NAGPUR: There have been several studies and projects to look into the man-tiger conflict, but the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which monitors tiger reserves in the country, has for the first time set up a five-member panel for an appraisal of leopard mortality due to conflict with humans.
Sources said the committee, constituted on December 15, besides looking into the mortality of leopard arising out of conflict will suggest mitigation measures. The panel consists of NTCA members Brijendra Singh and Valmik Thapar, experts Vidya Atherya of Pune, Raghu Chundawat, Kartick Satyanarayan and NTCA member-secretary Rajesh Gopal.
S P Yadav, deputy inspector general (NTCA), told TOI that the scope of the committee is to look into causes of high leopard mortality and suggesting mitigating measures. "The study also includes Maharashtra and other vulnerable states. A meeting will be called soon in which chief wildlife wardens of problem states will also be invited," he added.
Although inclusion of noted experts in the committee will make a difference, in Maharashtra, man-leopard conflict has gone down while man-tiger problem continues to be more severe than leopards. Two-three years ago, around 40-50 leopards were trapped but now it has come down to 8-10 animals.
Chandrapur district in Vidarbha is the worst-affected. If the official figures for last five years from April 2005 to December 2010 are considered, then only five villagers have been killed by leopards and around 10 have been killed owing to conflict in leopard-dominated areas like Junnar, Nashik and Borivali. On the other side, 62 persons have been mauled by tigers during the same period in the region.
If not by conflict, leopard deaths due to poaching are increasing in the state. In 2010, from January to December, 35 leopards have died in the state. Of this, 18 deaths were from Vidarbha while other deaths were reported in villages near Ratnagiri, Sinnar, Junnar, Jalgaon, Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SNGP), Borivali, Pune and Hingoli.
Last year (2009), 48 leopards had died in the state. Despite the crisis, the entire focus has been on tigers by the authorities. This is for the first time that leopard mortality reasons will be studied. Both tigers and leopards are listed under the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
Wildlife biologist Vidya Atherya says she is delighted to be included in the panel. She has studied the problem of leopards in Junnar for three years and measures suggested by her have come handy to curb leopard-human conflict in the state.
Atherya said, "My experience in Maharashtra will help in getting solutions in states like Uttrakhand and Gujarat where problem of leopard conflict is severe."
"We've found that leopard attacks on people are an aberration governed by complex factors which require us to increase our level of understanding. Leopards have always lived outside forests, be it tea gardens, fringes of forests, in croplands, and have also been reported from urban areas," Atherya said.
She added that people have not yet accepted that non-wilderness areas can support wildlife. Hence, they expect all leopards be confined in forests. So, leopards found outside forested areas are often trapped and moved to nearby forests.
"However, our work also found that leopards which had been living in village areas without attacking people started attacking them when they were released away from their territory. This was likely due to the stress they face during capture, release in an unknown area, and as we also found many instances, of translocated leopards homing back from where they were originally caught," Atherya stressed.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tiger census gets under way at Kaziranga
KOHORA, Dec 20 – The first phase of Tiger Census 2010, has been inaugurated by the Director of Kaziranga National Park Surajit Dutta today at Mihimukh.
The first phase of census is going to determine the basic factors such as availability of tiger habitat in all the ranges of Kaziranga National Park, any presence of co-predators, prey base, vegetation cover for scientific analysis for final phase of tiger census.
The first phase will continue till December 26. Altogether the Park is categorised into 38 blocks where the enumerators will survey the sign viz. pugmarks and rake marks of the tigers during the first initial three days followed by the determination of vegetation cover, transit mark.
The first phase of census is going to determine the basic factors such as availability of tiger habitat in all the ranges of Kaziranga National Park, any presence of co-predators, prey base, vegetation cover for scientific analysis for final phase of tiger census.
The first phase will continue till December 26. Altogether the Park is categorised into 38 blocks where the enumerators will survey the sign viz. pugmarks and rake marks of the tigers during the first initial three days followed by the determination of vegetation cover, transit mark.
MP CM opposes converting Ratapani sanctuary into tiger reserve
Bhopal, Dec 19 (PTI) Opposing the Centre''s plan to convert Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary into a tiger reserve, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said he is not against protection of tigers but would not do it "at the cost of the poor".
"Madhya Pradesh is a tiger state. We are not averse to tiger and its protection. But we do not want it at the cost of the poor, especially tribals. Many villages will need to be shifted for turning Ratapani into a tiger reserve," Chouhan said at the 15th national conference of Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad here.
Chouhan said that Union Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh has been talking about turning Ratapani into Tiger Reserve but that would call for shifting large numbers of villages.
The land of tribals can not be taken away in Madhya Pradesh, which has tough laws to check it, he added.
Listing several steps taken for the tribals, he said that 21 per cent of the state budget was earmarked for tribal development.
"Madhya Pradesh is a tiger state. We are not averse to tiger and its protection. But we do not want it at the cost of the poor, especially tribals. Many villages will need to be shifted for turning Ratapani into a tiger reserve," Chouhan said at the 15th national conference of Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad here.
Chouhan said that Union Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh has been talking about turning Ratapani into Tiger Reserve but that would call for shifting large numbers of villages.
The land of tribals can not be taken away in Madhya Pradesh, which has tough laws to check it, he added.
Listing several steps taken for the tribals, he said that 21 per cent of the state budget was earmarked for tribal development.
Monday, December 20, 2010
'Tigers attack livestock due to poor prey base in Molem'
PANAJI: Goa's wildlife sanctuaries, especially Molem and Mhadei, are part of a corridor for tigers, but a poor prey base makes it attack livestock, says A J T Johnsingh, wildlife advisor, wildlife institute of India (WII).
"They come here occassionally because there is good forest cover, but rampant poaching forces them to go for livestock, and people come to know about it," says Johnsingh, eminent wildlife biologist.
Last week, a sambar was killed near Anjunem dam and forest officials were shown the carcass and pug marks of the tiger. A buffalo and a cow had been killed in February and September this year in ghat areas of Chorla. A tiger had been shot dead after being trapped near a stream in Keri last year.
"Tigers come occasionally and they are reported in Mhadei and Molem. They are looking for a home and keep migrating," he said.
But Johnsingh is concerned about the weakened prey base due to rampant poaching in Goa and Karnataka.
"The condition of sambar, the largest deer in Asia ,is very dismal and the barking deer and bison (Gaur) are affected by lot of poaching over the years," he said.
The wildlife biologist is conducting a study through Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, which has been funded by the Union ministry of environment and forests.
"The effort is aimed at looking at the landscape and corridor for large mammals, focussing on sambars, tiger, elephant, gaur among others, from Kanyakumari to Sahyadris," he said.
Johnsingh visited four wildlife sanctuaries of Mhadei, Bhagwan Mahaveer in Molem, Neturlim and Cotigao for his rapid survey. "There are a lot of settlements inside sanctuaries, and the residents wield political influence," he added.
The forest department census in 2004 had enumerated five tigers in Goa. But wildlife enthusiasts have been critical of forest department's denial mode of the tiger's existence in Goa in the past.
Human intervention in the form of mining, deforestation and growing settlement areas are seen as the biggest threats to this global bio-diversity hotspot. "For this reason, environmental bodies from three states had proposed to MOEF the creation of Sahyadri Ecologically Sensitive Area (SESA) in three states," Claude Alvares, an environmentalist said.
Nitin Sawant, director world wide fund for nature (WWF) Goa said the stress should be on saving the tiger habitat instead of saving the big cat. "Mining activities should not be allowed in and around the vicinity of the tiger corridor," he said.
Johnsingh said he had conveyed to Goa's chief wildlife warden Shashi Kumar his observation about the poor prey base. "We could see the bison only in Molem and not any other sanctuaries," he said.
Johnsingh, who will submit his report shortly, said the state has a good forest cover with the state's wildlife sanctuaries spanning a protective cover of 755 sq km. Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary and other forest areas in Karnataka form a contiguous passage for wildlife. Tigers from nearby Anshi tiger reserve are known to stray into Goa.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has recognised the Goa corridor as Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU) mark 2, whereas major tiger habitats (Bandipur, Madamalai, Nagarhole) are graded on a higher scale."Goa is an important buffer zone if Anshi comes under some threat ," sources said.
Additional principal chief conservator, Shashi Kumar confirmed he had discussions with Johnsingh.
"We are waiting for assessment of preliminary data from WII," he said, and added. "A camera trap method as part of second phase of wildlife census will help clear a few aspects regarding tiger's movement in Goa."
But the WII advisor called for curbs on poaching. "Not much attention is given to it," he said, recalling Keri tiger poaching case. Further, he said any effort to increase the wild life will need lot of conservation.
"If the habitat is given good protection, it will take several years for the population to increase."
"They come here occassionally because there is good forest cover, but rampant poaching forces them to go for livestock, and people come to know about it," says Johnsingh, eminent wildlife biologist.
Last week, a sambar was killed near Anjunem dam and forest officials were shown the carcass and pug marks of the tiger. A buffalo and a cow had been killed in February and September this year in ghat areas of Chorla. A tiger had been shot dead after being trapped near a stream in Keri last year.
"Tigers come occasionally and they are reported in Mhadei and Molem. They are looking for a home and keep migrating," he said.
But Johnsingh is concerned about the weakened prey base due to rampant poaching in Goa and Karnataka.
"The condition of sambar, the largest deer in Asia ,is very dismal and the barking deer and bison (Gaur) are affected by lot of poaching over the years," he said.
The wildlife biologist is conducting a study through Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, which has been funded by the Union ministry of environment and forests.
"The effort is aimed at looking at the landscape and corridor for large mammals, focussing on sambars, tiger, elephant, gaur among others, from Kanyakumari to Sahyadris," he said.
Johnsingh visited four wildlife sanctuaries of Mhadei, Bhagwan Mahaveer in Molem, Neturlim and Cotigao for his rapid survey. "There are a lot of settlements inside sanctuaries, and the residents wield political influence," he added.
The forest department census in 2004 had enumerated five tigers in Goa. But wildlife enthusiasts have been critical of forest department's denial mode of the tiger's existence in Goa in the past.
Human intervention in the form of mining, deforestation and growing settlement areas are seen as the biggest threats to this global bio-diversity hotspot. "For this reason, environmental bodies from three states had proposed to MOEF the creation of Sahyadri Ecologically Sensitive Area (SESA) in three states," Claude Alvares, an environmentalist said.
Nitin Sawant, director world wide fund for nature (WWF) Goa said the stress should be on saving the tiger habitat instead of saving the big cat. "Mining activities should not be allowed in and around the vicinity of the tiger corridor," he said.
Johnsingh said he had conveyed to Goa's chief wildlife warden Shashi Kumar his observation about the poor prey base. "We could see the bison only in Molem and not any other sanctuaries," he said.
Johnsingh, who will submit his report shortly, said the state has a good forest cover with the state's wildlife sanctuaries spanning a protective cover of 755 sq km. Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary and other forest areas in Karnataka form a contiguous passage for wildlife. Tigers from nearby Anshi tiger reserve are known to stray into Goa.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has recognised the Goa corridor as Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU) mark 2, whereas major tiger habitats (Bandipur, Madamalai, Nagarhole) are graded on a higher scale."Goa is an important buffer zone if Anshi comes under some threat ," sources said.
Additional principal chief conservator, Shashi Kumar confirmed he had discussions with Johnsingh.
"We are waiting for assessment of preliminary data from WII," he said, and added. "A camera trap method as part of second phase of wildlife census will help clear a few aspects regarding tiger's movement in Goa."
But the WII advisor called for curbs on poaching. "Not much attention is given to it," he said, recalling Keri tiger poaching case. Further, he said any effort to increase the wild life will need lot of conservation.
"If the habitat is given good protection, it will take several years for the population to increase."
Naxal threat affects tigers too
The national tiger reserve which is situated in this backward district has been affected by the activities of the Maoists. And now nobody knows whether there are any tigers left in the reserve.
Nationwide drive
Established in 1973 and spread across 1,014 sq.km., the reserve had 22 tigers. In spite of a nationwide drive to conserve tigers, the big cat's population in this district has been dwindling. The 2007 census put the Palamu tiger population at 17. This has further reduced to 13, according to a forest guard. However the actual figures are not known as the Maoist presence impeded survey.
Increased naxal activities are also affecting routine forest management. A senior official says more than 70 per cent of the reserve remains unprotected as the officials and staff have come under attack from the Maoists.
According to him, in May 1999 a ranger was abducted and robbed, in August 2003 a forest tracker was killed and in September 2004 a forester and driver were killed in a landmine blast. Last year the rebels killed a forest ranger and robbed him. A forest guard says: “Earlier the reserve used to be open till late at night but as the animal's eyes were being affected by the torch used by the guide to point at the animals, we close the reserve early.”
Water scarcity
Scarcity of water is also affecting the reserve. It is one of the poorest districts in India and classified by the State government as “food insecure.”
Keywords: Palamu tiger reserve, naxal threat
Nationwide drive
Established in 1973 and spread across 1,014 sq.km., the reserve had 22 tigers. In spite of a nationwide drive to conserve tigers, the big cat's population in this district has been dwindling. The 2007 census put the Palamu tiger population at 17. This has further reduced to 13, according to a forest guard. However the actual figures are not known as the Maoist presence impeded survey.
Increased naxal activities are also affecting routine forest management. A senior official says more than 70 per cent of the reserve remains unprotected as the officials and staff have come under attack from the Maoists.
According to him, in May 1999 a ranger was abducted and robbed, in August 2003 a forest tracker was killed and in September 2004 a forester and driver were killed in a landmine blast. Last year the rebels killed a forest ranger and robbed him. A forest guard says: “Earlier the reserve used to be open till late at night but as the animal's eyes were being affected by the torch used by the guide to point at the animals, we close the reserve early.”
Water scarcity
Scarcity of water is also affecting the reserve. It is one of the poorest districts in India and classified by the State government as “food insecure.”
Keywords: Palamu tiger reserve, naxal threat
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Jairam writes to Orissa on low-flying chopper over tiger reserve
Union Minister for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh has written two separate letters to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel, requesting their intervention in the matter of a chopper flying low inside a tiger reserve of the state.
In December 2009, National Board for Wildlife member Biswajit Mohanty had sent a letter to member-secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority, complaining about a low-flying helicopter inside Satkosia tiger reserve.
In his reminder to the NTCA sent this month, the NBW member referred to a video aired by a local TV channel that showed the videos of the low-flying helicopter inside the tiger reserve. The report alleged that the chopper was being flown by an MP of the ruling BJD.
“The complaint regarding low-flying helicopters is a very serious one, since this causes considerable disturbance to wild animals and is an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act,” Jairam’s letter to Naveen said.
Taking objection to the reports that a tourist resort was operating inside the core area of the tiger reserve, Ramesh said that the core area of the tiger reserve needs to remain inviolate for tigers and its co-predators under Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2006. “Therefore it may please be ensured that the said Act may be implemented in letter and spirit by fostering eco-tourism ventures in the fringe/buffer area of Satkoisa as per the guidelines of Project Tiger,” he wrote.
In the letter to the Civil Aviation Minister, Ramesh said that low flight over wildlife habitats amount to hunting under the WP Act since it causes disturbance to wild animals. Referring to a complaint of the Orissa government lodged with Civil Aviation Ministry’s Calcutta-based Air Traffic Management Unit, he urged him for his intervention.
In December 2009, National Board for Wildlife member Biswajit Mohanty had sent a letter to member-secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority, complaining about a low-flying helicopter inside Satkosia tiger reserve.
In his reminder to the NTCA sent this month, the NBW member referred to a video aired by a local TV channel that showed the videos of the low-flying helicopter inside the tiger reserve. The report alleged that the chopper was being flown by an MP of the ruling BJD.
“The complaint regarding low-flying helicopters is a very serious one, since this causes considerable disturbance to wild animals and is an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act,” Jairam’s letter to Naveen said.
Taking objection to the reports that a tourist resort was operating inside the core area of the tiger reserve, Ramesh said that the core area of the tiger reserve needs to remain inviolate for tigers and its co-predators under Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2006. “Therefore it may please be ensured that the said Act may be implemented in letter and spirit by fostering eco-tourism ventures in the fringe/buffer area of Satkoisa as per the guidelines of Project Tiger,” he wrote.
In the letter to the Civil Aviation Minister, Ramesh said that low flight over wildlife habitats amount to hunting under the WP Act since it causes disturbance to wild animals. Referring to a complaint of the Orissa government lodged with Civil Aviation Ministry’s Calcutta-based Air Traffic Management Unit, he urged him for his intervention.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Tiger pugmarks sighted at Anjunem
KERI: Despite the government so far refusing to admit it, there is once again evidence that Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary on the eastern border of Goa, is a tiger habitat. Pugmarks of the big cat were discovered by the remains of a fully grown sambhar at Anjunem last week. A forest department survey team on a visit to Anjunem noticed the sambhar carcass and the pugmarks on the hilly areas of Anjunem. Local guide Vithoba Gawas of Shiroli who accompanied the survey team said, "A carcass of a sambhar was lying on the ground and pugmarks of the big cat were near it."
When contacted Keri range forest officer Deepak Betkikar said, "I will inform the officials of the department and immediately visit the site in Anjunem where the sambhar's carcass is lying." Forest dept is likely to survey the area on Saturday. Earlier in Charavane village, situated within the Mhadei Sanctuary, a buffalo belonging to shepherd Babu Mano Phale was killed by a tiger on February 4, 2009.
Also on September 27, 2009 a cow belonging to Sai Pingle of Bamanwada-Vagheri was killed by a tiger at Ponsule. Findings of both incidents were documented by forest officials. Assistant conservator of forests Subhash Henrique had last year recorded pugmarks of a tigress and a cub in Anjunem dam area and the tiger census last summer had recorded pugmarks of the big cat. People travelling through Chorla Ghat area of the sanctuary at night have reported sighting a tiger several times.
When contacted Keri range forest officer Deepak Betkikar said, "I will inform the officials of the department and immediately visit the site in Anjunem where the sambhar's carcass is lying." Forest dept is likely to survey the area on Saturday. Earlier in Charavane village, situated within the Mhadei Sanctuary, a buffalo belonging to shepherd Babu Mano Phale was killed by a tiger on February 4, 2009.
Also on September 27, 2009 a cow belonging to Sai Pingle of Bamanwada-Vagheri was killed by a tiger at Ponsule. Findings of both incidents were documented by forest officials. Assistant conservator of forests Subhash Henrique had last year recorded pugmarks of a tigress and a cub in Anjunem dam area and the tiger census last summer had recorded pugmarks of the big cat. People travelling through Chorla Ghat area of the sanctuary at night have reported sighting a tiger several times.
Tiger pugmarks sighted at Anjunem
KERI: Despite the government so far refusing to admit it, there is once again evidence that Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary on the eastern border of Goa, is a tiger habitat. Pugmarks of the big cat were discovered by the remains of a fully grown sambhar at Anjunem last week. A forest department survey team on a visit to Anjunem noticed the sambhar carcass and the pugmarks on the hilly areas of Anjunem. Local guide Vithoba Gawas of Shiroli who accompanied the survey team said, "A carcass of a sambhar was lying on the ground and pugmarks of the big cat were near it."
When contacted Keri range forest officer Deepak Betkikar said, "I will inform the officials of the department and immediately visit the site in Anjunem where the sambhar's carcass is lying." Forest dept is likely to survey the area on Saturday. Earlier in Charavane village, situated within the Mhadei Sanctuary, a buffalo belonging to shepherd Babu Mano Phale was killed by a tiger on February 4, 2009.
Also on September 27, 2009 a cow belonging to Sai Pingle of Bamanwada-Vagheri was killed by a tiger at Ponsule. Findings of both incidents were documented by forest officials. Assistant conservator of forests Subhash Henrique had last year recorded pugmarks of a tigress and a cub in Anjunem dam area and the tiger census last summer had recorded pugmarks of the big cat. People travelling through Chorla Ghat area of the sanctuary at night have reported sighting a tiger several times.
When contacted Keri range forest officer Deepak Betkikar said, "I will inform the officials of the department and immediately visit the site in Anjunem where the sambhar's carcass is lying." Forest dept is likely to survey the area on Saturday. Earlier in Charavane village, situated within the Mhadei Sanctuary, a buffalo belonging to shepherd Babu Mano Phale was killed by a tiger on February 4, 2009.
Also on September 27, 2009 a cow belonging to Sai Pingle of Bamanwada-Vagheri was killed by a tiger at Ponsule. Findings of both incidents were documented by forest officials. Assistant conservator of forests Subhash Henrique had last year recorded pugmarks of a tigress and a cub in Anjunem dam area and the tiger census last summer had recorded pugmarks of the big cat. People travelling through Chorla Ghat area of the sanctuary at night have reported sighting a tiger several times.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Bid to relocate sambhars from Sarika goes awry
JAIPUR/ALWAR: It was another relocation bid that went awry. The animal in question this time was the meek sambhar.
Planned on the lines of the tiger relocation from Ranthambore tiger reserve to Sariska, it entailed relocating 70 sambhars from Sariska to Sajjangarh, Kumbhalgarh sanctuaries in Udaipur district and to Rajgarh in Alwar to help establish a bigger population of the animal there.
But having relocated some sambhars on Wednesday, the brakes came with the ministry of forest and environment taking a strong exception to the relocation without the assistance of a technical person. Objections were also raised as this would destroy the prey base of tigers at Sariska where the ministry has already spent crores for reestablishing a tiger population.
While the Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary, located 5 km from Udaipur, the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary is 65 km from City of Lakes. Rajgarh is 35 km from Alwar, spread amid lovely wooded valleys.
"We had relocated two sambhars on Wednesday from Sariska to Udaipur. But after objections from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) we have stopped," forest department officials said. However, sources added at least six Sambhars, two females and four males, may have already been relocated.
"The issue is all of them may not have reached there alive," the source added.
Similar attempts had been made twice earlier but the project had to be cancelled after strong objections from certain quarters due to the death of many of these animals.
"In case of sambhars, all animals tranquillised are not in the best of health. They may be suffering from disease and when tranquillised many fail to regain consciousness," said a forest official.
"Moreover, in the absence of a technical person what was happening was sambhars were being taken from the Kalighati area in Sariska which is the core area for tigers. This would not only disturb the prey base for tigers but the remaining sambhars may flee to the periphery leaving little food for the tiger," an expert said.
He suggested instead sambhars should have been caught from the outskirts of the forest. "Too many sambhars can be seen roaming in the periphery and are often hit by vehicles plying on the the nearby highway," he said.
Contacted, officials of the forest department said, "We were not for the project but often one has to act under pressure." In fact, sources revealed that Union minister for forest and environment Jairam Ramesh has written to chief minister Ashok Gehlot seeking his personal intervention to stop the project.
But reports are that the project is not shelved completely and officials from Udaipur were still in Sariska and might resume relocation of sambhars any time.
Forest officials refused to comment as the project was initiated at the behest of a senior state bureaucrat.
Read more: Bid to relocate sambhars from Sarika goes awry - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Bid-to-relocate-sambhars-from-Sarika-goes-awry/articleshow/7114435.cms#ixzz18LbdYZLM
Planned on the lines of the tiger relocation from Ranthambore tiger reserve to Sariska, it entailed relocating 70 sambhars from Sariska to Sajjangarh, Kumbhalgarh sanctuaries in Udaipur district and to Rajgarh in Alwar to help establish a bigger population of the animal there.
But having relocated some sambhars on Wednesday, the brakes came with the ministry of forest and environment taking a strong exception to the relocation without the assistance of a technical person. Objections were also raised as this would destroy the prey base of tigers at Sariska where the ministry has already spent crores for reestablishing a tiger population.
While the Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary, located 5 km from Udaipur, the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary is 65 km from City of Lakes. Rajgarh is 35 km from Alwar, spread amid lovely wooded valleys.
"We had relocated two sambhars on Wednesday from Sariska to Udaipur. But after objections from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) we have stopped," forest department officials said. However, sources added at least six Sambhars, two females and four males, may have already been relocated.
"The issue is all of them may not have reached there alive," the source added.
Similar attempts had been made twice earlier but the project had to be cancelled after strong objections from certain quarters due to the death of many of these animals.
"In case of sambhars, all animals tranquillised are not in the best of health. They may be suffering from disease and when tranquillised many fail to regain consciousness," said a forest official.
"Moreover, in the absence of a technical person what was happening was sambhars were being taken from the Kalighati area in Sariska which is the core area for tigers. This would not only disturb the prey base for tigers but the remaining sambhars may flee to the periphery leaving little food for the tiger," an expert said.
He suggested instead sambhars should have been caught from the outskirts of the forest. "Too many sambhars can be seen roaming in the periphery and are often hit by vehicles plying on the the nearby highway," he said.
Contacted, officials of the forest department said, "We were not for the project but often one has to act under pressure." In fact, sources revealed that Union minister for forest and environment Jairam Ramesh has written to chief minister Ashok Gehlot seeking his personal intervention to stop the project.
But reports are that the project is not shelved completely and officials from Udaipur were still in Sariska and might resume relocation of sambhars any time.
Forest officials refused to comment as the project was initiated at the behest of a senior state bureaucrat.
Read more: Bid to relocate sambhars from Sarika goes awry - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Bid-to-relocate-sambhars-from-Sarika-goes-awry/articleshow/7114435.cms#ixzz18LbdYZLM
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Protection force for Pench, Tadoba ayed
NAGPUR: Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday took top forest officials by surprise when he green signalled setting up of Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) for two tiger reserves in Maharashtra. At a meeting held at Van Sabhagruha, Pawar agreed to set up STPF by creating 224 posts.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) monitoring the tiger reserves in the country, has mandated setting up of STPFs in tiger reserves with 100% central assistance. The STPF is to be set up in Pench & Tadoba-Andhari in Maharashtra, Dudhwa-Katerniaghat & Corbett in Uttar Pradesh, Ranthambhore in Rajasthan, Kanha, Bandhavgarh & Pench in Madhya Pradesh, Pakke in Arunachal Pradesh, Bandipur in Karnataka, Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu, Kaziranga in Assam and Similipal in Orissa.
The issue was hanging fire for over two years, with the state government taking no steps to set up STPF. The STPF will be on the lines of India Reserve Battalion. The guidelines were issued on February 5, 2009. Later, these norms were revised on May 11, 2009, with the condition of inducting policemen relaxed.
On Wednesday, top forest officials managed to convince Pawar, who issued orders to the finance department to create 224 posts for the STPF. Initially, a company of 112 in each reserve, headed by an assistant commandant and having three PSIs, six head constables and 90 constables is to be formed. Now the same battalion can be headed by forest officials.
Top forest officials told Pawar that the money towards salaries of the staff would come from the Centre. They also told the him that if, after 10 years, the Centre stops grants for STPF, many employees in the department would have retired and hence there will be no extra financial burden on the state.
Officials told Pawar that considering the danger to tiger and the need for urgently stepping up protection in sensitive areas having source populations of tiger with the active involvement of forest dwelling communities, the matter has been reviewed. The STPF would comprise of only forest personnel like ACF, RFOs, foresters and forest guards. However, 30% of the STPF guards would comprise local forest people. They will be entitled to same salary and emoluments through the service provider, as regular guards.
Among the other decisions, Pawar also agreed to set up a secret fund after he was told that Central Government was ready to give Rs 25 lakh for the purpose. He also directed the finance department officials to expedite release of money towards cattle and human kill compensation to save wildlife.
Officials also raised the issue of relocation of villages from tiger reserves in the state. Pawar was told that Rs 700 crore were needed to relocate all villages from the PAs in the state. Pawar managed to get Rs 80 crore to relocate villages in Koyna but relocation of villages in reserves in Vidarbha is completely stalled.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) monitoring the tiger reserves in the country, has mandated setting up of STPFs in tiger reserves with 100% central assistance. The STPF is to be set up in Pench & Tadoba-Andhari in Maharashtra, Dudhwa-Katerniaghat & Corbett in Uttar Pradesh, Ranthambhore in Rajasthan, Kanha, Bandhavgarh & Pench in Madhya Pradesh, Pakke in Arunachal Pradesh, Bandipur in Karnataka, Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu, Kaziranga in Assam and Similipal in Orissa.
The issue was hanging fire for over two years, with the state government taking no steps to set up STPF. The STPF will be on the lines of India Reserve Battalion. The guidelines were issued on February 5, 2009. Later, these norms were revised on May 11, 2009, with the condition of inducting policemen relaxed.
On Wednesday, top forest officials managed to convince Pawar, who issued orders to the finance department to create 224 posts for the STPF. Initially, a company of 112 in each reserve, headed by an assistant commandant and having three PSIs, six head constables and 90 constables is to be formed. Now the same battalion can be headed by forest officials.
Top forest officials told Pawar that the money towards salaries of the staff would come from the Centre. They also told the him that if, after 10 years, the Centre stops grants for STPF, many employees in the department would have retired and hence there will be no extra financial burden on the state.
Officials told Pawar that considering the danger to tiger and the need for urgently stepping up protection in sensitive areas having source populations of tiger with the active involvement of forest dwelling communities, the matter has been reviewed. The STPF would comprise of only forest personnel like ACF, RFOs, foresters and forest guards. However, 30% of the STPF guards would comprise local forest people. They will be entitled to same salary and emoluments through the service provider, as regular guards.
Among the other decisions, Pawar also agreed to set up a secret fund after he was told that Central Government was ready to give Rs 25 lakh for the purpose. He also directed the finance department officials to expedite release of money towards cattle and human kill compensation to save wildlife.
Officials also raised the issue of relocation of villages from tiger reserves in the state. Pawar was told that Rs 700 crore were needed to relocate all villages from the PAs in the state. Pawar managed to get Rs 80 crore to relocate villages in Koyna but relocation of villages in reserves in Vidarbha is completely stalled.
Tiger killing: Suspect undergoes polygraph test
ALWAR/JAIPUR: The man suspected in the killing of male tiger ST-1 at the Sariska tiger reserve, Parsadilal Gujjar, was on Wednesday taken to the CBI's Centre for Forensic laboratory for a polygraphy test. The test will ascertain the extent to which the suspect is involved in the poisoning of the tiger.
"Parsadilal left for Delhi from Sariska in the wee hours this morning. On reaching Delhi, he was taken to the forensic laboratory at about 10.30. The tests will be done on him and in about two days we will get to know whether he was involved in he killing of the tiger," said an official.
While the state forest department has been suspecting Parsadilal of poisoning the tiger, the suspect has so far just accepted that he had chanced upon the carcass of the big cat after which he cut off the whiskers from the body in the hope of selling it later a high price. But the fact that Parsadilal had the whiskers with him has made the forest department suspect him of having killed it too.
However, the department's breakthrough in the investigation met a road block when local MLA Hem Singh Bhadana warned the officials not to harass the villagers of Kalakhet in Sariska merely on suspicion. It was at this point that the forest department decided to bring things to light with the help of a polygraphy test.
The needle of suspicion rested on Parsadilal when the forest department during initial investigation saw him behaving uncomfortably when quizzed on the killing of the tiger. Thereafter the department has been keeping a tab on him and made him yield eventually.
"Parsadilal left for Delhi from Sariska in the wee hours this morning. On reaching Delhi, he was taken to the forensic laboratory at about 10.30. The tests will be done on him and in about two days we will get to know whether he was involved in he killing of the tiger," said an official.
While the state forest department has been suspecting Parsadilal of poisoning the tiger, the suspect has so far just accepted that he had chanced upon the carcass of the big cat after which he cut off the whiskers from the body in the hope of selling it later a high price. But the fact that Parsadilal had the whiskers with him has made the forest department suspect him of having killed it too.
However, the department's breakthrough in the investigation met a road block when local MLA Hem Singh Bhadana warned the officials not to harass the villagers of Kalakhet in Sariska merely on suspicion. It was at this point that the forest department decided to bring things to light with the help of a polygraphy test.
The needle of suspicion rested on Parsadilal when the forest department during initial investigation saw him behaving uncomfortably when quizzed on the killing of the tiger. Thereafter the department has been keeping a tab on him and made him yield eventually.
Fire threatens Sariska reserve
Alwar: As a forest fire approached the Kyara village, situated in vicinity of Sariska Tiger Reserve, officials of state forest department and district administration of Alwar locked horns, each shirking responsibility.
According to villagers, the forest fire started in the bushes near Thanagazi on Sunday but the authorities were clueless even after 48 hours as the fire kept raging in more than 15 square kilometres within miles of the Sariska reserve until shepherds going into the hilly terrain reported it.
"We were informed about the fire on Tuesday morning but it did not fall within our jurisdiction. However, we informed the local administration about it as it's their responsibility," Jai Kishan, assistant conservator of forest (ACF), Alwar said.
On the other hand, the local administration said that they were busy in a camp organised under Prashsahn Gaon ke Sang campaign in the nearby Kishori village, which is 2 km away from the site.
"We received the information about the fire today [Tuesday] but could not reach the spot as we were busy in the camp. I don't know if the fire is still raging," Vinay Nagayach, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Thanagazi said.
Allegedly the fire started from a pyre ignited by woodcutters to get rid of the chilly winds.
When DNA reached the spot late on Tuesday evening the fire was still simmering at many places near the Golradi area.
"The villagers had spotted the fire on Sunday evening but forest officials did not come until Tuesday. And even when the forest official did arrive on Tuesday they refused to act as the area did not fall under their jurisdiction. Later, the villagers doused the fire," Laxmikant Meena, a village
According to villagers, the forest fire started in the bushes near Thanagazi on Sunday but the authorities were clueless even after 48 hours as the fire kept raging in more than 15 square kilometres within miles of the Sariska reserve until shepherds going into the hilly terrain reported it.
"We were informed about the fire on Tuesday morning but it did not fall within our jurisdiction. However, we informed the local administration about it as it's their responsibility," Jai Kishan, assistant conservator of forest (ACF), Alwar said.
On the other hand, the local administration said that they were busy in a camp organised under Prashsahn Gaon ke Sang campaign in the nearby Kishori village, which is 2 km away from the site.
"We received the information about the fire today [Tuesday] but could not reach the spot as we were busy in the camp. I don't know if the fire is still raging," Vinay Nagayach, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Thanagazi said.
Allegedly the fire started from a pyre ignited by woodcutters to get rid of the chilly winds.
When DNA reached the spot late on Tuesday evening the fire was still simmering at many places near the Golradi area.
"The villagers had spotted the fire on Sunday evening but forest officials did not come until Tuesday. And even when the forest official did arrive on Tuesday they refused to act as the area did not fall under their jurisdiction. Later, the villagers doused the fire," Laxmikant Meena, a village
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Another tiger birth in Ranthambore?
JAIPUR: Close on the heels of the birth of two new cubs at the Ranthambore tiger reserve in the recent past, there could be some more good news in store. Indications are that another big cat may have given birth to some cubs. Though officials did not confirm it, pugmarks of cubs are said to have been seen in the area.
"The tigress was recently sighted in the Kachida area and it seems she has given birth to some cubs. The inference gained credence after pugmarks of some cubs were also sighted in the area."
The tigress may be the T-5, said to be the mother of male tigers T-6 and T-7. The area also houses the T-8 tigress. But sources say that all the three big cats are out of the area currently and so there will not be any threat to the new born cubs.
Officials of the forest department, however, refuted the claims on the grounds that there were no scientific evidences suggesting the birth of the cubs. But what officials have done is to fit camera traps in a large portion of the reserve to take pictures of the cubs and tigers.
"We have about 30 camera traps and we have borrowed some from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun. These have been fixed at the park. But this is not for taking pictures of the cubs. This is an annual thing that scientists of the WII are doing. It would take about 20 days to cover the entire park," said RP Gupta, DFO Ranthambore.
Sources also said that the T-5 tigress was seen mating during the monsoon and the forest department has been expecting the birth of these cubs. "Tiger cubs come out in the open only after about four months of their birth. And till there is actual sighting or a picture, we cannot say that cubs have been born, and in this case we have neither," officials added.
The birth of the cubs would be a big respite for officials of the state forest department that has been fighting hard to explain numerous tigers straying away from the Ranthambore tiger reserve. Added to that, the death of the first relocated tiger ST-1 to Sariska has been a big jolt.
Moreover, there has been a lull at Ranthambore after 2008 that saw the birth of some cubs. The next two years failed to see any new born allegedly due to a skewed sex ratio at the park.
"The tigress was recently sighted in the Kachida area and it seems she has given birth to some cubs. The inference gained credence after pugmarks of some cubs were also sighted in the area."
The tigress may be the T-5, said to be the mother of male tigers T-6 and T-7. The area also houses the T-8 tigress. But sources say that all the three big cats are out of the area currently and so there will not be any threat to the new born cubs.
Officials of the forest department, however, refuted the claims on the grounds that there were no scientific evidences suggesting the birth of the cubs. But what officials have done is to fit camera traps in a large portion of the reserve to take pictures of the cubs and tigers.
"We have about 30 camera traps and we have borrowed some from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun. These have been fixed at the park. But this is not for taking pictures of the cubs. This is an annual thing that scientists of the WII are doing. It would take about 20 days to cover the entire park," said RP Gupta, DFO Ranthambore.
Sources also said that the T-5 tigress was seen mating during the monsoon and the forest department has been expecting the birth of these cubs. "Tiger cubs come out in the open only after about four months of their birth. And till there is actual sighting or a picture, we cannot say that cubs have been born, and in this case we have neither," officials added.
The birth of the cubs would be a big respite for officials of the state forest department that has been fighting hard to explain numerous tigers straying away from the Ranthambore tiger reserve. Added to that, the death of the first relocated tiger ST-1 to Sariska has been a big jolt.
Moreover, there has been a lull at Ranthambore after 2008 that saw the birth of some cubs. The next two years failed to see any new born allegedly due to a skewed sex ratio at the park.
Tourism in Madhya Pradesh at the cost of the tigers?
While the "warning" to tiger conservationists against the PIL might seem puzzling, it has long been an open secret that many conservationists run highly profitable tourism enterprises.
A recent email written by the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) of Madhya Pradesh, asking tour operators to “take whatever steps you think will be appropriate to protect your interests” in the core areas of the tiger reserves of the State, has brought the forest department's conservation efforts under scrutiny.
The email was written by CWLW H.S. Pabla on November 14, five days after a public interest litigation (PIL), filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court by Ajay Dube of Prayatna, an environment group, sought, among other things, a complete ban on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves.
The email asks international wildlife tour organisations to make sure the PIL “does not succeed” by impleading themselves as affected parties. Subsequently, a number of intervention applications have been filed in the High Court by the tour operators “concerned” as affected parties.
The addressees who have been asked to protect their interests include representatives of the Taj Hotels and those of Travel Operators For Tigers (TOFT), an international wildlife tour organisation, among others.
TOFT was reportedly instrumental in getting the State forest department to push a proposal in the Ministry of Environment and Forests to allow for patches of forest reserves to be handed over to them to be run as South African-style safaris where rich tourists could be catered to. The Ministry rejected the proposal.
CONSERVATIONISTS' ROLE
The list includes renowned tiger experts and conservationists Dhruv Singh and Hashim Tyabji, with one of them holding top positions at TOFT and being owner-partners of Baghvan, a tourist resort in the Pench Tiger Reserve, the scenic backdrop of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.
While the “warning” to tiger conservationists against the PIL might seem puzzling, it has long been an open secret that many conservationists run highly profitable tourism enterprises.
Tourist activities in core areas have been clearly stated as inimical to tiger conservation under Section 38V (4) (i) of the Wild Life Protection Act, and under the revised guidelines (2008, para 4.17) of Project Tiger, the Centrally sponsored tiger conservation scheme launched in 1972.
The NTCA's response to the PIL maintains this stand while defining the word inviolate to mean “any disturbance by humans” and emphasising that the word needs to be read in toto following the 2006 amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) response also states that the amendment has “strengthened the hands of the Chief Wildlife Warden to achieve the same.”
While sources in the NTCA maintain that the CWLW's actions are in direct conflict with his role as the chief conservationist of the State, Mr. Pabla clarified to The Hindu that as a professional, he had to maintain correspondence with all stakeholders in such matters, but refused to comment further since the matter was sub judice.
The sources told The Hindu that senior officials of the Madhya Pradesh forest department and several other retired and serving senior bureaucrats had interests in tourism activities in and around the Panna, Kanha and Pench Tiger Reserves.
When asked, Mr. Pabla refuted such allegations. “Neither I, nor any relative of mine anywhere in the world, have any interests in tourism activities in core areas, and to the best of my knowledge, none of the forest officials in M.P. does,” he said.
‘We like tourism'
“We like tourism — it gets us revenue and supports conservation. The State government will be opposing the PIL officially,” a senior forest official told The Hindu.
The Madhya Pradesh government has consistently maintained a pro-tourism stand for the core areas of tiger reserves. It recently gave the ‘Tourism Friendly Forester' award to Mr. Pabla, who was instrumental in launching the ‘Patrolling the Tiger land' initiative, allowing tourists to visit core areas of tiger reserves from October.
Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had expressed shock at the initiative and requested the State government to stop it. However, forest officials maintain that the initiative is “suspended temporarily.”
“We don't want to throttle tourism, but it needs to be regulated and gradually phased out of core areas in keeping with the Wildlife Protection Act,” NTCA member secretary Rajesh Gopal told The Hindu.
Keywords: tiger reserves, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Madhya Pradesh tourism
A recent email written by the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) of Madhya Pradesh, asking tour operators to “take whatever steps you think will be appropriate to protect your interests” in the core areas of the tiger reserves of the State, has brought the forest department's conservation efforts under scrutiny.
The email was written by CWLW H.S. Pabla on November 14, five days after a public interest litigation (PIL), filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court by Ajay Dube of Prayatna, an environment group, sought, among other things, a complete ban on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves.
The email asks international wildlife tour organisations to make sure the PIL “does not succeed” by impleading themselves as affected parties. Subsequently, a number of intervention applications have been filed in the High Court by the tour operators “concerned” as affected parties.
The addressees who have been asked to protect their interests include representatives of the Taj Hotels and those of Travel Operators For Tigers (TOFT), an international wildlife tour organisation, among others.
TOFT was reportedly instrumental in getting the State forest department to push a proposal in the Ministry of Environment and Forests to allow for patches of forest reserves to be handed over to them to be run as South African-style safaris where rich tourists could be catered to. The Ministry rejected the proposal.
CONSERVATIONISTS' ROLE
The list includes renowned tiger experts and conservationists Dhruv Singh and Hashim Tyabji, with one of them holding top positions at TOFT and being owner-partners of Baghvan, a tourist resort in the Pench Tiger Reserve, the scenic backdrop of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.
While the “warning” to tiger conservationists against the PIL might seem puzzling, it has long been an open secret that many conservationists run highly profitable tourism enterprises.
Tourist activities in core areas have been clearly stated as inimical to tiger conservation under Section 38V (4) (i) of the Wild Life Protection Act, and under the revised guidelines (2008, para 4.17) of Project Tiger, the Centrally sponsored tiger conservation scheme launched in 1972.
The NTCA's response to the PIL maintains this stand while defining the word inviolate to mean “any disturbance by humans” and emphasising that the word needs to be read in toto following the 2006 amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) response also states that the amendment has “strengthened the hands of the Chief Wildlife Warden to achieve the same.”
While sources in the NTCA maintain that the CWLW's actions are in direct conflict with his role as the chief conservationist of the State, Mr. Pabla clarified to The Hindu that as a professional, he had to maintain correspondence with all stakeholders in such matters, but refused to comment further since the matter was sub judice.
The sources told The Hindu that senior officials of the Madhya Pradesh forest department and several other retired and serving senior bureaucrats had interests in tourism activities in and around the Panna, Kanha and Pench Tiger Reserves.
When asked, Mr. Pabla refuted such allegations. “Neither I, nor any relative of mine anywhere in the world, have any interests in tourism activities in core areas, and to the best of my knowledge, none of the forest officials in M.P. does,” he said.
‘We like tourism'
“We like tourism — it gets us revenue and supports conservation. The State government will be opposing the PIL officially,” a senior forest official told The Hindu.
The Madhya Pradesh government has consistently maintained a pro-tourism stand for the core areas of tiger reserves. It recently gave the ‘Tourism Friendly Forester' award to Mr. Pabla, who was instrumental in launching the ‘Patrolling the Tiger land' initiative, allowing tourists to visit core areas of tiger reserves from October.
Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had expressed shock at the initiative and requested the State government to stop it. However, forest officials maintain that the initiative is “suspended temporarily.”
“We don't want to throttle tourism, but it needs to be regulated and gradually phased out of core areas in keeping with the Wildlife Protection Act,” NTCA member secretary Rajesh Gopal told The Hindu.
Keywords: tiger reserves, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Madhya Pradesh tourism
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Panna Tiger Reserve welcomes two more cubs
BHOPAL: A translocated tigress gave birth to two cubs in Panna Tiger Reserve upping the big cat population there, forest officials said.
A tigress brought to Panna from the Kanha Tiger Reserve gave birth to the cubs and the new guests are around two months old and appeared to be healthy, a top official of forest department told PTI today.
This tigress airlifted from Kanha was put in the wild in March 2009 but was not responding to the advances of the lone translocated big cat in the reserve initially, spread over an area of 543 sq km in Panna and Chhattarpur districts of eastern Madhya Pradesh, he said.
Now, with the birth of two cubs, the number of it has gone upto four in the Panna.
A tigress brought from Bandhavgarh and put in the wild of Panna on March 6, 2009 gave birth to four felines some months back. Out of four, two cubs died after they were attacked by the tiger, forest officials claimed.
There is one tiger in Panna and this big cat was brought from Pench Tiger Reserve was put in the wild on November 14 last year.
Two more tigresses from Kanha will be brought to Panna shortly. Thereafter, another tiger will be translocated in the park.
Panna Tiger Reserve, which once had more than 35 tigers, had become devoid of the big cat allegedly due to poaching last year. After this efforts are on to revive big cat population in Panna.
A tigress brought to Panna from the Kanha Tiger Reserve gave birth to the cubs and the new guests are around two months old and appeared to be healthy, a top official of forest department told PTI today.
This tigress airlifted from Kanha was put in the wild in March 2009 but was not responding to the advances of the lone translocated big cat in the reserve initially, spread over an area of 543 sq km in Panna and Chhattarpur districts of eastern Madhya Pradesh, he said.
Now, with the birth of two cubs, the number of it has gone upto four in the Panna.
A tigress brought from Bandhavgarh and put in the wild of Panna on March 6, 2009 gave birth to four felines some months back. Out of four, two cubs died after they were attacked by the tiger, forest officials claimed.
There is one tiger in Panna and this big cat was brought from Pench Tiger Reserve was put in the wild on November 14 last year.
Two more tigresses from Kanha will be brought to Panna shortly. Thereafter, another tiger will be translocated in the park.
Panna Tiger Reserve, which once had more than 35 tigers, had become devoid of the big cat allegedly due to poaching last year. After this efforts are on to revive big cat population in Panna.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tiger kills man in wildlife park
Lucknow, Dec 12 (IANS) A 40-year-old man was Sunday killed by a tiger in the Katarniya Ghat Tiger reserve in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district.
Identified as Data Ram, Sunday's victim was a resident of Karikot village near the India-Nepal border. The incident took place about 140 km from here.
This is stated to be the seventh human kill by a tiger in the region this year. The victims include two young boys. As many as 15 people were wounded.
Tanveer Hasan, the World Wildlife Fund observer in Katarniya Ghat, said the man had gone deep into the forest to collect firewood when the tiger pounced on him.
Identified as Data Ram, Sunday's victim was a resident of Karikot village near the India-Nepal border. The incident took place about 140 km from here.
This is stated to be the seventh human kill by a tiger in the region this year. The victims include two young boys. As many as 15 people were wounded.
Tanveer Hasan, the World Wildlife Fund observer in Katarniya Ghat, said the man had gone deep into the forest to collect firewood when the tiger pounced on him.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tourists banned in core areas of Madhya Pradesh tiger reserves
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) said that there shall be no tourism within the core area of tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh, according to documents filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The NTCA direction has been spelt out in an an affidavit filed before a Madhya Pradesh High
Court bench headed by Justice KK Lahoti.
The directive effectively back an NGO's demand for a ban on tourists in the core areas of tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh. The NGO has been supported by the union environment and forests ministry.
The authority's reply, in a case related to tiger conservation, was filed Friday after receiving the approval of Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh.
"We had put three major issues before the court - notification of buffer zone in tiger conservation projects, prohibition of tourism in core areas of reserves, and implementation of tiger conservation plan," Ajay Dubey of Prayatna NGO told IANS.
"The reply of the central government is satisfactory," said Dubey, adding that the state government was allowing tourists access to Kanha National Park's core areas.
Dubey filed a petition against the authority, the central government and the Madhya Pradesh government for the court's direction to them to notify the core and buffer areas in and around the tiger reserves.
The petitioner also sought a direction to ensure that the core areas so notified were maintained as "inviolate" zones.
The court, after having taken serious note of the matter, had directed the authority and the government to file an affidavit as regards the status of core areas in the tiger reserves.
Court bench headed by Justice KK Lahoti.
The directive effectively back an NGO's demand for a ban on tourists in the core areas of tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh. The NGO has been supported by the union environment and forests ministry.
The authority's reply, in a case related to tiger conservation, was filed Friday after receiving the approval of Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh.
"We had put three major issues before the court - notification of buffer zone in tiger conservation projects, prohibition of tourism in core areas of reserves, and implementation of tiger conservation plan," Ajay Dubey of Prayatna NGO told IANS.
"The reply of the central government is satisfactory," said Dubey, adding that the state government was allowing tourists access to Kanha National Park's core areas.
Dubey filed a petition against the authority, the central government and the Madhya Pradesh government for the court's direction to them to notify the core and buffer areas in and around the tiger reserves.
The petitioner also sought a direction to ensure that the core areas so notified were maintained as "inviolate" zones.
The court, after having taken serious note of the matter, had directed the authority and the government to file an affidavit as regards the status of core areas in the tiger reserves.
Big B to auction personal belongings for tiger conservation
Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan has decided to sell some of his personal belongings to raise funds for conservation of tiger, the numbers of which have dwindled in recent years. "Shall be auctioning some of my personal belongings to generate funds for this noble cause - Save the Tigers!,"
tweeted Bachchan.
He also asked people to donate for protection of big cats.
"Donate generously!!" he wrote.
He will take part in a special campaign for tiger conservation in Pench National Reserve tomorrow.
tweeted Bachchan.
He also asked people to donate for protection of big cats.
"Donate generously!!" he wrote.
He will take part in a special campaign for tiger conservation in Pench National Reserve tomorrow.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
No tourists in core tiger habitats: Centre
In a stand that will have far-reaching consequences for tourism in tiger reserves in India, the Centre has said the core areas of national parks and sanctuaries should be kept inviolate for the purpose of tiger conservation.
The government spelled its stand in an affidavit filed by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which is hearing a PIL that seeks to ban tourism, development or activity in core/critical habitat areas.
The court had insisted on an affidavit after the counsel for the authority took this stand in a previous hearing. The affidavit quotes Section 38 (V) 4(i) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 that says that core or critical tiger habitat areas of national parks and sanctuaries are “required to be kept as inviolate for the purposes of tiger conservation, without affecting the rights of the STs or such other forest dwellers, and notified as such by the state government in consultation with an expert committee constituted for the purpose”.
From time to time the NTCA had issued several directions/advisories to the state government for protection of tigers, the affidavit said and again quoted revised guidelines issued in 2008. Summing up, the affidavit that was filed two days ago said it is clear from the guidelines that the core/critical tiger habitats have to be kept as inviolate and only management interventions can be allowed by the state government. In such areas if tourism activities are taking place they are required to be phased out in the fringe/buffer area.
The government spelled its stand in an affidavit filed by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which is hearing a PIL that seeks to ban tourism, development or activity in core/critical habitat areas.
The court had insisted on an affidavit after the counsel for the authority took this stand in a previous hearing. The affidavit quotes Section 38 (V) 4(i) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 that says that core or critical tiger habitat areas of national parks and sanctuaries are “required to be kept as inviolate for the purposes of tiger conservation, without affecting the rights of the STs or such other forest dwellers, and notified as such by the state government in consultation with an expert committee constituted for the purpose”.
From time to time the NTCA had issued several directions/advisories to the state government for protection of tigers, the affidavit said and again quoted revised guidelines issued in 2008. Summing up, the affidavit that was filed two days ago said it is clear from the guidelines that the core/critical tiger habitats have to be kept as inviolate and only management interventions can be allowed by the state government. In such areas if tourism activities are taking place they are required to be phased out in the fringe/buffer area.
Tiger strays into village in Sunderbans
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.
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.
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.
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