Though the Government too provides compensation, it took its own time to do so and the money was too little. With realistic compensation in their pockets, villagers have accepted the regular loss of cattle as a jungle tax in return for the free fodder from the forests, says G.D. Sarin of the Corbett Foundation. But it is difficult to tell how long this truce will last. Cattle compensation cannot be stopped. Long term conservation demands measures like reducing the number of cattle by substituting high yielding varieties and creating more avenues for income generation in the villages surrounding tiger reserves.
White tigers are an aberration.
They are albinos. When the first one, Mohan, was discovered in the jungles of Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, he was brought to the Rewa palace in 1951 and nurtured with tender care. It is Mohan who sired a large number of the white tigers and their progeny that can now be found in the zoos all over the country and even abroad. In fact, there are probably more white tigers abroad than in India. Because of inbreeding, some white ones have been born with deformities and others are highly susceptible to infections.