KOLKATA: A tiger strayed into a village at Kultali in the Sunderbans, leading to a daylong drama on Friday.
The adult male was spotted hiding in a paddy field early in the morning. Panic-stricken villagers of Kishorimohanpur saw the big cat darting around the field, but couldn't track it down in the morning mist. Later, the field was surrounded by nets and villagers kept vigil.
A forest department team reached the spot and managed to tranquillize the tiger. It has been taken to Bonnie Camp for observation and could be released on Saturday morning.
The paddy field had to be cordoned off after the tiger started growling and attempted to sneak out. Hundreds had gathered at the spot with sticks, rods and fishing nets. The foresters had a trying time keeping them out. It took them nearly four hours to corner the animal and fire the tranquillizer dart.
"It seems to have worked perfectly, for the tiger fell senseless almost immediately. It might have sneaked out of the nearby Herobhanga forest, swum across the river and entered the village last night. The animal is now being observed by our team of veterinarians. It would be released on Saturday if the animal is found to be in perfect health," said Subhendu Bandyopadhyay, DFO, South 24-Parganas.
Around a dozen tigers have strayed into Sunderbans villages in the last three months. Straying is expected to continue and could happen more frequently now. "Straying traditionally goes up between November and February. It has happened relentlessly throughout the year this time. We are keeping our fingers crossed," said a senior forest official.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Over thousand wild animals killed in Madhya Pradesh
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Bhopal, Dec 9 (IANS) Over a thousand wild animals, including seven tigers and 22 leopards, died in Madhya Pradesh in the last four years even while Rs.100 crore were spent to conserve the wild cat, according to the 2010 tiger census report.
A staggering 1,017 wildlife animals lost their lives from October 2007 to October 2010. These animals were tigers, leopards, bears, deer and Neelgai (blue bulls).
The government said all the killed animals were poached and cases against 604 people have been lodged for their slaughter.
Madhya Pradesh has nine national parks and 25 wildlife sanctuaries spread over a total of 10,862 sq km, constituting 3.52 percent of the state's total area.
The central government launched 'Project Tiger' in 1973. Kanha National Park was one of the first nine protected areas selected under the project in the country.
At present, the state has six Project Tiger areas. These are - Kanha, Panna, Bandhavgarh, Satpura, Pench and Sanjay Dhubri.
Madhya Pradesh contains 19 percent of India's total tigers and ten percent of the world's tiger numbers.
Every year, the central government allots over Rs.25 crore to Madhya Pradesh in the name of wildlife animal conservation.
According to the 2006 tiger census, there were around 300 tigers and 3,000 leopards in Madhya Pradesh.
'There is fall in the poaching of wildlife animals but the small animals are an easy target of villagers. It is not easy to stop them but still we are trying hard to control them,' said Forest Minister Sartaj Singh.
Bhopal, Dec 9 (IANS) Over a thousand wild animals, including seven tigers and 22 leopards, died in Madhya Pradesh in the last four years even while Rs.100 crore were spent to conserve the wild cat, according to the 2010 tiger census report.
A staggering 1,017 wildlife animals lost their lives from October 2007 to October 2010. These animals were tigers, leopards, bears, deer and Neelgai (blue bulls).
The government said all the killed animals were poached and cases against 604 people have been lodged for their slaughter.
Madhya Pradesh has nine national parks and 25 wildlife sanctuaries spread over a total of 10,862 sq km, constituting 3.52 percent of the state's total area.
The central government launched 'Project Tiger' in 1973. Kanha National Park was one of the first nine protected areas selected under the project in the country.
At present, the state has six Project Tiger areas. These are - Kanha, Panna, Bandhavgarh, Satpura, Pench and Sanjay Dhubri.
Madhya Pradesh contains 19 percent of India's total tigers and ten percent of the world's tiger numbers.
Every year, the central government allots over Rs.25 crore to Madhya Pradesh in the name of wildlife animal conservation.
According to the 2006 tiger census, there were around 300 tigers and 3,000 leopards in Madhya Pradesh.
'There is fall in the poaching of wildlife animals but the small animals are an easy target of villagers. It is not easy to stop them but still we are trying hard to control them,' said Forest Minister Sartaj Singh.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Chanda loses 28 tigers in two years
CHANDRAPUR: While Chandrapur boasts of being the tiger capital of Central India, little is talked about the loss of 28 tigers from the jungles here in a span of last two years.
While 21 tigers have been either poached, killed in accidents, died natural death or have 'disappeared', seven have been moved from the wild and put into zoos after being rescued since November 2008. The death of two tigers within the span of a week has again raised a question mark over the measures implemented for protection and conservation of tigers in the district.
In November 2008, two cubs were rescued from the forests of Mendki under South Bramhapuri forest range. Their mother had gone missing and was never traced. One of these cubs died during treatment. Year 2009 witnessed deaths, disappearance and poaching of 15 tigers in the district. On January 23, 2009, three cubs from FDCM Junona range were rescued after their mother went missing. On February 21, wildlife activist found tiger bones near Devada village in TATR. Later, a raid was carried out on the residence of one Ragho Kulmethe in Devada on the basis of intelligence given by NGO Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) and tiger bones were recovered. The DNA testing of bones recovered from Kulmethe and those recovered from the jungle near Devada did not match, suggesting death of two different tigers. Later, on February 26, another tiger from Bhanuskhindi area in TATR was found dead. On March 18, foresters seized 10 tiger nails from poachers near Bhadrawati and investigations revealed that it was poached at the boundary of TATR in the winter of 2008.
Between March 24 and 28, 2009, three tiger cubs were found dead near Adyalmendha under Balapur FDCM. However, official figures say only two cubs had died. Their mother had disappeared and was never traced. On April 6, a tiger cub was found dead near Chiroli village in Mul range. It had died after being allegedly hit by a vehicle. On May 13, the carcass of a tiger was found near Ubha Gota water tank in Palasgaon range. On August 1, a tiger drowned in a well while chasing prey. Between September 17 and 23, three tiger cubs were rescued from the jungles of Dhaba range, after their mother disappeared. On November 5, 2009, CBI sleuths arrested five persons with two tiger skins and 90kg of tiger bones from a train in Nagpur. Subsequent investigations revealed that they had boarded from Ballarpur railway station near here with the skins and bones, and the tigers was poached in jungles of Chandrapur. Also in November 2009, Chandrapur police, again on the basis of intelligence given by WPSI, arrested hard-core tiger poachers involved in this poaching.
On April 2010, a tiger was found dead near Navargaon in Palasgaon range. On May 10, Chimur forest officials arrested an accused with tiger nails and subsequent investigations revealed that it was tigress poached in Hirdi nullah in TATR in June 2009. Its three cubs, which went missing, were never traced.
Later, ailing tigress 'Jharina' of TATR died during treatment on August 18. On November 28, a carcass of a tiger killed in territorial fight was recovered in FDCM Junona range. A semi-adult tiger died in a fight with another tiger was recovered on December 6 in Moharli (territorial) forest range.
Despite rigorous implementation of measures to mitigate man-animal conflict, forest officers seem to have failed to curb the loss of tigers. Failure of relocation of villages located within TATR too has put tremendous poaching pressure in the protected areas.
Central India Director, WPSI, Nitin Desai, said, "These are the reported cases on record. What about the unreported cases of poaching by poaching gangs? The gangs of Baheliya and Bawariyas have been seen till last May in Chandrapur district." He stressed upon strong intelligence-based enforcement in rural areas to control the poaching of tiger and other animals. "Considering the phenomenal pressure of poaching in tiger habitats, only strong intelligence based enforcement at ground level could help in controlling the wildlife related crimes. However, so far forest department had done no monetary provision for raising of intelligence network of its own," said Desai.
While 21 tigers have been either poached, killed in accidents, died natural death or have 'disappeared', seven have been moved from the wild and put into zoos after being rescued since November 2008. The death of two tigers within the span of a week has again raised a question mark over the measures implemented for protection and conservation of tigers in the district.
In November 2008, two cubs were rescued from the forests of Mendki under South Bramhapuri forest range. Their mother had gone missing and was never traced. One of these cubs died during treatment. Year 2009 witnessed deaths, disappearance and poaching of 15 tigers in the district. On January 23, 2009, three cubs from FDCM Junona range were rescued after their mother went missing. On February 21, wildlife activist found tiger bones near Devada village in TATR. Later, a raid was carried out on the residence of one Ragho Kulmethe in Devada on the basis of intelligence given by NGO Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) and tiger bones were recovered. The DNA testing of bones recovered from Kulmethe and those recovered from the jungle near Devada did not match, suggesting death of two different tigers. Later, on February 26, another tiger from Bhanuskhindi area in TATR was found dead. On March 18, foresters seized 10 tiger nails from poachers near Bhadrawati and investigations revealed that it was poached at the boundary of TATR in the winter of 2008.
Between March 24 and 28, 2009, three tiger cubs were found dead near Adyalmendha under Balapur FDCM. However, official figures say only two cubs had died. Their mother had disappeared and was never traced. On April 6, a tiger cub was found dead near Chiroli village in Mul range. It had died after being allegedly hit by a vehicle. On May 13, the carcass of a tiger was found near Ubha Gota water tank in Palasgaon range. On August 1, a tiger drowned in a well while chasing prey. Between September 17 and 23, three tiger cubs were rescued from the jungles of Dhaba range, after their mother disappeared. On November 5, 2009, CBI sleuths arrested five persons with two tiger skins and 90kg of tiger bones from a train in Nagpur. Subsequent investigations revealed that they had boarded from Ballarpur railway station near here with the skins and bones, and the tigers was poached in jungles of Chandrapur. Also in November 2009, Chandrapur police, again on the basis of intelligence given by WPSI, arrested hard-core tiger poachers involved in this poaching.
On April 2010, a tiger was found dead near Navargaon in Palasgaon range. On May 10, Chimur forest officials arrested an accused with tiger nails and subsequent investigations revealed that it was tigress poached in Hirdi nullah in TATR in June 2009. Its three cubs, which went missing, were never traced.
Later, ailing tigress 'Jharina' of TATR died during treatment on August 18. On November 28, a carcass of a tiger killed in territorial fight was recovered in FDCM Junona range. A semi-adult tiger died in a fight with another tiger was recovered on December 6 in Moharli (territorial) forest range.
Despite rigorous implementation of measures to mitigate man-animal conflict, forest officers seem to have failed to curb the loss of tigers. Failure of relocation of villages located within TATR too has put tremendous poaching pressure in the protected areas.
Central India Director, WPSI, Nitin Desai, said, "These are the reported cases on record. What about the unreported cases of poaching by poaching gangs? The gangs of Baheliya and Bawariyas have been seen till last May in Chandrapur district." He stressed upon strong intelligence-based enforcement in rural areas to control the poaching of tiger and other animals. "Considering the phenomenal pressure of poaching in tiger habitats, only strong intelligence based enforcement at ground level could help in controlling the wildlife related crimes. However, so far forest department had done no monetary provision for raising of intelligence network of its own," said Desai.
Tiger death hits Sariska conservation bid
The poisoning to death of a relocated tiger in Rajasthan's Sariska reserve has dealt a body blow to efforts being made to save the endangered animal.
The male tiger poisoned was one of the five shifted to Sariska in 2008. As part of the project, two males and three females had been brought in from Ranthambore.
"Reports have come that it's a case of poisoning through insecticides commonly available and used in agricultural practices. It appears to be a case of revenge killing where somebody's cattle may have been lifted (by tigers)," said Y.K. Sahu, DFO, Sariska reserve.
The reserve also faces problems because of poaching and unavailability of skilled staff. "There's an acute shortage of protection staff. This area is 881 sq km and 210 personnel are involved in its protection," said Sahu.
To reduce man-animal conflict, the government had proposed to relocate the villagers but they are in no mood to leave.
Tigers in Sariska are also under threat from illegal mining. Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot about this, copies of which are with Headlines Today. But no action has been taken so far.
The male tiger poisoned was one of the five shifted to Sariska in 2008. As part of the project, two males and three females had been brought in from Ranthambore.
"Reports have come that it's a case of poisoning through insecticides commonly available and used in agricultural practices. It appears to be a case of revenge killing where somebody's cattle may have been lifted (by tigers)," said Y.K. Sahu, DFO, Sariska reserve.
The reserve also faces problems because of poaching and unavailability of skilled staff. "There's an acute shortage of protection staff. This area is 881 sq km and 210 personnel are involved in its protection," said Sahu.
To reduce man-animal conflict, the government had proposed to relocate the villagers but they are in no mood to leave.
Tigers in Sariska are also under threat from illegal mining. Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot about this, copies of which are with Headlines Today. But no action has been taken so far.
Gir lions lose all central funds to tigers this year
The tigers have got the lion’s share of central government funds this financial year - literally.
Absolutely no funds have been allocated for the conservation of the Asiatic Lions in Gir in the financial year 2010-11. This, according to the Union minister of state, finance, Namo Narain Meena, is because of the paucity of funds under the centrally-sponsored ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats’ (IDWH) scheme.
Significantly, the Gujarat government has sought Rs262.36 crore for a plethora of conservation initiatives in the past two years.
Though the grant was ‘in principal’ approved more than a year ago, the time and method of actual allocation, as also the release of funds for lions is not happening.
This, combined with the state government’s difference of opinion with the Centre over the translocation of Gir lions to MP, has become a standoff point between the two establishments.
“We are unable to understand why the central government is being so tightfisted with lions when the tigers are being allocated huge amounts regularly. Though the state government has enough allocated funds for now under the Lion Conservation Society of India, several mega projects are on hold,” a senior forest official said requesting anonymity.
While the tiger population is declining steadily, the population of the Asiatic Lions in their last abode in Gir has been steadily increasing. At the last count in May 2010, their population was 411.
In response to a question by Mehsana MP Jayshree Patel in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Meena replied, “Gujarat has submitted a proposal for consolidating long term conservation of Asiatic Lions at the total cost of Rs.262.36 crore for a period of five years, which has been approved ‘in principle’ by the Planning Commission.
However, the planning commission has suggested that financial assistance under the project may be met out of the ongoing scheme of IDWH. Due to paucity of funds in the scheme for the current financial year, no amount has been released so far.”
Sources in the know of developments in New Delhi claim that the highest priority there is to halt the diminishing tiger population in the country and all the funds are being directed into that effort.
“The lions are safe in Gujarat and multiplying. We were impressed by the way Gujarat dealt with the poaching problem. The forest dwellers in Gir are tolerant towards the big cat, while the tiger is being killed in other states. That is a burning problem,” a source said.
Absolutely no funds have been allocated for the conservation of the Asiatic Lions in Gir in the financial year 2010-11. This, according to the Union minister of state, finance, Namo Narain Meena, is because of the paucity of funds under the centrally-sponsored ‘Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats’ (IDWH) scheme.
Significantly, the Gujarat government has sought Rs262.36 crore for a plethora of conservation initiatives in the past two years.
Though the grant was ‘in principal’ approved more than a year ago, the time and method of actual allocation, as also the release of funds for lions is not happening.
This, combined with the state government’s difference of opinion with the Centre over the translocation of Gir lions to MP, has become a standoff point between the two establishments.
“We are unable to understand why the central government is being so tightfisted with lions when the tigers are being allocated huge amounts regularly. Though the state government has enough allocated funds for now under the Lion Conservation Society of India, several mega projects are on hold,” a senior forest official said requesting anonymity.
While the tiger population is declining steadily, the population of the Asiatic Lions in their last abode in Gir has been steadily increasing. At the last count in May 2010, their population was 411.
In response to a question by Mehsana MP Jayshree Patel in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Meena replied, “Gujarat has submitted a proposal for consolidating long term conservation of Asiatic Lions at the total cost of Rs.262.36 crore for a period of five years, which has been approved ‘in principle’ by the Planning Commission.
However, the planning commission has suggested that financial assistance under the project may be met out of the ongoing scheme of IDWH. Due to paucity of funds in the scheme for the current financial year, no amount has been released so far.”
Sources in the know of developments in New Delhi claim that the highest priority there is to halt the diminishing tiger population in the country and all the funds are being directed into that effort.
“The lions are safe in Gujarat and multiplying. We were impressed by the way Gujarat dealt with the poaching problem. The forest dwellers in Gir are tolerant towards the big cat, while the tiger is being killed in other states. That is a burning problem,” a source said.
Chhattisgarh tiger reserves have half the posts vacant
2010-12-08 15:40:00
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Raipur, Dec 8 (IANS) Over 50 percent posts have been lying vacant in the three Project Tiger reserves in Chhattisgarh, Forest Minister Vikram Usendi said Wednesday.
'As many as 219 posts of the total 420 posts sanctioned for Project Tiger reserves - Indravati, Udanti-Sitanadi and Achanakmar - are lying vacant till date,' the minister said in a written reply to Bahujan Samaj Party's Saurabh Singh.
Usendi said it was not possible for him to set a deadline by when the vacant posts would be filled up.
The forest officials do not have access to the Indravati tiger reserve in Bijapur district of restive Bastar region as the Maoists do not allow them to enter the reserve. 'The tiger count at the Indravati reserve was not undertaken for several years,' an official said.
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Raipur, Dec 8 (IANS) Over 50 percent posts have been lying vacant in the three Project Tiger reserves in Chhattisgarh, Forest Minister Vikram Usendi said Wednesday.
'As many as 219 posts of the total 420 posts sanctioned for Project Tiger reserves - Indravati, Udanti-Sitanadi and Achanakmar - are lying vacant till date,' the minister said in a written reply to Bahujan Samaj Party's Saurabh Singh.
Usendi said it was not possible for him to set a deadline by when the vacant posts would be filled up.
The forest officials do not have access to the Indravati tiger reserve in Bijapur district of restive Bastar region as the Maoists do not allow them to enter the reserve. 'The tiger count at the Indravati reserve was not undertaken for several years,' an official said.
Bengal tigers shrinking in numbers and size
Endangered Bengal tigers are dwindling not only in numbers, but also in stature, according to a recent survey that suggests the famed big cats are getting physically smaller. Experts say the Bengal tigers are losing weight because of "stress" associated with environmental changes impacting their
natural habitat in the Sunderban mangrove swamps on the India-Bangladesh border.
A survey conducted by Indian wildlife officials showed that tigers in the Sunderbans were lighter and their body parts smaller compared to a decade ago.
"We were surprised that animals, which otherwise look healthy, weighed only 98 kilos (215 pounds)," Subrata Mukherjee, director of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, told AFP on Thursday.
"The average weight of an adult tiger should not be less than 140 kilos," he added.
As well as human encroachment, experts point to rising sea levels which are increasing the salinity of the Sunderban swamp waters surrounding the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal.
This has reduced the number of fresh water ponds which attract the tigers' main prey.
"Spotted deer have become their main source of food, but the deer numbers are going down because of rising sea levels which is causing more flooding in the forest," said Pranabesh Sanyal, a tiger expert with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
"So the tigers are physically stressed and, being under-fed and malnourished, they are straying into human habitats in search of goats and cows," Sanyal said.
The last census done in Sunderbans in 2001-02 put the tiger numbers in Indian section of the mangrove forest at just 274.
natural habitat in the Sunderban mangrove swamps on the India-Bangladesh border.
A survey conducted by Indian wildlife officials showed that tigers in the Sunderbans were lighter and their body parts smaller compared to a decade ago.
"We were surprised that animals, which otherwise look healthy, weighed only 98 kilos (215 pounds)," Subrata Mukherjee, director of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, told AFP on Thursday.
"The average weight of an adult tiger should not be less than 140 kilos," he added.
As well as human encroachment, experts point to rising sea levels which are increasing the salinity of the Sunderban swamp waters surrounding the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal.
This has reduced the number of fresh water ponds which attract the tigers' main prey.
"Spotted deer have become their main source of food, but the deer numbers are going down because of rising sea levels which is causing more flooding in the forest," said Pranabesh Sanyal, a tiger expert with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
"So the tigers are physically stressed and, being under-fed and malnourished, they are straying into human habitats in search of goats and cows," Sanyal said.
The last census done in Sunderbans in 2001-02 put the tiger numbers in Indian section of the mangrove forest at just 274.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
5 suspected poachers held from Ranthambore
: At least five persons were arrested from in and around the Ranthambore tiger reserve on charges of illegally entering the forest, carrying arms, poaching and a host of other charges. Officials say that at least three tractors, a gun, a wild boar an ATM card, a PAN card and gunpowder were recovered from them.
The raids were carried out by a joint team of the forest department, police and members of the Tiger Watch group. Officials said the raids were carried out after a tip off.
"The raids were carried out in Lakheri area of the Sawai Man Singh sanctuary adjoining Ranthambore National Park. Those arrested hailed from Ganganagar, Gwalior and parts of Mumbai. There were children and women in the group. Some children said they had hunted at least 10 wild boars," officials from the team said.
Reports about the group of persons doing the rounds of the sanctuary had been pouring in from quite some time. In fact, the forest officials were also tipped off about it. "Currency notes worth Rs 87,000 were also recovered from them," officials said.
Officials said that the illegal gun was recovered from the house of a Mongiya. "Mongiyas are often employed by farmers to keep wild animals off their agri," officials said.
Confirming the raids, RP Gupta, DFO, Ranthambore said, "We have arrested some persons from the Sawai Man Singh sanctuary. They were in possession of wild boar meat."
The raids were carried out by a joint team of the forest department, police and members of the Tiger Watch group. Officials said the raids were carried out after a tip off.
"The raids were carried out in Lakheri area of the Sawai Man Singh sanctuary adjoining Ranthambore National Park. Those arrested hailed from Ganganagar, Gwalior and parts of Mumbai. There were children and women in the group. Some children said they had hunted at least 10 wild boars," officials from the team said.
Reports about the group of persons doing the rounds of the sanctuary had been pouring in from quite some time. In fact, the forest officials were also tipped off about it. "Currency notes worth Rs 87,000 were also recovered from them," officials said.
Officials said that the illegal gun was recovered from the house of a Mongiya. "Mongiyas are often employed by farmers to keep wild animals off their agri," officials said.
Confirming the raids, RP Gupta, DFO, Ranthambore said, "We have arrested some persons from the Sawai Man Singh sanctuary. They were in possession of wild boar meat."
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tiger cub found dead
Chandrapur (Maha), Dec 6 (PTI) A tiger cub was today found dead just outside the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) here in Eastern Maharashtra, Forest Department officials said. The body of the cub, said to be around 16-month-old, was found near a village pond under Moharli Forest Range this morning, they stated. The officials claimed another tiger killed the cub during a fight. Vinay Kumar Sinha, Field Director of TATR and Conservator of Forests, said guards found pugmarks of an adult tiger and also signs of a fight near the spot where the cub was found dead. The officials ruled out the possibility of poaching. The carcass of a full-grown tiger, reportedly killed by another tiger in a territorial fight, was found near the reserve on November 28.
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/tiger-cub-found-dead/520506.html
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/tiger-cub-found-dead/520506.html
Mining in Goa tiger territory?
Panaji, Dec 7 (IANS) The forest department has initiated a probe into rampant mining near the Netravali wildlife sanctuary in eastern Goa, which is part of a tiger corridor.
Principle chief wildlife warden Shashi Kumar told reporters Tuesday that the forest officials had been told to verify the extent of mining carried out in the area.
'We will immediately act against the mine owner if they are still extracting iron ore,' he said.
The Netravali sanctuary is part of the tiger corridor which runs between Karnataka and Goa. More than two dozen mining leases ring the sanctuary area.
Principle chief wildlife warden Shashi Kumar told reporters Tuesday that the forest officials had been told to verify the extent of mining carried out in the area.
'We will immediately act against the mine owner if they are still extracting iron ore,' he said.
The Netravali sanctuary is part of the tiger corridor which runs between Karnataka and Goa. More than two dozen mining leases ring the sanctuary area.
Interventions by politicians affecting tiger death probe
JAIPUR/ALWAR: With the state forest department intensifying probe into the death of male tiger ST-1, political interventions have started increasing, threatening to derail investigations.
According to sources, "Certain political persons have allegedly urged members probing into the incident to take the matter leniently. The interference was intentional and with a bid to halt the process. People from Kalakhet village have reportedly approached this politician pleading their innocence in the incident."
Meanwhile, sources revealed that forest department officials have been constantly visiting Kalakhet village for interrogation. The body of ST-1 was recovered near the village. The intense interrogation of villagers follow after the recovery of carcass from a pit in the area.
The forest department had recovered the carcass of a buffalo soon after the post-mortem of the tiger was done. "They had taken some samples from it and send it for a forensic report to check if the animal was smeared with any poison. The report is still awaited," the sources said.
However, the villagers claimed that they had killed the buffalo and put her body in the pit as she had become mad.
However, now with the forensic report of body parts of the tiger confirming the presence of traces of organophosphate in it, officials of the forest department have once again collected separate body parts of the buffalo and sent it for another forensic report to the laboratory at Alwar. "It could be that the buffalo was smeared with poison and used as a bait for the tiger," the sources added.
On the other hand, with constant visit of officials from the forest and police departments to Kalakhet, most male members of the village have fled. The village is now only occupied with women and children.
According to sources, "Certain political persons have allegedly urged members probing into the incident to take the matter leniently. The interference was intentional and with a bid to halt the process. People from Kalakhet village have reportedly approached this politician pleading their innocence in the incident."
Meanwhile, sources revealed that forest department officials have been constantly visiting Kalakhet village for interrogation. The body of ST-1 was recovered near the village. The intense interrogation of villagers follow after the recovery of carcass from a pit in the area.
The forest department had recovered the carcass of a buffalo soon after the post-mortem of the tiger was done. "They had taken some samples from it and send it for a forensic report to check if the animal was smeared with any poison. The report is still awaited," the sources said.
However, the villagers claimed that they had killed the buffalo and put her body in the pit as she had become mad.
However, now with the forensic report of body parts of the tiger confirming the presence of traces of organophosphate in it, officials of the forest department have once again collected separate body parts of the buffalo and sent it for another forensic report to the laboratory at Alwar. "It could be that the buffalo was smeared with poison and used as a bait for the tiger," the sources added.
On the other hand, with constant visit of officials from the forest and police departments to Kalakhet, most male members of the village have fled. The village is now only occupied with women and children.
To save straying tigers, NTCA chief for enforcing Sec 144 CrPC
NEW DELHI: In view of increasing cases of tigers straying from protected areas, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) chief Rajesh Gopal has suggested restricting the movement of people by imposing Section 144 CrPC on such tracts to avoid lethal man-animal encounters.
Lawyers handling wildlife cases have given a thumbs-up to the "pro-conservation advisory" but doubted if it could be smoothly implemented as the Section, which also allows for preventive detention, is usually enforced as a precautionary measure against untoward incidents like riots or protests.
The suggestion came in the wake of increasing cases of tiger straying particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra where due to a mob frenzy either the locals get killed by the straying animal or vice-versa, threatening the conservation efforts.
Lamenting that such moving tigers get "branded" as "man-eaters" and eventually land in 'zoos' or get eliminated, Gopal stressed on a need to address the issue actively at the ground level with enforcement of Section 144 CrPc being one of the solution.
With only 1,411 big cats left in the forests, NTCA member secretary said every tiger is precious to us.
"An instance of a straying big cat or leopard should be treated on a par with any other situation involving violence, and adequate deployment of local police and state armed force needs to be done, besides sensitising the local people," he said.
He said, perhaps, to avoid lethal encounters, it is advisable to impose Section 144 of the CrPC in such areas.
Saurabh Sharma, a lawyer with Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), was all for the implementation of the Section but had a word of caution. "Administratively it is a difficult proposition. At times straying of the animal becomes a major incident especially when a mob is involved.
"Nevertheless, it can be experimented with to ascertain its success. Its a good pro-conservation advisory." he added.
Advocate Avinash Baskar from Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) led by tiger expert Belinda Wright too echoed similar views saying the Section is an enabling provision for the state in such cases.
"But at the ground level due to practical reasons it has to be looked into if there is sufficient time for machinery to move in to execute the measure," Baskar said.
Besides advising enforcement of Section 144 CrPc, Gopal also underlined the need for mapping the traditional movement path of tigers for restoration inputs and encouraging the people to make the areas inviolate by offering them incentives. P
Lawyers handling wildlife cases have given a thumbs-up to the "pro-conservation advisory" but doubted if it could be smoothly implemented as the Section, which also allows for preventive detention, is usually enforced as a precautionary measure against untoward incidents like riots or protests.
The suggestion came in the wake of increasing cases of tiger straying particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra where due to a mob frenzy either the locals get killed by the straying animal or vice-versa, threatening the conservation efforts.
Lamenting that such moving tigers get "branded" as "man-eaters" and eventually land in 'zoos' or get eliminated, Gopal stressed on a need to address the issue actively at the ground level with enforcement of Section 144 CrPc being one of the solution.
With only 1,411 big cats left in the forests, NTCA member secretary said every tiger is precious to us.
"An instance of a straying big cat or leopard should be treated on a par with any other situation involving violence, and adequate deployment of local police and state armed force needs to be done, besides sensitising the local people," he said.
He said, perhaps, to avoid lethal encounters, it is advisable to impose Section 144 of the CrPC in such areas.
Saurabh Sharma, a lawyer with Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), was all for the implementation of the Section but had a word of caution. "Administratively it is a difficult proposition. At times straying of the animal becomes a major incident especially when a mob is involved.
"Nevertheless, it can be experimented with to ascertain its success. Its a good pro-conservation advisory." he added.
Advocate Avinash Baskar from Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) led by tiger expert Belinda Wright too echoed similar views saying the Section is an enabling provision for the state in such cases.
"But at the ground level due to practical reasons it has to be looked into if there is sufficient time for machinery to move in to execute the measure," Baskar said.
Besides advising enforcement of Section 144 CrPc, Gopal also underlined the need for mapping the traditional movement path of tigers for restoration inputs and encouraging the people to make the areas inviolate by offering them incentives. P
Putin for tougher sanctions for tiger poaching
Vinay Shukla
Moscow, Dec 6 (PTI) Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin today sought tougher sanctions for tiger poaching to preserve the royal beast, which was once at the point of extinction in Siberia.
Speaking at a conference organised by his United Russia party in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk Putin agreed that the fine of 1,500 roubles (USD 48) for tiger poaching was too small and in a lighter vein added: "Feed them to tigers and leopards!"
Putin, who last month hosted the International Tiger Summit in his hometown St. Petersburg, takes pride in the growth of tiger population in Siberia from roughly a couple of dozens to over five hundred in past decades.
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who is accompanying Putin on the tour, told reporters that Russian Ministry of Natural Resources had already tabled a bill providing for harsher punishment for poaching and illegal hunting.
"It includes separate articles on tigers and leopards, stipulating harsher punishment for poaching, including arrest and imprisonment," Ivanov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
Putin, known for his love for endangered wild beasts, in a recent interview to CNN said his interest in tigers was sparked by a TV report about US and Russian experts working together in the Russia''s far east to protect Siberian (Amur) tigers.
Putin said he was "ashamed" to see foreign experts involved in solving the problem of endangered animals in Russia, which moved him to take a tiger protection program under his personal control.
Local experts say that high price of tiger parts in the bordering China was the prime reason of poaching. PTI VS
Moscow, Dec 6 (PTI) Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin today sought tougher sanctions for tiger poaching to preserve the royal beast, which was once at the point of extinction in Siberia.
Speaking at a conference organised by his United Russia party in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk Putin agreed that the fine of 1,500 roubles (USD 48) for tiger poaching was too small and in a lighter vein added: "Feed them to tigers and leopards!"
Putin, who last month hosted the International Tiger Summit in his hometown St. Petersburg, takes pride in the growth of tiger population in Siberia from roughly a couple of dozens to over five hundred in past decades.
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who is accompanying Putin on the tour, told reporters that Russian Ministry of Natural Resources had already tabled a bill providing for harsher punishment for poaching and illegal hunting.
"It includes separate articles on tigers and leopards, stipulating harsher punishment for poaching, including arrest and imprisonment," Ivanov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
Putin, known for his love for endangered wild beasts, in a recent interview to CNN said his interest in tigers was sparked by a TV report about US and Russian experts working together in the Russia''s far east to protect Siberian (Amur) tigers.
Putin said he was "ashamed" to see foreign experts involved in solving the problem of endangered animals in Russia, which moved him to take a tiger protection program under his personal control.
Local experts say that high price of tiger parts in the bordering China was the prime reason of poaching. PTI VS
Monday, December 6, 2010
Number of tiger deaths down this year
LUCKNOW: So far, 2010 has been a safe year for tigers in Uttar Pradesh as only two tiger deaths have been reported in the state. This bears significance since big cats are the most critically endangered of all wildlife species. Though there are other species as well which have been clubbed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act with tigers as critically endangered. But still the main focus of most conversation programmes is on protecting the big cats.
The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), an agency that has a database of wildlife crime and also works with forest department in some states, has compiled the number of tiger mortalities in 2010. This year, tiger mortalities have been lesser as compared to the previous year. In 2009, 85 tiger deaths were reported in the country whereas in 2010, 53 tigers have died so far. The mortalities include natural deaths, poaching and also seizures. While 27 big cats were found dead, 26 mortalities were due to poaching and seizures. (As per assumption, 10 kg tiger bones seized are taken to be as one adult tiger killed).
"It is difficult to say how many tigers died natural deaths out of 27," said Tito Joseph from WPSI. When contacted, deputy director, Dudhwa, Sanjay Pathak said, "security mechanisms have been effectively put into place in Dudhwa." The lesser number of deaths is also a reason to rejoice for Dudhwa security staff. Out of the two tiger deaths reported from UP, one was killed by poachers in North Kheri. In the other cases, an adult tiger was killed by another tiger in an infighting in Pilibhit.
Even if the tigers are poisoned to death it is difficult to establish so if the carcasses are found after some days. The poisoning is mostly not established in the autopsy report. It is only within few hours of the death that poisoning, as a cause of death, can be established in the report. Due to this in many cases, cause of death is not established. Even the postmortem reports, at times, are inconclusive.
The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), an agency that has a database of wildlife crime and also works with forest department in some states, has compiled the number of tiger mortalities in 2010. This year, tiger mortalities have been lesser as compared to the previous year. In 2009, 85 tiger deaths were reported in the country whereas in 2010, 53 tigers have died so far. The mortalities include natural deaths, poaching and also seizures. While 27 big cats were found dead, 26 mortalities were due to poaching and seizures. (As per assumption, 10 kg tiger bones seized are taken to be as one adult tiger killed).
"It is difficult to say how many tigers died natural deaths out of 27," said Tito Joseph from WPSI. When contacted, deputy director, Dudhwa, Sanjay Pathak said, "security mechanisms have been effectively put into place in Dudhwa." The lesser number of deaths is also a reason to rejoice for Dudhwa security staff. Out of the two tiger deaths reported from UP, one was killed by poachers in North Kheri. In the other cases, an adult tiger was killed by another tiger in an infighting in Pilibhit.
Even if the tigers are poisoned to death it is difficult to establish so if the carcasses are found after some days. The poisoning is mostly not established in the autopsy report. It is only within few hours of the death that poisoning, as a cause of death, can be established in the report. Due to this in many cases, cause of death is not established. Even the postmortem reports, at times, are inconclusive.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
One detained for ‘poisoning’ Sariska tiger
The Rajasthan forest department on Friday night detained one person from a village inside the Sariska tiger reserve premises in connection with the death of a five-year-old tiger last month.
On Friday, forensic test reports confirmed that ST-1, the first tiger translocated to the Sariska reserve from Ranthambore, died due to poisoning.
According to the forest department, the forensic team found traces of organophosphates in parts of the tiger's body. Forest officials said this was a compound found in insecticides. "Those responsible could have poisoned some meat and left it for the tiger," said forest officials.
Senior officials said on Saturday that they had detained one person, Parsadi Lal Gurjjar, in connection with the death of ST-1. "Gurjjar and three brothers, all residents of Kalkhet village, live within one kilometre of where the dead animal was found. We are questioning him about the incident," said an official.
On Friday, forensic test reports confirmed that ST-1, the first tiger translocated to the Sariska reserve from Ranthambore, died due to poisoning.
According to the forest department, the forensic team found traces of organophosphates in parts of the tiger's body. Forest officials said this was a compound found in insecticides. "Those responsible could have poisoned some meat and left it for the tiger," said forest officials.
Senior officials said on Saturday that they had detained one person, Parsadi Lal Gurjjar, in connection with the death of ST-1. "Gurjjar and three brothers, all residents of Kalkhet village, live within one kilometre of where the dead animal was found. We are questioning him about the incident," said an official.
Good news for the tiger?
C.R. BIJOY
Not really. Over the last three years, notified tiger forests have seen a 22 per cent increase. But lack of adequate, prescribed compensation for the tribals living in these areas has only turned these forests into conflict zones…
Jairam Ramesh, the indefatigable Minister for Environment and Forests, exhorted the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on July 15, 2010 to ‘consider the possibility of proposing the Sathyamangalam Wild Life Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve, vis-Ã -vis the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972' as ‘ the area is contiguous with the forests of Chamrajnagar-Bandipur-Mudumalai'. This came on cue and with clockwork precision after it was reported early this year that the tiger numbers had doubled to 18 in a year. The ground was prepared when a good 36 per cent of the 1455.31 sq km of Sathyamangalam in Guthiyalathur and Talamalai Forests, an area of 524.35 sq km, was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 2008 itself.
Connecting corridor
The Sathyamangalam forest division is contiguous to the Biligirirangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary in the neighbouring Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka. This forest links the Eastern and Western Ghats. It connects to the 321 sq km Mudumalai, the 872.24 sq km Bandipur and the 643.35 sq km Nagarhole Critical Tiger Habitats (CTHs). All that remains now is the 344 sq km Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary. Together, this will constitute the biggest tiger and elephant habitat in the country! Already, the proposal to notify 580 sq km of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary as a CTH has been approved close on the heels of the approvals in Sunabeda in Orissa, Shahyadri in Maharashtra, Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh and Ratapani in Madhya Pradesh.
The 25,551 sq km of tiger forests in 2007 rapidly expanded to 32,878 sq km, a whopping 22 per cent increase in just three years! The number of Tiger Reserves jumped from 28 to 39, spread over 17 states. Already the buffer zone spans a vast 11,029.0781 sq km in just 13 CTHs. There are 26 more yet to figure out the buffer zone. Those who had all along coexisted with tigers are to be pushed out from the CTH. The 2006 amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act requires the CTH to be ‘inviolate', freed of all human activity. Once depopulated, the tiger habitats are to be the secured enclosures for the exclusive delight of the prosperous class for whose ‘development' and ‘growth' the forests and its wildlife are primarily decimated.
Jairam Ramesh in his press statement of May 4, 2010 was categorical: ‘there is no such proposal' to ban tourism in tiger reserves. In fact, he assures us that ‘tourism is essential' for the tiger conservation though ‘tourism in the 39 Project Tiger Reserves, particularly in core areas, will be strictly regulated'. Wildlife officials collaborating with the tourism industry and the self-proclaimed wild-lifers, who normally never cohabit with tigers, will take total control of these ‘inviolate' areas. A new tiger-forest dependent community for their livelihood is created in and around this free of all human activity CTH! You might say it is an oxymoron; it surely is!
On the fast track
Tigers spell money and lots of them. From a mere Rs. 12 crores per year during 1972 to 2004, the Project Tiger budget leapfrogged to Rs. 201.53 crores during 2009-10. Project Tiger got fast-tracked and is showcased as a national obsession and pride.
It all started in early 2005 when the tigers in Sariska of Rajasthan turned out to be just paper tigers, a ploy to extract funds. The tigers had all vanished. By then Rs. 2 crores had already been spent per tiger. The outraged nation, at least the influential urbanites, took the government to task. The result was ‘Joining the Dots' on what ails our tiger reserves, the 2005 Report of the five-member Tiger Task Force. It found that the current approach of guns, guards and fences is simply not the answer. The forest and wildlife bureaucracy relationship with those who coexist with and share the tiger's habitat had turned from bad to worse; less than 10 per cent of the families in tiger reserves were relocated in 30 years. The simmering anger was a sure recipe for disaster for both conservation and wildlife.
The Manmohan Singh government quickly moved in within months of the damning Report, quite unusual though, with an amendment to the rather colonial and archaic anti-people Wildlife Protection Act. This amendment of 2006 created the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Tiger Reserves, until then an administrative category of Project Tiger, became a statutory one. The Left parties in the Parliament introduced the much-needed democratic procedure for determining CTHs. This itself was an outcome of the raging misplaced tribal versus tiger debate that followed the introduction of Forest Rights Act in the Parliament in 2005. The rapidly swelling tide of discontent in the forest areas forced the political parties and the governments to sit up and concede that a ‘historic injustice' had been perpetrated on forest peoples. They agreed to resolve this once and for all. The Forest Rights Act of 2006, a much-delayed decolonisation of forest legislations, was the outcome. It influenced the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act in 2006.
Everything seemed to be going swell; the number of tigers was increasing, and the forest dwellers were happy that finally their traditional rights in the forest were recognised and that they were central to the conservation strategy. But upsetting this flagship political project of tribal and tiger of the UPA government, the forest bureaucracy and the newly constituted National Tiger Conservation Authority went about systematically subverting the process. Old habits die hard it seems!
Bypassing the law
The law requires that CTHs are notified through a public consultation, with scientific evidence and opinion of experts, the consent of forest dwellers in the area, and an agreed-upon relocation package. This was to prevent arbitrary declarations of areas as “critical tiger habitats” and “buffer zones”. The forest bureaucracy and the state governments instead by-passed all these and notified CTHs, mostly in December 2007 itself. The implementation of the Forest Rights Act itself has been tardy in all the three southern states with none getting any title as yet in Tamil Nadu.
Unrest spread throughout Mudumalai with protests, bandhs and blockades peaking in December 2009, when over half a lakh tribals protested on the streets of Gudalur in Nilgiris. The Soligas of Biligirirangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary have vowed to oppose the CTH declaration. Wayanad has long history of Adivasi struggles for land rights. Nagarhole has seen protests against eviction and non-compliance with the Forest Rights Act. Will Sathyamangalam too join in this spreading unrest? The largest tiger habitat has been successfully turned into a conflict zone by the state and forest bureaucracy endangering both the tribals and the tigers.
Not really. Over the last three years, notified tiger forests have seen a 22 per cent increase. But lack of adequate, prescribed compensation for the tribals living in these areas has only turned these forests into conflict zones…
Jairam Ramesh, the indefatigable Minister for Environment and Forests, exhorted the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on July 15, 2010 to ‘consider the possibility of proposing the Sathyamangalam Wild Life Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve, vis-Ã -vis the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972' as ‘ the area is contiguous with the forests of Chamrajnagar-Bandipur-Mudumalai'. This came on cue and with clockwork precision after it was reported early this year that the tiger numbers had doubled to 18 in a year. The ground was prepared when a good 36 per cent of the 1455.31 sq km of Sathyamangalam in Guthiyalathur and Talamalai Forests, an area of 524.35 sq km, was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 2008 itself.
Connecting corridor
The Sathyamangalam forest division is contiguous to the Biligirirangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary in the neighbouring Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka. This forest links the Eastern and Western Ghats. It connects to the 321 sq km Mudumalai, the 872.24 sq km Bandipur and the 643.35 sq km Nagarhole Critical Tiger Habitats (CTHs). All that remains now is the 344 sq km Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary. Together, this will constitute the biggest tiger and elephant habitat in the country! Already, the proposal to notify 580 sq km of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary as a CTH has been approved close on the heels of the approvals in Sunabeda in Orissa, Shahyadri in Maharashtra, Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh and Ratapani in Madhya Pradesh.
The 25,551 sq km of tiger forests in 2007 rapidly expanded to 32,878 sq km, a whopping 22 per cent increase in just three years! The number of Tiger Reserves jumped from 28 to 39, spread over 17 states. Already the buffer zone spans a vast 11,029.0781 sq km in just 13 CTHs. There are 26 more yet to figure out the buffer zone. Those who had all along coexisted with tigers are to be pushed out from the CTH. The 2006 amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act requires the CTH to be ‘inviolate', freed of all human activity. Once depopulated, the tiger habitats are to be the secured enclosures for the exclusive delight of the prosperous class for whose ‘development' and ‘growth' the forests and its wildlife are primarily decimated.
Jairam Ramesh in his press statement of May 4, 2010 was categorical: ‘there is no such proposal' to ban tourism in tiger reserves. In fact, he assures us that ‘tourism is essential' for the tiger conservation though ‘tourism in the 39 Project Tiger Reserves, particularly in core areas, will be strictly regulated'. Wildlife officials collaborating with the tourism industry and the self-proclaimed wild-lifers, who normally never cohabit with tigers, will take total control of these ‘inviolate' areas. A new tiger-forest dependent community for their livelihood is created in and around this free of all human activity CTH! You might say it is an oxymoron; it surely is!
On the fast track
Tigers spell money and lots of them. From a mere Rs. 12 crores per year during 1972 to 2004, the Project Tiger budget leapfrogged to Rs. 201.53 crores during 2009-10. Project Tiger got fast-tracked and is showcased as a national obsession and pride.
It all started in early 2005 when the tigers in Sariska of Rajasthan turned out to be just paper tigers, a ploy to extract funds. The tigers had all vanished. By then Rs. 2 crores had already been spent per tiger. The outraged nation, at least the influential urbanites, took the government to task. The result was ‘Joining the Dots' on what ails our tiger reserves, the 2005 Report of the five-member Tiger Task Force. It found that the current approach of guns, guards and fences is simply not the answer. The forest and wildlife bureaucracy relationship with those who coexist with and share the tiger's habitat had turned from bad to worse; less than 10 per cent of the families in tiger reserves were relocated in 30 years. The simmering anger was a sure recipe for disaster for both conservation and wildlife.
The Manmohan Singh government quickly moved in within months of the damning Report, quite unusual though, with an amendment to the rather colonial and archaic anti-people Wildlife Protection Act. This amendment of 2006 created the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Tiger Reserves, until then an administrative category of Project Tiger, became a statutory one. The Left parties in the Parliament introduced the much-needed democratic procedure for determining CTHs. This itself was an outcome of the raging misplaced tribal versus tiger debate that followed the introduction of Forest Rights Act in the Parliament in 2005. The rapidly swelling tide of discontent in the forest areas forced the political parties and the governments to sit up and concede that a ‘historic injustice' had been perpetrated on forest peoples. They agreed to resolve this once and for all. The Forest Rights Act of 2006, a much-delayed decolonisation of forest legislations, was the outcome. It influenced the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act in 2006.
Everything seemed to be going swell; the number of tigers was increasing, and the forest dwellers were happy that finally their traditional rights in the forest were recognised and that they were central to the conservation strategy. But upsetting this flagship political project of tribal and tiger of the UPA government, the forest bureaucracy and the newly constituted National Tiger Conservation Authority went about systematically subverting the process. Old habits die hard it seems!
Bypassing the law
The law requires that CTHs are notified through a public consultation, with scientific evidence and opinion of experts, the consent of forest dwellers in the area, and an agreed-upon relocation package. This was to prevent arbitrary declarations of areas as “critical tiger habitats” and “buffer zones”. The forest bureaucracy and the state governments instead by-passed all these and notified CTHs, mostly in December 2007 itself. The implementation of the Forest Rights Act itself has been tardy in all the three southern states with none getting any title as yet in Tamil Nadu.
Unrest spread throughout Mudumalai with protests, bandhs and blockades peaking in December 2009, when over half a lakh tribals protested on the streets of Gudalur in Nilgiris. The Soligas of Biligirirangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary have vowed to oppose the CTH declaration. Wayanad has long history of Adivasi struggles for land rights. Nagarhole has seen protests against eviction and non-compliance with the Forest Rights Act. Will Sathyamangalam too join in this spreading unrest? The largest tiger habitat has been successfully turned into a conflict zone by the state and forest bureaucracy endangering both the tribals and the tigers.
Good news for the tiger?
C.R. BIJOY
Not really. Over the last three years, notified tiger forests have seen a 22 per cent increase. But lack of adequate, prescribed compensation for the tribals living in these areas has only turned these forests into conflict zones…
Jairam Ramesh, the indefatigable Minister for Environment and Forests, exhorted the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on July 15, 2010 to ‘consider the possibility of proposing the Sathyamangalam Wild Life Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve, vis-Ã -vis the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972' as ‘ the area is contiguous with the forests of Chamrajnagar-Bandipur-Mudumalai'. This came on cue and with clockwork precision after it was reported early this year that the tiger numbers had doubled to 18 in a year. The ground was prepared when a good 36 per cent of the 1455.31 sq km of Sathyamangalam in Guthiyalathur and Talamalai Forests, an area of 524.35 sq km, was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 2008 itself.
Connecting corridor
The Sathyamangalam forest division is contiguous to the Biligirirangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary in the neighbouring Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka. This forest links the Eastern and Western Ghats. It connects to the 321 sq km Mudumalai, the 872.24 sq km Bandipur and the 643.35 sq km Nagarhole Critical Tiger Habitats (CTHs). All that remains now is the 344 sq km Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary. Together, this will constitute the biggest tiger and elephant habitat in the country! Already, the proposal to notify 580 sq km of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary as a CTH has been approved close on the heels of the approvals in Sunabeda in Orissa, Shahyadri in Maharashtra, Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh and Ratapani in Madhya Pradesh.
The 25,551 sq km of tiger forests in 2007 rapidly expanded to 32,878 sq km, a whopping 22 per cent increase in just three years! The number of Tiger Reserves jumped from 28 to 39, spread over 17 states. Already the buffer zone spans a vast 11,029.0781 sq km in just 13 CTHs. There are 26 more yet to figure out the buffer zone. Those who had all along coexisted with tigers are to be pushed out from the CTH. The 2006 amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act requires the CTH to be ‘inviolate', freed of all human activity. Once depopulated, the tiger habitats are to be the secured enclosures for the exclusive delight of the prosperous class for whose ‘development' and ‘growth' the forests and its wildlife are primarily decimated.
Jairam Ramesh in his press statement of May 4, 2010 was categorical: ‘there is no such proposal' to ban tourism in tiger reserves. In fact, he assures us that ‘tourism is essential' for the tiger conservation though ‘tourism in the 39 Project Tiger Reserves, particularly in core areas, will be strictly regulated'. Wildlife officials collaborating with the tourism industry and the self-proclaimed wild-lifers, who normally never cohabit with tigers, will take total control of these ‘inviolate' areas. A new tiger-forest dependent community for their livelihood is created in and around this free of all human activity CTH! You might say it is an oxymoron; it surely is!
On the fast track
Tigers spell money and lots of them. From a mere Rs. 12 crores per year during 1972 to 2004, the Project Tiger budget leapfrogged to Rs. 201.53 crores during 2009-10. Project Tiger got fast-tracked and is showcased as a national obsession and pride.
It all started in early 2005 when the tigers in Sariska of Rajasthan turned out to be just paper tigers, a ploy to extract funds. The tigers had all vanished. By then Rs. 2 crores had already been spent per tiger. The outraged nation, at least the influential urbanites, took the government to task. The result was ‘Joining the Dots' on what ails our tiger reserves, the 2005 Report of the five-member Tiger Task Force. It found that the current approach of guns, guards and fences is simply not the answer. The forest and wildlife bureaucracy relationship with those who coexist with and share the tiger's habitat had turned from bad to worse; less than 10 per cent of the families in tiger reserves were relocated in 30 years. The simmering anger was a sure recipe for disaster for both conservation and wildlife.
The Manmohan Singh government quickly moved in within months of the damning Report, quite unusual though, with an amendment to the rather colonial and archaic anti-people Wildlife Protection Act. This amendment of 2006 created the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Tiger Reserves, until then an administrative category of Project Tiger, became a statutory one. The Left parties in the Parliament introduced the much-needed democratic procedure for determining CTHs. This itself was an outcome of the raging misplaced tribal versus tiger debate that followed the introduction of Forest Rights Act in the Parliament in 2005. The rapidly swelling tide of discontent in the forest areas forced the political parties and the governments to sit up and concede that a ‘historic injustice' had been perpetrated on forest peoples. They agreed to resolve this once and for all. The Forest Rights Act of 2006, a much-delayed decolonisation of forest legislations, was the outcome. It influenced the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act in 2006.
Everything seemed to be going swell; the number of tigers was increasing, and the forest dwellers were happy that finally their traditional rights in the forest were recognised and that they were central to the conservation strategy. But upsetting this flagship political project of tribal and tiger of the UPA government, the forest bureaucracy and the newly constituted National Tiger Conservation Authority went about systematically subverting the process. Old habits die hard it seems!
Bypassing the law
The law requires that CTHs are notified through a public consultation, with scientific evidence and opinion of experts, the consent of forest dwellers in the area, and an agreed-upon relocation package. This was to prevent arbitrary declarations of areas as “critical tiger habitats” and “buffer zones”. The forest bureaucracy and the state governments instead by-passed all these and notified CTHs, mostly in December 2007 itself. The implementation of the Forest Rights Act itself has been tardy in all the three southern states with none getting any title as yet in Tamil Nadu.
Unrest spread throughout Mudumalai with protests, bandhs and blockades peaking in December 2009, when over half a lakh tribals protested on the streets of Gudalur in Nilgiris. The Soligas of Biligirirangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary have vowed to oppose the CTH declaration. Wayanad has long history of Adivasi struggles for land rights. Nagarhole has seen protests against eviction and non-compliance with the Forest Rights Act. Will Sathyamangalam too join in this spreading unrest? The largest tiger habitat has been successfully turned into a conflict zone by the state and forest bureaucracy endangering both the tribals and the tigers.
C.R. BIJOY
Not really. Over the last three years, notified tiger forests have seen a 22 per cent increase. But lack of adequate, prescribed compensation for the tribals living in these areas has only turned these forests into conflict zones…
Jairam Ramesh, the indefatigable Minister for Environment and Forests, exhorted the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on July 15, 2010 to ‘consider the possibility of proposing the Sathyamangalam Wild Life Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve, vis-Ã -vis the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972' as ‘ the area is contiguous with the forests of Chamrajnagar-Bandipur-Mudumalai'. This came on cue and with clockwork precision after it was reported early this year that the tiger numbers had doubled to 18 in a year. The ground was prepared when a good 36 per cent of the 1455.31 sq km of Sathyamangalam in Guthiyalathur and Talamalai Forests, an area of 524.35 sq km, was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 2008 itself.
Connecting corridor
The Sathyamangalam forest division is contiguous to the Biligirirangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary in the neighbouring Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka. This forest links the Eastern and Western Ghats. It connects to the 321 sq km Mudumalai, the 872.24 sq km Bandipur and the 643.35 sq km Nagarhole Critical Tiger Habitats (CTHs). All that remains now is the 344 sq km Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary. Together, this will constitute the biggest tiger and elephant habitat in the country! Already, the proposal to notify 580 sq km of the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary as a CTH has been approved close on the heels of the approvals in Sunabeda in Orissa, Shahyadri in Maharashtra, Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh and Ratapani in Madhya Pradesh.
The 25,551 sq km of tiger forests in 2007 rapidly expanded to 32,878 sq km, a whopping 22 per cent increase in just three years! The number of Tiger Reserves jumped from 28 to 39, spread over 17 states. Already the buffer zone spans a vast 11,029.0781 sq km in just 13 CTHs. There are 26 more yet to figure out the buffer zone. Those who had all along coexisted with tigers are to be pushed out from the CTH. The 2006 amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act requires the CTH to be ‘inviolate', freed of all human activity. Once depopulated, the tiger habitats are to be the secured enclosures for the exclusive delight of the prosperous class for whose ‘development' and ‘growth' the forests and its wildlife are primarily decimated.
Jairam Ramesh in his press statement of May 4, 2010 was categorical: ‘there is no such proposal' to ban tourism in tiger reserves. In fact, he assures us that ‘tourism is essential' for the tiger conservation though ‘tourism in the 39 Project Tiger Reserves, particularly in core areas, will be strictly regulated'. Wildlife officials collaborating with the tourism industry and the self-proclaimed wild-lifers, who normally never cohabit with tigers, will take total control of these ‘inviolate' areas. A new tiger-forest dependent community for their livelihood is created in and around this free of all human activity CTH! You might say it is an oxymoron; it surely is!
On the fast track
Tigers spell money and lots of them. From a mere Rs. 12 crores per year during 1972 to 2004, the Project Tiger budget leapfrogged to Rs. 201.53 crores during 2009-10. Project Tiger got fast-tracked and is showcased as a national obsession and pride.
It all started in early 2005 when the tigers in Sariska of Rajasthan turned out to be just paper tigers, a ploy to extract funds. The tigers had all vanished. By then Rs. 2 crores had already been spent per tiger. The outraged nation, at least the influential urbanites, took the government to task. The result was ‘Joining the Dots' on what ails our tiger reserves, the 2005 Report of the five-member Tiger Task Force. It found that the current approach of guns, guards and fences is simply not the answer. The forest and wildlife bureaucracy relationship with those who coexist with and share the tiger's habitat had turned from bad to worse; less than 10 per cent of the families in tiger reserves were relocated in 30 years. The simmering anger was a sure recipe for disaster for both conservation and wildlife.
The Manmohan Singh government quickly moved in within months of the damning Report, quite unusual though, with an amendment to the rather colonial and archaic anti-people Wildlife Protection Act. This amendment of 2006 created the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Tiger Reserves, until then an administrative category of Project Tiger, became a statutory one. The Left parties in the Parliament introduced the much-needed democratic procedure for determining CTHs. This itself was an outcome of the raging misplaced tribal versus tiger debate that followed the introduction of Forest Rights Act in the Parliament in 2005. The rapidly swelling tide of discontent in the forest areas forced the political parties and the governments to sit up and concede that a ‘historic injustice' had been perpetrated on forest peoples. They agreed to resolve this once and for all. The Forest Rights Act of 2006, a much-delayed decolonisation of forest legislations, was the outcome. It influenced the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act in 2006.
Everything seemed to be going swell; the number of tigers was increasing, and the forest dwellers were happy that finally their traditional rights in the forest were recognised and that they were central to the conservation strategy. But upsetting this flagship political project of tribal and tiger of the UPA government, the forest bureaucracy and the newly constituted National Tiger Conservation Authority went about systematically subverting the process. Old habits die hard it seems!
Bypassing the law
The law requires that CTHs are notified through a public consultation, with scientific evidence and opinion of experts, the consent of forest dwellers in the area, and an agreed-upon relocation package. This was to prevent arbitrary declarations of areas as “critical tiger habitats” and “buffer zones”. The forest bureaucracy and the state governments instead by-passed all these and notified CTHs, mostly in December 2007 itself. The implementation of the Forest Rights Act itself has been tardy in all the three southern states with none getting any title as yet in Tamil Nadu.
Unrest spread throughout Mudumalai with protests, bandhs and blockades peaking in December 2009, when over half a lakh tribals protested on the streets of Gudalur in Nilgiris. The Soligas of Biligirirangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary have vowed to oppose the CTH declaration. Wayanad has long history of Adivasi struggles for land rights. Nagarhole has seen protests against eviction and non-compliance with the Forest Rights Act. Will Sathyamangalam too join in this spreading unrest? The largest tiger habitat has been successfully turned into a conflict zone by the state and forest bureaucracy endangering both the tribals and the tigers.
Orissa probes if chopper flew over tiger reserve
BHUBANESWAR: A probe has been ordered into the allegation that a Biju Janata Dal MP flew a chopper over Orissa's Satkosia Tiger Reserve violating green laws, an official said Saturday.
Chief Wild Life Warden P.N. Padhi has asked his local officials to investigate and submit a report soon after a newspaper reported the alleged violation by Baijayant Panda, a Lok Sabha member of the Biju Janata Dal representing Kendrapara constituency.
Citing preliminary findings, Padhi said there was no chopper movement in the area at least during the past 10 days. "I am waiting for the written report," he told IANS.
Oriya daily Sambad reported Friday that Panda, an industrialist-turned-politician, allegedly flew the chopper at a low height without taking permission from the wild life authority.
Although it did not mention when the incident took place, the newspaper report added that the local residents and officials witnessed the chopper fly over the tiger reserve.
The report said a young industrialist-cum-parliamentarian from Haryana was the co-pilot and gave photographs of the chopper.
The opposition Congress in the state has demanded an inquiry into the incident and sought action.
Panda's political secretary J.P. Ghosh refuted the allegation and said Panda always flew with proper permission from the air traffic control (ATC). "He has never violated any rules," he told IANS.
Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa, said disturbances caused by low flying helicopters inside the reserve was not new.
It was illegal as per the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, Mohanty said.
"I wrote a letter to the central ministry of environment and forests and to the National Tiger Conservation Authority," he said.
Satkosia is located over an area of 964 square km along the gorge off the Mahanadi river. It was declared as a tiger reserve in 2007.
The reserve - spread over four districts of Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh and Boudh - is home to about 18 Royal Bengal tigers and more then 300 elephants, according to state government figures.
Chief Wild Life Warden P.N. Padhi has asked his local officials to investigate and submit a report soon after a newspaper reported the alleged violation by Baijayant Panda, a Lok Sabha member of the Biju Janata Dal representing Kendrapara constituency.
Citing preliminary findings, Padhi said there was no chopper movement in the area at least during the past 10 days. "I am waiting for the written report," he told IANS.
Oriya daily Sambad reported Friday that Panda, an industrialist-turned-politician, allegedly flew the chopper at a low height without taking permission from the wild life authority.
Although it did not mention when the incident took place, the newspaper report added that the local residents and officials witnessed the chopper fly over the tiger reserve.
The report said a young industrialist-cum-parliamentarian from Haryana was the co-pilot and gave photographs of the chopper.
The opposition Congress in the state has demanded an inquiry into the incident and sought action.
Panda's political secretary J.P. Ghosh refuted the allegation and said Panda always flew with proper permission from the air traffic control (ATC). "He has never violated any rules," he told IANS.
Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa, said disturbances caused by low flying helicopters inside the reserve was not new.
It was illegal as per the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, Mohanty said.
"I wrote a letter to the central ministry of environment and forests and to the National Tiger Conservation Authority," he said.
Satkosia is located over an area of 964 square km along the gorge off the Mahanadi river. It was declared as a tiger reserve in 2007.
The reserve - spread over four districts of Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh and Boudh - is home to about 18 Royal Bengal tigers and more then 300 elephants, according to state government figures.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Forensic report says Sariska tiger poisoned
JAIPUR: It's official: the first tiger ST-1 relocated to Sariska from the Ranthambore reserve was poisoned to death. Forensic test reports have confirmed the presence of poison in body parts of the big cat. "The forensic tests have confirmed presence of an insecticide," said H M Bhatia, chief wildlife warden, Rajasthan.
The body of ST-1 was found near a cattle track in the Kalakhet area of the forest, just yards away from a village on November 14.
Sources said the poison used to kill the big cat was organophosphate, an insecticide used in agriculture, homes, gardens and by veterinary doctors. "It is the most widely used insecticide. Organophosphate poisons insects and mammals by phosphorylation of enzymes at nerve endings resulting in sensory and behavioural disturbance, depressed motor functioning and respiratory disorders leading to death," the source said.
Though evidence at the place where ST-1's body was found had clearly suggested poisoning by humans, forest department officials remained doubtful. For, post-mortem reports had ruled out territorial war as the reason for the death and there was no injury mark on the body. The forest officials had then blamed snake bite.
"This clearly indicates the system at Sariska has collapsed. One can imagine a tiger being poisoned once it strays out of the forest premises. But this is a murder at home. The tiger was not tracked properly, and the staff didn't react even when its radio collar signals went dead," said a wildlife expert.
The body of ST-1 was found near a cattle track in the Kalakhet area of the forest, just yards away from a village on November 14.
Sources said the poison used to kill the big cat was organophosphate, an insecticide used in agriculture, homes, gardens and by veterinary doctors. "It is the most widely used insecticide. Organophosphate poisons insects and mammals by phosphorylation of enzymes at nerve endings resulting in sensory and behavioural disturbance, depressed motor functioning and respiratory disorders leading to death," the source said.
Though evidence at the place where ST-1's body was found had clearly suggested poisoning by humans, forest department officials remained doubtful. For, post-mortem reports had ruled out territorial war as the reason for the death and there was no injury mark on the body. The forest officials had then blamed snake bite.
"This clearly indicates the system at Sariska has collapsed. One can imagine a tiger being poisoned once it strays out of the forest premises. But this is a murder at home. The tiger was not tracked properly, and the staff didn't react even when its radio collar signals went dead," said a wildlife expert.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Tiger spotted in Chandrapur residential area
CHANDRAPUR: There were some anxious moments in Hindustan Lalpeth colliery no. 2 locality here, on the fringes of the forest area of Ballarpur range after repeated intrusions by a tiger. The tiger was seen in the front yard of a residence on Thursday morning, while it had killed a bull near the residential area on Wednesday. Forest officials have warned people to avoid venturing into the jungles nearby.
According to reports, one Prem Tore saw a tiger moving in the front yard of his neighbour Ramlu Munjum in Samruddhi Nagar area in Lalpeth locality at around 5am. When he raised an alarm, the tiger jumped over the compound wall and fled into the jungle.
Apparently the same tiger was seen near the WCL bunkers adjoining the locality. It had killed a bull in the area and was seen by a couple of WCL workers on Wednesday.
After the residents informed forest officials on Thursday afternoon, a team of forest department staffers was sent to the area. RFO Chandrapur Abhay Bedkelwar confirmed that there was presence of tiger in the adjoining forest under Ballarpur forest range.
"We have received complaints about the intrusion of tiger into residential areas. The locality is situated adjacent to the jungle and our men found tiger pugmarks in the nullah flowing into the fringe forests," said Badkelwar.
Forest department staffers have warned people against venturing into the jungle. People should avoid going close to the jungle during evening and morning hours, and in case of extreme necessity people should go in groups into the forests, he added.
The man-animal conflict in the fringe forest areas around the town is on the rise. A tiger had killed a person in Chandrapur forest range on the outskirts of the town on Saturday last. So far, 11 people have been killed in tiger attacks in the district.
Read more: Tiger spotted in Chanda residential area - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Tiger-spotted-in-Chanda-residential-area/articleshow/7031629.cms#ixzz171RPIdOY
According to reports, one Prem Tore saw a tiger moving in the front yard of his neighbour Ramlu Munjum in Samruddhi Nagar area in Lalpeth locality at around 5am. When he raised an alarm, the tiger jumped over the compound wall and fled into the jungle.
Apparently the same tiger was seen near the WCL bunkers adjoining the locality. It had killed a bull in the area and was seen by a couple of WCL workers on Wednesday.
After the residents informed forest officials on Thursday afternoon, a team of forest department staffers was sent to the area. RFO Chandrapur Abhay Bedkelwar confirmed that there was presence of tiger in the adjoining forest under Ballarpur forest range.
"We have received complaints about the intrusion of tiger into residential areas. The locality is situated adjacent to the jungle and our men found tiger pugmarks in the nullah flowing into the fringe forests," said Badkelwar.
Forest department staffers have warned people against venturing into the jungle. People should avoid going close to the jungle during evening and morning hours, and in case of extreme necessity people should go in groups into the forests, he added.
The man-animal conflict in the fringe forest areas around the town is on the rise. A tiger had killed a person in Chandrapur forest range on the outskirts of the town on Saturday last. So far, 11 people have been killed in tiger attacks in the district.
Read more: Tiger spotted in Chanda residential area - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Tiger-spotted-in-Chanda-residential-area/articleshow/7031629.cms#ixzz171RPIdOY
Doubling tiger count by 2022 realistic goal'
The World Bank is keen on funding a tiger recovery programme in the countries where the big cats still roam free today – including Russia, China and India – with the motive of doubling the count. India has so far turned down World Bank's money and expertise for conservation, but 13 countries came on board, at a recent "tiger summit" in St Petersburg hosted by Russian premier Vladimir Putin. Dr Y V Jhala, senior wildlife biologist at Wildlife Institute of India, who was part of India's delegation, tells Sudeshna Chatterjee that the Russian forum may mark a significant turn.
At the Global Tiger Recovery Program, it was pledged to double the number of wild tigers from around 3,200 to 7,000 by 2022, the next year of the tiger according to the Chinese lunar calendar. How hopeful are you of that target?
The Tx2 goal is a catchy phrase to attract global attention of funders and leaders. However, for tiger conservation, it is more important to consolidate existing source populations through strict protection. Once this is achieved, we should strive to enhance the quality of the habitat that connects several breeding tiger populations. Yes, the tiger numbers can be doubled within the stipulated timeframe. The goal is realistic. In India, we have more than 300,000 sq km of tiger habitat, of which only 93,000 sq km have tigers.
Some tiger reserves like Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh), Simlipal (Orissa), Palamau (Jharkhand), Sanjay and Panna (Madhya Pradesh) and Achanakmar (Chhattisgarh) are below their carrying capacity. Good management, protection and increase of prey can easily double or treble the number of tigers in these reserves.
What is the outcome of the Russian forum?
The national leaders of the Tiger Range Countries adopted the Global Tiger Recovery Program by endorsing it. The GTRP consists of National Tiger Recovery Plan of each range country, which spells out the details of how each country will achieve its committed goal of tiger conservation along with the financial requirements to implement it. There is a pledge to raise funds to the tune of $350 million to be paid by rich countries such as Germany and US and agencies like World Bank, Global Environment Facility and World Wide Fund for Nature. The figure is very encouraging, though there will still be a significant amount of deficit.
How important is this forum for tiger conservation?
For the first time ever, commitment at the highest national level was convened to discuss the saving of one species other than humans.
Has there been any change of attitude in countries like China which is a major market for tiger body parts?
China and South East Asian countries are the major consumers of tiger body parts - this is the primary reason for the endangerment of the tiger. Initially, when the Global Tiger Initiative consultations began in early 2009, Chinese delegates were quite unwilling to even consider that China was a problem for tiger conservation. Gradually, I believe the Chinese attitude has become more positive and their government is now taking stringent steps to curb poaching and illegal trade in tiger parts.
Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina has called for international support to declare Sunderbans one of the new seven wonders of the world. Do you think it can help in increasing the tiger population in the Sunderbans of both India and Bangladesh?
The increased tourism may bring in more revenue to the region. If this money becomes available to the conservation agencies, then it could assist tiger conservation in the region.
What is the state of funding in India?
The Centre spends about Rs 300 crore a year for tiger conservation that includes a lucrative incentive of Rs 10 lakh per family for voluntary relocation out of core areas of tiger reserves. This is over and above the state funding for staff salary, infrastructure and other costs. I believe India invests the maximum in tiger conservation, compared to any other country in the world. The Planning Commission of India has assured a sum of over $1 billion over the next 5 years to meet this expenditure. This is a significant commitment towards conservation since the tiger serves as the umbrella species for conservation and it can only survive in a forest if the entire ecosystem is intact and functioning naturally.
Read more: 'Doubling tiger count by 2022 realistic goal' - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Doubling-tiger-count-by-2022-realistic-goal/articleshow/7032489.cms#ixzz171RIywAM
At the Global Tiger Recovery Program, it was pledged to double the number of wild tigers from around 3,200 to 7,000 by 2022, the next year of the tiger according to the Chinese lunar calendar. How hopeful are you of that target?
The Tx2 goal is a catchy phrase to attract global attention of funders and leaders. However, for tiger conservation, it is more important to consolidate existing source populations through strict protection. Once this is achieved, we should strive to enhance the quality of the habitat that connects several breeding tiger populations. Yes, the tiger numbers can be doubled within the stipulated timeframe. The goal is realistic. In India, we have more than 300,000 sq km of tiger habitat, of which only 93,000 sq km have tigers.
Some tiger reserves like Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh), Simlipal (Orissa), Palamau (Jharkhand), Sanjay and Panna (Madhya Pradesh) and Achanakmar (Chhattisgarh) are below their carrying capacity. Good management, protection and increase of prey can easily double or treble the number of tigers in these reserves.
What is the outcome of the Russian forum?
The national leaders of the Tiger Range Countries adopted the Global Tiger Recovery Program by endorsing it. The GTRP consists of National Tiger Recovery Plan of each range country, which spells out the details of how each country will achieve its committed goal of tiger conservation along with the financial requirements to implement it. There is a pledge to raise funds to the tune of $350 million to be paid by rich countries such as Germany and US and agencies like World Bank, Global Environment Facility and World Wide Fund for Nature. The figure is very encouraging, though there will still be a significant amount of deficit.
How important is this forum for tiger conservation?
For the first time ever, commitment at the highest national level was convened to discuss the saving of one species other than humans.
Has there been any change of attitude in countries like China which is a major market for tiger body parts?
China and South East Asian countries are the major consumers of tiger body parts - this is the primary reason for the endangerment of the tiger. Initially, when the Global Tiger Initiative consultations began in early 2009, Chinese delegates were quite unwilling to even consider that China was a problem for tiger conservation. Gradually, I believe the Chinese attitude has become more positive and their government is now taking stringent steps to curb poaching and illegal trade in tiger parts.
Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina has called for international support to declare Sunderbans one of the new seven wonders of the world. Do you think it can help in increasing the tiger population in the Sunderbans of both India and Bangladesh?
The increased tourism may bring in more revenue to the region. If this money becomes available to the conservation agencies, then it could assist tiger conservation in the region.
What is the state of funding in India?
The Centre spends about Rs 300 crore a year for tiger conservation that includes a lucrative incentive of Rs 10 lakh per family for voluntary relocation out of core areas of tiger reserves. This is over and above the state funding for staff salary, infrastructure and other costs. I believe India invests the maximum in tiger conservation, compared to any other country in the world. The Planning Commission of India has assured a sum of over $1 billion over the next 5 years to meet this expenditure. This is a significant commitment towards conservation since the tiger serves as the umbrella species for conservation and it can only survive in a forest if the entire ecosystem is intact and functioning naturally.
Read more: 'Doubling tiger count by 2022 realistic goal' - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Doubling-tiger-count-by-2022-realistic-goal/articleshow/7032489.cms#ixzz171RIywAM
Plan to shift male tiger to Sariska reserve put on hold
Rajasthan government has put off plans to shift one more male tiger to Sariska reserve for now to ensure disturbance-free habitat to a tiger couple which has mated.
"I have been told by the state wildlife officials that the tiger couple have met. We are hoping for some good news (birth of cubs). The relocation of another male tiger at this moment can be risky as it might disturb the couple. Hence no new male tiger in Sariska for now," environment minister Jairam Ramesh said.
The news of mating of the tigers had brought some cheer to Sariska which last month lost one of its five translocated big cats. The reserve in Rajasthan had lost all its native tigers by 2004-05, mostly to widespread poaching, after which the five tigers, two of them males, were translocated there since 2008 to revive their population.
After the male tiger was found dead in mysterious circumstances, with strong possibility of being poisoned, the Centre had approved the state government's proposal to bring a stray tiger to Sariska reserve which had moved from Ranthambore park to Bharatpur sanctuary.
But it has been put on hold now.
"We are monitoring the movement of the radio-collared tiger couple and we have got signals that they are in contact with each other. Their mating might result in birth of the cubs, we are hopeful," an expert from Dehradun- based Wildlife institute of India (WII) said.
"Introduction of a new tiger in the habitat presently may lead to a fight between the two male big cats," he said.
Both of them were spotted together in Kalighatti area of Sariska reserve. Also, this time the tigress is different and not from same gene pool as that the male as was feared earlier, he added.
While Sriska waits to get its first litter, translocation of felines in Panna sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh has yielded results with two tigress giving birth to cubs, much to the delight of wildlife enthusiasts.
"I have been told by the state wildlife officials that the tiger couple have met. We are hoping for some good news (birth of cubs). The relocation of another male tiger at this moment can be risky as it might disturb the couple. Hence no new male tiger in Sariska for now," environment minister Jairam Ramesh said.
The news of mating of the tigers had brought some cheer to Sariska which last month lost one of its five translocated big cats. The reserve in Rajasthan had lost all its native tigers by 2004-05, mostly to widespread poaching, after which the five tigers, two of them males, were translocated there since 2008 to revive their population.
After the male tiger was found dead in mysterious circumstances, with strong possibility of being poisoned, the Centre had approved the state government's proposal to bring a stray tiger to Sariska reserve which had moved from Ranthambore park to Bharatpur sanctuary.
But it has been put on hold now.
"We are monitoring the movement of the radio-collared tiger couple and we have got signals that they are in contact with each other. Their mating might result in birth of the cubs, we are hopeful," an expert from Dehradun- based Wildlife institute of India (WII) said.
"Introduction of a new tiger in the habitat presently may lead to a fight between the two male big cats," he said.
Both of them were spotted together in Kalighatti area of Sariska reserve. Also, this time the tigress is different and not from same gene pool as that the male as was feared earlier, he added.
While Sriska waits to get its first litter, translocation of felines in Panna sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh has yielded results with two tigress giving birth to cubs, much to the delight of wildlife enthusiasts.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tiger cub hope in Sariska
A relocated tiger couple has met in Sariska, raising hopes that the big cat population in the park will increase, while two new cubs have been born in Ranthambore. "Rajasthan is sending some positive signals on the tiger population," environment minister Jairam Ramesh said, indicating the new tiger
census to be announced in December will show increase in tiger population in India.
As of the last census in 2007, there were 1,411 tigers in the country.
The minister hopes that the tiger couple --- T-4, a male tiger and T-2, a female --- mates and Sariska gets its first litter after the tigers went missing from India's first tiger reserve.
Many wildlifers are not enthused, saying tigers coupled have mated earlier, but there were no cubs. The reason for hope this time is that the tigress is different from the one who had mated earlier and was relocated from Ranthambore in 2009.
"She is vocalising," Ramesh said, meaning she is ready for mating.
Her vocalising has caught the attention of the tiger, who had gone missing earlier this month and has now returned to be with her. Both of them were spotted together in Kalighatti area of Sariska reserve, considered auspicious for birth of cubs.
A team of scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India and Rajasthan forest department is monitoring the couple through radio collaring devices. If all goes well, the forest department officials expect Sariska to have cubs by next monsoon.
About 200 km south in Ranthambore, the reserve got two new cubs.
A relocated tiger was apparently poisoned in Sariska and tigers faced the ire of villagers in Ranthambore for killing a woman. Both the incidents happened earlier this month.
census to be announced in December will show increase in tiger population in India.
As of the last census in 2007, there were 1,411 tigers in the country.
The minister hopes that the tiger couple --- T-4, a male tiger and T-2, a female --- mates and Sariska gets its first litter after the tigers went missing from India's first tiger reserve.
Many wildlifers are not enthused, saying tigers coupled have mated earlier, but there were no cubs. The reason for hope this time is that the tigress is different from the one who had mated earlier and was relocated from Ranthambore in 2009.
"She is vocalising," Ramesh said, meaning she is ready for mating.
Her vocalising has caught the attention of the tiger, who had gone missing earlier this month and has now returned to be with her. Both of them were spotted together in Kalighatti area of Sariska reserve, considered auspicious for birth of cubs.
A team of scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India and Rajasthan forest department is monitoring the couple through radio collaring devices. If all goes well, the forest department officials expect Sariska to have cubs by next monsoon.
About 200 km south in Ranthambore, the reserve got two new cubs.
A relocated tiger was apparently poisoned in Sariska and tigers faced the ire of villagers in Ranthambore for killing a woman. Both the incidents happened earlier this month.
MP PCCF pro-tourism stance draws green ire
NAGPUR: Union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh has been urged to take action against chief wildlife warden of Madhya Pradesh for instigating tour operators to go against a PIL demanding ban on tourism in core areas of state`s tiger reserves.
Ajay Dubey of Prayatna, a Bhopal-based NGO working for environment protection for the past 10 years, filed a PIL against NTCA and others on September 8, in Jabalpur high court seeking ban on tourism in core zones of reserves. The respondents have been directed to file affidavits and the next hearing is slated for December 6.
Kishor Rithe, member of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), on Tuesday sought Ramesh`s intervention in the matter mentioning that even though the matter was subjudice, an email from chief wildlife warden H S Pabla asking tour operators to go against the PIL was disturbing.
Pabla, on September 14, wrote to high-profile resort owners and tour operators in MP and apprised them of the case. The mail stated that although the government would oppose the PIL, if lodge owners, travel operators, guides etc. should also intervene if they did not want it to succeed.
"As the case may have serious consequences, kindly take whatever steps you think will be appropriate to protect your interests. As I`m travelling and do not have the mail ids of all, please inform others," Pabla wrote to select operators. Pabla confirmed having sent the mail, but refused to comment saying the matter was subjudice.
"This is a serious issue," Rithe said. It seems that chief wildlife warden has joined hands with the tour operators to oppose the petitioner, who is trying to implement the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972 and the NTCA guidelines about tourism in core areas.
"When the states and centre are shifting villages in reserves to make the core areas inviolate for tigers, will it be wise to open up the same areas for tourism," asked Rithe. Petitioner Ajay Dubey had filed the PIL following debacle in Panna where all 35 tigers vanished in five years
"Pabla is a government servant and it is very sad that he is using his position to lobby against the PIL like this. The words in the letter like `take whatever steps.." sound threatening," Dubey told TOI. Dubey urged the chief secretary of the state to provide security against such threats and constitute an inquiry against Pabla.
The NTCA in its reply admitted that Section 38V (4) (i) of the WPA provided for keeping the core/critical tiger habitats (CTHs) inviolate. The revised guidelines of the centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) of Project Tiger (February 2008) states, "Core and CTHs would not be used for any form of tourism, and the ongoing tourism activities in such areas should be phased out to fringe and buffer areas without affecting its corridor value."
On August 7, Ramesh had written to MP chief minister Shivrajsingh Chouhan cautioning about Pabla`s initiative `Patrolling the tiger land` involving tourists in patrolling of protected areas and reserves.
Ajay Dubey of Prayatna, a Bhopal-based NGO working for environment protection for the past 10 years, filed a PIL against NTCA and others on September 8, in Jabalpur high court seeking ban on tourism in core zones of reserves. The respondents have been directed to file affidavits and the next hearing is slated for December 6.
Kishor Rithe, member of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), on Tuesday sought Ramesh`s intervention in the matter mentioning that even though the matter was subjudice, an email from chief wildlife warden H S Pabla asking tour operators to go against the PIL was disturbing.
Pabla, on September 14, wrote to high-profile resort owners and tour operators in MP and apprised them of the case. The mail stated that although the government would oppose the PIL, if lodge owners, travel operators, guides etc. should also intervene if they did not want it to succeed.
"As the case may have serious consequences, kindly take whatever steps you think will be appropriate to protect your interests. As I`m travelling and do not have the mail ids of all, please inform others," Pabla wrote to select operators. Pabla confirmed having sent the mail, but refused to comment saying the matter was subjudice.
"This is a serious issue," Rithe said. It seems that chief wildlife warden has joined hands with the tour operators to oppose the petitioner, who is trying to implement the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972 and the NTCA guidelines about tourism in core areas.
"When the states and centre are shifting villages in reserves to make the core areas inviolate for tigers, will it be wise to open up the same areas for tourism," asked Rithe. Petitioner Ajay Dubey had filed the PIL following debacle in Panna where all 35 tigers vanished in five years
"Pabla is a government servant and it is very sad that he is using his position to lobby against the PIL like this. The words in the letter like `take whatever steps.." sound threatening," Dubey told TOI. Dubey urged the chief secretary of the state to provide security against such threats and constitute an inquiry against Pabla.
The NTCA in its reply admitted that Section 38V (4) (i) of the WPA provided for keeping the core/critical tiger habitats (CTHs) inviolate. The revised guidelines of the centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) of Project Tiger (February 2008) states, "Core and CTHs would not be used for any form of tourism, and the ongoing tourism activities in such areas should be phased out to fringe and buffer areas without affecting its corridor value."
On August 7, Ramesh had written to MP chief minister Shivrajsingh Chouhan cautioning about Pabla`s initiative `Patrolling the tiger land` involving tourists in patrolling of protected areas and reserves.
NTCA meet on NH6 inconclusive
NAGPUR: The meeting called by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), on Tuesday, to look into the violations in four-laning of national highway No 6 in the 85-km patch between Deori and Lakhni in Gondia and Bhandara districts remained inconclusive.
This was for the first time in the past two years that the NTCA called a meeting in Delhi. It was attended by joint director SP Yadav, chief conservator of forest (CCF) Nagpur Wildlife Circle, AK Saxena, National Highway Authority of India's (NHAI) VK Sharma, assistant inspector general of forests (IGF) Umakant and manager of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) Milind Pariwakkam.
Sources said the meeting remained inconclusive as the principal chief conservator of forests for wildlife is yet to give his opinion on the report submitted by the CCF on series of violations and how the four-laning work cuts tiger corridor. Another meeting will be held on December 20.
Although the official from the state supported his stand of constructing open span bridges (flyovers) in five vulnerable patches which will threaten wildlife, the NHAI official from Delhi was non-committal.
Sharma is learnt to have told the NTCA that the NHAI had appointed consultant RN Indurkar, retired chief wildlife warden, to study the vulnerable areas and accordingly prepared a mitigation plan. However, the report has been rejected by the CCF's office.
On October 13, the standing committee of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), headed by union environment minister Jairam Ramesh, has already rejected NHAI's proposal to divert 85 hectare forest land (now curtailed to 38 hectare) for four-laning under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980.
The four-laning work has seen large-scale violations of Forest Conservation Act 1980. It has also destroyed the tiger corridor in many patches connecting Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Navegaon National Par.
This was for the first time in the past two years that the NTCA called a meeting in Delhi. It was attended by joint director SP Yadav, chief conservator of forest (CCF) Nagpur Wildlife Circle, AK Saxena, National Highway Authority of India's (NHAI) VK Sharma, assistant inspector general of forests (IGF) Umakant and manager of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) Milind Pariwakkam.
Sources said the meeting remained inconclusive as the principal chief conservator of forests for wildlife is yet to give his opinion on the report submitted by the CCF on series of violations and how the four-laning work cuts tiger corridor. Another meeting will be held on December 20.
Although the official from the state supported his stand of constructing open span bridges (flyovers) in five vulnerable patches which will threaten wildlife, the NHAI official from Delhi was non-committal.
Sharma is learnt to have told the NTCA that the NHAI had appointed consultant RN Indurkar, retired chief wildlife warden, to study the vulnerable areas and accordingly prepared a mitigation plan. However, the report has been rejected by the CCF's office.
On October 13, the standing committee of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), headed by union environment minister Jairam Ramesh, has already rejected NHAI's proposal to divert 85 hectare forest land (now curtailed to 38 hectare) for four-laning under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980.
The four-laning work has seen large-scale violations of Forest Conservation Act 1980. It has also destroyed the tiger corridor in many patches connecting Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Navegaon National Par.
Poaching threat: High alert sounded at R’bore
JAIPUR: A high alert has been sounded at the Ranthambore national park by the forest department after threats of possible poaching. Forest guards, police and eco-development groups have all been alerted to maintain a strict vigil in and around the park.
Interestingly, the threats from poachers come at a time when the park does not have an officiating DFO. The former DFO of the reserve R S Shekhawat has been promoted and sent to the Sariska reserve and is holding additional charge while the new DFO R P Gupta is yet to assume charge. Gupta is likely to assume office later.
According to H M Bhatia, chief wildlife warden, Rajasthan, "The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has received an email from Dharmendra Khandal warning of possible attempts by poachers from the Mongia tribe of entering the park. The NTCA alerted us after the receipt of the mail and we have increased our vigil in the reserve." Khandal is a conservation biologist of the Tiger Watch.
"There are a group of people from the Mongia tribe who have been killing wild boar around the tiger reserve and supplying its meat to Kota and other places. They have about 57 illegal guns and have been nesting here around the park. The threat lies from them," said Khandal.
"I had the information and passed it on to the forest department for action along with my name and phone number. It will require a dedicated group of people to initiate action against them and bring them to book. But sadly even after seven days no concrete action has been initiated," he added Though no additional force has been deputed for the park, but the existing forest guards have been put on high alert. They have been asked to maintain a round-the-clock vigil in the park and stay in touch over wireless."Even the eco-development groups have been asked to report any suspicious activity or person in the park," Bhatia said.
The forest department has sought the help of the police. "We have asked the police to chip in with any input on possible movement of poachers in the city or around the park," he added. However, feels Rajpal Singh, member, state wildlife board, "The forest officials are always on the alert throughout the year. They monitor every tiger closely and they have a good track record. There is no need now to press the panic button." The poaching threat come at a time when the state is yet to get over the incident of a Bengal tiger being poisoned at the Sariska reserve by villagers inside the forest.
The male tiger ST-1 was the first relocated tiger to Sariska but days after its radio signal went silent the forest department recovered its rotting body from beside a cattle track in the reserve. Though the forensic test is awaited, but the post mortem report failed to find any possible clue hinting to what the department had been harping as the outcome of a possible territorial war with another male.
Interestingly, the threats from poachers come at a time when the park does not have an officiating DFO. The former DFO of the reserve R S Shekhawat has been promoted and sent to the Sariska reserve and is holding additional charge while the new DFO R P Gupta is yet to assume charge. Gupta is likely to assume office later.
According to H M Bhatia, chief wildlife warden, Rajasthan, "The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has received an email from Dharmendra Khandal warning of possible attempts by poachers from the Mongia tribe of entering the park. The NTCA alerted us after the receipt of the mail and we have increased our vigil in the reserve." Khandal is a conservation biologist of the Tiger Watch.
"There are a group of people from the Mongia tribe who have been killing wild boar around the tiger reserve and supplying its meat to Kota and other places. They have about 57 illegal guns and have been nesting here around the park. The threat lies from them," said Khandal.
"I had the information and passed it on to the forest department for action along with my name and phone number. It will require a dedicated group of people to initiate action against them and bring them to book. But sadly even after seven days no concrete action has been initiated," he added Though no additional force has been deputed for the park, but the existing forest guards have been put on high alert. They have been asked to maintain a round-the-clock vigil in the park and stay in touch over wireless."Even the eco-development groups have been asked to report any suspicious activity or person in the park," Bhatia said.
The forest department has sought the help of the police. "We have asked the police to chip in with any input on possible movement of poachers in the city or around the park," he added. However, feels Rajpal Singh, member, state wildlife board, "The forest officials are always on the alert throughout the year. They monitor every tiger closely and they have a good track record. There is no need now to press the panic button." The poaching threat come at a time when the state is yet to get over the incident of a Bengal tiger being poisoned at the Sariska reserve by villagers inside the forest.
The male tiger ST-1 was the first relocated tiger to Sariska but days after its radio signal went silent the forest department recovered its rotting body from beside a cattle track in the reserve. Though the forensic test is awaited, but the post mortem report failed to find any possible clue hinting to what the department had been harping as the outcome of a possible territorial war with another male.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
'Creating reserves alone won't help protect tigers'
Panaji, Nov 30 (IANS) Creating reserves is not the only way to conserve tigers, liquor baron and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya said here Tuesday.
Mallya was speaking at an event at the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) being held here.
He said that tribals living within the Bilgiri Rangana wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka were protecting tigers in their unique way and making the area a tiger reserve would actually upset the delicate balance they had preserved over centuries.
'If they are displaced, then there will be no protection for them,' Mallya said, adding that he had raised the issue in parliament recently.
Located in the Chamrajanagar district of Karnataka, the Bilgiri Rangana wildlife sanctuary is a protected forested area and has been shortlisted as a tiger reserve by the union ministry for environment and forests.
Mallya said that forest dwellers can exist along with tigers and there was no need to displace the tribes.
'They have been living together for centuries. Frankly, when I did more research, I myself began to think. It is easy to say protect the tiger and declare as many areas as you can as sanctuaries. I started thinking and my own eyes started opening,' he said, adding that initially he was supportive of making the area a tiger reserve.
'The flip side is there are many adivasis living in this area who actually protect the tiger and they say that if they are displaced, then there will be no protection for the tigers, who would be exposed to poachers,' he said.
Mallya was speaking at an event at the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) being held here.
He said that tribals living within the Bilgiri Rangana wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka were protecting tigers in their unique way and making the area a tiger reserve would actually upset the delicate balance they had preserved over centuries.
'If they are displaced, then there will be no protection for them,' Mallya said, adding that he had raised the issue in parliament recently.
Located in the Chamrajanagar district of Karnataka, the Bilgiri Rangana wildlife sanctuary is a protected forested area and has been shortlisted as a tiger reserve by the union ministry for environment and forests.
Mallya said that forest dwellers can exist along with tigers and there was no need to displace the tribes.
'They have been living together for centuries. Frankly, when I did more research, I myself began to think. It is easy to say protect the tiger and declare as many areas as you can as sanctuaries. I started thinking and my own eyes started opening,' he said, adding that initially he was supportive of making the area a tiger reserve.
'The flip side is there are many adivasis living in this area who actually protect the tiger and they say that if they are displaced, then there will be no protection for the tigers, who would be exposed to poachers,' he said.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
PIL on tiger tourism: MP turns to ‘affected parties’
To defeat a public interest litigation that seeks to ban tourism in core areas of tiger reserves, the Madhya Pradesh forest department has clandestinely sought the help of very people whose activities endanger the wild cat.
Within days of the PIL in the high court, MP’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) (Wildlife) H S Pabla sent an email to people involved in tourism industry asking them to intervene “as affected parties if you want to be sure that this PIL does not succeed”.
Pabla, who was removed from the same post after the debacle in Panna but made a comeback after a few months, advised the affected parties that “the case may have serious consequences for you people, kindly take whatever steps you think will be appropriate to protect your interests”. The PIL was filed by Prayatna, a Bhopal-based NGO, on September 9 seeking a ban on tourism in core areas, notification of buffer zones and implementation of annual conservation plans.
Within days of the PIL in the high court, MP’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) (Wildlife) H S Pabla sent an email to people involved in tourism industry asking them to intervene “as affected parties if you want to be sure that this PIL does not succeed”.
Pabla, who was removed from the same post after the debacle in Panna but made a comeback after a few months, advised the affected parties that “the case may have serious consequences for you people, kindly take whatever steps you think will be appropriate to protect your interests”. The PIL was filed by Prayatna, a Bhopal-based NGO, on September 9 seeking a ban on tourism in core areas, notification of buffer zones and implementation of annual conservation plans.
Tiger troubles
At Kaziranga: Tigers face a threat.
Another tragedy has hit Kaziranga National Park. Two carcasses of tigers have been found in different spots in the Park. Officials from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the apex tiger conservation body, investigated the deaths and ruled out poaching as a cause. With this, the tiger casualty toll has increased to four this year in Kaziranga. Between November 2008 and September 19, 2009, a total of 12 tigers died in Kaziranga.
Another tragedy has hit Kaziranga National Park. Two carcasses of tigers have been found in different spots in the Park. Officials from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the apex tiger conservation body, investigated the deaths and ruled out poaching as a cause. With this, the tiger casualty toll has increased to four this year in Kaziranga. Between November 2008 and September 19, 2009, a total of 12 tigers died in Kaziranga.
Forest dept's resettlement plan to protect remainder tigers
Shashikant Trivedi / New Delhi/ Churna (bori Wildlife Sanctuary) November 30, 2010, 0:01 IST
Paucity of funds and non-availability of land are still major hurdles in the state government’s path towards making Bori wild life sanctuary, India’s first reserve forest, free of human interference although tribal families have unwillingly succumbed to the state forest department’s demand to evict the area sprawling more than 500 sq km. Satpura Tiger reserve located in south Hoshangabad district in Madhya Pradesh includes the Bori wildlife sanctuary located in its south-west region.
The local villagers inside the sanctuary are ready with an emphatic denial of not having heard tiger roars since the last decade, a strong evidence of how the tigers have disappeared from the state, yet the forest department is keeping the hope alive of attaining the “Tiger State” status once the range is freed of the villagers.
The department is in the process of eviction of the area, albeit at snail pace, having obtained the villagers’ consent. It’s a difficult task for the officials to arrange for arable land for the families of 18 villages. Alternatively, a meager compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each family seems to be the only other option.
“We are convincing them to accept this compensation, yet it requires a huge fund, Rs 32000 crore to resettle all 735 villages out of all tiger reserve,” says Sartaj Singh, state forest minister while speaking to Business Standard, “We have no option but to depend upon Union government’s release of funds.”
Interestingly the forest department has demanded permission from the Supreme Court so that it can convert the tourist town Pachmarhi, also under the Satpura Tiger reserve, into a revenue land. “Resettlement of Pachmarhi is next to impossible,” the minister says.
It took almost ten years for the department to resettle two villages namely Dhain and Bori at a new location where officials faced protest and the process reportedly claimed another forest.
Tribals in Satpura tiger sanctuary, where even radio signals are shy to reach let alone basic amenities, have withstood government decisions since British Colonial rule. Rising to an altitude of 1,300 meters above sea level, Satpura range of mountains are not only the tallest mountains but also have rich bio-diversity, wildlife species and perennial fresh water sources ideal for human settlements.
“The tribal people are suffering the most in this area since 1860, as it is yet to be ascertained how their interference has adversely affected tiger population. And who will ensure that tourism activities will not be allowed in the area when a resort and guest house has been set up by the department itself in Churna,” said Sunil, coordinator of Kisan Adivasi Sangthan, Kesala — an organisation that is fighting for the cause of the tribal people. “It is a tough task for state government to arrange arable land in the vicinity. The plain area is highly fertile, which farmer will be ready to sell his land to the forest department at a throwaway price. Most of the buyers in this area are either industrialists or influential people. You can still see the suffering of the villagers of Bori and Dhain village who have been settled at a new location near Sohagpur tehsil.”
But for the forest department eviction is an ongoing process as tiger population has dwindled to an alarmingly low rate (census results are likely to come up by this month-end). “We have resettled two villages Dhain and Bori, two more are likely to be resettled this year,” TR Sharma, additional principal chief conservator of forest said. His team is convincing the forest dwellers to accept the “Golden Handshake” package in which each family and the adult member will get Rs 10 lakh. A portion of this will be deposited in fixed deposit in any bank and the rest will be spent on arranging a developed residential plot and construction of a house on it. “We are trying to convince them to take the Golden Handshake offer as arranging five acres of land for each family is a tough task for us,” he said.
As many as 18 villages have been earmarked for eviction. Villagers of Khakrapura, Sakot, which are to be displaced and resettled soon, are ready to move out provided the government offer them a house and five acres of land. The other villages namely Kakri, Jam, Bharbhur, Podhar, Malni, Mallupura, Suplai, Jhalai, Khamda and Mana have yet to wait for another two to five years as the process of resettlement is very slow.
“One could, 20 years back, spot tigers, leopards, chital, sambhar near the Churna guest house. Today we see a decreasing number of carnivores with the poachers killing them,” says a local villager, adding, “We are ready to move out because life is too difficult for us here as we remain clueless about what is happening in the rest of the world, especially during the rainy season. The nearest town Bhawnra is 50 kms away from Churna and we often encounter wild animals there. As many as 735 villages remain to be displaced from all tiger reserve sanctuaries and national parks of Madhya Pradesh.
Paucity of funds and non-availability of land are still major hurdles in the state government’s path towards making Bori wild life sanctuary, India’s first reserve forest, free of human interference although tribal families have unwillingly succumbed to the state forest department’s demand to evict the area sprawling more than 500 sq km. Satpura Tiger reserve located in south Hoshangabad district in Madhya Pradesh includes the Bori wildlife sanctuary located in its south-west region.
The local villagers inside the sanctuary are ready with an emphatic denial of not having heard tiger roars since the last decade, a strong evidence of how the tigers have disappeared from the state, yet the forest department is keeping the hope alive of attaining the “Tiger State” status once the range is freed of the villagers.
The department is in the process of eviction of the area, albeit at snail pace, having obtained the villagers’ consent. It’s a difficult task for the officials to arrange for arable land for the families of 18 villages. Alternatively, a meager compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each family seems to be the only other option.
“We are convincing them to accept this compensation, yet it requires a huge fund, Rs 32000 crore to resettle all 735 villages out of all tiger reserve,” says Sartaj Singh, state forest minister while speaking to Business Standard, “We have no option but to depend upon Union government’s release of funds.”
Interestingly the forest department has demanded permission from the Supreme Court so that it can convert the tourist town Pachmarhi, also under the Satpura Tiger reserve, into a revenue land. “Resettlement of Pachmarhi is next to impossible,” the minister says.
It took almost ten years for the department to resettle two villages namely Dhain and Bori at a new location where officials faced protest and the process reportedly claimed another forest.
Tribals in Satpura tiger sanctuary, where even radio signals are shy to reach let alone basic amenities, have withstood government decisions since British Colonial rule. Rising to an altitude of 1,300 meters above sea level, Satpura range of mountains are not only the tallest mountains but also have rich bio-diversity, wildlife species and perennial fresh water sources ideal for human settlements.
“The tribal people are suffering the most in this area since 1860, as it is yet to be ascertained how their interference has adversely affected tiger population. And who will ensure that tourism activities will not be allowed in the area when a resort and guest house has been set up by the department itself in Churna,” said Sunil, coordinator of Kisan Adivasi Sangthan, Kesala — an organisation that is fighting for the cause of the tribal people. “It is a tough task for state government to arrange arable land in the vicinity. The plain area is highly fertile, which farmer will be ready to sell his land to the forest department at a throwaway price. Most of the buyers in this area are either industrialists or influential people. You can still see the suffering of the villagers of Bori and Dhain village who have been settled at a new location near Sohagpur tehsil.”
But for the forest department eviction is an ongoing process as tiger population has dwindled to an alarmingly low rate (census results are likely to come up by this month-end). “We have resettled two villages Dhain and Bori, two more are likely to be resettled this year,” TR Sharma, additional principal chief conservator of forest said. His team is convincing the forest dwellers to accept the “Golden Handshake” package in which each family and the adult member will get Rs 10 lakh. A portion of this will be deposited in fixed deposit in any bank and the rest will be spent on arranging a developed residential plot and construction of a house on it. “We are trying to convince them to take the Golden Handshake offer as arranging five acres of land for each family is a tough task for us,” he said.
As many as 18 villages have been earmarked for eviction. Villagers of Khakrapura, Sakot, which are to be displaced and resettled soon, are ready to move out provided the government offer them a house and five acres of land. The other villages namely Kakri, Jam, Bharbhur, Podhar, Malni, Mallupura, Suplai, Jhalai, Khamda and Mana have yet to wait for another two to five years as the process of resettlement is very slow.
“One could, 20 years back, spot tigers, leopards, chital, sambhar near the Churna guest house. Today we see a decreasing number of carnivores with the poachers killing them,” says a local villager, adding, “We are ready to move out because life is too difficult for us here as we remain clueless about what is happening in the rest of the world, especially during the rainy season. The nearest town Bhawnra is 50 kms away from Churna and we often encounter wild animals there. As many as 735 villages remain to be displaced from all tiger reserve sanctuaries and national parks of Madhya Pradesh.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tiger found dead, territorial fight suspected
CHANDRAPUR: A partially decomposed carcass of a fully grown tiger was found in the Junona forest range under West Chanda division of Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) on the outskirts of Chandrapur town around 3 km deep into the jungle, on Saturday evening. Initial probe has revealed that the tiger might have been killed in a territorial fight with another tiger.
Forest officials said that the guard on patrolling duty in compartment no. 482 of Junona range of FDCM sighted the carcass after tracking foul smell in the vicinity. Regional manager, North Chandrapur circle, FDCM Sheshrao Patil confirmed the death of the tiger, but ruled out the possibility of poaching. "It was a fully grown male tiger (aged around 7-8 years). All the body parts of the tiger were intact and we have found no signs of poaching. It is likely that the tiger died due to injuries caused during a territorial fight with another tiger," he said.
Inquest and postmortem were carried out on Sunday. Dozens of youths from Chandrapur and Junona rushed to the spot in the morning to have a glimpse of the dead tiger on Sunday.
Senior forest officials including regional manger Patil, CFO and field director, TATR, Vinay Sinha, divisional manager, FDCM West Chanda, Raut, ACF TF Durge, ACF, TATR, Ajay Pillariseth visited the spot and searched the jungle to locate signs of another tiger and the place of scuffle.
Forest department staffers claimed that they have measured the length of the tiger (tip to tail) 2.60 metres (around 11 feet). They discovered several pugmarks and scrap marks of tiger on the jungle trail and the nullah passing through nearby. "We have discovered some pugmarks in the area around the carcass. Their comparison with the pug marks of dead tiger would help to identify the presence of another tiger in the same area," said forest officials.
Post-mortem was carried out by veterinary doctor PD Kadukar in the presence of representative of NTCA, Kishor Rithe and senior forest officers on the spot in the afternoon. Dr Kadukar said, "The body of the beast was petrified suggesting that tiger had died more than 72 hours before. We have found some linear injury marks that could have been caused by nails of another tiger. Moreover, the left fore limb of the beast was dislocated, suggesting that it might have died due to injuries caused during fight with another tiger."
He said that they have gathered samples of viscera to be sent to forensic laboratory to check possibilities of the poisoning. The wildlife activists, who visited the spot, expressed concern over lapses in patrolling as the body was discovered more than two days after the death. They also stressed immediate need of identification and location of the other tiger that had moved into the territory. The body of the tiger was later cremated on the same spot.
Forest officials said that the guard on patrolling duty in compartment no. 482 of Junona range of FDCM sighted the carcass after tracking foul smell in the vicinity. Regional manager, North Chandrapur circle, FDCM Sheshrao Patil confirmed the death of the tiger, but ruled out the possibility of poaching. "It was a fully grown male tiger (aged around 7-8 years). All the body parts of the tiger were intact and we have found no signs of poaching. It is likely that the tiger died due to injuries caused during a territorial fight with another tiger," he said.
Inquest and postmortem were carried out on Sunday. Dozens of youths from Chandrapur and Junona rushed to the spot in the morning to have a glimpse of the dead tiger on Sunday.
Senior forest officials including regional manger Patil, CFO and field director, TATR, Vinay Sinha, divisional manager, FDCM West Chanda, Raut, ACF TF Durge, ACF, TATR, Ajay Pillariseth visited the spot and searched the jungle to locate signs of another tiger and the place of scuffle.
Forest department staffers claimed that they have measured the length of the tiger (tip to tail) 2.60 metres (around 11 feet). They discovered several pugmarks and scrap marks of tiger on the jungle trail and the nullah passing through nearby. "We have discovered some pugmarks in the area around the carcass. Their comparison with the pug marks of dead tiger would help to identify the presence of another tiger in the same area," said forest officials.
Post-mortem was carried out by veterinary doctor PD Kadukar in the presence of representative of NTCA, Kishor Rithe and senior forest officers on the spot in the afternoon. Dr Kadukar said, "The body of the beast was petrified suggesting that tiger had died more than 72 hours before. We have found some linear injury marks that could have been caused by nails of another tiger. Moreover, the left fore limb of the beast was dislocated, suggesting that it might have died due to injuries caused during fight with another tiger."
He said that they have gathered samples of viscera to be sent to forensic laboratory to check possibilities of the poisoning. The wildlife activists, who visited the spot, expressed concern over lapses in patrolling as the body was discovered more than two days after the death. They also stressed immediate need of identification and location of the other tiger that had moved into the territory. The body of the tiger was later cremated on the same spot.
Eight tiger cubs born in Pench reserve
Bhopal: Two tigresses have given birth to eight cubs in Madhya Pradesh’s Pench Tiger Reserve in a span of just two months. “Last month, a tigress with five newly born cubs was sighted and this month our ground duty officials have spotted another feline with three cubs,” Pench deputy field director O P Tiwari said on Sunday. He said both the tigresses have given birth to cubs under Karmajhiri range of the reserve. With the news of the new-born cubs, monitoring in and around Karmajhiri has increased, officials said.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
'Tiger Queen', wildlife flick shot in HD, vies for green crown
Tags:Tiger Protection|Save The Tiger
PANAJI: "This is not a 'Save the tiger' campaign film," said S Nallamuthu before anyone even suggested it, "I think there are more NGOs working for the cause of tiger protection than there are tigers left in India. I don't want to be in the crowd."
Nallamuthu who prefers being called Nalla, said of his film 'Tiger Queen', "We have been following machli (the main tigress in the film) in the wild for many years and her life and struggles inspired me to make this film. She is 14 years old and won't live very long, so we decided to follow her life with her last litter."
India's first-ever wildlife film shot on high definition (HD) camera by director Nalla is among the 10 shortlisted environmental films vying for the Indian government's Vasudha award under the Short Film Category. The film premiered on National Geographic Worldwide and was shown on animal planet in the USA.
'Tiger Queen' explores the battle for power and supremacy in the wild tiger family. The action-packed film is set in Ranthambore and Sariska national parks in Rajasthan. "There are no anchors. It's a real story presented by tracking a tiger family in their habitat," said Nalla, who feels that after watching this emotional drama the audience will naturally be moved to protect the tiger.
PANAJI: "This is not a 'Save the tiger' campaign film," said S Nallamuthu before anyone even suggested it, "I think there are more NGOs working for the cause of tiger protection than there are tigers left in India. I don't want to be in the crowd."
Nallamuthu who prefers being called Nalla, said of his film 'Tiger Queen', "We have been following machli (the main tigress in the film) in the wild for many years and her life and struggles inspired me to make this film. She is 14 years old and won't live very long, so we decided to follow her life with her last litter."
India's first-ever wildlife film shot on high definition (HD) camera by director Nalla is among the 10 shortlisted environmental films vying for the Indian government's Vasudha award under the Short Film Category. The film premiered on National Geographic Worldwide and was shown on animal planet in the USA.
'Tiger Queen' explores the battle for power and supremacy in the wild tiger family. The action-packed film is set in Ranthambore and Sariska national parks in Rajasthan. "There are no anchors. It's a real story presented by tracking a tiger family in their habitat," said Nalla, who feels that after watching this emotional drama the audience will naturally be moved to protect the tiger.
Friday, November 26, 2010
3 more held for poaching tiger in 2008
CHANDRAPUR: The officials of Bhadrawati forest range on Thursday arrested three more accused in the poaching of tiger a in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) way back in 2008. They had on Wednesday recovered the remains of a poached tiger at the border of TATR, near village Doni, after an accused Shalik Gedam pointed out the spot.
The probe into the poachers gang was reinitiated some days back after the arrest of the main accused Shalik Gedam, who was absconding for the last one-and-a-half years. Officials had recovered six-and-a-half kilogram of tiger bones and a nail buried in the ground near a nullah along TATR border on Wednesday. Gedam also named three accomplices and forest officials arrested them on Thursday.
DCF, Chandrapur forest division, MM Kulkarni confirmed the arrests, but he did not gave names or other details. Forest officials are interrogating the three to recover the skin and seven missing nails of the poached tiger.
Meanwhile, authorities of TATR on Thursday said the poached tiger might have been an inhabitant of TATR. ACF Ajay Pillariseth said investigations suggests it could be the tiger which moved in and out of the tiger reserve. "The poaching spot is only a couple of metres away from the tiger reserve, hence the chances of poached tiger belonging to TATR cannot be ruled out. We have initiated investigations and are trying to trace which tiger went missing in that period," he said.
Pillariseth said tigers with territory along the border often move in and out of the tiger reserve, hence it is difficult to keep tabs on them. He speculated that the poached beast might be a tigress which had killed a person from Doni in January 2008.
The probe into the poachers gang was reinitiated some days back after the arrest of the main accused Shalik Gedam, who was absconding for the last one-and-a-half years. Officials had recovered six-and-a-half kilogram of tiger bones and a nail buried in the ground near a nullah along TATR border on Wednesday. Gedam also named three accomplices and forest officials arrested them on Thursday.
DCF, Chandrapur forest division, MM Kulkarni confirmed the arrests, but he did not gave names or other details. Forest officials are interrogating the three to recover the skin and seven missing nails of the poached tiger.
Meanwhile, authorities of TATR on Thursday said the poached tiger might have been an inhabitant of TATR. ACF Ajay Pillariseth said investigations suggests it could be the tiger which moved in and out of the tiger reserve. "The poaching spot is only a couple of metres away from the tiger reserve, hence the chances of poached tiger belonging to TATR cannot be ruled out. We have initiated investigations and are trying to trace which tiger went missing in that period," he said.
Pillariseth said tigers with territory along the border often move in and out of the tiger reserve, hence it is difficult to keep tabs on them. He speculated that the poached beast might be a tigress which had killed a person from Doni in January 2008.
NTCA wakes up, calls meet on NH6
NAGPUR: Albeit late, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has finally woken up to the violations in four-laning work of National Highway 6 in the 85 km patch between Deori and Lakhni in Gondia and Bhandara districts.
The NTCA, a statutory body under the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) monitoring tiger reserves, has called a meeting at 4 pm on November 30, to discuss the violations and four-laning that cuts tiger corridor between protected areas of Nagzira, Navegaon, Tadoba-Andhari in Maharashtra, Kanha in Madhya Pradesh and Indravati tiger reserves in Chhattisgarh.
Forest officials said it was high time that NTCA took a tough stand on violations. Tiger movement has been reported in Bamhani area where four-laning has been stalled as it encompasses forest area and is part of the corridor. This is for the first time NTCA has called a meeting on the issue. It comes at a time when 90% of the four-laning work in 85-km patch has been completed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The work had started in March 15, 2008. The Ashoka Highways (Bhandara) Limited has already started collecting toll tax from vehicles from October 18.
Rajesh Gopal, member-secretary of the NTCA, was not available for comments. "CCF (wildlife), Nagpur Circle, and field directors of Kanha and Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserves are among those attending the meeting," said NTCA sources. The meeting assumes significance, specially against the backdrop of Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Navegaon National Park and its adjoining areas being upgraded as a tiger reserve. While proposal for Navegaon is yet to be prepared, the Nagzira reserve proposal is already with the state government.
On October 13, the standing committee of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), headed by union environment minister Jairam Ramesh, rejected NHAI's proposal to divert 85 hectare forest land (now curtailed to 38 hectare) for four-laning under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980. The issue came up before the NBWL as decision on projects falling within 10 km of national parks and sanctuaries is taken by the NBWL. At several places where the four-laning work was done, Navegaon National Park is within 10 km. The fact was hidden by Gondia deputy conservator (DyCF) Mukesh Ganatra in his report.
State forest officials said they would stick to their stand asking the NHAI to construct open span bridges (flyovers) in five vulnerable patches. These patches include Sirpur-Nawatola (6.300 km); Marhamjob-Dongargaon (4.150 km); Bamhani-Duggipar (3.050 km); Sakoli-Mundipar (3.200 km); and Saundad-Sendurwafa (3.500 km).
"These patches constitute most important corridor vital for the movement of wild animals and cannot be overlooked. The NHAI has spent crores to four-lane the highway but it is not ready to spend a few crores more for wildlife and tigers. The mitigation measures (culvert boxes) proposed by the NHAI do not at all satisfy the need," forest officials told TOI.
The NTCA, a statutory body under the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) monitoring tiger reserves, has called a meeting at 4 pm on November 30, to discuss the violations and four-laning that cuts tiger corridor between protected areas of Nagzira, Navegaon, Tadoba-Andhari in Maharashtra, Kanha in Madhya Pradesh and Indravati tiger reserves in Chhattisgarh.
Forest officials said it was high time that NTCA took a tough stand on violations. Tiger movement has been reported in Bamhani area where four-laning has been stalled as it encompasses forest area and is part of the corridor. This is for the first time NTCA has called a meeting on the issue. It comes at a time when 90% of the four-laning work in 85-km patch has been completed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The work had started in March 15, 2008. The Ashoka Highways (Bhandara) Limited has already started collecting toll tax from vehicles from October 18.
Rajesh Gopal, member-secretary of the NTCA, was not available for comments. "CCF (wildlife), Nagpur Circle, and field directors of Kanha and Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserves are among those attending the meeting," said NTCA sources. The meeting assumes significance, specially against the backdrop of Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Navegaon National Park and its adjoining areas being upgraded as a tiger reserve. While proposal for Navegaon is yet to be prepared, the Nagzira reserve proposal is already with the state government.
On October 13, the standing committee of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), headed by union environment minister Jairam Ramesh, rejected NHAI's proposal to divert 85 hectare forest land (now curtailed to 38 hectare) for four-laning under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980. The issue came up before the NBWL as decision on projects falling within 10 km of national parks and sanctuaries is taken by the NBWL. At several places where the four-laning work was done, Navegaon National Park is within 10 km. The fact was hidden by Gondia deputy conservator (DyCF) Mukesh Ganatra in his report.
State forest officials said they would stick to their stand asking the NHAI to construct open span bridges (flyovers) in five vulnerable patches. These patches include Sirpur-Nawatola (6.300 km); Marhamjob-Dongargaon (4.150 km); Bamhani-Duggipar (3.050 km); Sakoli-Mundipar (3.200 km); and Saundad-Sendurwafa (3.500 km).
"These patches constitute most important corridor vital for the movement of wild animals and cannot be overlooked. The NHAI has spent crores to four-lane the highway but it is not ready to spend a few crores more for wildlife and tigers. The mitigation measures (culvert boxes) proposed by the NHAI do not at all satisfy the need," forest officials told TOI.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
India, 12 others vow to double tiger numbers by 2022
A United Nations-led alliance to fight wildlife crime and eliminate threats to wild cats around the world has pledged to double tiger numbers by 2022 in India and 12 other tiger range countries. The alliance was formed this week at an international forum in St Petersburg, Russia on restoring the
global tiger population from the brink of extinction, the UN news centre in UN announced. Heads of five major international agencies also discussed collective actions aimed at stopping the poaching, smuggling and illegal trade of tigers.
"Ending wildlife crime against tigers and other endangered species, particularly transnational trafficking, requires a coordinated global response," said the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, who underlined Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's "strong support" for the Tiger Forum.
"Thanks to our expertise based on UN standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, combined with many years of experience helping States to fight crime, UNODC is well positioned to support the Tiger Range Countries," he added.
In 2009, tiger skins sold for up to $20,000 and bones retailed for up to $1,200 per kilogramme with UNODC estimating the total market value at about $5 million.
Over the last century, tiger numbers have plummeted from about 100,000 to less than 3,500 in the wild today, with three sub-species disappearing altogether and the remaining six at risk.
In order to boost tiger conservation efforts, UNODC teamed up with the World Customs Organization (WCO), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), INTERPOL, and the World Bank to establish the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC).
Aided by the ICCWC, the 13 Tiger Range Countries will implement the Global Tiger Recovery Programme which will target poaching, the illegal trade of tigers and habitat conservation, as well as create incentives for local people to protect the big cats.
"ICCWC sends a very clear message that a new era of wildlife law enforcement is upon us," said CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon. "Poaching and illegal trade have brought tigers close to the point of no return. Only if we work together, can we ensure that tigers will survive."
Besides India, other countries that have committed towards implementing the Global Tiger Recovery Programme are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
global tiger population from the brink of extinction, the UN news centre in UN announced. Heads of five major international agencies also discussed collective actions aimed at stopping the poaching, smuggling and illegal trade of tigers.
"Ending wildlife crime against tigers and other endangered species, particularly transnational trafficking, requires a coordinated global response," said the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, who underlined Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's "strong support" for the Tiger Forum.
"Thanks to our expertise based on UN standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, combined with many years of experience helping States to fight crime, UNODC is well positioned to support the Tiger Range Countries," he added.
In 2009, tiger skins sold for up to $20,000 and bones retailed for up to $1,200 per kilogramme with UNODC estimating the total market value at about $5 million.
Over the last century, tiger numbers have plummeted from about 100,000 to less than 3,500 in the wild today, with three sub-species disappearing altogether and the remaining six at risk.
In order to boost tiger conservation efforts, UNODC teamed up with the World Customs Organization (WCO), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), INTERPOL, and the World Bank to establish the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC).
Aided by the ICCWC, the 13 Tiger Range Countries will implement the Global Tiger Recovery Programme which will target poaching, the illegal trade of tigers and habitat conservation, as well as create incentives for local people to protect the big cats.
"ICCWC sends a very clear message that a new era of wildlife law enforcement is upon us," said CITES Secretary-General John Scanlon. "Poaching and illegal trade have brought tigers close to the point of no return. Only if we work together, can we ensure that tigers will survive."
Besides India, other countries that have committed towards implementing the Global Tiger Recovery Programme are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Panna to get two Kanha tiger princesses in December
BHOPAL: Come December and two tiger princesses will make a 450 km journey from Madhya Pradesh's Kanha National Park to their new home in the picturesque Panna forests as part of a plan to boost the big cat's numbers there, said officials.
The tigresses, one four years old and the other five-and-a-half, will be put in two cages after they are tranquilised on the day of their journey Dec 5 and then transported in trucks to Panna National Park.
"Dec 5 has been fixed to bring two tigresses. According to their health they would be kept in special areas within the Panna reserve," VS Parihar, deputy director of Panna Tiger Reserve, said.
A team of veterinarians and forest officials will accompany the big cats and the translocation will be completed in about 10 hours, said officials.
Spread across more than 500 sq km, the Panna National Park has already made its preparations to welcome the Kanha princesses. Two veterinarians have already been appointed to monitor the big cats' health in Panna.
The Kanha and Panna national parks are two of the six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh. The 1,945 sq km Kanha park was set up in 1955. According to a census in 2006, Kanha had about 90-130 tigers.
Panna, created in 1981, currently has three adult tigers and two cubs. A tigress, which had been earlier translocated from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, also in Madhya Pradesh, to Panna, has mated and given birth to four cubs there in March this year. Unfortunately, two cubs went missing and are feared dead.
Now two more are set to join them in Panna.
"A close vigil is being kept on the health of the tigresses and the preparation to shift them is almost complete," said S.K. Mohanty, deputy director of Kanha National Park.
Three other tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh are Pench, Satpura and Sanjay Dhubri.
The forest department has recently initiated a process in Panna to relocate some 16 villages around the reserve.
Srinivas Murthy, field director of Panna Tiger Reserve, said: "So far 13 (villages) are under process of relocation.
"We will try to relocate the rest of the villages soon. Barring the 2006 incident in which villagers had given poison to the animals, no such conflict has been evident."
In 2008, a tiger census report revealed that India had just about 1,400 tigers. The results of a new census launched countrywide in January are awaited.
The tigresses, one four years old and the other five-and-a-half, will be put in two cages after they are tranquilised on the day of their journey Dec 5 and then transported in trucks to Panna National Park.
"Dec 5 has been fixed to bring two tigresses. According to their health they would be kept in special areas within the Panna reserve," VS Parihar, deputy director of Panna Tiger Reserve, said.
A team of veterinarians and forest officials will accompany the big cats and the translocation will be completed in about 10 hours, said officials.
Spread across more than 500 sq km, the Panna National Park has already made its preparations to welcome the Kanha princesses. Two veterinarians have already been appointed to monitor the big cats' health in Panna.
The Kanha and Panna national parks are two of the six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh. The 1,945 sq km Kanha park was set up in 1955. According to a census in 2006, Kanha had about 90-130 tigers.
Panna, created in 1981, currently has three adult tigers and two cubs. A tigress, which had been earlier translocated from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, also in Madhya Pradesh, to Panna, has mated and given birth to four cubs there in March this year. Unfortunately, two cubs went missing and are feared dead.
Now two more are set to join them in Panna.
"A close vigil is being kept on the health of the tigresses and the preparation to shift them is almost complete," said S.K. Mohanty, deputy director of Kanha National Park.
Three other tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh are Pench, Satpura and Sanjay Dhubri.
The forest department has recently initiated a process in Panna to relocate some 16 villages around the reserve.
Srinivas Murthy, field director of Panna Tiger Reserve, said: "So far 13 (villages) are under process of relocation.
"We will try to relocate the rest of the villages soon. Barring the 2006 incident in which villagers had given poison to the animals, no such conflict has been evident."
In 2008, a tiger census report revealed that India had just about 1,400 tigers. The results of a new census launched countrywide in January are awaited.
Tiger shot dead in Assam
Morigaon: Even as Asian countries meet in Russia to discuss ways to save the tiger, a Royal Bengal Tiger was shot dead by police on Tuesday after it killed a woman and mauled another sub-inspector at Nagabandha in Morigaon district in Assam.
The tiger, which swam across the Bhramhaputra from Orang National Park in Udalguri district to take shelter between Morigaon and Nagaon districts, killed a 38-year-old woman, police said.
When sub-inspector Tilak Chandra Bora and his team went to nab the tiger, it pounced on him in a paddy field, injuring the policeman critically, they added.
The tiger was finally shot dead to save the sub-inspector.
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tiger-shot-dead-in-assam-68203?cp
The tiger, which swam across the Bhramhaputra from Orang National Park in Udalguri district to take shelter between Morigaon and Nagaon districts, killed a 38-year-old woman, police said.
When sub-inspector Tilak Chandra Bora and his team went to nab the tiger, it pounced on him in a paddy field, injuring the policeman critically, they added.
The tiger was finally shot dead to save the sub-inspector.
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/tiger-shot-dead-in-assam-68203?cp
Tiger death: Forest guard suspended in Sariska
A forest guard at Alwar's Sariska Tiger Sanctuary has been suspended by the Rajasthan government following the death of a tiger, officials said today.
"The guard Ramgopal was found guilty of dereliction of duty following which he was suspended recently," they said.
The government has so far suspended four personnel in the case of the tiger's death and transferred one official.
The carcass of "ST-1" was found by a forest department team in Sariska sanctuary on November 14.
"The guard Ramgopal was found guilty of dereliction of duty following which he was suspended recently," they said.
The government has so far suspended four personnel in the case of the tiger's death and transferred one official.
The carcass of "ST-1" was found by a forest department team in Sariska sanctuary on November 14.
Tigers vanishing, pooja continues in Uttara Kannada villages
Tue, 23 Nov 2010 - 19:59:00S.O. News Service |
Karwar: Tiger worship is century old tradition in many parts of Uttara Kannada district. This practice is still in vogue at Kanasgiri village near here and elsewhere in the district.
The pooja is held every year during the Hind month of 'Karteeka'. It was held at Kanasgiri on Friday evening. Each family brings an earthen pot painted with the tigers' face on it to nearby forest and keeps it on a particular place on the day of pooja. Various dishes are offered to the Tiger God on the occasion.
According to Deepak Naik, president of Yuvaka Sangha of the village, earlier the villagers used to carry the earthen idol of tiger for pooja. Since the past two decades this practice has been stopped. Instead the pots are worshipped.
The elders in the village recollect that the village was surrounded by thick forest around 50-60 years ago the forest was a natural habitat for tigers. Many villagers had noticed tigers roaming freely in the forest. But indiscriminate hunting and denudation for forest resulted in depletion of tiger population. According to them the cattle, grazing in the forest, used to be the easy target for the tigers. It was in this context tiger worship started on the belief that tigers would be pleased wit the worship and stop killing the cattle.
According retired chief mineral economist, hunting of tigers in the jungles of Uttara Kannada district was a pastime and a fun for royal families and the British. Joida forest area had thick tiger population then, Mining activity in Joida taluk also was responsible for the depletion of tiger population, he says.
If at all a few tigers still exist in the forest region of the district, the villagers, who worship tiger should be complimented, he said.
If at all a few tigers still exist in the forest region of the district, the villagers, who worship tiger should be complimented, he said.
In Sirsi, Siddapur and Yellapur taluks, one can find the statues of tigers in the thick forest. The villagers from surrounding areas offer pooja in those places once in a year.
Karwar: Tiger worship is century old tradition in many parts of Uttara Kannada district. This practice is still in vogue at Kanasgiri village near here and elsewhere in the district.
The pooja is held every year during the Hind month of 'Karteeka'. It was held at Kanasgiri on Friday evening. Each family brings an earthen pot painted with the tigers' face on it to nearby forest and keeps it on a particular place on the day of pooja. Various dishes are offered to the Tiger God on the occasion.
According to Deepak Naik, president of Yuvaka Sangha of the village, earlier the villagers used to carry the earthen idol of tiger for pooja. Since the past two decades this practice has been stopped. Instead the pots are worshipped.
The elders in the village recollect that the village was surrounded by thick forest around 50-60 years ago the forest was a natural habitat for tigers. Many villagers had noticed tigers roaming freely in the forest. But indiscriminate hunting and denudation for forest resulted in depletion of tiger population. According to them the cattle, grazing in the forest, used to be the easy target for the tigers. It was in this context tiger worship started on the belief that tigers would be pleased wit the worship and stop killing the cattle.
According retired chief mineral economist, hunting of tigers in the jungles of Uttara Kannada district was a pastime and a fun for royal families and the British. Joida forest area had thick tiger population then, Mining activity in Joida taluk also was responsible for the depletion of tiger population, he says.
If at all a few tigers still exist in the forest region of the district, the villagers, who worship tiger should be complimented, he said.
If at all a few tigers still exist in the forest region of the district, the villagers, who worship tiger should be complimented, he said.
In Sirsi, Siddapur and Yellapur taluks, one can find the statues of tigers in the thick forest. The villagers from surrounding areas offer pooja in those places once in a year.
Tiger skins, bones fetch $5 mn annually in black market
St. Petersburg, Nov 23 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Poachers sell about 150 tiger skins every year and the annual turnover of tiger skins and bones in the black market across the globe is some $5 million, a UN official has said.
'150 tiger skins and 150 kg of tiger bones are sold on the black market annually. In 2009, one (tiger) skin cost $20,000 and a kg of bones - $1,200,' said Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of United Nations office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The wild cats have been steadily pushed to the verge of extinction by poaching, illegal trade, and habitat loss, Fedotov said. About 150 tigers are killed by poachers every year, which is about 5 percent of world's tiger population.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) plans to spend $85 million in the next five years on programmes aimed at restoring the global tiger population, WWF head James Leape said at the International Tiger Conservation Forum Monday.
According to the WWF, about 3,200 tigers are left worldwide. A century ago, there were some 100,000 wild tigers across Asia and the Russian Far East.
The International Tiger Conservation Forum, hosted by the northwestern Russian city of St. Petersburg running Nov 21-24, is discussing a plan to double the animal's population in 12 years, which will require up to $350 million from the international community.
Keshav Varma, the director of the World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative (GTI), called on the international community Monday to donate more money to save the tigers.
'150 tiger skins and 150 kg of tiger bones are sold on the black market annually. In 2009, one (tiger) skin cost $20,000 and a kg of bones - $1,200,' said Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of United Nations office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The wild cats have been steadily pushed to the verge of extinction by poaching, illegal trade, and habitat loss, Fedotov said. About 150 tigers are killed by poachers every year, which is about 5 percent of world's tiger population.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) plans to spend $85 million in the next five years on programmes aimed at restoring the global tiger population, WWF head James Leape said at the International Tiger Conservation Forum Monday.
According to the WWF, about 3,200 tigers are left worldwide. A century ago, there were some 100,000 wild tigers across Asia and the Russian Far East.
The International Tiger Conservation Forum, hosted by the northwestern Russian city of St. Petersburg running Nov 21-24, is discussing a plan to double the animal's population in 12 years, which will require up to $350 million from the international community.
Keshav Varma, the director of the World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative (GTI), called on the international community Monday to donate more money to save the tigers.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunderbans tiger census report not before rains
KOLKATA: The nation will have to wait till monsoon to know the number of Royal Bengal Tigers in Sunderbans. While the numbers of wild tigers in rest of the nation are likely to come out in March, Sunderbans may not figure in that, as Wildlife Institute of India (WII) could complete only two phases of population estimation due to the mangrove forest's difficult ter-rain. Though, the distribution and occupancy data will be out soon.
"Humans are on the menu of tigers when they work in Sunderbans. While working we have found that one needs to be in a group and be very cautious. Overall, the nature of this mangrove forest makes the entire practice a time consuming matter," said WII's Qamar Qureshi, adding that the work of third phase has only started in September. WII, which is working in Sunderbans for almost three years has completed tiger signs collection, ungulate distribution and mapping of the forest. "We have collected scat information of the big cats, done camera traps and have radio collared a few tigers. Now, we are running the ungulate survey and sign survey of tigers to get the number. DNA sampling too will be done in this phase," said Qureshi.
According to him, it can come out with the number of tigers in Sunderbans only in the monsoon. "We are trying our best to make the numbers available by March with the figures of other parts of India, but it seems difficult," he said. Earlier, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), deputy inspector general, S P Yadav told TOI that the entire census report may get delayed by a couple of months as the Centre would not compromise on standard and reliability.
"Sunderbans is a habitat that is notoriously difficult to negotiate, apart from creek access at high tide. It is thus difficult to scientifically physically estimate the population of tigers here. This is why both the West Bengal forest department and WII are finding it justifiably difficult to arrive at a credible tiger estimate," said Bittu Sahgal, editor, Sanctuary Asia.
Meanwhile, WII will submit its preliminary report on distribution and occupancy of tigers to the Centre in a few weeks. Without divulging much, Qureshi said, forest occupancy of big cats in Sunderbans though will figure in the report. It may be noted that according to the last census in 2008, occupancy of tigers in Sunderbans was about 1586 square kilometres, though the numbers could not be assessed due to lack of reliability.
The last census done in Sunderbans in 2001-02, put the tiger numbers in Indian part of the mangrove forest at 274, of which, Sunderbans Tiger Re-serve had 249 and South 24-Parganas forest division had 25 big cats. But in 2006, Indian Statistical Institute claimed that the number is not more than 75, the report, however, was rejected by the state government. "I personally doubt that 274 cats ever existed in the Sunderbans. Nevertheless, the habitat is imminently suitable for tigers which, apart from herbivores, also feed on carrion washed down by rivers or thrown up by the sea. One way or the other I expect the Sunderbans tiger estimation to surprise everyone," added Sahgal.
"Population estimation is being done by a new methodology called Monitoring of Tigers, Co-predators, Prey and Habitat', developed by the Project Tiger. But work in the final phase is still left and we don't think the Centre will be able to come out with Sunderbans tiger numbers in time," said principal chief conservator of forests Atanu Raha. In Sunderbans, about 35 teams, with 250 forest personnel are taking part in the process.
"Humans are on the menu of tigers when they work in Sunderbans. While working we have found that one needs to be in a group and be very cautious. Overall, the nature of this mangrove forest makes the entire practice a time consuming matter," said WII's Qamar Qureshi, adding that the work of third phase has only started in September. WII, which is working in Sunderbans for almost three years has completed tiger signs collection, ungulate distribution and mapping of the forest. "We have collected scat information of the big cats, done camera traps and have radio collared a few tigers. Now, we are running the ungulate survey and sign survey of tigers to get the number. DNA sampling too will be done in this phase," said Qureshi.
According to him, it can come out with the number of tigers in Sunderbans only in the monsoon. "We are trying our best to make the numbers available by March with the figures of other parts of India, but it seems difficult," he said. Earlier, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), deputy inspector general, S P Yadav told TOI that the entire census report may get delayed by a couple of months as the Centre would not compromise on standard and reliability.
"Sunderbans is a habitat that is notoriously difficult to negotiate, apart from creek access at high tide. It is thus difficult to scientifically physically estimate the population of tigers here. This is why both the West Bengal forest department and WII are finding it justifiably difficult to arrive at a credible tiger estimate," said Bittu Sahgal, editor, Sanctuary Asia.
Meanwhile, WII will submit its preliminary report on distribution and occupancy of tigers to the Centre in a few weeks. Without divulging much, Qureshi said, forest occupancy of big cats in Sunderbans though will figure in the report. It may be noted that according to the last census in 2008, occupancy of tigers in Sunderbans was about 1586 square kilometres, though the numbers could not be assessed due to lack of reliability.
The last census done in Sunderbans in 2001-02, put the tiger numbers in Indian part of the mangrove forest at 274, of which, Sunderbans Tiger Re-serve had 249 and South 24-Parganas forest division had 25 big cats. But in 2006, Indian Statistical Institute claimed that the number is not more than 75, the report, however, was rejected by the state government. "I personally doubt that 274 cats ever existed in the Sunderbans. Nevertheless, the habitat is imminently suitable for tigers which, apart from herbivores, also feed on carrion washed down by rivers or thrown up by the sea. One way or the other I expect the Sunderbans tiger estimation to surprise everyone," added Sahgal.
"Population estimation is being done by a new methodology called Monitoring of Tigers, Co-predators, Prey and Habitat', developed by the Project Tiger. But work in the final phase is still left and we don't think the Centre will be able to come out with Sunderbans tiger numbers in time," said principal chief conservator of forests Atanu Raha. In Sunderbans, about 35 teams, with 250 forest personnel are taking part in the process.
Tiger sparks panic in Assam
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Nagaon, Nov. 22. A full grown Royal Bengal tiger has created panic in central Assam’s Morigaon district for the past six days.
The tiger, from Orang National Park, crossed the Brahmaputra and entered the district on November 17.
A Nagaon forest department source said villagers of Kandhulimari tracked the movement of the tiger in the area on Wednesday and reported the matter to a local forest department official. It killed a cow in that area and was spotted near Habi Barangabari.
“The tiger has been in Habi Barangabari for the past five days. It killed a pig last night. Our forest department officials are stationed there. All possible attempts are being made to send it back to its original habitat,” said Nagaon divisional forest officer Aftabuddin Ahmed.
Royal Bengal tigers crossing the Brahmaputra and entering villages have become common in the past two years.
Nagaon, Nov. 22. A full grown Royal Bengal tiger has created panic in central Assam’s Morigaon district for the past six days.
The tiger, from Orang National Park, crossed the Brahmaputra and entered the district on November 17.
A Nagaon forest department source said villagers of Kandhulimari tracked the movement of the tiger in the area on Wednesday and reported the matter to a local forest department official. It killed a cow in that area and was spotted near Habi Barangabari.
“The tiger has been in Habi Barangabari for the past five days. It killed a pig last night. Our forest department officials are stationed there. All possible attempts are being made to send it back to its original habitat,” said Nagaon divisional forest officer Aftabuddin Ahmed.
Royal Bengal tigers crossing the Brahmaputra and entering villages have become common in the past two years.
Needed, global action to save the tiger
EDITS | Tuesday, November 23, 2010 | Email | Print | | Back
Stop illicit trade in tiger body parts
The summit hosted by Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and attended by his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao among other top leaders from 13 tiger-range countries underscores how serious a concern tiger conservation has become globally. The decline of the wild tiger population has been alarming: From 100,000 big cats the jungles a century ago, only 3,200 tigers are left in the forests of these 13 countries. Three subspecies — Bali, Javan and Caspian — have become extinct. With 104 to 119 tigers falling prey to poachers every year, the forecast by the World Wildlife Fund that there won’t be any tigers left to celebrate the next Chinese Year of the Tiger (2022) doesn’t seem to be unduly alarming. This is all the more so because apart from Russia, all other countries have failed to increase the number of tigers in the wild. India is a case in point. The country continues to witness a steady decline in the number of big cats although the Government launched Project Tiger way back in 1973 to identify and address the limiting factors in tiger reserves. The ongoing decline of the tiger population is, in essence, a comment on the loss of forest cover in Asia. Clearly, tigers are fighting a losing battle for their survival as human beings encroach into their natural habitat and the prey base declines. Shrinking forest cover on account of ill-planned development projects and expanding human habitation is one of the reasons behind the rapidly declining tiger population. But the major factor behind the depletion is poaching. Tigers continue to be killed for their body parts which fetch a fortune; those living near or within tiger reserves are easily lured into this illicit trade with hideous consequences: Casual poaching has now turned into organised crime that transcends national borders.
If the political leaders of the countries concerned take a united and firm stand to combat poaching and marshal all necessary resources to prevent tigers from becoming an extinct species, perhaps the big cat may yet survive in the wild. Those attending the tiger summit are expected to discuss ways to strengthen law-enforcement and management of protected wildlife areas. Needless to add, they should focus on putting an end to cross-border illegal trade in tiger body parts by adopting stringent deterrent measures. Simultaneously, there is need for launching a massive awareness campaign as well as involving local populations in protecting tigers. However, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach towards conservation of this endangered animal. Local conditions differ from country to country and require solutions that are region and area specific. For instance, in India the Government can no longer delay relocating human population within tiger reserves and making access to the animal’s habitat as difficult as possible.
Stop illicit trade in tiger body parts
The summit hosted by Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and attended by his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao among other top leaders from 13 tiger-range countries underscores how serious a concern tiger conservation has become globally. The decline of the wild tiger population has been alarming: From 100,000 big cats the jungles a century ago, only 3,200 tigers are left in the forests of these 13 countries. Three subspecies — Bali, Javan and Caspian — have become extinct. With 104 to 119 tigers falling prey to poachers every year, the forecast by the World Wildlife Fund that there won’t be any tigers left to celebrate the next Chinese Year of the Tiger (2022) doesn’t seem to be unduly alarming. This is all the more so because apart from Russia, all other countries have failed to increase the number of tigers in the wild. India is a case in point. The country continues to witness a steady decline in the number of big cats although the Government launched Project Tiger way back in 1973 to identify and address the limiting factors in tiger reserves. The ongoing decline of the tiger population is, in essence, a comment on the loss of forest cover in Asia. Clearly, tigers are fighting a losing battle for their survival as human beings encroach into their natural habitat and the prey base declines. Shrinking forest cover on account of ill-planned development projects and expanding human habitation is one of the reasons behind the rapidly declining tiger population. But the major factor behind the depletion is poaching. Tigers continue to be killed for their body parts which fetch a fortune; those living near or within tiger reserves are easily lured into this illicit trade with hideous consequences: Casual poaching has now turned into organised crime that transcends national borders.
If the political leaders of the countries concerned take a united and firm stand to combat poaching and marshal all necessary resources to prevent tigers from becoming an extinct species, perhaps the big cat may yet survive in the wild. Those attending the tiger summit are expected to discuss ways to strengthen law-enforcement and management of protected wildlife areas. Needless to add, they should focus on putting an end to cross-border illegal trade in tiger body parts by adopting stringent deterrent measures. Simultaneously, there is need for launching a massive awareness campaign as well as involving local populations in protecting tigers. However, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach towards conservation of this endangered animal. Local conditions differ from country to country and require solutions that are region and area specific. For instance, in India the Government can no longer delay relocating human population within tiger reserves and making access to the animal’s habitat as difficult as possible.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tiger death: Sariska caught in translocation, relocation tussle
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.
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.
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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