Former Wildlife Board Member Joseph Hoover writes to CM

Mysore/Mysuru: Karnataka’s best Tiger Reserve —Bandipur Tiger Reserve — has again found itself in trouble as the Government has not appointed a Field Director.

Previous Field Director S.R. Natesh has been transferred in December 2021 and also, there is no Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) in Bandipur since December 2021, according to Former Wildlife Board Member Joseph Hoover.

Hoover has stated that Bandipur Tiger Reserve, which is home to more than 150 endangered tigers, had witnessed three major fires since 2013, the worst in 2019, which had burnt down more than 4,000 hectares of the critical tiger habitat.

With the fire season round the corner, Bandipur, which had lost more than 6,500 hectares over the last few years due to forest fires, cannot sustain another inferno, he added.

Stating that the Karnataka Forest Department had recommended the names of experienced, sincere officers, Hoover said that the Government, for reasons best known to it, has not deemed it appropriate to accept the Department’s choice and Bandipur is also left with no Range Forest Officer (RFO) since August 2021.

In a letter to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Jan. 14, 2022, Hoover has stated that Bandipur Tiger Reserve is in need of an experienced, efficient and honest field director at this critical point in time. The scenario right now is very bleak, more so with the fire season around the corner.

Pointing out that Bandipur Tiger Reserve has a history of major, devastating fires over the last seven years, Hoover has stated that forest landscape in the excess of 6,500 hectares were destroyed in fire and has urged the Chief Minister to post a good officer with sound man-management ability to this  critical tiger habitat.