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Saturday, April 23, 2011

Tiger attacks three women near Corbett D S Kunwar, TNN

DEHRADUN: A tiger mauled and wounded two women and a 10-year-old girl on Friday near a primary school in Nainital's Ramnagar forest division. The spot is close to the buffer zone of the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

Around 8 am, when Joga Devi (52) Kamla Devi (30) and Anjali (10) of Teda village were going to collect fodder for their cattle, the tiger pounced on them, said DFO (Ramnagar forest division) Ravindra Juyal. The women cried for help. By the time, villagers from Teda came to their rescue, the tiger had disappeared into the forest.

Doctors said the condition of all the three of them is serious. The victims were admitted to Ramnagar's Community Health Centre (CHC). Later, they were shifted to Haldwani Medical College after their condition deteriorated. The victims had suffered multiple fractures, said doctors.

As the news of the attack by the tiger spread, residents of around ten villages in Ramnagar Forest Division rushed to the spot. They gheraoed senior forest officials. They also held demonstrations and took out a march to protest against the inability of forest officials to prevent man-eaters and other wild animals from attacking them. They also demanded the Uttarakhand government relocate them to safer areas.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tiger-attacks-three-women-near-Corbett/articleshow/8062811.cms

Windmills threaten wildlife in Koyna Sanctuary-Bahar Dutt, CNN IBN

Click to play video
Koyna Sanctuary: The Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra is a critical corridor of forest and home to tigers, bison and 100 species of birds. But CNN-IBN has found that land inside the tiger reserve is up for grabs and over 200 windmills are operating inside the sanctuary, for which over 500 trees were chopped.
"BNHS has found some 250 species of birds, which are endangered species accord to them. Now because of these windmills, we can't see the birds. Prior to that, we used to see a number of different kinds of birds. We also used to see wildlife over here," said green activist Nana Khamkar.
Under the wildlife protection act, any diversion of land inside a sanctuary needs prior permission. But a RTI response from the Forest Department proved that the windmills lie inside the sanctuary and the permission was not taken. An offence report was registered by Koyna Range Forest Office in 2002, but till today no action has been taken.
In their defence, Suzlon, one of the windmill companies said, "Suzlon always complies with the law of the land. Considering that this matter is sub-judice, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further."
Green activist Khamkar has filed a PIL in court and is arguing the matter himself.
"Wildlife is totally scattered now. This corridor needs to be preserved as these are important animal movement areas. Because of these windmills, this important animal migration has got hampered to a very large extent," said Khamkar.
Over 200 windmills are now operating illegally inside the vital tiger reserve.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has stepped has ordered the National Tiger Conservation Authority to enquire about the matter.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/windmills-threaten-wildlife-in-koyna-sanctuary/149890-3.html