Tiger mauls farmer near Tadoba buffer area

TNN | Dec 7, 2012, 01.55 AM IST Another farmer ends lifeFarmer dies in police firing in MaharashtraFarmer kills 13-feet King Cobra in farm, arrestedDispersing Tadoba tigers to be radio collaredFarmer welfare: Yeddyurappa, Shettar vie for credit CHANDRAPUR: A tiger killed a farmer near Talodhi village in Khadsangi range under the buffer zone of Tadoba Andhari Tiger reserve. The mutilated and half eaten body of the farmer was recovered from a farm near the forest on Thursday morning. Rajaram Thakre (60), a resident of Talodhi village, had gone to graze his cattle on his fields on Wednesday. In the evening the cattle came back to the village but Thakre didn't. Worried family members along with the villagers searched for him but couldn't find him. They resumed their search in the morning and found his half eaten body in the farm of Sheshrao Selokar. "The fields are located adjacent to Kadsangi and FDCM forests. Apparently, the tiger killed Thakre and then dragged the dead body to the adjacent farm. The tiger had torn away an arm and had eaten some portion from the left side of the corpse," said ACF Arun Tikhe. A team of forest officers including RFO Khadsangi Vidya Wasav, RFO Chimur, LM Belekar and RFO Palasgaon, Rahul Sore led by ACF Tikhe rushed to the spot on being informed of the incident. "The farmer was indeed killed by a tiger. We have found tiger pugmarks on the path along which the dead body had been dragged," said Tikhe, adding that a tiger was recently seen in the area. He said that as the dead body was badly mutilated, post mortem was carried out on the spot and later on was handed over to the kin. Forest officers also gave Rs15,000 to the kin of deceased to cover funeral expenses. A compensation of Rs1.85 lakh would be given to the Thakre's family after official formalities are fulfilled, he claimed. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Tiger-mauls-farmer-near-Tadoba-buffer-area/articleshow/17512970.cms

Villagers win accolades for saving trapped tiger

Bangalore, Dec 6, 2012, DHNS : The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has appreciated the role played by residents of Nidugumba in Kodagu district who exhibited “positive conservation attitude” and saved a tigress that was snagged in the barbed wire fence of a coffee estate on December 4. Acting with responsibility, the coffee planter Sullimada Muthanna and the village community as a whole prevented any mobbing and harassing of the struggling tiger. Instead, they contacted the forest staff of Nagarahole National Park. A team led by Field Director Basavaraj Hosmath and Deputy Director Kumar Pushkar, forest rangers, staff and veterinarians arrived swiftly and took control of the situation. In the absence of violent mob behaviour and, with cooperation of the villagers, they safely tranquilised the big cat, untangled it from the fence and transported it to the Mysore zoo. The exemplary restraint and positive conservation attitude of Nidugumba village community is appreciated,” eminent tiger conservationist Dr Ullas Karanth of WCS said in a press release on Thursday. “Big cats, when caught in snares or fences struggle hard and often injure themselves. The tigress is now undergoing a close examination to assess her injuries, age and health status so that an informed decision can be made about her future,” he said. WCS is now searching its research database of over 600 camera-trap tiger photos in Karnataka, to see if this tigress has an history of photographic capture in the region. Dr Karanth said that this happy outcome to a conflict situation stood in stark contrast to the tragic incident in Wayanad, Kerala, on December 2, where a cornered tiger was tranquilised and then shot dead, amidst chaos created by local mobs. Nidugumba is 1.2 km from the edge of Nagarahole National Park. Nagarahole is known to hold high densities of 10 to 12 tigers per 100 sq km and is producing a surplus of animals each year, which try to disperse as shown by the long term tiger population dynamic studies conducted by WCS, he said. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/296900/villagers-win-accolades-saving-trapped.html