Tigers in My Backyard: A Childhood Story I belong from a small town- Yash Gohokar 

Chandrapur, in Maharashtra. This town is situated at one of the borders of the Tadoba Andheri tiger reserve (TATR). As a child I always had a fascination towards the wildlife and especially the tigers. As a child I would always hear about the tigers, leopards, bears and other wild animals entering the outskirts of the district, and in some of the nearby villages the wild animals could cause serious damage and disturbance to the people. The wild animals would prey on the domestic animals in the villages and even on the humans in some cases and then there would be various operations conducted to either kill or cage the wild animals by the wildlife workers. This as a child would leave me unsettled. The situation now is not very different. The population of tigers is constantly increasing and has exceeded the optimal population with respect to the area in the region and what has also increased is the human intervention in the forest. This is a serious problem and should be resolved both for the welfare of the humans and the wildlife. This problem according to me can be resolved by coming up with a duty based legal system rather than right based legal systems. And the legal systems should be shaped keeping in mind the mutual benefit and convenience of both animals and humans. Also practical measures like buffer zones, better conservation policies, and community-based monitoring could be part of this solution. Some of the measures are been taken and some will need the policy changes.