Orphaned by Wildlife Fund

ACTION PLAN FOR ORPHANED CHILDREN

The networking of NGO's and concerned individuals now seems to be reaching a stage where it can pay dividends to hitherto unsolaced victims caught between natural forces - which can be severe on some - and callous 'officials' who can, but don't, reach out with a helping hand. The tragedy at Manas, where three dedicated forest staffers were killed by poachers, and more recently the killing of UP forest guards by the timber mafia, has left survivors without support. The extent of the victims' tragedy has touched a lot of hearts, and these are reaching out with concrete measures. Atul Kumar is one such, who has come up with a meaningful response - a fund to help out children orphaned by animal & human attacks.
We extend our best wishes for its efficient disbursement.

Aqeel Farooqi

ORPHANED BY WILD ANIMALS FUND
A project of
INDIAN TIGER CONSERVATION TRUST

Orphaned by wild animals is a fund to assist the minor children of people killed by wild animals in project tiger reserves and Indian national parks. The fund is working closely with Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) and other conservation organizations to help and assist the families of Forest Guards and local villagers whose lives have been tragically affected by tiger conservation.

Sadly, there is a human price to pay for conservation. All over India there are approximately twenty three Project Tiger reserves. In addition there are large tracts of reserve forest around the parks, as well as a sizeable tiger population that lives in these jungles surrounding the parks.

To those of you who have been to some of these parks, you know there are no boundaries and there are villages in the core, buffer and surrounding areas. These people live with, and in the jungle. In most cases these are forest guards and poor god- fearing villagers who have lived in the jungle for many generations. It is a hard life, but in most cases these people do not know of any other kind of life.

This fund has operated for approximately five years on a very limited scale in the Corbett Tiger Reserve area. Its goal is to provide some assistance, but not dependence, to small children of people killed by tigers, poachers, wild animals, and to dependents of day wages / low wages park employees killed in accidents inside parks. In most cases this means providing assistance to a family of four or five where the breadwinner has been killed.

The fund has an ambitious goal of providing assistance to four new tiger reserves every six months, with the ultimate goal of providing the framework for assistance to all Project Tiger Reserves. The first four parks for 1999 are:
CORBETT
DUDHWA
SARISKA
MANAS (replaced Ranthambore due to recent tragedy)

If you - the reader - are working in one of these tiger reserves, and have first hand information regarding human casualties in these or other preserves, I would very much like to hear from you and add to the data I am collecting. Please e-mail me

Highlights of the Fund

A fund to assist children of people killed by wild animals in Indian national parks / Project Tiger reserves.

Objectives:
To assist small children of people killed by:

Tigers - first priority
Poachers - second priority
Wild animals - third priority
Day wage / low wage park employees killed in accidents inside park – fourth priority.

It must be emphasized that the main goal of this programme is to provide assistance - not create dependence.

Time frame:
One year: To be fully operational in at least eight Project Tiger parks, subject to available resources.

Phase one: (Feb 1999)
Fund all subjects identified in Corbett .
Contact and identify in all 4 phase one parks.
Corbett, Manas, Dudhwa, Ranthambore.

Phase two: (June 1999)
Include Sariska, Palamu
Add four or more parks.

Phase three: (Jan 2000)
Add four or more parks

Methodology:

Each dependant or family will receive Rs 300 per month ($84 / year) and each family will receive Rs 900 per month ($252 / year) exchange rate Rs 43=$1.

Sponsors to the fund will have to commit to long term support for atleast 5 years, otherwise it may not be practical to link one sponsor to one child or family. However, people can still make donations to the fund. Long term sponsors are preferred, since an extended association would provide a tremendous amount of support to the family or orphan child. Just knowing that there is someone who cares, would give them hope to carry on.

If you need more information or would like to sponsor a child for at least a few years ($ 85 or Rs 3600 per year) please e-mail me.
AtulKumar62@yahoo.com

Acknowledgement:
The fund is grateful to WPSI and Nirmal Ghosh for the assistance they have provided, and is looking forward to a united Indian Conservation Movement in the next century.