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Thursday, May 13, 2010

High tiger density may indicate habitat loss

Conservationists have welcomed the recent finding that the Kaziranga National Park in Assam has the highest tiger density in the world, but warned that it could be an indicator of destruction of habitats in the vicinity and suggested framing of a tiger habitat management policy.

‘Aaranyak’, an environment watchdog, in collaboration with the Assam Forest Department in a recent survey using the ’camera-trap’ method has found that the forest, famous for housing the one-horned rhinos, has a recorded density of 38 tigers in an area of 100 square kilometres.

Describing such an unusual increase of the animals in a single protected area can be a dangerous indicator of habitat destruction, conservationist Bibhab Talukdar of Aaranyak recommended regular monitoring of tigers and prey population in the forest.

“We like to recommend regular monitoring of tigers and prey population to understand the ecology in such a high density tiger habitat,” Talukdar said.

He said the unusual increase of these animals might be attributed to habitat destruction in the surrounding areas as a result of which animals flocked to Kaziranga.

Due to the high-density, human-tiger conflict in the fringe areas of the park might go up and both short and long term measures were necessary to minimize such conflicts, he felt.

Treating Kaziranga and the adjoining Karbi Anglong hills as a single conservation belt was the need of the hour for the long-term survival of the Park and proper dispersal of tiger population, Talukdar pointed out.

“Unless the tigers had a wider dispersal area, myriad problems like infighting and conflict with humans was likely to intensify,” he added.

The corridors linking Kaziranga with Karbi Anglong forests have suffered extensive degradation due to encroachment, illegal logging, stone mining, growing settlements and tourist movements have severely disrupted wildlife movement, particularly during the flood season, said P.J. Bora of WWF-India.

The man-tiger conflict has increased in recent years with high incidence of cattle lifting reported from the fringe villages of Kaziranga and there have been also confirmed cases of retaliatory poisoning by the affected locals.

To ensure future of the tiger, improved management of tiger habitat, including restoration and management of corridors between core areas through land-uses compatible with tiger conservation was necessary, Bora said.

“Creating additional or expanding existing protected areas to support viable, breeding tiger populations, and linking them with habitat corridors should be of utmost priority for both proper management of the Park and tiger,” Talukdar added.

http://beta.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article428769.ece

Another tigress with 3 cubs spotted in Tadoba

CHANDRAPUR: Its virtually raining tiger cubs in the 625 sq km Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve which recently got a boost when the state government notified its buffer area as per government stipulations. The popular reserve is about 150 kms from the Nagpur.
Even as celebrations to mark the birth of four tiger cubs to the Katekasa tigress of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) are yet to sink in, there is more good news for wildlife lovers. The Devdoh tigress too has reportedly given birth to three tiger cubs.

The tigress with three cubs was sighted around 10 days back by a villager. Forest officials are making all efforts to track it and confirm the sighting.

The birth of as many as 11 cubs in a span of just eight months has proved that this oldest national park in the state has a rich wildlife habitat and is a healthy breeding place for tigers.

TOI readers too had sent in photos of a couple of tigers and its cubs. These new cubs will not be taken into account when the findings of the tiger census is announced later this year. Cubs have to be two years old to be counted in the tiger population.

Though the birth of the cubs is good news, it also brings to the fore problems like dwindling territory and incest. Devdoh is a perennial water source located near Khatoda gate, exactly on the boundary of Tadoba and Moharli forest ranges of the TATR.

A resident tigress was pregnant and was expected to deliver this summer. The good news finally came a few days ago.

"We have installed camera traps in the area to officially confirm the finding," said Kiran Dhankute, the RFO in-charge of Tadoba range.

"Though the Devdoh water source is located in Moharli range, the movement of the tigress has been traced more on the Tadoba side."

Tiger urine deters cats from straying near city

NAGPUR: This could just turn out to be a master stroke to ease if not solve man-animal conflict. In a novel experiment, the Nagpur forest division officials used urine of captive tigers in the city's Maharajbagh zoo and sprinkled it near the spots frequented by tigers in Ranmangli village, as close as 60km from Nagpur. The result: tigers have now stopped encroaching from the Bhiwapur forest range to the village.

It was the idea of Dr S S Bawaskar, a young veterinarian who has been with the Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth-owned city zoo for last eight years. Harried forest officials, who were ready to take any step to ensure that the conflict doesn't flare up, agreed to work on the suggestion.

The Ranmangli tigress, bearing two sub-adult cubs, had killed a woman last month. This was the first case of a human killed in the area. The thirsty wild cats were coming very close to the village for water causing panic among its residents. The forest officials were worried that the conflict area was so close to the city. N Rambabu, conservator of forests for Nagpur Division, says around 250 ml of urine of three female tigers at the zoo was collected and sprinkled at an orange orchard and other spots.