Another tigress with 3 cubs spotted in Tadoba

CHANDRAPUR: Its virtually raining tiger cubs in the 625 sq km Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve which recently got a boost when the state government notified its buffer area as per government stipulations. The popular reserve is about 150 kms from the Nagpur.
Even as celebrations to mark the birth of four tiger cubs to the Katekasa tigress of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) are yet to sink in, there is more good news for wildlife lovers. The Devdoh tigress too has reportedly given birth to three tiger cubs.

The tigress with three cubs was sighted around 10 days back by a villager. Forest officials are making all efforts to track it and confirm the sighting.

The birth of as many as 11 cubs in a span of just eight months has proved that this oldest national park in the state has a rich wildlife habitat and is a healthy breeding place for tigers.

TOI readers too had sent in photos of a couple of tigers and its cubs. These new cubs will not be taken into account when the findings of the tiger census is announced later this year. Cubs have to be two years old to be counted in the tiger population.

Though the birth of the cubs is good news, it also brings to the fore problems like dwindling territory and incest. Devdoh is a perennial water source located near Khatoda gate, exactly on the boundary of Tadoba and Moharli forest ranges of the TATR.

A resident tigress was pregnant and was expected to deliver this summer. The good news finally came a few days ago.

"We have installed camera traps in the area to officially confirm the finding," said Kiran Dhankute, the RFO in-charge of Tadoba range.

"Though the Devdoh water source is located in Moharli range, the movement of the tigress has been traced more on the Tadoba side."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Another-tigress-with-3-cubs-spotted-in-Tadoba/articleshow/5923734.cms

Tiger urine deters cats from straying near city

NAGPUR: This could just turn out to be a master stroke to ease if not solve man-animal conflict. In a novel experiment, the Nagpur forest division officials used urine of captive tigers in the city's Maharajbagh zoo and sprinkled it near the spots frequented by tigers in Ranmangli village, as close as 60km from Nagpur. The result: tigers have now stopped encroaching from the Bhiwapur forest range to the village.

It was the idea of Dr S S Bawaskar, a young veterinarian who has been with the Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth-owned city zoo for last eight years. Harried forest officials, who were ready to take any step to ensure that the conflict doesn't flare up, agreed to work on the suggestion.

The Ranmangli tigress, bearing two sub-adult cubs, had killed a woman last month. This was the first case of a human killed in the area. The thirsty wild cats were coming very close to the village for water causing panic among its residents. The forest officials were worried that the conflict area was so close to the city. N Rambabu, conservator of forests for Nagpur Division, says around 250 ml of urine of three female tigers at the zoo was collected and sprinkled at an orange orchard and other spots.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Home/Environment/Flora-Fauna/Tiger-urine-deters-cats-from-straying-near-city-/articleshow/5924084.cms

Bandipur bans night traffic to save tigers

The busy road between Mysore and Ooty is a busy tourist route, and is also a connecting road between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. But it also happens to cut through the Bandipur National Park, and that's not such great news for the animals.

A huge number of animals, including a tiger, have been killed by vehicles over the years.

"Starting from 2004 to 2007, it was 91 mammals, 56 birds and 75 reptiles. We never expected the number of mammals to rise up to 91. It is higher than poaching," said Rajkumar, Wildlife Conservation Foundation.

The DC of Chamarajnagar enforced a ban on night traffic through the park in June last year. This was lifted following objections mainly from traders in Kerala. The Karnataka High Court's intervention was then sought, and the night ban is now back in place.

"Bandipur is one of our best tiger areas and a lot of animals were getting killed on this road due to reckless driving. At night due to the lights that are used, the animals are blinded and get disoriented," said Praveen Bhargav, Trustee, Wildlife First.

NDTV drove to the main gate after 9 pm, and clearly not all human beings agree with the night traffic ban.

"It is very difficult to carry load. A two day journey becomes a three day journey," said Ravi, a truck driver.

Conservationists believe in the national parks, animals need the right of way, and stopping traffic at night is a step in this direction.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/bandipur-bans-night-traffic-to-save-tigers-24613.php

Panna reserve now 3 cubs full

Three tiny furballs now hold the success of India's tiger conservation in their tiny paws.

The newborn tiger cubs, spotted on Friday in Madhya Pradesh's Panna national park, herald the success of the controversial plan of relocating the big cats.

A survey last year found that the once-densely populated Panna reserve had lost all its tiger, mostly to poaching. In an effort to repopulate the park, a tigress from Bandhavgarh in Karnataka and a tiger from Pench in MP were moved to Panna.

"On Friday night, we spotted the three cubs with the tigress as they came out of a cave. The tigress apparently had decided to shift her cubs to a more suitable place," an ecstatic Panna National Park Field Director R Sreeniwas Murthy said.

Forest officials again got a clear sighting of the new family the next day — the mother and all three cubs.

Murthy said this was the first instance of a relocated tigress giving birth to healthy cubs.

Earlier, forest department officials had an inkling that the tigress was pregnant because it was not moving out of the cave near a waterfall for more than a month.

The department was keeping a close eye on her movements.

"We got it confirmed on Friday night and have prohibited tourist from visiting the area," Murthy said.

The Panna Tiger Reserve was found to have 24 tigers after the census in January 2006. But by December 2008 all the tigers were gone.

A tiger and a tigress moved from Ranthambore to Sariska in 2008 failed to breed.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Panna-reserve-now-3-cubs-full/Article1-541504.aspx

Tiger kills one and injures four in Bihar

Bettiah (Bihar): A tiger today killed one person and injured four others at Shahpur Parsauni village in Bihar's West Champaran district, police said.

Police said the tiger came out of the Valmiki Tiger Reseve Project and entered the house of one Hoshila Patel and killed him.

Four others includingtwo women were also injured.

The tiger is still inside the house of Patel and forest officials were trying to cage it, police said

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_tiger-kills-one-and-injures-four-in-bihar_1381136

Tourist menace in Corbett National Park

The night comes alive with loud music in one place, it shouldn't. These areresorts edging India's oldest national park, the Corbett.

Illegal resorts, built on the forest's buffer zone are killing tranquility by blocking natural trails.

''Tigers are intensely territorial, and each tiger can have a territory from 25-80 square kilometres. But with land limited and buffer areas increasingly being encroached upon, tigers often end up being poisoned by villagers or poached as they move out in search of new territory, food and water,'' said Imran Khan, Wildlife Expert.

In February, the Uttarakhand Government had declared 466 square kilometres around the Corbett reserve a buffer zone where no commercial activity is allowed, but the decades of delay in arriving at the decision has taken its toll. A clean-up will take years.

''I can tell you that the lack of progress on buffer zones is no accident, but deliberate so as to allow for development of such activities in the area,'' said Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment & Forest.

In fact, several states have been dragging their feet over declaring areas around tiger habitat's buffer zones.

• In Madhya Pradesh, six tiger sanctuaries are awaiting buffer zone notification.
• In Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka three sanctuaries each are also awaiting buffer zone notification.
• The same goes for two sanctuaries in Arunachal Pradesh.

"These are very, very important areas. By buffer we don't mean to elevate them to status of a park or a sanctuary. All that we are trying to do is to address the source and the dynamics of the tiger to reduce the dependency of the local people in the resources, which are there in the core areas of tiger reserves," said Rajesh Gopal, Head, National Tiger Conservation Authority.

For the survival of tigers, buffer zones around sanctuaries are critical. These are areas tigers use to move from one forest to another. Ironically habitats of our disappearing tigers remain unsecured - caught in bureaucratic paper-pushing and profiteering.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/tourist-menace-in-corbett-national-park-24317.php

Two more arrested in Tadoba tiger poaching case

CHANDRAPUR: Chimur forest officials, who are probing the tiger poaching case inside TATR, have arrested two more accused and have recovered two tiger nails from them.

In all six accused, all residents of two villages inside TATR were arrested. Three tiger nails, 20 bones and six wire traps with 90 snares were seized. After initial round of forest custody remand, five of the six accused have been sent into MCR for 14 days, while the main accused Mangaldas Madavi has been awarded FCR of two days on Wednesday.

"On the basis of information given by Mangaldas, we arrested Kawdu Madavi from Chandrapur and Ramesh Madavi from Jamni on Thursday night. A tiger nail has been recovered from each of them," said RFO BS Padve who is investigating the case.

The two accused purchased the nails for Rs 1,000 each from Mangaldas.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Nagpur/Two-more-arrested-in-tiger-poaching-case/articleshow/5905439.cms

Tigers shake off tracking devices

KOLKATA: Sunderbans tigers don't seem game for radio collars or computer chips. So much so, that at least two tigresses have discarded the German-made radio collars that forest department employees tagged on them in February this year while a third big cat's radio collar — which was tagged in March — isn't sending signals to forest officials' computers, making it impossible for them to keep track of her.

The tigresses, captured when they strayed into human habitat, had radio collars tied around their necks before they were released back into the wild. Scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, came down to the Sunderbans in February to tag radio collars on two tigresses. They also trained state forest employees to perform the task. The training came in handy when forest employees had to tag a radio collar on another tigress in March.

Experts thought of the radio collars as the most effective way to keep track of tigers in the wild. If these functioned normally, they would send regular signals which would pop up on computers of forest officials — particularly useful whenever the big cat was about to stray into human habitat again. In such an eventuality, forest officials would pass on a warning message to residents of villages the tiger was straying into.

However, within months of the radio collars being tagged on the three tigresses, forest officials realised that their computer screens showed no alerts about movements of the animals. Instead, signals from two radio collars indicated that the tigresses had discarded them. Forest employees were then sent into the dense jungle and traced the two radio collars, which were lying abandoned. A third radio collar tagged in March has turned out to be defunct, and isn't sending signals, officials say.

Wildlife experts say the terrain of the Sunderbans, where tigers alternate between land and water, renders radio collars ineffective. Moreover, these can easily come off a tiger's neck as the big cats have to negotiate through dense vegetation, said experts.

State principal chief conservator of forests Atanu Raha said: “We have requested scientists from the wildlife institute in Dehradun to come down to Kolkata on Friday. We intend to seek their suggestions on ways to make radio-collaring more effective."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Kolkata-/Tigers-shake-off-tracking-devices/articleshow/5911280.cms

No resorts in Tadoba buffer, says Ramesh

NAGPUR: A day after government notified buffer zone around Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, existing resort owners and those planning to come up with such facilities were a worried lot. TOI on Thursday was flooded with calls asking what would be the fate of resorts which fall in buffer area.

When TOI raised the issue with Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for environment & forests, he offered them no consolation.

“They will have to relocate. No question. Tourism in tiger reserves, particularly in core areas will be strictly regulated,” Ramesh said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/No-resorts-in-Tadoba-buffer-says-Ramesh/articleshow/5900940.cms

Relentless efforts on to save an aged wild cat in Corbett Par

Although Corbett Tiger Reserve officials managed to administer medical aid to seriously injured elderly tiger at its natural habitat without trapping it but they are not sure if the big cat will be able to live. It can hardly walk, lost whole set of incisors and sustained severe injuries on left fore limb besides blurred vision in left eye.

Constant monitoring by forest officials them and veterinary experts tracked the ailing tiger and administer medication after immobilising the wild cat at Ringoda grassland of Bijrani Forest range in Corbett. It was first spotted in this region on Monday. This is for the first time here that a tiger was medicated without trapping it.

However going by its condition reserve officials are not very sure if the tiger will be alive for too long. They are keeping close watch on tiger's condition with severe injuries venturing into Bijrani Range for the past three days. The tiger was again spotted by the foresters about 8.30 am on Tuesday.

A team of forest officials led by Corbett director RK Mishra and veterinary doctors examined the tiger. It was under excessive pain and starving for couple of days and was not in position to make kill. It was revealed from close examination that, the tiger had blurred left eye and complete set of incisors in lower jaw was missing.

"Its canines were deep yellow and had worn-out impressions. The injured left leg had swelling and there was no trace of open injury or bloodstains. We came to the conclusion that the tiger crossed its prime many years ago and now struggling for its existence" informed Mishra.

However, Corbett director was not sure how long the elderly big cat will live despite efforts by Corbett staff and veterinarians. On second day "the doctor administered a dose of multivitamin and painkiller in a beef lever. It showed marked improvement on its limb and gait. It was decided not to disturb the tiger for a day, as too much proximity will be detrimental to its normal movement and behaviour. Tourists were also restricted in going towards that area," informed Mishra adding that tiger condition was being monitoring constantly.

Mishra however stated in a message to the state chief wildlife warden that tranquillisation and trapping of tiger for medical treatment was ruled out owing to its age and condition. "The lame tiger was too old and we keep out fingers crossed for a bad news said Mishra in letter his senior.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Relentless-efforts-on-to-save-an-aged-wild-cat-in-Corbett-Park/Article1-540434.aspx

Project tiger gets Rs 150 crore grant

Here's some good news for Vidarbha's two tiger reserves -Melghat and Tadoba! The Union government has decided to release Rs 150-crore grant to relocate villages in the tiger reserves. The state government had sought the assistance to free animals from human interference.

The grant would enable the state's wildlife wing to relocate 16 villages of Melghat and five villages of Tadoba.

Maharashtra Forest Minister, Patangrao Kadam told Hindustantimes Times that the issue was placed before the union minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh during his recent Vidarbha visit and finally the ministry nodded in approval.

The Centre's compensatory financial package is being doled out as a part of its strategy to encourage villagers to move out from the villages located in the tiger reserves, thus making them safe for predators besides other species. As per the financial package, the villagers are either provided Rs 10 lakh per family or a piece of land for their rehabilitation, a process being overseen by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) heading the Tiger Project.

The wildlife wing could relocate Botezhari village from Tadoba recently. However, it could not relocate Kolsa village because of paucity of funds. "If the department succeeds to relocate these villages from the tiger reserves, both the famous tiger projects would be free from human inhabitation," says Dr Nand Kishore, the chief conservator of forests (Wildlife)-Vidarbha region.

The efforts would also boost the wildlife protection and conservation in both the famous tiger reserves in the region. The human habitation within in the parks often causes poaching and poisoning of waterholes, leading to killing of tigers and other animals. One tiger was killed in core area of Tadoba in May last year with the help of villagers within the park.

According to Kadam, the Centre has decided to release Rs 100-crore immediately and the process for releasing the balance is in progress. The state had also made a provision of Rs 25.79-crore in this annual budget for the rehabilitation of villages within the Sahyadri Tiger project in western Maharashtra. Sahyadri was declared as tiger project last year.

Project tiger reserves in the state

* There are four tiger projects in the state--- Melghat, Tadoba, Pench (all in Vidarbha) and Sahyadri (Western Maharashtra).

* The Melghat, the oldest tiger project in the state, is located on southern offshoot of Satpura Hill Range in Amravati district with an area of 1676.49 sq kms. It is the home of around 45 tigers.

* Tadoba (Chandrapur district) is spread over 623 sq kms of high hills and lush valleys and under dense teak and bamboo forests. The reserve is also a home for rare wildlife, like wild dogs, leopards, and sloth bear, and baison, hyena and jungle cats, along with a population of around 46 tigers.

* In Pench tiger reserves, bordering Madhya Pradesh, is located at a distance of 70 kms from Nagpur and home for around 20 tigers.

* Sahyadri, the new tiger project of the state was set up by including Chandoli Natonal Park and Koyana Wildlife Sanctuary of western Maharashtra. The reserves spread over an area of 741.22 sq kms. It houses an appreciable variety of bird and animal life, including nine tigers and 66 leopards.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Project-tiger-gets-Rs-150-crore-grant/Article1-540008.aspx

Tourism ministry mulls tighter rules for resorts around tiger reserves

NEW DELHI: Concerned over the blatant commercialisation of areas around tiger reserves, the tourism ministry is considering stricter regulations for resorts and lodges. The guidelines will make it mandatory for lodges to follow ecology-friendly practises.

Union tourism secretary Sujit Banerjee said, "Separate regulations for resorts and lodges that are coming up in eco-sensitive zones are under consideration. The hotels need to follow certain good ecological practises."

A study commissioned by the ministry on Corbett National Park found that 70% of resorts around the area were venues for weddings, rain dances and parties rather than visitors interested in wildlife.

The survey found that there were 77 resorts in the area catering to over 3,000 visitors a day with an additional 17 resorts likely to come up.

The tiger reserve has a ceiling of 600 visitors a day and it is this rampant commercialisation and mismatch in numbers at Corbett that has set off alarm bells within the ministry that is now considering tighter norms for hotels and resorts in ecologically-fragile environments.

The worrying factor is that these regulations have to be implemented by the state governments. Sources said bringing in norms with stiffer penalties may not serve the purpose if state governments were not strict in enforcement.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Home/Environment/Flora-Fauna/Tourism-ministry-mulls-tighter-rules-for-resorts-around-tiger-reserves/articleshow/5895098.cms

Poacher held for killing 3 big cats

The Sawai Madhopur police arrested Jankilal Mogiya alias Lodiya, a poacher, for allegedly killing at least three tigers in the reserves of Ranthambhore. Forest officials and an NGO helped the police identify Mogiya, who was also wanted by the Special Operations Group (SOG) in several cases of smuggling of tiger skins.
However, Mogiya landed in police’s lap by chance. The police were on high alert in the wake of growing poaching in Sawai Mdhopur district. While patrolling the tehsil on Monday, police got suspicious of Mogiya.
During interrogation, Mogiya revealed that he had poached three tigers in 2004, in the Hindwal region of Ranthambhore forests.
The forest officials and an NGO, too, identified Mogiya as poacher. After Sansar Chand’s arrest in 2005, the SOG started searching for his aides. Jankilal Mogiya was on the list of accused involved in smuggling of tiger skins.
Dharmendra Khandal, director of Tiger Watch Foundation, said that Mogiya was living under a guise. “He is expert in putting up a guise. Even the police could not identify him till the NGO and forest officials confirmed his identity,” he said

Another tiger poached in Kolsa range of TATR

CHANDRAPUR: The sleuths of Chimur forest range probing the seizure of tiger nails in Chimur have uncovered a poachers gang inside Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR).

Investigations have revealed that the tiger was killed near Hirdi Nullah in Kolsa range of TATR. Four more accused were arrested from Kolsa village on Monday evening in connection with the poaching.

Forest officials have also recovered tiger bones and six wire traps from the place where the tiger was killed. Acting on the basis of a tip-off given by Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), Chimur RFO BS Padve had arrested Mangaldas Madavi with three tiger nails in Chimur on Saturday.

Madavi is a resident of Jamni village, inside TATR, and this rang alarm bells among forest officials. Raids were carried out in Kolsa the same evening and Bhauji Gedam was also arrested. Chimur forest officials presented the accused before the court and obtained their forest custody remand for five days.

Investigators were shocked to learn that the accused duo with their accomplices had poached a tiger, whose nails were seized, in Kolsa range of TATR.

On the basis of information given by Madavi and Gedam, Chimur officials once again raided Kolsa on Monday evening and arrested four more persons.

The arrested accused also identified the place of poaching near Hirdi Nullah in Kolsa range. Forest officials found 20 tiger bones at the spot. Six wire traps were also recovered after the arrested accused revealed their locations.

Each wire trap had 15 nooses. Speaking to TOI, Bramhapuri ACF AN Dhote confirmed that a tiger was poached.

"The accused have confessed to poaching a tiger. They said that they had laid the wire traps to poach smaller animals like deer and sambhar, but accidentally a tiger got caught in it. Later, its body parts were removed by the poachers," said Dhote. He said that around half-a-dozen others who had purchased the tiger parts, are likely to be arrested in the coming days.

The four arrested from Kolsa on Monday are Ganpat Gedam, Sainath Shedmake, Gulab Todase and Khushal Todase. Dhote further said that they are going to seek FCR of the four accused from the court. "Once our interrogation is over, the case will be handed over to authorities of TATR as the poaching has taken place in their territory," said Dhote. Dhote did not say when this tiger was poached. "He poached tiger in question is likely to be the tigress with two cubs in Hirdi Nullah. It used to roam in the territory between Shivanzari, Hirdi Nullah and Kakadghat, but has gone missing about an year ago," sources have said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Nagpur/Another-tiger-poached-in-Kolsa-range-of-TATR/articleshow/5891167.cms

Census brings good news on tigers in GOA

PANAJI: Evidence pointing to the presence of at least two tigers is the big news of the ongoing wildlife census, the first phase of which ended on Tuesday.

"Tiger pug marks and scats have been found in at least three to four places," a source said. "So it may even be three tigers, including a couple in one place or a couple of leopards and a tiger." The census teams found tiger pug marks near Anjunem dam and scats in a few other places, including Tambdi Surla in Molem and Valkini near the backwaters of Selaulim dam.

Participants in the exercise also reported an encouraging evidence of leopards, bison and other animals.
Tiger and leopard droppings are different in size.

A tiger's scat is bigger in length and diameter while that of a leopard is smaller and has a hook-like projection at one end. Sources said a leopard's and tiger cub's scats may appear confusing because of their identical size. In the case of claws, the gap between tiger claws is more than that of the leopard.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Census-brings-good-news-on-tigers/articleshow/5891304.cms

'Tourists help keep poachers away from tiger reserves' - TOFT

NEW DELHI: Opposing the ban on tourists from core regions of tiger reserves proposed by the environment ministry, Travel Operators for Tigers (TOFT) — a campaign spearheaded by international and national travel operators — has said that wildlife tourism, on the contrary, was saving forests and tigers.

The organization added that tourism ensured better security for tigers, and was the best anti-poaching mechanism even as it made forest personnel "highly and often uncomfortably accountable".

TOFT chairman Julian Mathew said the agency would take up the issue with the ministries of tourism and environment to ensure better implementation of rules and regulations, adding that a ban on wildlife tourism was not the answer.

According to recent statistics, tiger numbers have come down from an estimated 3,642 in 2002 to 1,411 in February 2008. Experts say that actual numbers could be even lower. A recent tourism ministry study had shown that nearly 70% of resorts outside Corbett National Park were venues for weddings and parties rather than eco-tourism.

In a statement, TOFT pointed out that despite poor tourism practises being followed in the national park, it continued to be the "most visited" park in India and still had the highest number of tigers. It added that Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve had the heaviest density of tigers in its main Tala tourism zone and received 45,000 visits a year.

"When sub-adults leave this tourist zone seeking their own ranges in buffer zone forests, they get lost, poached or poisoned. Ranthambhore, with its 450 sq km and estimated 35-38 tigers, finds 22-23 (two-thirds) tigers in ranges that fall within the much smaller 130 sq km of the tourism zone. These facts suggest that the best tiger security and habitat exist in tourism zones, and tigers and prey sense it," the statement said.

Highlighting the fact that good tourism practises not only provide a means of legitimate livelihood to people living in and around tiger reserves, TOFT said if it were not for tourism bringing economic value to the forest area, it would be sacrificed for mining, farming or industry.

Emphasizing that the alternative was to ensure implementation of rules and regulations, Mathew gave the instance of Madhya Pradesh's ecosensitive zone regulations that have been stuck in the Supreme Court since 2006. "Tiger tourism is the best anti-poaching unit, operating vehicles watching for eight hours a day, deflecting poachers, loggers and grazers from being there," Mathew said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Tourists-help-keep-poachers-away-from-tiger-reserves/articleshow/5891317.cms

Tiger nails, teeth seized in raid

In a raid conducted by the Panchkula police in coordination with the People For Animals (PFA), Delhi, animal parts were seized from a shop in Mansa Devi shopping complex on Monday. The police said 30 tiger nails, 15 teeth, two paws, two horns of black buck and 60 oyster shells were seized from a general store in the complex. Sources said a tiger skin was also seized.

ASI Balwant Singh, who led the raid, said one Babu Ram has been arrested. According to Singh, the accused used to buy animal parts from tribals and sell them. A case has been registered and investigations are on.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tiger-nails-teeth-seized-in-raid/614790/

TATR buffer zone gets govt nod

The state government on Friday approved the buffer zone proposal for the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), sources said. The buffer zone — mandated by the amended Wildlife Protection Act of 2006 — had been proposed by the Forest Department early last year, but had hit the roadblock due to opposition from local people’s representatives in Chandrapur, who termed it “anti-people”.

Incidentally, the clearance comes days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took it upon himself to prod the state government on to hasten the process. The TATR buffer zone was one of the items listed by the PM for swift action in a letter to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan last week.

The 1,150-sq km buffer zone has 79 villages and several mines operating in the vicinity. Mining is prohibited in the buffer zone, which is supposed to act as additional protection for wildlife. Local politicians had been saying the buffer zone will lead to relocation of villages when no such idea is part of the concept. It was alleged that the opposition was at the behest of the strong mining lobby.The area is also witnessing a fierce man-tiger conflict over the past four years, with over 60 people dying in tiger attacks. The buffer zone also specially provides for tackling the issue in a definite manner.

Overall, about 12 buffer zones have already been declared in different states so far.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tatr-buffer-zone-gets-govt-nod/613643/

High tiger numbers in KNP worries conservationists

GUWAHATI, April 30 – Notwithstanding the unusually high tiger concentration in Kaziranga National Park as revealed in a recent camera-trap exercise, experts feel that the development also has darker shades which, if left unaddressed, could imperil the park’s long-term conservation prospects.

This is because quantitative assessment of conservation efforts sometimes tends to be unrealistic vis-à-vis the actual picture. According to Dr Bibhab Talukdar of Aaranyak, which conducted the camera-trapping estimation in Kaziranga, the much-trumpeted success of Kaziranga due to increasing numbers of rhinos, elephants and now even tigers could be a dangerous indicator.

“Unusual increase of these animals in a single protected can be a dangerous indicator. It may be that because of destruction of habitat in surrounding areas, animals have flocked into Kaziranga’s safety. Kaziranga’s ecosystem is highly dependent on preservation of forests in the Karbi Anglong hills,” Dr Talukdar said.

Conservationists are unanimous that restoring and sanctifying the contiguity of Kaziranga with the Karbi Anglong hills holds the key to long-term survival of the park.

“The entire area needs to be treated as a single conservationbelt. The State Government should take up the matter with the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council for declaring it as a single protected area,” Dr Talukdar said.

Underling the need for better management of Kaziranga in view of the increasing number of animals, especially the tiger, Dr Talukdar said that unless the tigers had a wider dispersal area, different problems, including infighting and conflict with humans, stood to intensify.

The man-tiger conflict is already more than palpable with a high incidence of cattle lifting by tigers in the fringe villages of Kaziranga. There have also been at least a couple of confirmed cases of retaliatory poisoning by the affected locals in the recent past. According to data with WWF-India, the one-year period from April 2008 to March 2009 saw as many as 171 cases of cattle lifting by tigers. The trend has persisted, with 130 cases from April 2009 till January this year.

PJ Bora of WWF-India which has been engaged in a programmeon mitigating the growing man-tiger conflict in Kaziranga said, “Any increase in hostilities between the tiger and the fringe-dwellers could spell doom for the animal. While payment of timely compensation to the affected people is a must, there is an urgent need to look into the reasons behind the tiger’s growing preference for domestic animals.”

The corridors linking Kaziranga with Karbi Anglong forests have suffered extensive degradation due to encroachment, illegal logging, stone mining, growing settlements and tourist facilities, etc., seriously disrupting wildlife movement, especially during the recurring floods.

Bora said that the existing important corridors, i.e., Haldibari, Kanchanjuri and Panbari, were under growing human pressure which needed to be checked to prevent any further degradation.

For a secure future of the tiger, experts suggest improved management of tiger habitat, including restoration and management of corridors between core areas through land-uses compatible with tiger conservation. “Creating additional or expanding existing protected areas to support viable, breeding tiger populations, and linking them with habitat corridors is an imperative need under the present circumstances,” a Forest official with a long experience of serving in tiger habitat said.

“In the past, the forests of Karbi Anglong and the grasslands of Kaziranga formed a single contiguous ecological belt with very few human habitations. But with the gradual opening up of the area on the southern side of the NH-37 resulted in settlements, industries, tourist facilities and tea gardens, underminingconservation concerns,” he said, adding that a policy decision at the government level was a must to check human and industrial pressures.

A corridor apart, encroachment has been a problem in some of the six subsequent additions to the 429.93-sq km Park such as the second, third, fourth and sixth. Pending court litigations have also compounded the process of evicting the settlers. Theadditions are: first addition Burhapahar 43.79 sq km, second addition Sildubi (6.47 sq km), third addition Panbari (0.69 sq km), fourth addition Kanchanjuri (0.89 sq km), fifth addition Haldibari (1.15 sq km) and sixth addition the stretch of the Brahmaputra river (including chars) running along the Park’s southern boundary.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=may0110/at09

Save the tiger campaign: Away from the forest home

Here is a story of successful relocation at the Simlipal reserve in Orissa. Today we look at how many families here are living comfortably after they were moved out to make way for the tiger.

Adivasis from Jenabil valley in Orissa's Simlipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in a bank for the first time in their lives to receive a part of Rs 10 lakhs that the National Tiger Conservation Authority has promised each of the 61 families, who have vacated their forest home.

Although their rehabilitation from the core area of the park was on the cards for years, no serious attempt was made until a new director took over last August.

"That itself shows that things could have been done much earlier and we could have got back all those valleys for wild life much earlier. In fact Jenabil would get back its former glory. We expect it to become a meadow, which will be frequented by herbivores and tigers naturally," says Biswajit Mohanty, member, National Board for Wildlife.

For the displaced people who have never lived outside the forests, it's the beginning of a new life. Their children can finally go to school.

"The government promised us Rs 10 lakhs and land. They have said they will give us Rs 1 lakh to build a house and the rest Rs 9 lakh will be in the form of fixed deposits. If our rehabilitation is proper, then others will also leave Simlipal," says Ganga, displaced Jenabil villager.

There are still three more villages in the tiger core area that need to be evacuated. Thanks to the good package people are willing to reconsider their views.

"We will take all care to train them in agriculture, horticulture and all those things. It's no longer the job of the Forest Department of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve, the whole of district administration has adopted it," says HS Upadhyay, director, STR.

Reducing human interference is key to increasing tiger numbers. The successful rehabilitation of the people of Jenabil will go a long way in bringing the big cat back to these meadows.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/save-the-tiger-campaign-away-from-the-forest-home-22325.php

Tiger deaths: Under-staffing, poor intelligence main reasons

New Delhi: Lack of funds and quality staff, sloppy intelligence, poorly-armed protection force and delay in relocating villagers from tiger habitats were among the key reasons for big cat deaths, a Parliamentary panel has said.

The committee on 'conservation and protection of tigers' flayed the National TigerConservation Authority for its failure to ensure sufficient funds and staff to check the declining big cat population.

Asking it to plug the gaps, the panel, which tabled its report in Parliament today, has also suggested that the NTCA -- entrusted with the task of implementing Project Tiger in the country -- should speed up village relocation on priority basis to save the animals.

"The implementation of the Project Tiger under NTCA was severely hampered by under-staffing at the level of sanctuaries and the personnel actually employed were also found to be over-aged, under-trained and under-equipped in many cases," said the panel headed by BJP MP Gopinath Munde.

Inadequate arms and ammunition, lack of strike force, poor intelligence gathering and inadequate patrolling camps were some of the other reasons for tiger deaths, it said. "As a result, poaching of tigers continued and touched an annual level of 22 over a period of six years," it said.

Initiated in 1972, Project Tiger has been taking several steps to ensure tiger conservation and protection. The NTCA is an autonomous body under the Environment Ministry.

The panel also took serious exception to fact that the relocation of families in tiger reserves was going on at a snail's pace and "at this rate it will take more than a decade to relocate all the families from the core/buffer area."

Attributing the delay to funds shortage, it noted that "Against the requirement of Rs 11,000 crore to relocate 64,951 families living within the tiger reserves, the allocation in the Tenth Five Year Plan was a meagre Rs 10.50 crore."

In its reply, the Environment Ministry told the panel that since inception of Project Tiger till June 2005, a total of 80 villages (2904 families) have been relocated.

"During the Tenth Plan, under the enhanced package (Rs 10 lakh to each family) Rs 236.79 crore was provided to states for 7782 families' relocation." Pointing out that mitigation of human interference was important for tiger survival, the panel suggested that the Environment Ministry should undertake a special donor-driven project and "link this to the benefits which will accrue to the community by not cutting trees."

http://www.zeenews.com/news623033.html#

Tiger Reserve surrounded by coal mines

The 625 square kilometre protected forest in Chandrapur is home to over fifty tigers, a sanctuary shattered by the hostile coal mines that surround it on at least two sides.

Recently the Prime Minster wrote to Maharashtra asking it to notify crucial buffer zones around tiger parks because in the Tadoba Reserve there is a need for more space.

It was in this crucial tiger corridor that the Adani coal mine was suppose to come up. The permission was denied by the Union Environment Minister but it continues to raise an important question: Why is the Maharashtra state government continuing to drag its feet for over two years on an important piece of legislation, something that will finally notify these buffer zones.

Buffer zones are specially notified areas around parks or reserve forests that are meant to divide the park from areas of human pressure. This division is of vital importance as by law any activity like mining or others that destroy the habitat have to be kept at least ten kilometres from the buffer zone which helps protect the parks habitat.

Without this notification the Tadoba buffer zone is not yet legally out of bounds for mines and industries.

While mining activity is Tadoba's biggest problem, over the last one year, the man-animal conflict has also escalated particularly in the eastern side of the reserve with 14 people and 4 tigers dead.

President, Tiger Research and Conservation Trust, Harshawardhan Dhanwatey says, "It has 60 odd villages and 20-25 years ago, the population was not more than 100/80 people. Today the population has gone up by three times. The impact of these people on Tadoba is quite a bit. Grazing is a big problem here because there is a lot of cattle that these villages own and it is contributing to the degradation of forest."

All this increase the possibility of encounters.

"Unfortunately the status of the forest staff is not up to the mark. At present we have 5 RFO postings out of which 3 are vacant and we want to increase post of RFO, forest guards. Only 34 beats are there so average area of beat is very large. Almost, a beat guard has to protect an average area of 1848 hectares which is certainly a big area to protect," says Sanjay Thakre, Field Director, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.

It's a miracle that the tiger population has survived these man-made traps when it desperately needs man-made ecological fillip to thrive and grow.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/tiger-reserve-surrounded-by-coal-mines-22109.php