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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Manmohan concerned over unnatural deaths of tigers

Concerned over increasing incidents of unnatural deaths of tigers in various reserves in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to personally take up the matter with State Governments

Concerned over increasing incidents of unnatural deaths of tigers in various reserves in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to personally take up the matter with State Governments, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday.

The Prime Minister expressed his concern during a meeting of the National Board for Wildlife Thursday, Mr. Ramesh told reporters here.

“The prime minister has agreed to lend weight of his office for monitoring state governments. He will also take up the matter with the chief ministers of various states, especially with the Uttarakhand government, as unnatural mortality of tigers have been reported from Corbett National Park,” he said.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article260567.ece?homepage=true#

4 get 3-yr jail for poaching tiger

In only the second case of its kind in the state and the first in Vidarbha, four persons were convicted in a tiger poaching case on Saturday by the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court of Sakoli, Bhandara.

JMFC, AR Surve, sentenced Chandkiran Kodape, Tarachand Soyam, Sampat Soyam and Shiva Pingare to three years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on them for poisoning a tiger on September 29, 1992, near Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary.

The tiger had killed a cow and the accused had poisoned the carcass later using the chemical Thimet.

Range Forest Officer (RFO) Pradip Kottewar had investigated the case and seized the tiger skin from the accused. Assistant Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Kishore Mishrikotkar pushed the case to bring about the conviction.

Assistant Public Prosecutor H P Randive said, “In the absence of efforts by forest officers like Kottewar and Mishrikotkar, it’s difficult to get convictions. Most of the time, officers are transferred and not available to attend proceedings...”

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/4-get-3-yr-jail-for-poaching-tiger/593503

‘Tiger poaching is only getting accelerated’

BANGALORE: The year 2009 saw the maximum number of tiger deaths in the country due to poaching, with the toll reaching 32. However, 16 tigers were killed so far this year, in less than even three months.

If the Chinese government legalised tiger trade, it would sound death knell for the wild cat species as they were poached due to the demand in China for making traditional Chinese medicine.

Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) made these observations at the Bangalore Press Club on Saturday at the screening of a documentary delving into the plight of the tiger. The Truth About Tigers is made by renowned conservationist and wildlife filmmaker Shekar Dattatri.

Trapped Sundarbans tiger to be released Sunday


2010-03-20 20:10:00

A tiger from the Sundarbans biosphere reserve, which strayed into a village on the outskirts and was later tranquilised, would be released back into the forest Sunday, according to a top forest department official.

The big cat has been kept under medical observation. It was roaming in the jungles with a tigress when it entered the human habitation near Luxbagan in South 24-Pargana district and was caught.

'We trapped a male tiger from Netidhopani-I forest in Sundarbans yesterday (Friday). The tiger has now been shifted to a squeeze cage,' Sundarbans field director Subrata Mukherjee told IANS Saturday.

'The forest department officials successfully tranquilised the tiger by administering ketamine and also radio-collared the animal,' he said.

http://sify.com/news/trapped-sundarbans-tiger-to-be-released-sunday-news-national-kduukdbaejb.html