In 2018, WCT President Dr. Anish Andheria sent me to the Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, to witness the life and work of frontline forest staff, so that I could be their voice. With each of the forest guards I got a chance to interview, I spent a full day. With some, I spent 24 hours, even sleeping in their camps, my sleep punctuated by deer alarm calls.
Forest guards Sunita and Dnyaneshwar Shinde raised their child in the core zone of Melghat Tiger Reserve for two years. The author has followed their lives since 2018, and they have featured in many articles. (Photo by Rizwan Mithawala/WCT)
I walked and hiked with them as they patrolled their beats, cleaned waterholes with them, checked water sources for poisoning, waded through streams, and stumbled upon the tracks and signs of tigers, leopards, sloth bears, gaur, sambar, and many more mammals. I saw my first jungle cat, and I saw two individuals of a species that even seasoned naturalists dream of – honey badgers!
The learnings and insights that I collected from that trip were almost inexhaustible, yet never enough; I wanted to know more. I have since made many work trips to different tiger reserves across India, to get a firsthand understanding of the various WCT projects underway in and around the reserves, and have written about a wide variety of projects. But each trip enriched my understanding of the life and work of forest guards, and inspired me to write about yet another facet of their lives.
Last month, for World Ranger Day, I wrote my eighth article about forest guards, and pitched it to the editors of Mumbai’s much-loved tabloid – Mid-Day. This article was about an important turn of events that takes place in the lives of many forest guards posted in tiger reserves. As they get married and have their first child, the need for school and healthcare compel them to request transfers outside tiger reserves.
The story instantly struck a chord with the editors. For a change, a conservation writer was not talking about the needs of the tiger in this second most-populous country. This was a story about the basic needs of ordinary people who do the extraordinary work of protecting tigers and their forests, and the inestimable biodiversity within, from fires, poachers, timber mafia, and a plethora of other threats. The editors gave it almost three pages!
My experience as a journalist with the world’s largest selling English daily tells me that nothing sells like a human story. We care about people, and problems we can relate with. As writers for conservation, instead of complaining, we should use this to our advantage. Human-focused conservation stories don’t just help the cause of conservation of species and ecosystems. They can also shine a light on the working conditions of frontline forest staff; boost the morale of grassroots conservationists; and drive funding attention towards conservationists working in anonymity, and marginalised communities sharing their backyards with wildlife. Above all, such stories can help us slowly rid ourselves of apathy towards people who protect wildlife and ecosystems, bearing huge personal costs.
Dinesh Kendre is a forest guard from Melghat I have been in touch with since that first visit in 2018. Whenever I call, he begins with updates about the sightings of tigers and other wildlife, and then about the grassland and waterhole development work in his beat. But I am more interested in news from his life, I often tell him. He once replied, “Tiger ko zyada importance hai Sir, guard ko…..” I could have completed his sentence, but I didn’t, because I don’t want to believe that forest guards are less important than the wildlife they protect. This act of writing is an act of celebrating their selfless service.
About the author: Rizwan Mithawala is a Conservation Writer with the Wildlife Conservation Trust and a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Writers. He has previously worked as an environment journalist with a national newspaper.
Disclaimer: The author is associated with Wildlife Conservation Trust. The views and opinions expressed in the article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Your donations support our on-ground operations, helping us meet our conservation goals.
Related Links
- Sleepwalking into a Ghastly Future
- Media Coverage
- Dharti Rakshaks Of Melghat
- Why India Needs Stronger Laws to Protect Exotic Species on its Soil
- India’s Growing Fetish for Wildlife Of The Exotic Kind
- Smuggled kangaroos leave Indian forestry officials mystified