Scat analysis indicates presence of more tigers in Buxa

The Buxa Tiger Reserve in north Bengal, identified as a low density tiger reserve, may in fact harbour a greater number of the big cats as indicated by initial reports of scat samples.

“We had sent 83 samples to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad of which 55 were fit for analysis. Preliminary reports confirmed that 33 of these samples are of tiger origin,” Field Director of Buxa Tiger Reserve R.P. Saini told PTI.

During the tiger estimation exercise, scats were collected to enable DNA profiling of tigers in the reserve, but the exercise could not be completed due to rain and another full-fledged exercise would be undertaken after the monsoon, he said.

Describing the preliminary findings as “very encouraging”, he said it clearly indicated the presence of a number of tigers in the Buxa Tiger Reserve.

Asked to give the number of big cats in Buxa Tiger Reserve, he said although a detailed report about the number and gender of the tigers was yet to be received, it could be anything between 12 and 16.

Questions were frequently raised about the presence of tigers in Buxa Tiger Reserve where a big cat was photographed for the first time since its inception.

NTCA had identified Buxa as one of the reserves having low density tiger population and constituted a special team last year for urgent appraisal of the reserve.

He said that reports regarding preliminary findings were submitted to the state government as well as the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Encouraged by the reports, the State government has sanctioned Rs. 30 lakh to the Buxa Tiger Reserve for the development of grasslands in the reserve, he said.

Saini said scats were also sent to ‘Aranyak’, an NGO based in Assam, for analysis and their preliminary report. He also said that 35 of the samples belonged to tigers.

He said that GPS positioning was recorded during the scat collection and after receiving the detailed report camera traps would be set up in areas with high tiger density.

BTR authorities had earlier toyed with the idea of going in for captive breeding to maintain the tiger population.

Now they have decided to relocate nine villages from the core areas of the reserve. The villages to be relocated outside the core area are Jainti, Bhutiabasti, Gangutia, Raimatang, Butrhi, Adma, Pana, 27 mile and 28 mile, he said.

The relocation would start anytime after funds were received from the government for the purpose, he said adding residents of eight villages had already agreed to opt for a monetary package for relocation.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article549620.ece

No signal from relocated Sariska tiger

JAIPUR: Having completed the first phase of relocation of tigers to Sariska, it is testing time for forest officials. For the past three days, they are not getting any signal from the radio collar of a male tiger.

‘‘Whenever a tiger comes to a new surrounding it strays to distant areas in order to survey the place. The tiger may have gone to a place (valley) within the territory from where we are not receiving any signal,’’ a forest officer said.

He said, ‘‘In valleys signal from the radio collar fails to reach the satellite and till the tiger remains in that location, it is difficult to trace it. Same is the case with this tiger which was relocated to Sariska from Ranthambore about two months back.

We have not received any signal for the last three days. But the moment it reaches a plateau it will be easily traced.’’

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/No-signal-from-relocated-Sariska-tiger/articleshow/6249804.cms

Sansar Chand is India’s deadliest poacher. Here is how he has escaped legal traps for 40 years BY RAMAN KIRPAL

TWO HUNDRED and fifty tigers, 2,000 leopards, 5,000 otters, 20,000 wild cats, 20,000 wild foxes — and still counting. That’s the number of wild animals that law enforcers have been able to count as falling prey to the deadly trade plied by Sansar Chand, 55, dubbed the Veerappan of the North, in the four decades since he took to a life of crime. He himself says they are “uncountable” and betrays no remorse about this mayhem.

The incorrigible poacher and his partners in crime, at least five of them family members, have been apprehended in as many as 57 cases in a bid to link him to seizure of large caches of animal parts. But thanks to shoddy investigations, apathy of State authorities, possible bribery of witnesses and weak laws, Sansar Chand has so far been acquitted in 10 cases and convicted only in one. Seven cases are still pending (see box). Right now he is lodged in Jaipur central jail, but is looking forward to freedom after serving a five-year term.

The sustained cruelty to animals — caught in iron traps, clubbed to death and then skinned — has brought rich dividends. Over the years, Sansar Chand amassed 45 properties, some of them covering an entire lane in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar. A conservative estimate puts their cost at Rs 40 crore, but the present market value would be much more. He claims he has no bank account, but the rent from the shops and flats alone will keep him comfortable, should he walk free.

Sealing of these properties is not within the purview of the Indian Wildlife (Prevention) Act, 1972, under which the cases are being tried. He has also been dragged into the stranglehold of the more stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999, but is trying to wriggle out on the technical ground that it can only be evoked for repeat offenders with more than two convictions.

Such convictions have mostly eluded the authorities. For instance, a case was registered against both the poacher and his mother Manuka Devi on 23 February 1990 after a raid at the ancestral home that yielded a tiger skin, 17 leopard skins, 74 other skins and 30 kg of tiger bones. He submitted a ration card as proof that he lived at another address. Further, only one witness out of seven present at the time of the raid testified that he saw Sansar Chand escaping from the terrace at the time of the seizure. Manuka Devi died during the trial and Chand was subsequently discharged on 3 March 2008.

The sustained cruelty to animals brought rich dividends. Over the years, Sansar Chand bought 45 properties and put them on rent

In another case typical of the slow judicial process, the police were told that a large consignment of six tiger skins, 26 tiger cub skins and 43 leopard skins was on its way to Sansar Chand in Delhi. Acting on a tipoff, the police caught Pema Thinley and his associate Mohammad Yakub on 30 August 1993 in possession of the skins but not, as they should have, in the act of handing them over to Sansar Chand. Over 17 long years that the case wound its way through the court, the latter’s statement was not even recorded. Finally, the court had no choice but to discharge him in March this year for lack of evidence.

A really strong case could be made out against Sansar Chand only on January 6, 2003, when he was caught redhanded in a train compartment with two leopard skins. The Bhilwara Police registered a case, and managed to get a conviction in 14 months — a major breakthrough as his guilt had never been established before. Even after conviction, he skipped bail and could be apprehended by Delhi Police only after a few months, on 30 June 2005.

In 2009, his lawyer Siddharth Luthra’s appeal against this conviction was heard by the Supreme Court. This could have been his ticket to freedom, because no one appeared in court from the Rajasthan government despite three notices. The apex court had no choice but to grant an ex parte stay (a ruling given when the other side is absent) and fixed 5 July this year for the next hearing. Fortunately, officials of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and an NGO got a whiff of this. They approached Additional Advocate General of Rajasthan, Manish Singhvi, in Delhi’s Bikaner House. Singhvi agreed to appear on behalf of the Rajasthan government provided it directed him to do so in writing.

It was touch and go, for only on the morning of 5 July did Singhvi get the orders from the state government and make the crucial appearance in court that saved the day for the law enforcement agencies. For, if Sansar Chand is convicted in any other case while still in jail, the stringent MCOCA will ensure that the chances of his walking free are dim.

Spotted proof Delhi policemen with a huge haul of leopard skins seized from Chand’s family home

IT IS this coordinated action by various stakeholders — police, lawyers and NGOs — that has been tightening the noose around Sansar Chand in the last three years. For in 2007, the police and law enforcement agencies, including the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, decided to hold a full-fledged co-odination meeting once a year to share notes. This helps them keep track of not only the 21 cases against Sansar Chand himself, but the 57 cases involving his wife, son, daughter, brothers and other relatives. These are spread over Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and even Karnataka. The last co-ordination meeting was held on 12 February.

Interestingly, the family is under the scanner due to suspicion that Sansar Chand runs the wildlife trade from jail. Former CBI ace investigator (and currently Commissioner of Police, Cuttack, Orissa) BK Sharma says: “We kept track of Sansar Chand when he was in Jaipur jail… His wife Rani, son Akash and even his daughter and brother Narain used to meet him regularly. We noted down the timings and number of meetings that had taken place in the Jaipur jail.”

Rani is actually his first wife, a Dehradun girl he married in 1978. Four years before that, when he was just 16 years of age, he had been initiated by his grandfather Pannalal into what was the family business. The wildlife department raided their home and recovered skin of a tiger, 567 lizards, 85 otters and a red panda. He was convicted but released under probation since he was a juvenile. It was a time when poachers were generally let off with small fines.

One more conviction and fine as a juvenile on 21 November 1974 forced him to take up menial work, as his father had died. He worked as a domestic help at Kishan Rajani’s house located near Regal building in Connaught Place. Rajani’s sister Dr Chandrakanta started treating him like a family member. But Rajani’s brothers were involved in the trade of snake and turtle skin and the boy who never went to school learnt new tricks for making a living. He had already learnt how to set iron traps for tigers and leopards from Bawaria hunters — one of 200-odd nomadic tribes in India — of Ludhiana and Samalkha areas who visited the family.

One of the four children Sansar Chand had with Rani, Akash, began to help him with a business that seemed to carry little risk. In 2003, he divorced Rani and married Nirmala George, with whom he had two children. But Sansar Chand continues to maintain a working relationship with Rani. In October 2004, when the Rajasthan Police arrested Rani and Akash, they also seized seven diaries and a mobile SIM card. These allegedly contain contact details of wildlife inspectors in Delhi, a senior local politician and the usual suspects: dealers and poachers. Records were found of sale of skins worth Rs 1.38 crore.

BEING CAUGHT repeatedly did not deter any of them. Two years later, when Sansar Chand’s wife and son were out on bail, they were engaged in the same business. At this point of time, they are absconding. But Sansar Chand’s brother Narain, who was allegedly keeping the trade alive since 2005, was caught as recently as 30 January 2009 negotiating for skins at Hubli, Karnataka. During interrogation, he also revealed that he had purchased tiger and leopard skins at Haldwani, Uttarakhand. The net is still spread far and wide, and the poaching trade is alive and kicking.

In 38 years, the prosecution has failed to secure the maximum sentence of seven years jail against any offender under the Wildlife Act

But if legal cases fell through the cracks with alarming regularity in the past, measures are being put in place that might prevent this happening in future. In 2007, the environment ministry created the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau on the lines of the Narcotics Control Bureau, but it is not an enforcement agency like the latter. It can search, seize and summon people, but lacks a forensic lab or research wing. A member of its advisory group, Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Upadhyay, who successfully prevented the granting of bail in a case of poaching registered in Haridwar has an explanation. “Wildlife inspectors and state police are not even capable of differentiating between cow and tiger bones,” he says. “They don’t even know that the moth is a Scheduled animal!”

A bit of scientific training would go a long way in implicating Sansar Chand, because in the three cases in which he was actually caught with animal parts, the police have not submitted a single forensic report establishing that the bones he possessed are of the tiger. If his lawyers take the line that the bones were those of cows, a conviction would be difficult.

Family business Sansar Chand’s brother Narain was even in 2009 caught trading in skins in Hubli, Karnataka

If there had been dedicated and sustained tracking over the years, several people could have been nailed to break the nexus that takes animal parts all the way to China, because plenty of names have been thrown up during investigations. Since the early 1980s, traders like Choudhary Masood and Ramzan, former nawab of Satna Anwar Hussain, Khalique Hussain, Riazul Hussain (Khalique’s brother) and Alimuddin of Jhansi have been active.

Rajani and his family may have left the country, but Delhi is still the hub of the pernicious trade, with the Majnu-ka- Tila locality as the pivot. Till 1996, when he was alive, the biggest source of animal skins was Lalji Bawaria based in Samalkha near Panipat. Sansar Chand has also named contacts with hunters and suppliers in forests of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

THE CBI has been told that Delhi is the collection point for skin and other animal products that cater to the huge demands of markets in Tibet and China. Most of these persons are Nepalese or Tibetans and they operate from Majnuka- Tila in north Delhi, also known as a place for Tibetan refugees in India.

Sansar Chand, in his CBI interrogation report, revealed that his buyers at Majnu ka Tila were Paima Limi, K Sonam, Kana alias Chiwing, Chittar, Tensing Lima, Ashraf, Ghulam Gani, Bashir Ahmed and Rishi. His supply used to come from poachers like Jassu, Chatru, Mahavir, Surajiya, Balbir and Raja. Prices were determined by size, length, colour and damage marks, if any, on the skins.

“Sansar Chand traded a tiger skin for no less than Rs 90,000. He used to sell leopard skin for Rs 17,000–18,000. In other skins such as of otter, wild cat and even deer, the profit margins varied from time to time. At present, a tiger skin and skeleton would go for Rs 3–3.5 lakh.

Chand was caught for the first time in 1974, when he was just 16. He was released under probation as he was a juvenile delinquent

The lucrative trade seems to have gained momentum as more and more acquittals took place due to lack of evidence. Take the case in which the wildlife department had seized a leopard skin from Sansar Chand’s home on 17 July 1995. An independent witness signed the seizure document. Charges were framed and the trial began. The prosecution witness gave oral and written statements against Sansar Chand in a Delhi court. Arguments from both sides were heard. 9 April 2010 was fixed as Judgment Day, but had to be deferred three times. Suddenly, on 26 June, Sansar Chand’s lawyers announced that the prosecution witness had turned hostile. The whole basis of the prosecution’s case was uprooted. Next date for hearing: 4 August.

Delhi is the collection point for skin and other animal products that cater to the huge demands of markets in Tibet and China

Meanwhile, efforts are on to crack the whole network, with the arrest of seven operators from Nagpur and Delhi. One Tashi Tenzing, who goes under the aliases Tashi Tshering, Babu, Prem Singh and Ram Singh, was arrested in November 2009. This contact at Majnuka- Tila seems to be the main accomplice — or maybe mastermind, for he claims that he is the one who made Sansar Chand such a big name.

But the international dimensions of the illegal business — till now a medieval trade carried on through ancient trade routes — is now changing. Instead of carrying contraband on public transport, smugglers book parcels to Guwahati on trains. From there, the animal parts would go on the Dimapur route to Imphal (Nagaland), through Moreh (Manipur) and then to China via Myanmar.

Slowly, things are changing, both in the trade and in the strategies of law enforcers. The flatfooted approach of forest officials and police detectives will be even more ineffective than it was in the past. There are other shadowy figures waiting to fill Sansar Chand’s shoes using modern weapons for trapping and killing and better communication systems for logistics. Hopefully, the next generation will not have to answer the question: Who is the king of the jungle: the tiger or the poacher?

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main46.asp?filename=Ne070810sansor.asp

High-tech tracking on for man-killing tiger

LUCKNOW: If not the first ever, it is at least a rare practice of high-tech tracking of a man-killing tiger that Pilibhit forest officials have taken up. The forest department is getting help from the wildlife organisations which are providing the department the needed expertise and the `cameras' which can incessantly click for 60-odd days.

The sub-adult tiger which made its first killing on May 3 and latest on July 27 has been lying inactive for past some days. Jamuna Prasad of Dilawarpur village in Ghundchai beat of Deoria range of Pilibhit forest division was killed by the man-eater on July 27.

On Saturday, forest department decided to change the position of eight web cameras which were installed at the killing sites on July 25. "We will now install cameras every 2 km," said divisional forest officer (DFO) Pilibhit VK Singh. The entire Deoria range of 712 sqkm will be divided into 25 grids, each of four sqkm area. A camera will be installed at every grid to locate the tiger.

It was on July 25 that the tiger was clicked by the cameras. It has remained elusive since then though it struck again two days after. The cameras click automatically moment the animal passes by. Every two days the camera trappings are downloaded. The trappings so far have given some clue on the tiger. "It is not at all injured but we cannot say what is making it to kill men," said DFO.

The tiger since May 3 has killed five men and preyed on them partially. It struck on June 7 and 23 and July 25 and 27. However, all the victims had gone to the forest as their bodies were recovered from about 5 km inside the forest area. This is, in fact, the reason why the forest officials are hesitant to brand the big cat a `man-eater'.

Though tiger is not compulsively seeking a human prey, vigil is on in the area to trap it before it makes another kill. The precautionary measures will be followed during the monsoon period. The villagers who enter the forest will be treated as tresspassers. On Saturday, two tresspassers were caught by the forest staff.

An awareness campaign too is underway in the area. Villagers are being informed about the tiger's presence and the precautions they should take.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/High-tech-tracking-on-for-man-killing-tiger/articleshow/6242292.cms

What are anti-poaching squad, tiger cell doing?

NAGPUR: The poaching of a deer on Saturday and seizure of its meat has put a question mark over credibility of the anti-poaching squad and tiger cell, both of whom are responsible for wildlife protection.

In 1980 state had set up two anti-poaching units attached to the wildlife wing in Thane and Nagpur. However, looking into wildlife crime being found in places outside protected areas (PAs), these units were attached to the territorial circles from 2006.

It's high time the state reviewed the functioning of the squad, whose jurisdiction is spread over five circles; Amravati, Nagpur, Yavatmal, North Chandrapur and South Chandrapur. The three-member squad has to monitor 16,000 sq km area. The apathy of these officials has led to the squad becoming virtually defunct.

The squad's RFO is getting transferred, and he is burdened with additional work of looking after court cases. The squad has itself been poached, said sources.

The last action by the anti-poaching squad was in December 2009, when 1,200 dead munia birds were seized by it.

Talking to TOI, Nitin Desai, Central India director of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), Nagpur, said that the city has fast become a thriving market for wild animal meat like venison (deer meat), which is cheaper than even regular mutton or goat meat. ``There is a need to strengthen the anti-poaching squad and maintain all-round vigil," he said.

Sources said that even in city markets like Mangalwari Bazaar, Lakadganj, Shanichara, Tulsibagh and other places, poachers are openly selling protected birds and animals.

However, the anti-poaching squad as well as the tiger cell have failed to check the menace. The latest case proves that the tiger cell has been confined to tea sessions only, with no ground action.

There have also been allegations that the anti-poaching squad fails to respond to quick calls. The squad officials have flimsy excuses when called. "We don't have vehicle" is the common excuse. If the vehicle is present, they will say there is no diesel. If both are there, they will say there is a staff shortage.

"When the officials can't nab poachers operating right under their noses, how could you expect them to protect wildlife outside?" asks conservationist Prafulla Bhamburkar

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/What-are-anti-poaching-squad-tiger-cell-doing/articleshow/6246283.cms

The reluctant cat - Sariska's hope

Sariska wants more tourists, and has pinned its hopes and plans on Ranthambhore tigers. But will the cats play along?
A cracked road, winding through lush forest, bracketed by zealous home guards. This is the introduction to Sariska tiger reserve, one of the two spots in the Aravallis where tigers still roar.
Or are expected to. Last week, state highway Sariska-Tehla, the same road that bisects the tiger reserve, was pounded with traffic: Union environment and forests minister, Rajasthan’s forests minister, an army of vets, biologists, data loggers and students from the Wildlife Institute of India, forest guards, home guards, TV cameras and curious locals. As cars with VIP lights screeched at the potholes, a canter truck rolled in, with a 250-kg container secured to it with ropes. From the the 5-feet-11-inch-long container’s 25-millimetre-large holes, peeped out a tiger.

The truck, labelled ‘Udan Dasta’ (flying squad), was halted and the tyre changed, delaying the transfer of the 170-kg male tiger from Ranthambhore to Sariska. But the broken road lets in on Sariska’s new story.
‘Re-building the Future’ read boards at state-run hotels around the reserve. The ‘future’ comprises satellite-collared young tigers from Ranthambhore, being brought in to populate Sariska. The ‘future’ is also the future of tourism here: for Sariska is unique. The verdant undulating forests here are some of the oldest preserved versions of the Aravallis, which is said to have once held dinosaurs. At the heart of Sariska is Pandupole, a jungle temple whose crags the Pandavas marked forever. According to legend, Bhim had split the rocks here, in his legendary fight with Hanuman. Tourists flock to the reserve on Tuesdays and Fridays, for their fix of ‘jungle-safari’ and holy visit. Yet tourism dropped to an all-time low after 2004, after the tigers here were poached to extinction. Now, the state is desperate to build a new brand of tourism, on the basis of the new tigers.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-reluctant-cat/653894/2

Bangladesh witnesses record high deaths in tiger attacks

Dhaka: Bangladesh, which is a home of the Royal Bengal Tiger, recorded the maximum number of instances of tigers killing men last year, a phenomenon being attributed to increasing human intrusion in the Sundarbans resulting in a shrinking of habitat for the big cat.

"We are witnessing a growing trend of deaths caused by tigers. Fifty people died last year, the highest number of deaths we recorded in the past 100 years, while the figure was 24 in 2007," forest conservator Tapan Dey said.

He said the loss of big cat habitats and food sources in southwestern Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest which is home to the last 440 Bengal Tigers is a reason for this number.

Dey's comments came two days after Bangladesh joined the World Tiger Day celebrations promising effective steps to save the endangered big cats and planned an effective participation in the 13-nation Tiger Conservation Summit in St Petersburg in September.

"I will attribute the phenomenon (growing number of deaths) on human intrusion in Sundarbans... men are not good food for big cats but are easy prey, while the tigers are quickly losing their main food there because of poaching," chief executive of Bangladesh Wildlife Trust Professor Anwarul Islam said.

Islam, also a senior professor of zoology department of the premier Dhaka University, said nearly 450,000 families live around the Sundarbans, a stretch of 6,017 square kilometers of forest "and their interactions with tigers are growing day by day causing the higher death rates".

He said the Trust recently carried out a survey on 800 families living around the Sundarbans with nearly half of them admitting that they had tasted the deer meats at least once in the past one year that amounts to at least 150 deer.

"The survey reflects how the tigers are losing their main food source," he said.

The last pugmark survey by the forest department and UN Development Programme (UNDP) in 2004 estimated the number of tigers to be around 440, including 21 cubs, and in Indian side of the Sundarbans the tiger population was around 270.

"According to our estimates, the Sundarbans can now accommodate as high as 400 big cats because of their squeezed habitats and food sources both for ecological and man-made reasons," wildlife expert Professor Mostafa Foroz of suburban Jahangirnagar University said.

He said the Royal Bengal tigers were found across the country even five decades ago, but they were now confined alone to the Sunderbans.

Islam, however, said the Sundarbans, 50 per cent of Bangladesh's forest cover -- was still the habitat of highest number of tiger population in a single forest zone.

However, it was exposed to ecological danger because salinity intrusion and abnormally frequent natural disasters like cyclones or tidal surges thought to be caused by climate change.

"Tigers play a key role in maintaining biodiversity, food chain and ecology of forest... Sundarbans, one of world's most resourceful forests, would have been extinct without tigers," junior minister for environment Hassan Mahmud told a Tiger Day conference two days ago.

The tiger is treated as one of the most critically endangered animals fast disappearing from the world. Experts estimated the current population of all the six sub-species of the big cat to be about 3,200 down from around 100,000 in 1900.

Tropical Bangladesh, however, drafted a tougher anti-poaching law as part of a growing conservation campaign to protect its endangered wildlife -- including the Royal Bengal Tiger and its main prey, the deer population, for "repeated offenders".

The country's existing Wildlife Conservation Act of 1974 prescribed maximum two years of imprisonment for a poacher or smuggler alongside a penalty amounting to only Taka 2,000 taka (USD 30).

According to an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) study more than 13 species have become extinct in Bangladesh over the past 40 years, and over 100 species are now considered endangered or critically endangered.

http://www.zeenews.com/news644856.html

Man-killing tiger in Pilibhit keeping forest dept on toes

LUCKNOW: Pilibhit forest division is in news again. Deoria range of the division is gripped with fear of a man-killing tiger. Though forest officials have not labelled it as a man-eater, yet. The stray big cat has killed and partially eaten five men, at different points of time, over a period of past three months.

The sub-adult tiger made its first killing on May 3. It struck again on June 7, killed and partially ate a 50-year-old man, Ved Prakash of Parewa Turraha village of Pilibhit. The body was lying about 1 km inside forest area. The right arm of the man was eaten by the big cat. On its third appearance on June 23, the tiger killed Bulaki Ram. On July 25, it killed Shyamlal and on July 27, it killed Jamuna Prasad.

Forest officials came into action after the fourth incident was reported on July 25. "We got eight web cameras installed in Deoria range," said V K Singh, DFO, Pilibhit. The camera was installed at 5.10pm and it was within 10 minutes that the first snap of the tiger was clicked by one of the cameras. "We got sure of tiger's presence in the area," said Singh.

The killing on July 25 took place in Deohana beat of the range and July 27 killing happened in Ghundchai beat of the range. There is an aerial distance of about 2 km between the two beats. However, when the tiger killed Jamuna Prasad on July 27, the incident was not clicked by the cameras. But cameras will continue to be in place.

Almost all the killings have taken place in the daytime because victims had gone to the forest area to either collect firewood or grass. Besides, monsoon is also the season for `katarua' mushroom in Pilibhit forests. Villagers collect the mushroom and sell them for Rs 70 to 80 per kg in markets. Bundles of grass, firewood and bags with mushrooms have been recovered from site of killings. Besides, the men have all been attacked while they were squatting on the ground and tiger mistook them to be quadrupeds.

As far as eating men is concerned, tiger has not eaten the men immediately after killing them. Though it has partially eaten all the bodies, it has eaten them a day after the killing. "When men had gone to search Jamuna Prasad in the morning, they had seen tiger eating the man's leg," said Singh. The approaching men, however, had scared the tiger away.

It is a case of man intruding into tiger's territory as all bodies were found lying deep inside the forest. Hence, it does not make any sense in branding the big cat a man-eater, said DFO. However, this has not lessened the seriousness of the incident for the forest department.

The forest department has created three teams headed by range officers to educate and inform villagers about the presence of tiger in the locality. Each team has 9 to 12 members. The teams will hold meetings with villagers and educate them about taking precautions. "We also have decided to get strict," said Singh.

The people who are found entering the prohibited area of forest will be detained for trespassing. Though, they will be allowed to go after initial warning. On second occasion, they will be charged a fine of Rs 250 and on third occasion, they will be arrested, produced in court and sent to jail for 14 days. This effort will continue for a month-long period.

Apart from this, informative posters have been put up at PHCs and primary schools. Deoria range spreads across 712 sq km and has 36 villages on its periphery. All the villages are under watch.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Man-killing-tiger-in-Pilibhit-keeping-forest-dept-on-toes/articleshow/6239033.cms

Sariska gets its tiger conservation foundation

JAIPUR: Now, delay in sanction of money for the two tiger sanctuaries in the state will not be a problem. After the Ranthambore National Park, a Tiger Conservation Foundation (TCF) has been formed for Sariska too.

The two separate tiger foundations will now be entitled to receive all monetary grants from the Centre and individuals for spending in the two sanctuaries.

The state government has set up the two foundations to ensure better conservation of big cats. Recently, Sariska saw relocation of two tigers from Ranthambore to take the total number of cats to five.

Ram Lal Jat, the forest minister said, "The Sariska Tiger Conservation Foundation has been set up to conserve biodiversity and strengthening the infrastructure to protect wildlife in the sanctuary. This would also ensure adequate protective measures for felines."

Jat is the chairman of the two foundations, while the field directors of each sanctuary are member secretaries. The foundation will also have respective MLAs from the area besides about four other members from the public domain and from the staff of the department.

Establishing a TCF is mandatory under the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act 2006 in each tiger reserve. The move was brought after tigers were poached in Sariska.

Sariska is also planning to revive its earlier plan of regulating the flow of tourists to the temple, Pandupole, inside the sanctuary. To restrict visitors from using private vehicles that cause pollution and disturbance in the habitat, the state government has floated tenders for purchasing buses to ferry people from Sariska to Pandupole temple at regular intervals.

The project will be under scrutiny for some days before it is finalised.

Currently, 100 home guards and 55 ex-military men are on duty across the park to ensure security of the flora and fauna, including the recently relocated endangered tigers.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Sariska-gets-its-tiger-conservation-foundation/articleshow/6238631.cms

Movie on tiger conservation

MYSORE: The city-based regional museum of natural history will screen a documentary on tigers on Saturday.

The 40-minute film 'Truth about Tigers' will be screened at RMNH at 3 pm by the Voice for Wildlife, a trust furthering the cause of wildlife conservation.

The NGO is formed by a group of lawyers to focus on environment and wildlife will screen the film by Shekar Dattatri. The government estimates reveal there may be fewer than 1,500 tigers in Indian jungles, H N Nagaraj of the Voice for Wlidlife stated. Why have India's tiger population declined so drastically? What are the problems facing their conservation? And are there any solutions to the crisis? These are some of the aspects covered in the documentary, which also provides pointers to how citizen can contribute towards saving tigers, he stated in a press release.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysore/Movie-on-tiger-conservation/articleshow/6238540.cms

Poacher gets 3 yrs in jail

A notorious poacher who killed and ate wild animals like tiger and hyena has been sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment by a court in Madhya Pradesh.

Dariya Bawaria was on Wednesday also fined Rs 10,000 by a court of JMFC in Sihora in Jabalpur division in connection with a 1988 case.

Bawariya, his wife Bhagwati, and seven others had been booked after a seizure of one tiger skin, tiger bones, four tiger paws, three cans of tiger fat, one hyena skin and eight spring traps from them in Bahoriband range in the state. All the accused were granted bail and subsequently jumped it.

Dariya was arrested on April 28, 2008 from the Corbett Tiger Reserve with two tiger traps and other poaching equipment.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Poacher-gets-3-yrs-in-jail/653662

Big cats hit a low in Pakke sanctuary - Clouded leopard on camera in tiger reserve for first time

Guwahati, July 29: For tiger lovers in the Northeast who were on cloud nine after Kaziranga’s success, Pakke tiger reserve in Arunachal Pradesh is a bit of dampener.

Pakke has recorded a density of only 1.9 tigers per 100 square km compared to Kaziranga’s tiger density of 32 per 100 square km, the highest in the world.

Three months ago in April, Kaziranga had recorded the estimated highest density, overtaking the previous highest recorded density of 19.6 tigers per 100 square km found at Corbett Tiger Reserve.

However, the good news at Pakke is that the density of tigers is up slightly from the 1.15 per 100 square km recorded in 2006. Besides, a clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) has been captured on camera for the first time in the reserve.

However, Jimmy Borah, senior project officer, Tiger Programme, North Bank Landscape, WWF-India, who carried out the camera trapping along with others, said, “Looking at the terrain and the habitat, the density of 1.9 tigers can be considered good enough”.

He said the density at Pakke was similar to other tropical semi-evergreen forests in Southeast Asia. The usual density of tigers varies from 3-12 tigers per 100 square km in the tiger reserves in the country.

The WWF-India carried out the tiger census in collaboration with Arunachal forest department. Automated cameras were used to capture the photographs of wild animals.

The effectively sampled area for camera trapping was 261.81 square km of the reserve’s total area of 862 square km. The camera trap was laid at 30 locations in both Sijusa and Tipi ranges. The census was carried out from February 4 to March 30 this year. “Large areas of the park have still not been covered as they are inaccessible,” an official of Pakke tiger reserve said.

On the camera trapping of the clouded leopard at the reserve, a WWF report stated, “This very beautiful and elusive cat is reported in the landscape from various places of Arunachal Pradesh but its status is not well documented. Change in land use, encroachment into forest areas and hunting of the animal for its pelt, are the main threats to the survival of the species. There is a need to design a long-term conservation plan before its population reaches a critical level.”

The Pakke tiger reserve lies in the foothills of eastern Himalayas in East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. It is home to over 2,000 species of plants, 300 species of birds, 40 species of mammals, 30 species of amphibians and 36 species of reptiles. It is one of the last remaining strongholds for many globally threatened species of flora and fauna.

Pakke (earlier Pakhui) was declared a reserve forest in 1962, a wildlife sanctuary in 2001 and a tiger reserve in 2002. The Centre had sanctioned Rs 210.35 lakh under Project Tiger in the 2009-10 fiscal to improve infrastructure in the reserve.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100730/jsp/northeast/story_12746070.jsp

Cheetah rerun

More than six decades after the last cheetah disappeared from India - the only mammal the country has lost in a long time - the government has decided to reintroduce the fastest one.

The experts and the government have proffered few reasons why the spotted cat should be brought back. It's the only mammal whose name is derived from Sanskrit, for one. It will help preserve the grasslands and drylands in India, for another. The first is easily dismissed as posturing but the second reason is worth a serious look.

On any count, it's going to be a costly affair. Experts have suggested a ballpark figure of Rs 300 crore to be spent in the first year itself.

The cheetah sites will require constant money flow through the life of the project (read: endlessly). Much of the initial money is going to be spent on relocating more than 100 human habitations in the three sites where the experts want to set free the first set of imported cats.

The wildlife enthusiasts want to play down the trade-offs: the cheetah is bound to become the conservation star that turns grasslands and drylands into exclusive preserves just as the tiger had for decades in the forested parts of the country. Some of the settlements to be relocated are temporary – used by grazers – the cheetah enthusiasts point out.

That the temporary settlements are traditional livelihood sources for many in the arid Jaisalmer is yet to be discussed. In another site (Kuno-Palpur in Madhya Pradesh) many have been uprooted and displaced under controversial circumstances to bring in the lion, so relocating a few more villages shouldn't be difficult, they say.

To be fair, the cheetah enthusiasts have recommended "adequate and generous compensation with alternate arrangements" for those displaced. But in a country where most of the existing national parks and sanctuaries, including tiger reserves, were created at a time when traditional rights of people living in the forests were summarily dismissed, is yet another symbol of exclusivist conservation required? Almost every tiger reserve and dozens of national parks and sanctuaries continue to be battlefields between displaced local population and the forest department, with rights of the poor unresolved.

The UPA, under Sonia Gandhi, has been trying hard to restore these rights and correct a historical injustice that the government itself claims is one of the causes of alienation of forestdwellers.

Experts suggest the spillovers of tourism from the cheetah will provide livelihood to those displaced.

Five-star hotels at the edges of tiger reserves that earn Rs 40,000 a night showing off cordoned tigers to foreign tourists while the locals run tea shops or get employed as daily labour, one would think, would have taught the government a lesson.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/wild-wacky/Cheetah-rerun/articleshow/6235374.cms

Cheetah rerun

Nepal has 155 adult tigers, 5% of world population

KATHMANDU: The number of adult tiger has reached 155 in Nepal's forests, an increase of 28% over last year's population, a top official has said.

The tiger population grew after tiger census was conducted in the Chure area of Chitawan National Park, which was skipped during last year's census, according to Coordinator of the Tiger census 2010 Bivash Pandav, an Indian national, who is working under World Wildlife Fund Nepal office in Kathmandu.

The number of adult tiger has reached 155 in Nepal's forests which is an increase of 28%, announced Gopal Prasad Upadhyaya, director general of Department of National Park's and Wildlife Conservation.

Though this not an increase in tiger population in actual term, but the number has also not declined in the region, he said. In Chitawan National Park located in central Nepal alone, 125 tigers were recorded.

Last year only 91 tigers were found when the census was carried out only in the lowland of the tiger reserve.

The total adult tiger population of 155 (124 to 229) was arrived at after adding other tiger populations from Bardia, Shuklaphanta and Parsa reserves.

The census was done through the latest process of camera trapping which required 3,582 human days and 170 elephant days, according to experts at WWF Nepal.

The monitoring of tiger was done from December 7, 2009 to March 22, 2010. As per the census it is estimated that the tiger area of Nepal has 6.53 adult tigers in 100 km area, which is a good population for breeding purposes, say experts.

WWF Nepal has provided Nepal government with $51,351 to carry out the tiger census. This means Nepal is home to nearly 5 per cent of tiger in the wild worldwide which is estimated to be 3,200.

There are 13 tiger range countries in the world including Nepal, India, China and Myanmar. The tiger range
countries have been working together to conserve the endangered wild animal tiger, to make the number double or around 7,000 in next Year for Tiger 2022.

Nepal government is also committed to double the tiger population to 250 by the year 2022, said minister for forest Dipak Bohara. The government is committed to control poaching, increase tiger habitat and prey animals with a view to double the tiger population in the next 12 years, he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Nepal-has-155-adult-tigers-5-of-world-population-/articleshow/6233044.cms

Fifth tiger relocated to Sariska

SARISKA/JAIPUR: Nearly a week after a tiger was relocated from Ranthambore to Sariska, yet another big cat was brought to the reserve on Wednesday. The two-and-a-half year old female tiger becomes the fifth occupant of the vast forest as two males and two females had already shifted there over a period of two years.

Wednesday's relocation took place amid rain just like the first relocation that took place nearly two years back.

In fact, this time, the relocation was not without any hitch. The female tiger, T-44, from the Gilai Sagar area in Khandar range of Ranthambore, was tranquillised around 11.30 am. Unlike the previous relocation -- when officials preferred the route route -- an IAF helicopter was used as was done in the three other shiftings earlier.

Inclement weather prevented the chopper from taking off in Jodhpur and later at Jaipur where it landed for fuelling. Later on its landing at Sariska, the wait for the tiger's release at the temporary enclosure stretched on as weather played truant again.

"She is the last one to be relocated in the first phase of this exercise. We will not be shifting any more cats to Sariska in the next two years. After that, a male and a female tiger would be relocated every two years," said K Shankar, a scientist of Wildlife Institute of India (WTI) in Dehradun.

According to him, two years later, the tigers to be brought to Sariska may not be from Ranthambore. Instead they might be from Madhya Pradesh. "What we might try out is to get male tigers shifted out of Ranthambore in a bid to stabilise the sex ratio which is currently a skewed one. We would send these males to Madhya Pradesh and get female tigers from there," he added.

In the meantime, the five cats at Sariska will be closely monitored. Not only security has been increased at the park, all the animals are also wearing a radio collar. "If the tigers breed, the results should be out in the next three months. This reserve can hold about 15 tigers," Shankar said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Fifth-tiger-relocated-to-Sariska/articleshow/6230072.cms

Jairam Ramesh plans to bring back cheetah

Minister Jairam Ramesh is moving fast on his promise to bring back the cheetah to India. Three sites have been identified - two in Madhya Pradesh and one in Rajasthan as special sanctuaries for the animal that went extinct from India in the 60s.

Cheetah, the fastest animal on land had vanished from the subcontinent in 1967. Now, determined to bring back the cheetah, the environment ministry has unveiled an ambitious plan

"Three sites have been identified - two sites in Madhya Pradesh and one in Rajasthan. We will take it forward and it will take three to four years before these sites are made completely fit. I would give this the same importance as I would give project tiger or project elephant," said Jairam Ramesh.

The environment ministry plans to release cheetahs brought from Africa in Kuno - Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary inMadhya Pradesh, Nauradehi Wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and the Shahgarh sanctuary in Rajasthan.

However, Rs 300 crore will be spent to relocate villages and to prepare these habitats so that they can sustain a viable population of 40 cheetahs. But, given India's poor track record in protecting its existing wildlife; especially tigers the question arises that is this really a good idea?

"I believe it is very complicated because cheetah is a very fragile, precious predator. You have to look after it very well. It has to have lot of grasslands and prey species, "said a tiger expert Valmik Thapar.

"The idea of reintroducing an extinct species in this case can help revive very serious interest in the protection of grasslands. In the 19th century -- a fifth of India had grasslands and much of it is lost now," said an environmentalist Mahesh Rangarajan.

Moreover, if the state governments agree to the plan, six cheetahs will be introduced in each location. But cheetahs require large tracts of land to roam freely. With a booming human population encroaching more and more into wildlife habitats, it seems that these cheetahs could feel hemmed in.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/jairam-ramesh-plans-to-bring-back-cheetah/127733-11.html

Simlipal staff to blame for jumbo killings: NTCA panel

Very little animal presence was noted in the Simlipal Tiger Reserve. We did not see a single tusker (for which Simlipal is renowned) or fresh elephant dung, even though we travelled over 100 km a day…. In most cases, the field staff who appeared de-motivated and demoralised were aware of the elephant deaths but chose not to report them; rather they deliberately attempted to conceal the elephant deaths/poaching incidents, by destroying the evidence…”

The shocking findings figure in the report of the two-member probe committee, set up following the sensational disclosure of nearly 12 jumbo killings, and reports of burnt carcasses in the reserve last month.

The report has listed at least 10 recommendations that should be implemented as immediate priority and 25 others on the basis of regular priority. The report calls

for stringent action against field staff for concealment of elephant deaths and destruction of evidence.

The committee was constituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and its report was at last made public on Wednesday. For reasons unknown, it was kept under wraps for considerable time after its submission. The Pioneer had recently reported on the issue as to why the report of the committee, comprising Biswajit Mohanty, Secretary, Wildlife Society of Orissa and former member National Board of Wildlife along with Belinda Wright, Director, Wildlife Protection Society of India, was kept a closely-guarded secret?

Though the report mentions seven deaths, the members had mentioned that on the day of signing of the report there was “confirmed evidence of three more elephant carcasses and information of seven or eight more dead elephants, bringing the total to possibly 18 dead elephants in Simlipal, all possibly killed by poisoning and gunshot….it does not appear that any of these elephants died a natural death”.

The report states that of the seven elephant deaths analysed, there is enough evidence to suggest that the field staff were involved in the concealment of some deaths. Moreover, there was a concerted effort to destroy the remains of at least two of the elephant carcasses, and perhaps more, which amounts to destruction of evidence without registering a case. The report calls for fixation of accountability if the situation in the reserve is to improve.

It has called for the setting up of an independent monitoring committee by the NTCA. This, however, has already been done by the authority before the report was made public.

Further, a wildlife crime intelligence gathering system should be started. It stressed that apart from a covert informer network system, there is an urgent need to gather overt information from the public.

The committee has found evidence of regular incursions of tribal mass-hunting groups of 100 to 200 members (aka Akhand shikar) from the peripheral villages. They have been entering the park for over a year. They use country-made guns, along with bows and arrows. It is important to seize these illegal arms to prevent large-scale poaching of wildlife. Report recommends for rewards to an informer if his information leads to the recovery of such country-made guns.

The report further stresses that “funds provided by the NTCA and/or STR should not be reallocated or withdrawn since this negatively affects protection measures. It pointed out that in March 2010, there was an acute need for funds to cover the expenses for the relocation of Jenabil village from inside the core area of Simlipal. As a result, the balance funds for critical anti-poaching camps in Baripada Division were withdrawn to cover the financial shortfalls of the relocation.

The report has called for the provision of at least Rs 2 lakh every year to each of the three territorial DFOs to carry out enforcement raids. The posts of vacant Deputy Director and two Assistant Conservators of Forests should be filled up immediately and park management should exercise greater supervision and control. The staff must be duly motivated to carry out their duties effectively.

It is important that the confidentiality of wireless messages should be maintained, particularly in view of reports of Left-wing extremists moving in parts of the park. It has emphasised on enlisting local community support to keep tab on poachers or hunters.

The members have expressed concern over the fact that there was hardly any animal presence in the reserve during their probe. The situation in Simlipal is chronic and a serious overhaul needs to take place. “It is our considered opinion that unless our recommendations are swiftly implemented by the State and NTCA, that we may soon see a disastrous situation in Simlipal,” the members stated.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/272497/Simlipal-staff-to-blame-for-jumbo-killings-NTCA-panel.html

Dudhwa declared ‘critical tiger habitat’

Lucknow In a major step towards conservation of tigers in Uttar Pradesh, the state Forest department has notified Dudhwa National Park, Kishenpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Katar-niyaghat Wildlife Sanctuary as “critical tiger habitat” areas.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which has approved the notification, will evaluate the area — along with 38 other critical tiger habitats across the country — between August 10 and December 15.

Under Section 38-V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, an expert committee comprising officials from the NTCA and the state government has approved the notification.

According to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, critical tiger habitat is the inviolate space required for conservation of tigers. The notification is a legal action to declare a particular national park or a wildlife reserve as a “core” zone. A critical habitat is based on parameters like estimated tiger population over the years, size of the territory and population viability analysis.

Based on these, a total of 1093.79 sq km of area has been notified as critical tiger habitat. Out of this, while 490.29 sq km is in Dudhwa National Park in Lakhimpur Kheri district, 203.41 sq km is in the Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary. The rest — 400.09 sq km — is in Bahraich district’s Katarniy-aghat Wildlife Sanctuary.

Following the notification, as per the National Tiger Conservation project, the state government will ensure that there is no other dwelling in the area. It will also undertake research activities to check if the area is viable for tigers and initiate programmes in this regard.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) B K Patnaik said: “It was important for us to notify the area as per NTCA guidelines. By doing so, we can ensure better management of the area. Now, the NTCA will support us in conservation and management activities undertaken in the area.”

According to department officials, the notification will also help in relocating tribals and forest dwellers living in the core zone. “There is a provision to relocate dwellers living in the core zone if they are willing. They will be given equivalent land and Rs 10 lakh per family, with each adult being counted as one family. But this can happen only in the notified area, as the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 can only be implemented there,” said an official.

R L Singh, Chairman of a NTCA evaluation committee with the charge of core zones in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, UP, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, said: “We will evaluate core zones across the country, among which Dudhwa is a significant zone. After evaluation is complete, the NTCA will look at the proposals prepared by the state for tiger conservation.”

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/dudhwa-declared-critical-tiger-habitat/652631/

Hope yet for Sariska tigers?

Tigers vanished from Panna almost at the same time as Sariska. The government is now taking a more holistic view of the entire conservation programme with external funding support and active involvement of the states. There are plans to involve the World Bank in the tiger conservation initiatives in an indirect way, writes Kalyan Ray

Two years ago when the first tiger was translocated to tiger-less Sariska amidst fanfare, it kickstarted a new chapter in tiger conservation in India. But within a few months, it was clear that the road ahead was not a rosy one. All tigers shifted to Sariska were found to be siblings and conservationists thought and that’s why they are unable to mate and reproduce. The centre approached Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to borrow a couple of tigers from a different gene pool so that the inbreeding problem can be avoided. But none were ready to let their prized big cats go. The conservationists then turned to science for help. Scat samples Field officers at Ranthambhore collected 12 scat samples and sent then to geneticist Uma Ramakrishnan at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore. The samples were collected from different areas within the Ranthambhore tiger reserve – Sultanpur, Sawai Madhopur, Darra gate and Kundera range as well as from Keladevi Sanctuary. The team extracted DNA from the samples with standardised protocol. A species-identification test (PCR) was conducted to ascertain the samples were of the tigers. The NCBS team found only eight samples were from tiger and out of those eight, one sample was not good enough for the analysis. That one was dropped in the final analysis. The remaining seven samples underwent tests at the sophisticated NCBS laboratory. All the seven genotypes were then used to calculate relatedness among the individuals. The researchers compared the genetic make up of various individuals with each other as well as with samples taken from Rajaji and Corbet national parks. “Their relatedness was measured in a scale between 0 and 1 in which 1 means fully related like identical twins and 0 stands for complete strangers. In the same scale 0.5 means siblings and 0.25 means half-siblings like cousins,” Ramakrishnan told Deccan Herald. The question was which specific tigers were most genetically distinct from three tigers currently in Sariska. They found four tigers are related to those at Sariska at the sibling level and a fifth one is related at a sibling level to one individual in Sariska, while it is related at a half-sib level to the other individual in Sariska. That left only two animals – samples known as RNTN2 and RNTN12 – who have the lowest relatedness values to those in Sariska. Both of these tigers are from Sawai Madhopur. On the basis of NCBS analysis, the National Tiger Conservation Authority decided to release those two in Sariska. The first tiger was translocated on July 20 and the second one would be shifted within a month taking the tiger tally to Sariska to five and reviving the hopes of tiger re-population of in Sariska. “First time such tests are done in India before reintroduction,” she said. Ramakrishnan, however, cautioned that re-introducing a tiger from a different gene pool does guarantee a successful mating. “There are many behavioural reasons which determine the mating. There are data showing that sibilings mate and there are also data showing that they don’t. Picking up an animal from a different gene pool only reduces the chances inbreeding, which may result in untimely deaths of the cubs,” she said. Tigers vanished from Panna almost at the same time as Sariska. Following the reports of a tiger-less Panna, two female tigers were relocated from Bandhavgarh National Park and Kanha National Park in March 2009. However, the last male tiger disappeared. The government set up a committee to look into the disappearance of tigers from Panna, which in June 2009, announced that the reserve which had over 40 tigers six years ago, has not a single tiger left. There was only two tigress, which too were brought in a while ago. Subsequent to the findings, the centre cleared a proposal to trans-locate two tigers and two tigresses to the reserve. A young tiger male was moved from Pench but it strayed out of the park shortly in November 2009. However, the tiger was brought back to the park a month later. Finally one of the tigress, translocated from Bandhavgarh, gave birth to three cubs in April 2010. Holistic view Following Sariska and Panna, the ministry is now taking a more holistic view of the entire conservation programme with external funding support and active involvement of the states. The ministry is drawing up plans to involve the World Bank in the tiger conservation initiatives in an indirect way. Likely to be finalised before the World Tiger Summit in St Petersburg in Russia, the project involves the Bank's support for the livelihood security of people living in the non-forest, fringe areas near a tiger park. A second project with the World Bank could be providing for infrastructure for towns and cities that provided the one-end of a demand-supply chain involving a city or town and a forest nearby. “However, the World Bank will not be involved in any way in conservation activities in the core and buffer area of the tiger reserves,” said Jairam Ramesh, union environment minister. The new scientific tiger count that replaced the pug-mark based count, has found that the number of tigers – minus Sunderban and naxal-zones forests in Jharkhand and Chhattishagrh – varies between 1657 and 1165 with an average middle value of 1411. Earlier tiger counts which threw large numbers, were all wrong as most of the tigers were killed by the poachers. The centre changed the organisational structure and created a separate policing mechanism for wildlife crimes like poaching. Also it declared eight new tiger reserves and in-principle approval accorded for creation of four new reserves – Sahyadri in Maharashtra, Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, Ratapani in Madhya Pradesh and Sunabeda in Orissa. “But we have to involve the states actively at any cost for a better future for the tigers,” said Ramesh. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/83943/hope-yet-tigers.html