Tigers move out of Corbett park boundary

Reported by Tania Saili Bakshi, Edited by Amit Chaturvedi | Updated: September 03, Dehradun: The Corbett Tiger Reserve has one of the densest tiger populations in the country. But now with the number of big cats on the rise, the new worry for the forest department is that many tigers are going beyond the park boundaries in search of fresh territory. This brings them in conflict with people and also makes them easy targets for poachers. "With the population of tigers going up; their area of movement has decreased due to which they are moving away from the Corbett Tiger Reserve in search of water, food and rising temperature as well," said SS Sharma, the Chief Wildlife Warden. Most Recent Nokia reportedly testing Lumia 610 successor 'Glory' with 4-inch display Could cancellation of coal licences help Parliament get back to work? Also See 2:02 Tigers move out of Corbett park boundary 1:56 Tigers at Corbett poisoned or beaten to death Uttarakhand has shown a big jump in tiger numbers - from 178 in 2008 to 235 - in the latest census. Now, efforts are being made to provide protection to tigers in the adjoining Lansdowne and Ramnagar forest divisions. "Better management in parks is required. Basic facilities like food and water needs to made available," said Anand Singh Negi, a tiger expert. While rising number of tigers has brought good news for Uttarakhand, limited tiger territory and shrinking habitat has seen a rise in tigers moving to the upper reaches in the Corbett Tiger Reserve. And if this trend continues, man and animal conflict will be inevitable - something the forest department has to think off before it's too late. http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tigers-move-out-of-corbett-park-boundary-262204

Skin of adult RBT skin seized, four arrested in Odisha

PTI | 11:09 AM,Sep 03,2012 Baripada (Odisha), Sept 3 (PTI) In what could be termed as the first of its kind incident in Similipal Tiger Reserve area, forest personnel stumbled upon a huge skin of a Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) and arrested four persons. On a tip off, the forest personnel raided a private lodging here last night and seized the about eight feet long and three feet wide skin which was about to be sold out for Rs 80,000, Bijay Kumar Panda, DFO, Baripada said. Earlier, a forest personnel had posed himself as a middleman and bargained with the traders to which they had agreed. The arrested traders, identified as Niranjan Mohanto, Chandrakant Sahu, Narendra Beshra and Dharanidhar Patra, belonged to Khunta area under the foothills of Similipal. They confessed that the RBT aged about 20 years was shot dead by poachers a year ago near Phulbadia under Barahakamuda range in core area of Similipal Project Tiger. There were gun shot marks at two or three places on the skin. "In all other earlier incidents, we had seized the skin of Panthers. But, for the first time today, we seized the skin of a RBT", Panda said adding based on the information provided by the traders efforts are being made to nab the poachers. PTI COR SKN RG SK

Satpuda to take up its works with PM

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN | Sep 2, 2012, 07.36PM IST NAGPUR: The Satpuda Foundation (SF), a NGO working for tiger conservation in Central India, has decided to take up its various works with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the National Board for Wild Life (NBWL) meeting slated for September 5. ""This is for the first time Vidarbha has got an opportunity to represent country's highest decision-making body on wildlife and forest issues, under the chairmanship of Prime Ministers. It could be possible due to Satpuda Foundation's pathbreaking work in the region,"" remarked Kishor Rithe, president of Satpuda and also NBWL member. Though the routine life in most of the parts of Vidarbha was disrupted due to heavy rains, Satpuda Foundation staff was still moving in the field perceiving its task of tiger conservation as usual. Tribal kids from Sillari and Kadbikheda villages in the buffer of Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) participated in 'seed sowing' drive during the monsoon. Around 35 students participated in the activity and sowed 50 seeds of fruit trees. Satpuda provided an opportunity to these kids by arranging a massive plantation programme in buffer villages. Conservation officer Anoop Awasthi, Bandu Uikey and Dilip Lanjewar played a vital role. Rithe said in view of the new government policy to hand over various activities to eco-development committees (EDCs), Satpuda Foundation is assisting buffer villages like Tuiyapaar, Wanera, Pipariya, Usaripar, Sawara and Wagholi around Pench to prepare village micro-plans. At Wanera the social survey was conducted after discussing village micro plans and eco-development and joint forest management (JFM) programme. At Narhar, the meeting was held with village EDC members about giving up use of firewood and grazing in the forests. Similar meetings were conducted in Kolitmara, Wagholi, Pipariya and Usripar. Rithe informed the Foundation teams arranged 'shramdaan' programmes at Salai and Pipariya. The NGO's staff voluntarily joined forest department officials in anti-poaching drives around Pench despite rains. Meanwhile, Satpuda has started free health check-up camps for remote villages. In four medical camps, 144 patients from Khapa, Wagholi, Kirangisarra and Ghoti were treated. Besides, mobile health units were started at Kirangisara and Ghoti villages. The NGO has started a special education van for the past two years. Regular film shows on wildlife are organised for villagers. The SF also arranged environment education programmes in 12 schools in Pench buffer villages like Narhar, Kolitmara, Ghatpendhari, Salai, Piparia, Khapa, Kadbikheda, Usaripar, Sillari, Sawara,Phulzari and Ghoti. ""We have also provided employment to three youths Kabirdas Gajbhiye and Mukunda Lanjewar, both from Ghoti and Keshav Gajbhiye from Pipariya. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Satpuda-to-take-up-its-works-with-PM/articleshow/16214368.cms

Tourism in core areas ban will up poaching, fears forest minister

Bagish K Jha, TNN | Sep 2, 2012, 12.38PM IST INDORE: Tourism acts as shield for wild animals. Tigers and other wild animals are safe only because of tourism. "As such, a complete ban on tourism in core areas of reserve forests will increase poaching," fears Madhya Pradesh forest minister Sartaj Singh. The minister was in the city to inaugurate a girl's hostel of forest department for its employee's kids, on Saturday. Singh said that his ministry has taken several measures against poaching and it was bearing good results of late. "Presence of tourist and forest department officials helps keep a day-to-day watch on the number of tigers and wild animals and their movements. Their absence, however, will encourage poachers. It will not be possible to station a forest guard in every corner of the forest," Singh said. Singh said that as of now, the matter pertaining to ban on tourism in core areas of reserve forests is with the Supreme Court and the apex court has directed the union government to come up with new guidelines for tourism in the core areas. "We have filed our reply on August 29 and next hearing is on September 27 when the court will decide its further course of action. We have submitted our suggestions to the committee of union government which will formulate the new guidelines of tourism in core areas," he said. He said that forests and reserve forests in MP are in better shape and the number of tigers is increasing. "Buffer zones of reserve forests across the state have been notified. The buffer zone notification of Panna National Park has been done on August 13 as per the guidelines of the court," he said. Taking a dig at Gujarat government that had denied to shift a lion of Gir alleging rampant poaching in Madhya Pradesh, Singh said that Gujarat government was raising the issue of poaching as it did not want MP to have the lion. "We have contented that for survival of the species, it would be good to have their presence in different geographical areas," he said. Tiger tourism is one of the main attractions of tourism in MP and is one of the major sources of revenue generation for Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) that owns several hotels and guest houses in and around the forest areas. It also provides direct and indirect employment to a large number of people across the state. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/Tourism-in-core-areas-ban-will-up-poaching-fears-forest-minister/articleshow/16193209.cms