exhibiting other violent act.
A Piece of Suggestion For The Authorities Of Ranthambore Reserve :
The wildlife authorities and forest reserve department of India should bring in some strict plans to control human interruption in wildlife territories. Arranging travel bus service around places like Ranthambore Fort road which is filled with human beings should entirely be a concern of forest department. Proper physical support along with quality defence equipment to handle the tiger attacks to guards who are patrolling the territory by foot should be adequately organized. NTCA should make effective policies for wildlife tourism, keeping wildlife reserve in mind to control illegal activities in the region.
In present time, these tigers have already lost more than 93 percent of their forest area to humans who have used it for their development. So, we should understand that conservation of wildlife and tigers is much more important than encouraging wildlife tourism in the country. With the equal effort of wildlife authorities and people, we can succeed in bringing a proper balance in eco-system and can help growing the tigers' population in our nation.