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Saturday, September 19, 2009

Faced with shrinking habitat tiger turning on each other

In another incident of its kind, a tigress's partially eaten body was found in Kanha national park according to a report on Indiatimes.com. This is the 7th tiger death in the park and some of them have been attributed to territorial fights amongst big cats. According to forest officials quoted in the report, a male tiger killed the sub adult female tiger possibly for encroaching into his territory. With forest areas shrinking at a rapid pace and tigers being fiercly territorial animals, incidents of the big cats killing each other are being reported at increased rate.

Uttarakhand govt allows project in the middle of Wildlife corridor in Nainital

The delicate balance betweeen development and conservation which is so key to wildlife protection is being gradually eroded by shortsighted policies of govt.
In a development that has set alarm bells ringing amongst conservation NGOs the Uttarakhand Govt has given permission for infratructure project to be developed right in the middle of a wildlife corridor reports the Times of India.
The said project is key to Tiger and Elephant movement across sanctuaries as per WII which published a report in 2003 and identified the area as key to healthy mixing of wildlife stock in the entire region.
Development no doubt is key every country's progress but at the expense of detroying critical wildlife !!
Thankfully the central govt has taken note of the development and along with found NGOs WII, WWF have decided to visit the area to access the ground situation.
As minister MOEF Jairam Ramesh has been stating, there is an urgent need to create a nodal body with statutory powers to evaluate such projects before they are taken up.
A harmonious balance needs to be found between preserveing forests,wildlife and development which is so key for the survival of future generations.

Wildlife corridor in Uttarakhand faces trouble

Superb, incisive Nat Geo piece on India's struggle with Tiger Conservation - Must Read

If any one needs an idea of how things are on ground as regards to the enormous challenges we face in saving teh tiger from extinction here is
a first hand account from the most authoratative source. This piece in Nat Geo based on an investigation carried out by the magazine details out how local communitites have still not been taken into confidence by the govt and how poachers use cover provided by them to continue their nefariou activities. A must read

The War on India's Tigers

Cat Fight

Squeezed for space and targeted by poachers, India's tigers have reached a tipping point. But deep in the world's most celebrated tiger sanctuary, an unlikely hero has emerged. He's smart. He's driven. He's a God-fearing vegetarian with Jack Bauer tendencies. Too bad wildlife officials hate his guts.