Valmiki Tiger reserve. Telegraph picture

Patna, Dec. 31: In a bid to stop the practice of the residents of the neighbouring villages to use Madanpur range of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) as a grazing ground, a survey would be conducted to identify the people entering the reserve with their animals.

VTR director J.P. Gupta has issued directives to conduct a survey of the local residents who bring their cattle here. After the survey is over, notices would be issued stating that punitive action would be taken against them if they continue to bring their cattle inside the reserve.

“To begin with, we will inform the residents that bringing their cattle inside the reserve is violation of law. But if people are found to repeat the act even after receiving the notice, stern action will be taken against them,” Gupta told The Telegraph over phone from Bettiah.

The move assumes significance as the range, located in the western part of the reserve has vast tracts of grassland. Stretching over an area of 100sqkm, it witnesses cattle killing by tigers almost every month. Such incidents may lead to retaliatory killing of tigers by the villagers.

Earlier this year, a tigress died under suspicious circumstances in the Madanpur range after it killed the cattle of a villager. Though forest officials could not establish the role of the residents of the area in the killing of the tigress, those working in the field accepted that the death of the tigress took place because of the poisoning of the prey it had killed.

Tigers have a tendency to consume their prey over a period of three to four days. This gives the villagers a chance to poison the body of the prey once the feline moves away from the place after consuming a part of it.

Threat to tigers apart, the grazing activities adversely affect the habitat of the reserve because of human interference. “The loss of flora creates problems for herbivores of the reserve and this, in turn, affects the tigers as herbivores are the prey base for them,” Gupta said.

Wildlife Trust of India’s assistant manager Samir Kumar Sinha, who has been carrying out different field and research work in the VTR for the past five years, said: “Such steps should have been taken much earlier. But better late than never.”

Sinha said the officials should ensure that the vigil on cattle owners is maintained on a regular basis. Else, they will return to the reserve after some time.