Huge funds spent, but PTR fails to save even a single tiger

A whopping sum of Rs. 2,774.699 lakh was spent between 2007 and 2009 for tiger conservation in Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR), but the big cat population declined and came to a naught in the reserve by 2009.

The tiger population declined to an estimated number of 15 to 32 in 2006 in the reserve. In 2007, the tiger population was 35 in PTR, the document acquired under the RTI Act by Ajay Dubey, secretary of Prayatna Environment Action Group, said.

The tiger census, carried out by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehra Dun in 2006, found that there were 15 to 32 tigers in the reserve. WII carried the tiger census with the help of camera trap method, the document said.

Following reports of the Panna being bereft of tiger population in 2009, the WII again carried a camera trap census. Following that, in April 2009, the special investigation team of the Centre declared that there was no tiger in the reserve, the document said.

Before 2006, the tiger census were carried out by pug mark methodology annually and according to it there were 25, 28, 31, 33, 33, 34 and 35 tigers in Panna in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively, the documents said.

Meanwhile, a tigress out of the two translocated tigers has given birth to three cubs in Panna.

After Panna became devoid of big cat population, two tigresses, one from Bandhavgarh and another from Kanha, besides a male tiger from Pench, were shifted to Panna to revive the tiger population.

Keywords: Panna Reserve, Tiger, PTR, environment, Wildlife Institute of India

http://beta.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article436322.ece#

Jairam softens stand on mining in tiger homes

Minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh has constituted a committee to "examine the proposals of mining, infrastructure development and industries vis-Ã -vis tiger conservation".

Sources said the move was aimed at shifting the onus of hard and difficult decisions on to non-political and technical persons. "Jairam has been criticised for taking technical decisions based on his own impressions. He is also facing the political consequences of these decisions.

When decisions are made based on technical-committee recommendations, nobody can object," a source said.

About 17 mining proposals in the buffer zones of tiger reserves will be studied and approved by the committee, comprising four members of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

The team will visit sites and hold consultations with the locals before submitting a report to the Centre within a month, an order issued by the ministry said.

The mining proposals to be studied are in the buffer zones of tiger reserves, including Tadoba-Andhari and Chandoli National Park in Maharashtra, Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh and the Gundla Brameswaram wildlife sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh.

Several of these proposals are for Chindwara, the constituency of roads and highways minister Kamal Nath, whom Jairam had angered by stopping the widening of a highway that passes through the Pench tiger reserve.

Jairam also cancelled permission for coal mining in the buffer zone of Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve in Maharashtra.

This put him in the crosshairs of civil aviation minister Praful Patel. The proposed mine was to supply coal to a power project in Patel's constituency in Gondia district.

But a Jairam who relished such confrontation appears to have disappeared, especially since he was rapped by his "only friend" in the cabinet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for criticising India's security measures in China. Also, with his Rajya Sabha term nearing an end, Jairam is said to be working on his conciliatory skills to ensure re-election.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/98592/India/Jairam+softens+stand+on+mining+in+tiger+homes.html

New action plan for Project Tiger in AP

HYDERABAD: The Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) in the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) now has a twin. Though developed at different times, it was discovered recently that Gundla Brahmeswara Wildlife Sanctuary (GBMWS), in fact, is a conjoined twin of the famous NSTR. Hence, the government came up with a declaration that GBM should actually be considered the extended core of the NSTR.

Spread over five districts connecting all the three geographical regions of the state, NSTR boasts of roughly 70 tigers. On the other hand, GBMWS, that controls the most dense part of the Nallamalla forest, has about 12 big cats. The two are connected by a wide corridor. The government order, which is in the process of being published as a gazette notification soon, is the result of behind-the-scene developments taking place for the past several years.

Before becoming NSTR in 1983, the place covering the catchment areas of Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam dams was first declared a sanctuary, the Nagarjunsagar Srisailam Wildlife Sanctuary (NSWLS). Later, with the objective of protecting tigers in the area more efficiently, the status of the sanctuary was upgraded to a 'tiger reserve'. This is the only tiger reserve of in the state in which 23 per cent of the total area is forest land.

The birth of GBMWLS took place much later, in 1998. The area under the sanctuary is rich and diverse in flora and fauna. While there are well known species of trees like teak, boswellia and terminalia, bamboo etc. There are numerous plants, shrubs and herbs that await scientific categorization and preservation. The animal world is equally rich there with sloth bear, wild dog, hyena, jungle cat, langur, bonnet monkey, sambar, nilgai, chowsingha, chinkara, mouse deer, monitor lizard, marsh crocodile and python etc. found in abundance. Topping the list are, of course, the tigers and panthers. "The forest is free of human habitation and, at most places, too dense to be accessed even on foot," DFO Tulasi Rao said.

Since the 3,568 square km NSTR came into being, the forest department has been pestered with claims on land in the Nagarjunasagar area of the tiger reserve. Ideally, a tiger reserve should be free from human habitation. But NSTR has considerable number of tribals, especially Lambada population, in the Sagar catchment area.

According to some estimates, the number of Lambadas, Chenchus and others in the area has risen to about 30,000. Many of these people have also been given title books on their claims under the Tribal Act.

Rao said an expert committee set up on the advice of the central government found that the Sagar area has become porous with hardly any tiger population. Therefore, the committee felt 1,000 sq km in Sagar should be delineated from the NSTR. This 1000 sq km would not form part of the CTH, meaning the area is not vital for the survival and growth of tiger population. But at the same time, the area would continue to play a decisive role for the protection of hydrological and other natural heritage. Hence, it would remain within the boundaries of NSTR and considered part of the sanctuary, Chief Wildlife Warden Hitesh Malhotra explained.

He said some six years ago, the forest department had sent a proposal to the Centre to convert the 1196 sq km GBMWLS into a tiger reserve. The government of India suggested that instead of making GBMWLS an independent tiger reserve, it could be connected with NSTR and the entire sanctuary be considered an extended core of tiger habitat. Malhotra summed up the situation by saying that while about 1000 sq km from the NSTR is taken out from CTH, 1196 sq km of GBM has been added. The area of the two sanctuaries together now adds up to 4,763 sq km while within this boundary the CTH for tiger would be 3,763 sq km.

With this new development, the forest department has begun working out a fresh management plan for the core one and core two of the tiger reserve together. The core two or GBMWLS would be brought under the Project Director, Tiger, of NSTR and he would be given more assistant conservators (forests), range officers and other staff to jointly manage the two cores. The objective would be to manage Project Tiger better with improved results, Malhotra said

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Hyderabad/New-action-plan-for-Project-Tiger/articleshow/5966737.cms

Dead Bandhavgarh tigress hit by tourist jeep?

BHOPAL: A tigress, which died in Bandhavgarh tiger reserve four days ago was possibly hit by a tourist jeep, officials said here on Saturday after autopsy showed that she succumbed to internal injuries.

The feline did not die due a territorial fight as was assumed earlier, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) representative A B Shrivastava said.

"It died of a liver rupture following which blood rushed to her abdomen after being hit by some blunt object," he
said. The tigress, which has three cubs, died on Wednesday in the Tala range of the reserve.

"We are of the view that a tourist vehicle had hit the tigress after which she died," Badhavgarh tiger reserve field director C K Patil said, adding the animal was 10 years old. "We are investigating the case."

Patil added that around eight tourist vehicles had entered Tala range on May 19.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dead-tigress-hit-by-tourist-jeep/articleshow/5964146.cms