2 More Tiger Parks In Maharashtra

Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said two more tiger reserves have been proposed in Maharashtra — at Nazgira-Navegaon and Bor in Vidarbha region.

Mr Ramesh, interacting with reporters during his visit to Maharashtra on Monday, said there are four tiger reserves in Maharashtra — Melghat, Pench, Tadoba-Andhari and Sahyadri — three of which are in Vidarbha region. The proposed reserves would also be in Vidarbha region.
The proposal is to create tiger reserves within Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Bore Wildlife Sanctuary near Wardha. Nazgira has 34 species of mammals, 166 species of birds, 36 species of reptiles and four species of amphibians. Tigers, panthers, bisons, sambars, nilgai, chital, wild boars, sloth bears and wild dogs are seen at Nagzira. The Bor Wildlife Sanctuary fauna includes tigers, panthers, nilgai, chital, sambars, peacocks, barking deer, chinkaras, monkeys, wild boars, bears and wild dogs.
The minister congratulated CM Ashok Chavan and Maharashtra forest minister Patangrao Kadam for notifying the mandatory buffer zone around the tiger reserves. He said five of the eight proposed development projects in the vicinity of the Sahyadri Tiger Project and the Tadoba Tiger Project would be given conditional clearance. Mr Ramesh also spoke about other environment-related issues in the state.

http://www.asianage.com/india/2-more-tiger-parks-maha-739

Ranthambore's 'Tiger Queen' dethroned by daughter

New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Ranthambore Fort in the heart of tiger territory seems to be prime real estate that every tiger envies. Machli, the big cat, had ruled it for over a decade till her daughter Satara threw her out in a heartless battle for supremacy.

This moving tale of rivalry and betrayal in a tiger family in Rajasthan's Ranthambore National Park was brilliantly captured by India's ace cinematographer S. Nallamuthu in his documentary "Tiger Queen". This is India's first full length wildlife film shot in a high definition (HD) format, says Nallamuthu.

"The idea of 'Tiger Queen' came from the fact that I wanted to make a film that was strong on emotions and drama, and not just another save-the-tiger film or how they walk, mate, sit and eat!" Nallamuthu told IANS.

"This film is as real as it gets. It's a chapter from the everyday life of a tiger and how jealousy and greed rule the animal world too!" he said.

As the film shows, Machli's daughters Satara, Athara and Unnis, on the verge of adulthood, are the recent ones among the generations she had raised.

Machli has fiercely guarded her lakeside property for 11 years, even from her own cubs who were always forced to leave the place when they reached adulthood.

However, this time things are not to go in her favour. Machli faces a mortal threat not from outside but from within the family. Her daughter Satara, the dominant of the three, has made her intentions clear - she wants the prized possession.

Satara devises a plan to get rid of her mother and siblings. She first pushes her sisters out, leaving them to fend for themselves away from the safety of their mother.

Satara's final target is her mother - and this goal she accomplishes quite easily. Her brute strength is more than Machli's old age can endure and the latter surrenders without a fight.

Distraught Machli is left to salvage her former pride in isolation in another part of the park. The queen of Ranthambore Fort is ousted.

Satara's victory too is shortlived, as Athais, a young dominant male, befriends her and eventually takes control of the fort. The film, of course, ends with a final showdown between Satara and Athais which ended the 12-year reign of the fort by Machli and her family.

Satara's sibling, Athara, had been recently translocated to the Sariska National Park, also in Rajasthan, as part of the government's tiger reintroduction programme.

"This is the second big full length film on the same family in Ranthambore. It was about seven or eight years ago when they first featured on the BBC series 'Land of the Tiger'. They filmed Machli in her prime," Nallamuthu said.

"HD is the acceptable format today. It's cheaper than film and the quality is as good, and better than any format used till date. Yes, it is expensive as compared to a digi beta, but then if you want to make a film for international telecast, you have to match their standards. 'Tiger Queen' thus is the very first indigenous HD wildlife documentary out of India!"

A longer version of the film is also being planned for theatres worldwide by Nallamuthu's production house, Grey Films India Private Limited, which has provided over 100 hours of programming content and high quality technical support for a broad range of genres.

The film was telecast worldwide on Nat Geo Wild.

His other recent production "Tripping on a Bicycle", an English feature film, directed and shot by him on HD, was the official selection at the Palm Beach International Film Festival 2010 and Boston International Film Festival 2010.

He also shot "Pairon Talle", a film directed by Sidharth Srinivasan that will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival later this month.

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=197442

Three tigers, two lions, sloth bear dead in 24 hours!

In the past 24 hours, as many as seven animals, including three tigers, two lions, a herbivorous nilgai and a sloth bear have died at the Bannerghatta National Park here due to “natural causes,” as the officials’ explain.

According to forest department officials, a post-mortem was conducted only on a four-year old tiger, Divya, at the Government Veterinary College in the City.

Taking note of the serious nature of the deaths, the Veterinary College is sending an investigation team of doctors to the National park.

The National Park officials who examined the bodies of these seven animals suggest that all the animals died due to “natural causes” and most likely due to a bacterial infection.
While the first five animals died at the rescue centre inside the National park, the nilgai succumbed within the sanctuary. Meanwhile, initial reports suggest that Divya had died due to jaundice.

“Two of the three tigers, named Shankar (24) and Lakshmana (20) were already old and could not be revived,” said a forest official. Another Siberian tiger, named “King” died due to kidney failure. King was suffering from the kidney problems for the past 78 days. According to the officials, the animals were all rescued from circuses and captivity.

B K Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden adding to this said that the postmortem conducted on the animal has not revealed any suspicions. “The change in colour in some of the vital organs shows that the chances of poisoning is less, but according to them it might have died due to gastroenteritis,” he said.

Mentioning that the three-and-a-half-year old tiger’s blood sample has been detected with infection, he said that the same infection has spread to other sibling too, which is now battling for life. He said that since the experts have stated that the death may be due to contaminated water, the park is now getting potable water from Bangalore City.

Sloth bear

A sloth bear has been killed by the speeding Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation. This according to the department is first such incident, where a tourist vehicle has killed an animal.

Nilgai

In another first on the same day, a nilgai has been killed by a leopard in herbivorous safari.

“I was told that the leopard jumped the stone wall barricade and killed the animal,” he said. He said that though the leopard was frequently sighted at this point, this is the first time the animal has breached the wall. The safari houses over a dozen nilgais.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/96284/three-tigers-two-lions-sloth.html