Why visting VIPs always find a tiger ...by Sutirtho Patranobis in the HINDUSTAN TIMES.

If only tigers knew the difference between an everyday and a VIP tourist. But they don't and since a VIP must sight a tiger, there is an unwritten code followed by forest officials to ensure that it's sighted. The first step: arrange a carcass of any animal from the tiger's prey base — it could be a sambar, a deer or a buffalo. Then, the carcass is carefully hidden behind thickets on the tiger's route, say, to a pond. This is usually done five-six days before the VIP's visit. The process is then repeated after two-three days with another carcass. So, by the time the VIP's jeep is casually driven around the park — actually, on that particular route — the tiger, already used to some easy pickings, is back to its usual route and is sighted.

The Ranthambhore National Park has seven usual routes on which tourists are taken around. Two of these, sources said, have been blocked for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's slated rendezvous with a tiger early on Tuesday. These routes, it was learnt, are out of bounds even for security personnel. One route is of the 'jhalrawali' tigress which recently gave birth to two cubs. The second is usually taken by the 'gudawali' tigress, also the proud mother of two cubs. The cubs have recently been seen by forest guards and officials hanging around with their mothers and learning the tricks of the trade.

"It helps if the tiger has cubs," says a conservationist. "The mother has to look after the newborns and doesn't wander around much, busy protecting the cubs. Also, since she is getting easy meat at one place, she wouldn't stray from the route." Sources said on May 19, a sambar died of natural causes inside the park. "The carcass was placed on the route of the 'gudawali' tigress,'' said a source.