Sariska likely to get more tigers soon

JAIPUR: The long wait for big cats at Sariska tiger reserve may soon come to an end, as the forest is likely to come alive with the roar of two more tigers that may be relocated to it in the near future.

Experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun have arrived in the park and are studying the two tigers that had strayed outside the park.

The visit of the experts come close on the heels of a tiger from the park killing a 50-year-old man at the park on Sunday.

"Some experts from WII are visiting the park. However, they are not in connection with the killing but to help us in the identification and subsequent relocation of the straying tigers," said an official.

The Union forests ministry and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) have recently granted the nod to the state government for the relocation of the two straying tigers from Ranthambore.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Sariska-likely-to-get-more-tigers-soon/articleshow/5720540.cms

Fire in Valmikinagar tiger reserve in Bihar

Bagaha (Bihar): Forest cover in about 100 hectares in Valmikinagar tiger reserve in Bihar's West Champaram district was reduced to ashes today.

Madanpur forest ranger Junaid Ali said water was being drawn from tanks in the area by forest employees to douse the fire.

Casualty, if any to animal life in the forest reserve is yet to be ascertained.

The cause of the fire in the reserve, which falls in the Madanpur forest range is also yet to be known, Ali said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_fire-in-valmikinagar-tiger-reserve-in-bihar_1362906

Maharashtra lost 120 tigers, 425 panthers in 2 yrs

Mumbai, Mar 24 (PTI) In the backdrop of widespread concern over the declining tiger population in the country, it has come to notice that Maharashtra lost 120 tigers between 2005 and 2007.
The Economic Survey 2009-10 which was tabled in the state Legislature yesterday says that there are only 148 tigers in the state as compared to 268 in 2007.
Similarly, the number of panthers has drastically come down from 717 in 2005 to only 292 in 2007.
There are three tiger projects in the state - Melghat, Tadoba-Andhari and Pench situated in the Vidarbha region.
Recent figures state that there are only 1,411 tigers in the country.

http://www.ptinews.com/news/579528_Maharashtra-lost-120-tigers--425-panthers-in-2-yrs

NGO makes hi-tech database for Manas Tiger reserve

Guwahati, March 24: The Manas National Park, in keeping with the times, is going hi-tech.

Aaranyak, a wildlife NGO, has developed a customised database for the park called the Manas Tiger Reserve Information System (Mantris) which will help forest officials to get information on various aspects of the range and also facilitate commoners to get an overview of the entire Manas foothill landscape.

The geographic information system (GIS)-based Mantris is designed for the entire Manas tiger reserve area, which extends from Sankosh river in the west to Dhansiri river in the east, along the Indo-Bhutan boundary. There are 18 ranges in the Manas tiger reserve covering an area of more than 2,800-square km.

The system is ready and will soon be soon handed over to the forest department officials.

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Japan government, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank funded the project.

“There is not enough geo-spatial data and information regarding this important biodiversity-rich area. Mantris is the first web-GIS-based database designed by the geo-spatial technology application programme of Aaranyak for this area,” project coordinator of Aaranyak Bibhuti Lahkar said today.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100325/jsp/northeast/story_12259172.jsp