Monday, September 21, 2009
CNN IBN exposes continued poaching inside TATR
A story posted on ibnlive.com shows a wild dog caught in a snare inside Tadoba Tiger Sanctuary. If the picture indeed was taken inside the park it is a sad comment on the govt's criminal negligence towards protecting animals inside designated forest sanctuaries. TATR has been in news recently for suspected cases of tigers being poached. Obviously no hard evidence has come to light so far with the park being left open to poachers after the govt took almost 2 months to appoint a new field director post removing the earlier one. Relocation of villagers, granting mining licenses in teh vicinity,TATR's wildlife is not just battling poaching mafia but also the so called protectors.
NTCA reconsituted 3 years after it was set up
In a move aimed at strengthning oversight on tiger conservation NTCA, the nodal body created after Sariksa Fiasco has been reconstituted as per a report in The Times of India. The body will now be chaired by Union MOEF Jairam Ramesh with Menaka Gandhi has one of its members. Other wildife experts like Valmik Thapar are also amongst the 8 experts apart from members drawn from public life. It worth noting that NTCa has been extremely active ever since it was set up in place of the disbanded Project Tiger after CBI investigations confirmed Sarika had been shorn of all its stiped cats. With states gradually falling in line on the revised mechanism set up by NTCa recently, there is some hope that tiger conservation in India is on the right track.
Govt reconstitutes tiger conservation body
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/environment/flora-fauna/Govt-reconstitutes-tiger-conservation-body-/articleshow/5037698.cms
MP govt holding out on signing binding agreement to make its officials more accountable
Despite being in the limelight for being the state with the largest area under tiger reserves, MP govt rather than leading by example is telling us what exactly afflicts wildlife conservation in India. Official apathy, lack of accountability and protecting own turf at the expense of public good are some of the reasons why despite immense media and public pressure there has been little improvement in widlife conservation.
The centre has signed the new tripartite agreement with many other states. As we have posted earlier, the agreement makes flow of funds easier to the parks bypasssing the state wildlife ministries which are mostly corrupt and inept and are the biggestobstacles in money reaching genuine beneficiaries. The agreement alsomakes forest directors directly liable for penal action for the condition of the reserve. As we have seen in MP itself the director of Panna national park publicly claimed till last year that the park had a healthy population of tigers. After it was declared in march this year that alltigers had been killed the field director was actually promoted to the ministry of forest. Such officials need to be charged wtih criminal conspiracy and neglect so that they take their job seriously.
MP govt babus need to realise that tiger conservation is a matter of India's prestige and not about protecting state's turf over the matter. Since so many other states have willingly signed on the dotted line there should be no reason for further delay.
Madhya Pradesh opposes mooted MOU on tiger conservation
Now tiger sanctuaries will be evaluated by independent experts
Keen to ensure best practices are introduced in tiger conservation, the centre has constitued 5 committees of experts for evaluating the management and functioninig of tigers reserves across India, reports TOI today. The evaluation will be done basis parameters set by WII and commitees will include tiger experts like Belinda Wright. Now that the centre is signing legally binding MOUs with states to make field officials accountable for their actions it might be a a good idea to include some of the parameters in the agreements to ensure consistency across the board.
Panels to evaluate functioning of tiger reserve |
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Another tiger dies in Kaziranga
The spate of killings continue unabated, after yesterday's report of a tiger found dead in Kanha, the 7th this year, another tiger was found dead in Kaziranga National park in assam. This is the 8th tiger death in Kaziranga this year and
forest officials suspect poisoning by villagers as the cause. The incident comes a couple of days after tiger cubs were found abandoned in Tadoba nAtional park indicating their mother had been killed by poachers.
With tigers deaths being reported from across the country on a regular basis and long term solutions slow to take root time is running out for the big beast.
The govt needs to involve local population in conservation and make them stake holders in protecting wildlife and forests, unless that is accomlished quickly any other efforts to preserve tigers will not prevent their extinction.
Poachers kill tiger, jumbo
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.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Chinese year of tiger 2010 causing headaches in India
With demand for tiger parts in China rising at unprecedented rate, Indian officials are worried about further surge in tiger poaching on account of next year being the Chinese Year of the Tiger. During a recent visit for China, the minister MOEF Jairam Ramesh had raised the issue of implementing a UN mandated ban more strictly only to hear back accusations about India not doing enough to clamp down on Shatoosh shawl trade which is encouraging Chiru poaching in Tibet. Jairam Ramesh also rightly pointed out in TV interviews recently that the primary responsibil;ity of protecting tigers is India's and if we can ensure stringent laws and application of the same we can curb poaching activites to the minimal which will allow for a healthy population of tigers to survive in the wild.
read earlier blog pos
Goa forest officials continue flip flop - Tiger killing Case set for quiet burial
An old saying in Hindi translated roughly means , You need to lie a 100 times to cover up one lie. This in essence sums up investigations into unforunate case of a tiger killed in Goa in March this year. After trying to hush up the incident from the very beggining, Goa Forest officials now are just waiting to close the case. Perhaps the case should also rest in peace like the soul of the dead tiger. Consider the series of events:
A tiger is killed in Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in Goa. As reports of killing reach wildlife officials they go into denial mode asking for proof rather than initiating investigations. Local journalists take pictures of the carcass which is published in newspapers. Even after that wildlife officials put the onus of getting 'concrete proof' on the journalists rather than taking congnizance of the pictures. After much media pressure investigations are initiated but vital time is lost which allows the villagers who had killed the tiger to burn the carcass. Some evidence is finally found in the form of burnt skin and sometiger parts which wildlife officials claim are from the killed tiger and samples are sent to WII Dehradun for confirmation. In the meanwhileowner of farm where the tiger parts are found is arrested by forest officials while the villagers ostracize a local who led the invetigation team to the burnt carcass. A local court releases the accused on bail since there is no evidence to even prove a tiger was killed let alone proof of the accused being involved. After being let off, the accused files a case against the forest officials for harrassment and torture in custody and bizzarely the local cops file an FIR against the forest officials. And in the final death knell to the case WII said last week that samples sent for investigation donot even belong to a tiger indicating the sample was changed before it reached them. With no evidence, no witness, investigators being harrassed it is unlikely the case will move any where. After systematically destroying the case Goa Wildlife officials have decided to form a board which will study the WII report and might advise future course of actoin which might as well be shutting the case for good.
Goa not to close tiger killing case as of now: CCF
Caputured Tadoba Cub indicates continued disappearance of tigers
In a late night incident reported extgensively in newspapers today, a man in Chandrapur distt battled and overpowered a tiger cub when he went out of his house investigate the sounds emanating from the backyard of his house. The worrisome part of this story is the missing mother of the tiger cub who might have been poached or poisoned. The cub was found to have been starving when officials took it for a medical indicating it was parted from her motherever since and not being able to hunt on its own hadnt eaten. Chandrapur has been in news for the last few years on account of a series of man animal conflict incidents leading to poisoning and killing of big cats. Recently this blog had also highlighted the mismanaged relocation policy in tadoba where villagers were shifted from their original settlements only for them to return since the new area didnt provide them any means of earning their livelihood. With angry villagers surrounding the park and govt apathy taking its toll, Tadoba's tigers are fast getting cornered from all sides with no where to run.
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
UP to carry out Tiger Census shortly
Under cloud for its claims on tiger numbers in Dudhwa National park, the UP govt has decided to go in for a fre census with the help of Wildlife Institute of India and NTCA reports Times Of India. On an ealier post this blog had written about the new country wide census to be conducted starting October this year which will be the most comprehensive and technically superior ever undertaken.
read earlier blog post
WLI to start fresh tiger census in UP
Tadoba gets new Field Director
After the mass transfer of forest officers in Maharashtra a few months back Tadoba Tiger Sanctuary in Chandrapur distt has finally got a new field director informs our friend from ground Zero, Shalik Jogwe a keen wildlife conservationist. Though a welcome move it is also symptomatic of the apathy with which politicos and govt officials treat important issues like convervation of wildlife and forest. The park director post has been lying vacant for almost 2 months at a critical time during rainy season when poaching incidents are at their peak. If this is not criminal culpability on park of the govt then what is. Letting the sanctuary gates open for poachers by removing the most important officials.
Tadoba has been in news recently for the campaign greens along with local citizens have been running to oppose granting of mining licenses by mah govt to Adani power. Convervationists fear the mines will destroy the green cover in the area and sound the death knell for tigers in the reserve which are anyway dwindling in numbers.
read earlier post on mass transfers
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
MP denies signing tripartite agreement with Centre-NTCA
A day after media reports announced Jairam Ramesh having convinced MP govt to get on board its new formula of saving tigers from killing, MP govt in its press release has denied signing any such document reports Indopia. It is relevant to note that more than 6 state hav already signed the agreement paving way for direct release of central funds to the tiger sanctuaries and increased accountability of field directors. Apparantely forest officers in MP having been holding out against signing the pact citing accountability releated issues. It is ironic that the central india state which should be at the forefront of tiger conservation is dragging its feet on such an important issue especially since two of its tiger sanctuaries, Panna and Sanjay Gandhi NAtional Park recently were reported to have lost all their big cats.
MP denies reports of signing MoU with Centre on tiger reserves
Worried centre calls meet to discuss alarming rate of Tiger Killings
Worried by the continuing spate of tiger killings this year, 50 as per NTCA estimate and 66 according to NGOs, centre has called a series of meets of all 17 tiger states reports Chennai Online. the first such meet is to be held on 17th Sept with the last one on 6th October. It is relevant to note that tiger deaths due to poaching, habitat loss and man animal conflict are continuing to take its toll on the big cat population despite vigorous efforts put in by the new MOEF Jairam Ramesh to get states to become more accountable in dealing with the problem.
Centre convenes meetings to discuss tiger deaths
Goa govt doing its bit to bury tiger killing case
After all the misfires into the investigation of tiger killing case in Goa, from very little evidence to investigators becoming accused to samples being changed, the Goa govt has finally decided to refer the matter to the stae wild life board. The tiger killing came to light in march and there has been a systematic attempt at covering up the killing and now this gem delivered by the Goa govt will ensure the case is buried for good within the state. if the govt was serious about investigating the killing they would have handed it over to WCCB or a nodal central agency. Knowing fully well that there are vested interests involved in hushing up the case, goa's politicos are offering an extra hand at helping their brethren.
Govt to refer tiger killing case to Goa Wild Life Board
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
MP seeks 2500 crores from centre to resettle families living inside Tiger sanctuaries
A day after MP govt signing on the tripartite agreement with NTCA and Centre, the state has proposed to move out almost 25000 families living inside wildlife sanctuaries a PTI report states. To achieve this the state govt has asked the centre for a grant of almost Rs 2500 crores since the Centre recently increased compensation payable to each relocated family to Rs 10 lac. This move might go a long way in ensuring wildlife lives seperated from any human interference and settled areas inside parks which are sometimes used by poachers for cover are removed.
MP seeks Central funds for relocating villagers from reserves
Monday, September 14, 2009
Centre convinces MP to sign tripartite agreement
In a development set to give a big boost to tiger conservation in the country, ministry of Environment and Forests have conviced a reluctant MP govt to sign teh tripartite agreement which will set the stage for increased accountability and streamline flows of funds to sanctuaries. It is pertinent to note that 6 other states have already signed the agreement but MP one of the states with largest tiger population had so far refused to sign the agreement with bureaucrats in teh state against stringent clauses in the pact making them accountable for loss of tigers in the park. Now with MP on board and other states like Maharasthra, Uttarakhand , Rajasthan, Assam, TN having already signed it, Karnataka & UP are the two large states left to come on board.
MP signs tiger conservation pact with NTCA, parks
Sunday, September 13, 2009
WII says samples not from Tiger in Goa poaching case
In an development eerily similar to the Aarushi Murder case, WII Dehradun has indicated that the samples sent to them for analysis by the Goa Forest department after a tiger was killed near the Mhadei Wildlife sanctuary does not belong to a Tiger. TOI says Is it interesting to note that the institute has taken more than 3 months to do the analysis and realease its report raising questions about the sanctity of the work done by them. The goa forest dept after extensive seach and anaysis had collected the sample and were very sure of them belonging to a tiger. Obviously the samples were changed before it got to WII or something happened there. Given the influence local goa mafia has shown over the case it wont be surprising that samples were changed in Goa itself. The local police has been hand in glove with local mafia in harrasing forest officials. Goa state authorities have so far shown no inclination to hand over the case to WCCB obvisouly due to local political pressure. Like the unfortuanate tiger, the case seems to be headed for a quite burial.
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Latest tiger census to be ready by Oct 2010
Minister MOEF Jairam Ramesh has indicated the new census going to be undertaken sometime end of this year will be ready with its findings by October next year in time for the Tiger summit to be he held at Ranthambore. As posted on this blog earlier the new census will be one of the most comprehensive ever undetaken in India and will cover Sunderabans and some of the sanctuaries in Assam. Read earlier post
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