The death of a translocated tiger from the Ranthambore National Park (RNP) to the Sariska Tiger Sanctuary, which lost all its tigers in 2005, has brought to the fore the tug-of-war between the two sanctuaries and the need to fast-track relocation of villagers residing in the vicinity.
Senior forest officials maintain that a lobby, primarily made up of hoteliers and travel operators based in the RNP, were against the translocation process from the beginning. “Sariska is only around 190 km from New Delhi while RNP is close to 400 km. There is a lobby which believes that increasing the tiger population in Sariska will mean the decline of tourists to the RNP. Incidentally, ST-1, the translocated tiger which died, was the most visible tiger when tourists visited Sariska,” said a senior official, adding that such issues were never discussed earlier.
However, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has vowed to go ahead with the translocation process, and announced a Rs 30-crore package to Sariska to aid the relocation of villagers in the tiger habitat area. Though the first tiger was translocated to Sariska in June 2008, the Rajasthan Forest Department began the process of rehabilitating villages in 2006. But since then only one complete hamlet has been shifted while four others are in various stages of completion.
Monday, November 22, 2010
WWF issues appeal as tiger summit starts
WWF issues appeal as tiger summit starts
Moscow, Nov 21 (DPA) An international conference on saving the world's tigers from extinction got underway in St. Petersburg Sunday.
Kicking off the four-day conference, animal protection group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warned that the planet's last free-roaming tigers faced extinction by 2022, the next Chinese Year of the Tiger after this year.
WWF general director James Leape said that only around 3,200 tigers are still roaming freedom in 13 countries.
By WWF accounts, the St. Petersburg meeting is the first one in which government leaders will be debating the fate of a single animal species.
Among others, Russian Premier Vladimir Putin, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were due to take part in the conference.
Tigers are coveted as trophies by hunters and for making questionable medications in some countries, Leape noted.
What is needed is to persuade those people who inhabit regions together with tigers to join the cause of protecting the animals, he said.
The St. Petersburg conference is due to discuss proposals for protecting the world's largest predatory cats, with the aim of doubling the tigers' worldwide numbers.
On the agenda for Tuesday is a vote proposing a programme of at least $350 million to rescue the world's tigers.
Moscow, Nov 21 (DPA) An international conference on saving the world's tigers from extinction got underway in St. Petersburg Sunday.
Kicking off the four-day conference, animal protection group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warned that the planet's last free-roaming tigers faced extinction by 2022, the next Chinese Year of the Tiger after this year.
WWF general director James Leape said that only around 3,200 tigers are still roaming freedom in 13 countries.
By WWF accounts, the St. Petersburg meeting is the first one in which government leaders will be debating the fate of a single animal species.
Among others, Russian Premier Vladimir Putin, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were due to take part in the conference.
Tigers are coveted as trophies by hunters and for making questionable medications in some countries, Leape noted.
What is needed is to persuade those people who inhabit regions together with tigers to join the cause of protecting the animals, he said.
The St. Petersburg conference is due to discuss proposals for protecting the world's largest predatory cats, with the aim of doubling the tigers' worldwide numbers.
On the agenda for Tuesday is a vote proposing a programme of at least $350 million to rescue the world's tigers.
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