Even before the controversy over the recent killing of a tigress in the Bandhavgarh tiger reserve of Madhya Pradesh had died down, the shocking incident of burning of a tiger cub’s carcass in Pench tiger reserve has come to light from the State.
Four tiger pads have been recovered and three forest chowkidars with the Chairman of the Eco-development Society (constituted by the Forest department) have been arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The incident has been confirmed by the Chief Conservator of Forests, in-charge of territorial Chindwara circle, G Krishnamurthy.
The sources told The Pioneer that a tigress was seen moving with her three cubs in the reserve for past few months. But, since last month, one cub was found missing. “We had no clue as to what had happened to the six-month-old predator, however it was learnt that the latter had died and the carcass burnt to wipe out any evidence,” they said.
Shockingly, the heinous act was allegedly committed by the very protectors of the reserve — the three chowkidars and the Chairman of the local committee. But before burning the body, they chopped off the pad/feet of the cub. Shockingly, the pads were to be used for performing certain tantrik ritual, which they believed would make them wealthy.
Nitin Desai, Environmentalist and Central India Director of Wild Life Protection Society of India, has expressed shock, saying, “How could the Forest department get hoodwinked like this? The cub dies, its carcass burnt, the pads chopped off and that too by its own men and the authorities do not seem to be aware, when all these were happening?”
Confirming the incident, Krishnamurthy said the department has recovered some bones and part of the tiger skin from the burnt remains. He, however, said that the animal had “died a natural death due to weakness”.
Sources said department officials during their patrolling found the cub near a water body away from its mother. Noting its critical condition, the officials had directed the chowkidars to keep a watch on the animal. However, after two days, they reported that the cub was no longer there and that it had been taken back by its mother.
The officials got wind of the incident after a priest had been called by the chowkidars to their camp to perform a tantrik ritual using cub pads, said the CCF.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Proved: Siblings sent to mate in Sariska
Almost a year after the Hindustan Times expose (Rajasthan govt sent tiger siblings to repopulate Sariska, June 29, 2009), a National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) report has finally admitted that DNA tests conducted by Bangalore-based National Centre of Biological Sciences (NCBS) found the big cats to be siblings.
The HT investigation exposed how, between June 2008 and February 2009, two sisters and their half-brother were picked up arbitrarily from Ranthambore and sent to Sariska. Siblings often find it difficult to breed and when they do, it leads to acute inbreeding depression. In spite of regular mating, the Sariska tigers have so far failed to breed.
This January, the NTCA ordered DNA tests on tigers of Ranthambore and Sariska, to ascertain breeding compatibility before shifting any more of them and commissioned a field study by Aparajita Datta, member, NTCA, and AJT Johnsingh, former professor, Wildlife Institute of India.
Referring to the Hindustan Times investigation in their report submitted earlier this month, Datta and Johnsingh observed: "The media report is correct in saying the genetic analysis should have been conducted prior translocation to assess the relatedness of the animals when establishing a new population."
The report further noted: "From the three scat samples meant to be of the three different individual tigers now in Sariska…male and female have been found to be highly related suggesting that they are…siblings."
Rajasthan forest department has all along claimed that the two Sariska tigresses were half-siblings born to the same mother but the male tiger sent to Sariska was unrelated to them.
Meanwhile, though NCBS received scat sample for DNA tests from Ranthambhore only last week, the NTCA has decided to translocate two big cats that have moved out of the national park to adjoining under-protected forests.
“The scientific studies will continue but we need to urgently shift these two tigers -- a male in Kela Devi sanctuary and a female near Kota. Their future is anyway uncertain in these disturbed forests and they will get a second chance in Sariska," said Dr Rajesh Gopal, member-secretary, NTCA.
However, as Sariska is scheduled to receive its fourth tiger on July 4, after a 15 month moratorium, the state forest officials are again looking to take the easy way out.
"The NTCA plan is commendable. But the field officers have been trying to tranquilize those two tigers for quite some time without success. Wary, now they are seeking to widen their options by randomly targeting easy tigers from inside the national park," said Fateh Singh Rathore, ex-conservator, Ranthambhore.
An agency report on Sunday quoted a senior state forest official as saying that NTCA-appointed experts Datta and Johnsingh had submitted a list of 10 probable tigers in Ranthambore, of which two would be picked for translocation. "As only two tigers have to be shifted, the wide choice of ten tigers would prevent a delay in executing the big cat relocation plan," the official was quoted anonymously.
However, the report submitted by Datta and Johnsingh noted that the state forest officials themselves furnished a list of 9-12 tigers they deemed fit for relocation. The experts explicitly pointed out that they were "unable to comment on the suitability of most of these animals" and that there was "limited scientific information available…to make decisions based on objective scientific criteria".
Their report, therefore, recommended capturing only the two animals outside the national park and warned against selecting any other individual without determining their (genetic) relatedness.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Proved-Siblings-sent-to-mate-in-Sariska/Article1-561269.aspx
Haul raises spectre of tiger poaching in NE
Guwahati, June 21: Forest officials in the Northeast are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that the upcoming tiger census will throw up a larger count of the big cats.
The 2005-08 estimate had pegged the tiger population in Assam at 70.
Sources said though there was no confirmed case of poaching of tigers in Assam, the situation in the Northeast’s other tiger reserves was not that too rosy.
Three tiger reserves in the region have been graded as “poor”. These are the ones at Manas in Assam, Dampa in Mizoram and Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh.
Tiger reserves at Kaziranga in Assam and Pakke in Arunachal Pradesh have earned “good” status tag while the one in Nameri in Assam has been graded “satisfactory”.
The grading is done by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
The latest haul of tiger bones by the customs has aggravated fear that the tigers are being hunted. Guwahati customs recently seized 10.2kg skulls and bones of full-grown tigers.
“There is some network and support in the protected area but once out, the tigers are at risk,” Rajesh Gopal, a member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, told this correspondent.
“Once they stray out from Kaziranga to Karbi Anglong, all animals face threats,” Firoz Ahmed of Aaranyak, an NGO, said. During floods, many animals seek refuge in the highlands in Karbi Anglong and adjacent reserve forests like Panbari, Bagser and Kukurakata close to the park’s boundary.
Chief wildlife warden, Assam, Suresh Chand, said there had not been any instance of confirmed tiger poaching in the state.
The executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, Belinda Wright, said there was admiration for the authorities of Kaziranga for the protection measures initiated by them, but little could be done when the animals venture out of the safe zones.
“Tiger poaching is done surreptitiously and it is difficult to track the people who are in this trade,” Wright says, adding that one must not forget Sariska and Panna national parks. In a recent incident of straying, a tiger was spotted in Upper Assam after killing two persons. It was later rehabilitated in Manas National Park.
An official of Kaziranga National Park said: “It is not easy for the poachers to target tigers here unlike the rhinos. The thick grasses of the national park are a deterrent.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100622/jsp/northeast/story_12590476.jsp
400 families to be relocated from Corbett tiger reserve
The government has granted Rs. 25 crore for relocating 181 Gujjar families from the core regions of the Corbett Tiger Reserve.
Over a period of time, a total of 400 families would be relocated to avoid man-animal conflicts in the reserve, a release by the Ministry of Environment and Forests said.
The government also planned to set up an Indira Gandhi Interpretation and Learning Centre near the reserve at a cost of Rs. 5 crore by the end of next year, it said.
Bihar skips save-tiger meet
PATNA: Bihar government, it appears, gives a damn to issues concerning wildlife. Had it not been the case, the government would not have chosen to skip the three-day meeting convened by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to review the tiger protection strategy.
On April 10, NTCA officials discussed the issue with forest officials of northern and north-eastern states. Central region states' forest officials shared their views on April 11 and on the last day on April 12, it was the turn of those coming from the southern states.
The meeting assumes significance for Bihar as its only tiger reserve, the Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR), has seen a gradual decline in the number of big cats since it came into existence in 1989-90. At the time of its creation, it was home to an estimated 81 tigers. The figure came down to 53 in 1997. According to the latest census conducted in 2006, VTR has between seven to 13 tigers only. A suspected case of poisoning of a tiger was reported from the reserve as early as last month.
"All the other sixteen states, which have one or more tiger reserves, sent their representatives but Bihar didn't," an NTCA official, preferring anonymity, told TOI over phone on Monday. He said the matter would be taken up with the state government.
When contacted, Bihar's environment and forest department principal secretary Jayaram Lal Meena told TOI the chief wildlife warden (CWW) and the director of VTR did seek permission for attending the meeting. "The permission could not be granted due to unavoidable reasons," Meena said and added while the CWW was changed just few days before the meeting, the application of VTR's project director could not be processed in time.
He, however, said the state would be in constant touch with the NTCA to seek guidelines for improving the condition of the reserve.
NTCA too appears to be in a collaborative mood. "We would send the outcome of the deliberations to the state so that it could be used for the Valmiki reserve," he said.
On April 10, NTCA officials discussed the issue with forest officials of northern and north-eastern states. Central region states' forest officials shared their views on April 11 and on the last day on April 12, it was the turn of those coming from the southern states.
The meeting assumes significance for Bihar as its only tiger reserve, the Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR), has seen a gradual decline in the number of big cats since it came into existence in 1989-90. At the time of its creation, it was home to an estimated 81 tigers. The figure came down to 53 in 1997. According to the latest census conducted in 2006, VTR has between seven to 13 tigers only. A suspected case of poisoning of a tiger was reported from the reserve as early as last month.
"All the other sixteen states, which have one or more tiger reserves, sent their representatives but Bihar didn't," an NTCA official, preferring anonymity, told TOI over phone on Monday. He said the matter would be taken up with the state government.
When contacted, Bihar's environment and forest department principal secretary Jayaram Lal Meena told TOI the chief wildlife warden (CWW) and the director of VTR did seek permission for attending the meeting. "The permission could not be granted due to unavoidable reasons," Meena said and added while the CWW was changed just few days before the meeting, the application of VTR's project director could not be processed in time.
He, however, said the state would be in constant touch with the NTCA to seek guidelines for improving the condition of the reserve.
NTCA too appears to be in a collaborative mood. "We would send the outcome of the deliberations to the state so that it could be used for the Valmiki reserve," he said.
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