Presence of tigers in Madhav national park confirmed

Bhopal, Sep 16 (PTI) The Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has confirmed the presence of tigers in Madhav National Park, Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, official sources said today.
The CCMB''s Senior Scientist, Anuradha Reddy, has asked the park officials to send as many scat (dropping) samples as possible from the reserve to confirm exact number of tigers roaming in the national park, they said.
The park had earlier sent scat samples on August 11, 2009, to the CCMB, following which it has confirmed the presence of tiger in the park.
In April this year also, scat samples were sent to the CCMB for examination, the sources said.
Additional Chief Secretary (ACF) Forest M K Roy also met Reddy on the issue and she told him about the confirmation of presence of tigers in the park, they said.
Reddy asked the officials to send as many samples as possible for DNA examination so that exact number of tigers and their gender can be specified in a scientific manner.
Meanwhile, the sources said efforts are on to trace the missing cubs of tigress who was brought to Panna from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve for mating with a male tiger. PTI MAS AT

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4390360

The economics of saving tigers

The tiger is a beleaguered animal. Its majesty was taken away long ago. Today its habitat has shrunk dramatically from what it was in 1900. Illegal hunting has done the rest. The search for black and orange stripes is often futile even in protected forests.

There may, however, be good news. In a paper published in the September issue of the online journal PLoS Biology, a group of 21 researchers have plodded through data across Asia to estimate the costs of saving the tiger. Their appraisal is a bit too optimistic. But first the good news, if it can be called that.

In Asia, India ranks ahead of all other countries in tiger numbers and the relative success of tiger conservation. The paper estimates that there are fewer than 3,500 cats left in the wild, occupying less than 7% of their historical range. Of the 42 “source sites” in Asia, these sites being locations with the potential to maintain at least 25 breeding females, most (18) are located in India.

That’s where the good news ends. Even in India, only five source sites maintain tiger populations close to their estimated carrying capacity. The average annual cost of protecting and monitoring tigers in the 42 source sites across Asia is $930 per sq. km. Take two of our national parks with very different conservation histories, Sariska and Ranthambore, and one sees that the costs of monitoring and protection per year are a pittance: Rs1.27 crore per year for Sariska and Rs1.82 crore per year from Ranthambore. Yet, there is no tiger left in Sariska while Ranthambore has problems in keeping the cats from running away. Clearly, the nature of costs has not been fully understood.

One key difference between the two parks is the presence of humans resident there. The costs of relocating them are serious. Not only are there monetary and physical costs of resettling, but the more serious, and difficult to estimate, costs of ideas. These include giving tribals the right to land in forests when they can be resettled elsewhere at much lower costs and provided better facilities than they get in forests. But how does one estimate the cost of “preserving the tribal way of life”? That is cruel to the traditional forest dwellers as well. At their level of income, it is simply unfair to expect them to conserve forests and not consume what needs to be protected. The marginal propensity to consume at those income levels is too high to ensure the survival of forests and tigers. These are the real costs that India has to bear to save the tiger.

http://www.livemint.com/2010/09/16213245/The-economics-of-saving-tigers.html?h=B

Nagzira tiger reserve proposal before govt

NAGPUR: A proposal to convert Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary in Gondia district into a tiger reserve by making it over 300 sq km from the existing 152 sq km is under active consideration of the state government.

The proposal was submitted to DC Pant, PCCF (wildlife), Maharashtra, recently. He has put up the proposal with the government. Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh had on September 15, 2009 already written to the chief minister to declare Nagzira-Navegaon a tiger reserve.

Declaring Nagzira a tiger reserve is also a decade-old demand of conservationists and locals. A state panel, on August 10, 2009, has already approved it as a critical tiger habitat (CTH). Way back in 2002, MP Praful Patel too had written to the PCCF (wildlife) to extend the area of Nagzira for the purpose.

Apart from the existing 38 compartments in sanctuary area of around 152 sq km, the fresh proposal includes 38 compartments (126 sq km) of Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) in Bhandara forest division; 15 compartments (27 sq km) of Gondia territorial division and 113 hectares of Thadezari, a relocated village in compartment 101 inside the sanctuary. The total area of the proposed reserve will be 308 sq km.

"The proposal is under consideration but will take some time. It is a long drawn process. Under the new NTCA guidelines, to maintain a viable population of 80-100 tigers (in and around core areas), require an inviolate space of 800-1,000 sq km and hence the extension of areas holding tiger potential," said Pant.

Conservationists said looking at Nagzira`s tiger potential, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had recommended in 1988 to upgrade the sanctuary into a national park. A committee on reorganisation on boundaries for wildlife sanctuaries and national parks under Ranjit Sinh had also made a similar recommendation.

The proposal states that Nagzira has strong linkages and hence is a fit case of tiger reserve. Nagzira, which is just 122 km from Nagpur, is connected to Pench tiger reserve (70 km), Kanha (150 km); Navegaon (30 km); Tadoba-Andhari (150 km) and Indravati tiger reserve (200 km). The forest is contiguous and is still a corridor.

On Nagzira potential, the proposal states that Kanha, Navegaon, Indravati, Tadoba and Pench with around 50,000 sq km forest area, will perhaps be the biggest tiger conservation areas in world. The sanctuary is home to many endangered species, including 34 mammals, 202 birds and 36 reptiles.

Nagzira-Navegaon reserve will hold tremendous tourism potential and bring in huge revenue besides jobs for locals. It will also bring in funds for conservation and wildlife protection from the Centre. Tour operators said it is not only Nagzira-Navegaon, places like Darekasa and Dongargarh can also be a star-attraction.

Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh, during his visit to the city on September 13, had made his intentions clear to declare Nagzira-Navegaon as another tiger reserve of the state.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Nagzira-tiger-reserve-proposal-before-govt/articleshow/6569686.cms

Project Tiger fund not adequately utilised

The country’s tiger conservation programme is flush with government funds which are not adequately utilised to achieve the programme’s critical objectives but diverted towards more inane goals, including “habitat improvement”, a study by a group of international experts has found.

The study also reveals that though the Project Tiger, which was launched in 1972, initially helped establish a large number of reserves, more recently it has become less directly related to tigers and their protection and the management of forest reserves was so inadequate that it led to wiping out of the big cat’s population in Sariska and Panna. The findings of the study by a group of tiger biologists, including India’s Ullas Karanth, conservation scientists, policy experts, field practitioners from the US, Europe, South Asia and South East Asian countries, have revealed that while India stood at the top in expenditure on conservation, not much effort has been made on law enforcement, its monitoring, informant networks and staff improvement. Across the world only 3,500 animals live in the wild now occupying just seven percent of their historical range. Of these only 1000 are likely to be breeding females. The study identifies 42 source sites. The Malenad-Mysore tiger landscape in the State as per the study holds key in conservation as the study says that the region extending from Dandeli to Niligiris maintains about 220 adult tigers. The study says that the region has a source site like Nagarhole, which has shown the increase in number by 400 percent since past thirty years. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/97132/project-tiger-fund-not-adequately.html

Condition of two tigers at Bannerghatta worsens

Just when things were looking up for the sick tigers at Bannerghatta, here is news that two infected tigers had diarrhoea again.

Officials at the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP), who had reason to feel relieved, now feel the stress of tending to the big cats coming right back.

Four-year-old Divya, a safari tigress, died of salmonella bacteria infection on Sunday. Ten other tigers, Arya, Surya, Razia, Vinay, Shreyas, Sindhu, Inchara, Minchu, Anu, (all safari tigers), and Rocky (a Sumatran tiger at the Born Free Foundation within the BBP) showed symptoms similar to Divya's soon afterwards.

Anu, mother of Divya, and Inchara, Divya's sister, on Thursday suffered bouts of diarrhoea, sending BBP officials into a tizzy again. Minchu (another of Divya's siblings) who showed little sign of improvement on Wednesday, appeared in better health on Thursday.

While some of the tigers have now begun to accept food, not all of them are eating as they did before being afflicted. Surya (a white tiger) showed poor appetite. Arya (a royal Bengal tiger and Surya's twin brother) appeared to be on the path to recovery on Wednesday, but appeared quite dull and also showed signs of skin retraction on Thursday.

Now that BBP officials know that the salmonella bacteria infection was caused by contaminated chicken, the tigers are being fed a diet of beef. While their normal diet comprises three kg chicken, 13-15 kg of beef and one egg, they are now being fed only 15 kg of beef each.

MN Jayakumar, member secretary of the Zoo Authority of Karnataka, said that antibiotics and drips were being administered to all the affected animals. He said that in the normal course, recovery takes about three days. He added that he was concerned that two tigers had taken ill again with diarrhoea. He also confirmed that some of the tigers showed a distinct loss of appetite.

Director of the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinarian Biologicals (IAHVB), Dr C Renukaprasad, said, "It is now confirmed that the death of Divya was caused by the salmonella infection. The results of other samples which were collected by the team will take some more time."

The animals have all been kept in isolation. They are given tanker water to drink, rather than water from open wells or a borewell. They also have medicines to take, three times a day.

Peeved over being kept in the dark, the Central Zoo Authority has sought a status report from the BBP.

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_condition-of-two-tigers-at-bannerghatta-worsens_1439110