Tiger Watch

Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve was established under Project Tiger in 1973. By the late 1980s and through the 1990s, tiger numbers across the country came under severe pressure from habitat loss and poaching driven by the illegal international wildlife trade. Fateh Singh Rathore served as Ranthambhore's Field Director and later founded Tiger Watch. He firmly believed that lasting conservation in a country with a large rural population required working with — not against — the communities living alongside wildlife.^[1]

Tiger Watch was founded as an NGO registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, with the primary objective of conservation and protection of wildlife at Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. The organisation was conceived as a "private eye" to supplement and augment the resources of the Forest Department.^[4]

The most critical moment in the organisation's history came in 2003–04, when Tiger Watch's ground-level monitoring and intelligence network uncovered a large and organised poaching syndicate operating within Ranthambhore, with the complicity of elements inside the system. Tiger Watch proved critical in 2003–04 in exposing the rampant poaching that was happening right under the eyes of the park authorities. Had Fateh Singh Rathore and his Tiger Watch team not done this, Ranthambhore would most likely have lost all its tigers. The exposure led to a series of arrests of poachers, middlemen, and syndicate leaders, and triggered a national conversation about tiger conservation.^[1]

Since 2005, Tiger Watch members have provided crucial assistance to both the Forest Department and the State Police in anti-poaching operations, conducting many raids across Rajasthan.^[5]

The late Fateh Singh Rathore (1938–2011) was one of India's most celebrated wildlife conservationists. As Field Director of Ranthambhore, he was instrumental in relocating twelve villages from the core forest area in 1976, creating the space that allowed Ranthambhore's tiger population to flourish. Together with author and conservationist Valmik Thapar, he published books and made films that brought Ranthambhore's tigers to national and international attention. He founded Tiger Watch upon retirement, guided by his conviction that conservation must be people-centred.^[6]

Dr. Dharmendra Khandal, a conservation biologist with a doctorate in botany, joined Tiger Watch in the early 2000s after volunteering with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). He serves as Executive Director and has defined and led the organisation's field and executive strategy for over two decades.^[1] He is also editor-in-chief of Rajasthan Biodiversity Network (rajasthanbiodiversity.org), a knowledge platform covering the flora, fauna and landscapes of Rajasthan. He is recognised for establishing ethics and methodology in anti-poaching strategy in India and for his peer-reviewed research on Rajasthan's wildlife.

Ishan Dhar joined Tiger Watch in 2015 when the organisation's tiger monitoring team first expanded into the Dholpur-Karauli landscape. Since April 2021, he has led the organisation's research, development, and communications. He has served on Tiger Watch's Board of Directors since 2017. He has co-authored two books and multiple research articles in peer-reviewed journals and the media.^[1]

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Tiger Watch's anti-poaching work operates through an intelligence network built over decades within the communities surrounding Ranthambhore and the broader Greater Ranthambhore landscape. The organisation has assisted the Rajasthan Forest Department and State Police in arresting poachers, middlemen, and syndicate leaders over more than 25 years of operations.^[2] A particular focus has been placed on disrupting the illegal wildlife trade at its source by identifying informers within local communities and building trust that enables timely tip-offs.

Launched in 2013, the Village Wildlife Volunteers programme brings together community members — predominantly from the Van Gujjar (nomadic buffalo-herder) community — living around the tiger reserve, and trains them to monitor and report wildlife movement.^[3] The volunteers act as the eyes and ears of the Forest Department, maintaining a network of camera traps on the periphery of the tiger reserve and reporting tiger presence, poaching activity, and human-wildlife conflict incidents.

The programme currently comprises approximately 40 paid Village Wildlife Volunteers and coordinators, led by Harimohan Gurjar.^[7] Key contributions of the VWV network include:

• First camera-trap documentation of a tiger returning to Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary on 14 August 2015 — the beginning of the tiger recovery in the Dholpur-Karauli landscape^[8]
• Discovery of a breeding population of approximately 30 gharials in a river near Ranthambhore^[3]
• First camera-trap record of Four-horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis) in the Masalpur area of Dholpur-Karauli on 6 June 2020^[8]
• Ongoing monitoring of caracal in the Chambal ravines of Dholpur-Karauli — considered one of the finest remaining habitats for the species in India^[8]
• Documenting an active vulture colony at Thegda, attracting survey teams from the Bombay Natural History Society^[8]

The Mogya are a traditionally nomadic hunting community found in parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, for whom poaching has historically been the primary livelihood. Tiger Watch identified the Mogya as a key driver of poaching at Ranthambhore and chose a rehabilitative rather than purely punitive approach. By taking a holistic approach and helping the Mogya tribe find alternate livelihoods, Tiger Watch was able to curtail poaching. Many ex-poachers are now working for Tiger Watch as trackers and nature guides.

Tiger Watch operates a residential hostel for approximately 40 children of Mogya families, providing formal schooling, and has initiated healthcare programmes and women's handicraft income programmes for the community.^[3] The Mogya Education Programme is one of Tiger Watch's longest-running community reform interventions.

The Bagh Mitra Programme is a conservation education initiative that deploys trained teachers into government schools in villages bordering tiger reserves. The programme was initiated in 38 villages on the peripheries of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve in August 2022 as part of the Dieter & Liz Gutmann Tiger Conservation Program. In its first year, five programme teachers reached 13,500 students across 69 schools in 53 villages, covering 14 topics in environmental education alongside painting competitions, quizzes, essay competitions, museum tours, and sports activities.^[9]

The programme has since expanded to cover forest-fringe schools around Ramgarh Vishdhari and Dholpur-Karauli Tiger Reserve, with 8 teachers and thousands of students across Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, and Dholpur districts.^[2] The programme is coordinated in part by Praveen Kumar of Rajasthan Biodiversity Network.

Tiger Watch assists villagers in obtaining compensation from the Forest Department for livestock killed by tigers and other predators, helping to prevent retaliatory killings and sustain community goodwill toward wildlife.^[7]

Tiger Watch conducts and supports peer-reviewed wildlife research across the Greater Ranthambhore landscape. Areas of active research include tiger population dynamics, caracal ecology, wolf distribution, gharial populations, vulture colonies, and landscape connectivity. The organisation manages Rajasthan Biodiversity Network (rajasthanbiodiversity.org), a bilingual (Hindi and English) digital platform publishing species accounts, natural history articles, conservation research, and landscape documentation for Rajasthan.^[1]

Dhonk is a Craftmark-certified social enterprise founded by Divya Khandal (wife of Dr. Dharmendra Khandal) that operates in association with Tiger Watch. It employs wives of former poachers and other women from forest-fringe communities in hand block printing, sewing, and other traditional crafts, providing stable income as an alternative to forest dependency.^[5]

Tiger Watch leads the Clean Ranthambhore Initiative, a programme to address solid waste and litter within and around the tiger reserve, engaging local communities and tourism stakeholders.^[2]