​Seized parrots point to thriving wildlife trade

Vijay Singh, TNN | Apr 29, 2013
NAVI MUMBAI: Stunned by the latest seizure of nearly 300 parrots which were to be sold by a Crawford Market trader in Ganeshpuri Bhiwandi taluka, on Saturday, animal rights activists and the police say that this points to a well-organized wildlife trade racket.

"On Saturday, we caught a Mumbai trader, S Ibrahim and his assistant, Samir Khan, who were trying to sell 298 parrots. Our animal activist had posed as a dummy customer at Crawford Market to buy parrots a few days ago,'' said Chetan Sharma of People For Animal (PFA).

He added that despite short notice, the trader managed to arrange for nearly 300 parrots, even though the birds are a protected species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. "It points to a well oiled, illegal animal trade. The police are questioning the arrested duo over the racket,'' said Sharma.

Deputy commissioner of police, (Ganeshpuri), Srinivas Ghadge said of the 298 parrots rescued, 14 had died possibly because of being confined in tiny cages.

Vimrasagar Maharajsahab of the animal rights group Ahimsa Sangh said, "It is a cruel and illegal trade. Baby parrots are somehow stolen from forests in northern India, and smuggled into Mumbai to be sold as 'pets', even though they are a protected wildlife species.''

Earlier, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), a national umbrella body of animal protection groups, had urged the Mumbai police and the Brihanhumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to ban the sale of birds and animals at Crawford Market in south Mumbai.

"According to data with the ministry of environment and forests, 8,000 birds have been rescued in Crawford Market in the last 20 years. Many wild and exotic species are also traded here,'' said an FIAPO member.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Seized-parrots-point-to-thriving-wildlife-trade/articleshow/19774404.cms

Buying land to return it to nature

Ananda Banerjee,  Live Mint

Some government, non-government bodies, individuals are trying to push back against relentless development

WTI purchased 26 acres of land along the Thirunelli-Kudrakote corridor in Kerala to restore the degraded habitat
and protect wildlife. Photo courtesy WTI

Given the relentless pace at which wildlife habitat is being devoured by the march of development, some government agencies, non-governmental organizations and individuals have been trying to push back—by buying land and letting nature reclaim it.

The past decade has seen a conscious effort to secure wildlife habitats to protect forests.
A recent exercise involved the purchase of 26 acres along the Thirunelli-Kudrakote wildlife corridor in the Wayanad district of Kerala that comes under the watch of the non-profit Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). In the past few months, camera traps have recorded three tigers crossing the corridor.

The land was purchased by WTI with the help of the World Land Trust (WTL), IUCN-Netherlands and the Elephant Family to restore the degraded habitat and protect wildlife along the stretch. The 38 families in four villages in the area were relocated to an alternative site. The exercise cost in excess of Rs.2 crore.

Corridors between two sanctuaries (protected areas) are absolutely critical to wildlife for species dispersal, allowing exchange of individuals between populations and preventing inbreeding, among other ecosystem linkages. The land bought by WTI is gradually being handed over to the Kerala forest department for incorporating it as part of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Thirunelli-Kudrakote corridor connects the Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary (18,100 hectares) bordering Karnataka and Kerala, with the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (11,000 hectares) and the Wayanad north division (21,400 hectares) in Kerala. The stretch is part of a larger swathe of about 12,000 sq. km, with an elephant population of more than 6,300. This by itself constitutes one-third of India’s endangered Asian elephant population, which keeps moving up and down the corridor for food and social bonding.

Buying land back from the villagers has not only secured the corridor for the safe passage of elephants and other wild animals, but also helped reduce human-elephant conflict in the area.

“The people are able to harvest and are spared sleepless nights guarding their crop and houses from elephants,” said Sandeep Tiwari, deputy director, WTI. “The initiatives have also helped in improving the lives of these families as they now have access to education and healthcare centres and opening up employment opportunities.”

How much forest is cut down for development needs? The government’s 11th Plan (2007-12) was particularly severe in terms of loss of forest cover, according to a report by research and activist group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Land was diverted for development projects with scant consideration for wildlife, water and rural communities, it said.

The CSE study looked at five key sectors—thermal power, hydropower, cement, iron and steel, and mining—that have impacted forests. The report said 8,284 projects were granted forest clearance and 197,907.61 hectares of forest land diverted between 2007 and 2011. In the past three decades, 815,534.48 hectares of forest have been cleared for 23,404 projects (see graphic).

India is urbanizing rapidly, and there is heavy pressure on land and natural resources as the population increases. According to a study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), the number of towns has grown from 5,161 to 7,935 in the decade ended 2011, and this may near 10,000 by 2030. Demographic projections show that by then, the proportion of people in urban areas may swell to more than double that in rural areas.

The loss of forest habitat is a reason for declining wildlife populations across the planet. In this scenario, buying land to secure wildlife habitats has given conservationists a method to arrest habitat loss. As renowned conservation biologist Richard Cowling said: “Conservation is 10% science and 90% negotiation.”

Acquiring land for conservation is not new. In the book Buying Nature, authors Sally K. Fairfax, Lauren Gwin, Mary Ann King, Leigh Raymond and Laura A. Watt document the process of land acquisition as a conservation strategy in the US in the last 200 years.
One such current initiative is the American Prairie Reserve, a collaborative effort involving conservation agencies such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the National Geographic Society that aims to acquire land in north-eastern Montana in the US to create a seamless protected area.

“Imagine a grassland reserve of three million acres—a wildlife spectacle that rivals the Serengeti and an awe-inspiring place for you and your children to explore,” says the American Prairie Reserve website.

“Imagine helping to build a national treasure.”

Eric Dinerstein, lead scientist and vice-president, conservation science, WWF, said: “By 2022, I dream of 10,000 bison thundering across 1,000,000 acres with wolves in hot pursuit.”

Back in India, between 2001 and 2003, WTI managed to secure the Kollegal or Edayarhalli–Doddasampige elephant corridor for about Rs.70 lakh. The elephant range to the east of the Biligirirangan Hills had been divided by a long strip of cultivation that cut off the Biligiriranga Swamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary from the forests of the Kollegal division. A narrow corridor now exists between the villages of Kurubaradoddi and Aandipalya along the Kollegal-Satyamangalam highway.

WTI acquired 25.4 acres for the corridor in Aandipalya village from 17 landowners. The land has been transferred to the Karnataka forest department through a formal memorandum of understanding (MoU) to maintain it as an elephant corridor, ensuring connectivity and incorporating it as part of the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. This is the first ever privately bought corridor to be added to a protected areas in Asia.

In the North-East, with financial support from WLT, which pioneered the buy-an-acre concept of acquiring land for conservation, WTI is working with the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), the Meghalaya state forest department and the local community to secure wildlife corridors and the restore wildlife habitat.

As much as “4,150 acres have been secured with notification of 10 Village Reserve Forests,” said WTI’s Tiwari.

WWF-India is keen to follow the model, but rocketing land prices are a stumbling block.
“We are looking across various landscapes to acquire land and hand it over to the forest department,” said Ravi Singh, WWF-India’s secretary general. “Whatever we are doing to get forest land back is being done discreetly as any overt signs may send the land prices spiralling.”

Land for Project Tiger

Project Tiger, the government’s flagship conservation programme that turns 40 years old this month, has secured 2% of the country’s geographical area as tiger reserves. The area under the project gets the highest legal protection under the Wildlife Act. The central government’s programme not only secures the existence of the tiger, but also a gamut of species that thrives in those areas.

Launched in April 1973 in nine reserves across an area of approximately 14,000 sq. km, the project has expanded, especially in the past decade, from 25 tiger reserves in 2001 to 43 now. Project Tiger has secured an area of 66,274.68 sq. km across 17 states in the country.

Under the project, the central government provides 100% monetary assistance to states for strengthening protection; creating basic infrastructure for management; habitat development and restoration; water resources; eco-development programmes; village relocation; use of information technology (IT) in crime detection; monitoring of tiger populations; and carrying out estimations of tigers, co-predators and prey animals among others.

Private forests

Apart from government and non-government initiatives, a few individuals too have acquired land adjoining wildlife sanctuaries across the country and then allowed natural forest regrowth to take place as part of conservation. Most of them refused to speak on record.

One of them is Romulus Whitaker, popularly known as the Snake Man of India for his specialization in reptiles.

Whitaker set up the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) in Karnataka as a field station for the study of rainforest ecology in 2005 on a four-acre plot surrounded by forests. The land was bought with money willed to him by his mother, Doris Norden Chattopadhyaya.

Agumbe is a village in the Western Ghats in Shimoga where, in 1971, Whitaker spotted his first king cobra. He’d always wanted to set up a research base in the area.

In 2005, Whitaker also received the prestigious Whitley Fund for Nature award, which helped him set up basic infrastructure and convert an old farmhouse into a full-fledged forest research base.
“During the setting up of the field station, we had visits from leopards as well as a couple of king cobras, which to us ‘certified’ the place as the ideal field station,” he recalled.
Today, ARRS has 10 acres of land thanks to additional acquisitions and recently came under the administration of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, which Whitaker set up in the 1980s to study reptiles.

Wildernest, in the Chorla Ghat area of Goa, has secured 450 acres and is perhaps one of the largest private reserve corridors for forests across two sanctuaries as well as two states—between the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa and Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. The Wildernest team runs two independent research stations like ARRS, one in the Chorla ghats and the other at Kuveshi near Castle Rock.

The Sai Sanctuary located in the Western Ghats is another example of a private forest reserve. It’s home to large carnivores such as tigers and leopards, along with elephants and 300 species of birds.

From the initial purchase of 55 acres of private forested lands in 1991, the reserve managed by the Sai Sanctuary Trust has grown to more than 300 acres and today offers a buffer to the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries along its borders—Brahmagiri, Nagarhole and Bandipur.

Securing land, especially degraded forests and leaving them for nature to reclaim, is a sustainable model to restore forests and protect biodiversity. But it’s an uphill task with land costs surging the moment there’s a hint of demand. Also, in a burgeoning economy in which development is the buzzword, it can be a struggle to find the right balance between conservation and economic growth imperatives.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/df1ep278rRHJ7JaeI6ohrL/Buying-land-to-return-it-to-nature.html

Animal, bird snares found at Ettimadai

They were meant to capture rabbits and peacocks

• Environmentalists alerted forest officials who took steps to remove the snares
• Many snares had fur on them, indicating that they had been used several times

Endangering wildlife:
Members of Environment Conservation Group found
a number of animal and bird snares at Ettimadai in
Coimbatore district recently. -Photo: Special Arrangement

Hundreds of snares meant for catching animals and birds were uncovered at Ettimadai forest area in the district on Saturday by Environment Conversation Group (ECG), an organisation working in wildlife protection.

The forest officials were alerted and Forest Rangers removed the snares.

According to the ECG president R. Mohammed Saleem, the snares were meant to capture both small animals such as porcupine and rabbits and larges ones such as gaur, sambar deer and leopard. Birds such as peacock also tend to get caught in these traps.

He said that similar devices were found in the same area about two months ago. While only small animals were targeted in earlier attempt, this time the poachers were targeting larger animals also.

“The repeated seizure shows that the poachers have been poaching wild animals unhindered for quite some time in this area. A lot of these snares had fur on them indicating that they had been used several times. ”

Mr. Saleem said that animals tend to venture to the outskirts of the forest in search of food and water, which was being exploited by poachers. “The lack of forest staff is a great boon for the poachers. If this trend continues, we would just see bare rocks in our forest devoid of trees and animals,” he added.

Other members in the ECG that undertook the trip include H. Hasan, Lakshmi Narayanan and Mohan. They made periodical trips to various forest areas.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/animal-bird-snares-found-at-ettimadai/article4662275.ece

Forest Rights Act a bane or boon?

S. HARPAL SINGH, The Hindu | April 27, 2013

An estimated two lakh hectares of reserve forests illegally denuded between 2008 and 2011

• FRA intended to provide relief to tribal people by recognising their rights on lands tilled by them
• ‘57,000 individual and community claims received for recognition of rights over two lakh hectares’

Disappearing forests:A stretch of agriculture fields which
were once part of the dense Mangi forests in Sirpur (U)
mandal of Adilabad district.
-  PHOTO: S. HARPAL SINGH

With hardly any greenery to camouflage the loss, the dry summer months have exposed a massive scale of destruction of forests in the backward tribal district of Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, (FRA) has emerged as a major factor having generated, paradoxically, decimation of forests on an unprecedented scale.

While the Union government intended to provide relief to tribal people by way of recognising rights on lands being tilled by them in the reserve forests through the FRA, a wrong message got percolated to grass roots level. In the absence of proper awareness on its provisions, people began clearing new wooded areas to convert them into agriculture fields with the hope that the government will eventually ‘regularise’ them.

It has confirmed the fears of conservationists and pristine forests began dwindling at an alarming rate reducing the 43 per cent forest cover in Adilabad to below 20 per cent of its 16,000 sq km of area.

Trees in an estimated two lakh hectares of reserve forest were illegally felled between 2008 and 2011 putting Adilabad among the districts where worst kind of tree felling has taken place.

That the scale of deforestation is mind-boggling and can be seen from the numerous roads that criss-cross the terrain. For example, clearings as deep as 500 metres which can be seen on either side of the 35-km long Nirmal bypass of the NH 7, provide an inkling into the severity of the problem.

“We were simply unable to stop the large scale decimation of forests just because we were outnumbered by raiding villagers. In hindsight, I think the FRA ought to have been delayed until an implementation mechanism was put in place,” observes a Forest officer who recalls his stint here when the FRA got implemented.

As many as 57,000 individual and community claims for recognition of rights were received covering an extent of over two lakh hectares of land being tilled or in use of tribal farmers at that point of time.

“We continue to receive fresh claims but, we are not entertaining those in the absence of guidelines for second phase implementation of the FRA,” says the Project Officer of Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor, the agency which settles the claims.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/forest-rights-act-a-bane-or-boon/article4659253.ece

Collector warns against violating elephant guidelines

District Collector M.C. Mohandas has warned against the violation of official guidelines when displaying elephants during temple festivals and other public functions.

The Collector said on Wednesday that new temple festivals or poorams would not be given permission to display elephants. An order issued by the Forest and Wild Life Department say only those festivals where elephants were used till 2012 will be allowed to display elephants from this year.

Also, permission would not be granted for more elephants than those used in festivals in 2012, the Collector said. Elephant race too would not be permitted in any case. The officials of the Forest, Revenue and Police Departments should examine the copies of the data book before the parade of elephants. Fitness certificate for elephants was compulsory, he said.

Mr. Mohandas said elephants would not be allowed to parade between 11 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. “In unavoidable cases, elephants should be displayed under shade of a canopy, and drinking water should be given frequently,” he said. The Collector has the discriminatory powers to give permission for elephant display between 11 a.m. and 3.30 p.m.

Not more than 6 hours

The guidelines also say that a single elephant should not be used for more than six hours continuously a day. An elephant can be used for a maximum of eight hours in two sessions of four hours a day. Mr. Mohandas said an elephant used for display at night should not be used again during the next day. He asked festival organisers to ensure that elephants were given water and food before and after the parade.

He also asked the organisers to ensure that people were kept at least three metres away from the elephants. “Mahouts should not be allowed to work after consuming alcohol at any cost.”

Festival committees should secure an insurance of at least Rs.25 lakh for 72 hours when elephants are used, the guidelines say. Elephants should be bound with knee chain and cross chain during display.

District-level monitoring committee should examine the availability of enough space if more than 15 elephants are used for display. The Collector said Divisional Forest Officers should enter in the data book all incidents caused by the elephants, including problems and damage to property. “The district monitoring panel should prepare a list of problematic elephants, and such elephants should not be allowed to be used for festivals.” Mr. Mohandas said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/collector-warns-against-violating-elephant-guidelines/article4652680.ece

Elephant electrocuted near Kuppam

Accidentally trapped in a live-wire fence erected to keep off wild bores
The mysterious deaths of wild elephants continues unabated in the Kaundinya sanctuary at the confluence of the Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka border, about 125 kms from here in the Palamaner-V.Kota-Kuppam tract.

In the most recent case, forest officials found the carcass of a full-grown female elephant on Monday at Vengampalle in Byreddypalle mandal. After conflicting reports as to the cause of the pachyderm’s death, further reports said that the autopsy conducted by veterinary surgeons in the presence of forest officials on Tuesday indicated that the jumbo must have died after coming into contact with a live-wire.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/elephant-electrocuted-near-kuppam/article4648926.ece

Nilgiri tahr census begins

The Hindu | April 23, 2013

Initiative by Forest Department will end on April 28

• 30-member team will cover national park in Munnar
• Park will be divided into 13 blocks for the purpose

A 30-member team on Monday started the census of Nilgiri tahr in the 97-sq.km. stretch of the Eravikulam National Park in Munnar. The census is being held after the two-month breeding season of Nilgiri tahr for which the park was closed. The area inhabited by Nilgiri tahr is divided into 13 blocks for census which will b conducted by environmentalists and officials of the Forest Department. It will conclude on April 28.

Nilgiri tahr is endemic to the Eravikulam National Park of the Western Ghats and is a major attraction for tourists and environmentalists. Since Nilgiri tahr faces threat from carnivorous animals and natural factors, the Forest Department has adopted strict measures for their protection.

A preliminary unofficial survey this season found 47 newborns. An official of the Forest Department said that though the census may not yield an exact figure, it would provide a clear picture of whether there was an increase in their number. This in turn would the authorities help adopt strategies for the animal’s protection.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/nilgiri-tahr-census-begins/article4645893.ece

Before the last trumpet

Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan | Down To Earth

Captive elephants of Kerala suffer because there is no proper policy for their management and welfare

Out of the 100-odd elephant attacks reported during the
last festive season of 2011-2012, at least a dozen were
the result of the animal being in the state of musth

It is that time of the year again when the streets of Kerala echo with clinking of chains. Massive caparisoned tuskers, some carrying idols, rush from one festival to the other.

The association of these "gentle giants", as they are known to writers and poets, with humans has been there for centuries. The earliest possible evidence of taming elephants in India goes back to the Indus valley civilization. Most of our ancient texts, from Ramayana to Arthashastra, talk about elephants being part of wars and arenas. There are also texts like Matangalila detailing the qualities an elephant should possess to be part of the royal stable.

They used to be a symbol of pomp and pride in the past. Today they are seen as a source of revenue. About 70 per cent elephants in the state are owned by individuals who rent out the animal for festivals and processions for huge sums of money. Temple committees and fans of “celebrity” elephants compete to line up the best elephants, and in their passionate involvement, welfare of the animal takes a backseat. They are so extravagant that they are even ready to pay six digit figures to get their favourite elephant for a day, making captive elephant management a multi-million rupee business. Except for a few temples, most prefer male elephants, specifically tuskers, for ceremonies, which may be attributed to their aesthetic value. Ironically, it is the male elephant that most often goes out on a rampage and creates havoc.

Every year, between December and May, which is the festive season in Kerala, an elephant takes part in 100 to 120 festivals extending over 150-200 days. Assuming that the average distance between each festival is 50 km, an elephant travels more than 5,000 km during the period. Worse, most elephants are transported by trucks, which adds to their psychological trauma. In the last three to four years, at least half a dozen elephants were injured or killed in truck accidents. Besides, this is the time when bull elephants enter a state of increased testosterone known as musth and show highly aggressive behaviour. Out of the 100-odd elephant attacks reported during the last festive season of 2011-2012, at least a dozen were the result of the animal being in the state of musth. Photographs of these elephants that featured in major dailies clearly showed temporal gland secretion, a clear indication of musth. Despite such conspicuous evidence, the law and its guardians remain blindfolded. At least 100 people were injured in these attacks; the maximum number of injuries were reported at the much renowned Thrissur Pooram temple festival. Enquiries and public questionnaires were conducted, but to no avail.

This year also similar mishaps have been reported. On January 27, three innocent women were killed by a much celebrated tusker of Kerala, Thechikottukavu Ramachandran. It is also the tallest captive elephant in the country. The incident happened about 10 days after his becoming musth. It was a good move by the forest department to “arrest” the elephant and keep it under custody till further notification. The latest fatal attack happened on February 7, when Vaazhakkalayil Mothi Prasad killed a girl at Alappuzha. Between January 1 and the first week of February, there have been 26 incidents of elephants running amok all over Kerala.

Elephant attacks are not inevitable and can be prevented with conscious involvement and sensibility.

To bring atrocities towards captive elephants to an end, the Kerala Captive Elephant Management rules were framed in 2003. Though first of its kind in India and perhaps the world, the Act like most other government policies is gathering dust. Insertion of microchips for monitoring movement and health conditions of elephants, and ensuring vehicular transportation are probably the only rules that have been implemented so far. However, it seems as if these rules were implemented to minimise the time taken from one location to another, and thereby moving the pachyderm to more workplaces.

The rules state that no elephant in musth shall be put to work and has to be secured properly. This is hardly followed. The number of elephants in musth state that wreak havoc during festivals is evidence enough. Although revised in December 2012, the new rules seem to be much relaxed. For example, clause (16) states sedatives may be administered to elephants if they are nervous. This allows owners to administer sedatives to musth elephants and put them to work.

Although the raison d’être of the rules was betterment of pachyderm management in captivity, lack of its proper enforcement is still a matter of concern. Unless that is ensured, the elephantine problem will only exasperate.

Though there are a very few traditional mahouts left in Kerala, they do not see a ray of hope anymore in captive elephant management. Their revelations of the clandestine operations happening in the field are appalling. Death toll due to intestinal obstruction and other digestive problems has increased from one or two in a year to a whopping 10. This certainly must be a result of potential increase in physiological and psychological stress. Most mahouts admit working continuously for 35-40 days during peak festive season, without a break, which means sleepless nights for the animal. Some mahouts also disclose the administration of anti-androgen tablets to elephants to arrest musth. This seems to have now led to drastic changes in the musth patterns or even absence of musth in several bulls. Absence of musth causes an imbalance in the physiological cycle of the animal, thereby leading to more distress.

Current state minister of forests, K B Ganesh Kumar, has been part of captive elephant management sector for a long time in various capacities. He must implement the management rules aptly to address the problem. Keeping a check on the number of festivals that an elephant is taken for and the distance it travels will also contribute to mitigating conflict. This can be ensured with appropriate decisions from the Forests and Wildlife Department.

Interestingly in October 2010, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests declared the Asian elephant as National Heritage Animal. While the wild counterparts are dwindling in numbers due to habitat fragmentation and poaching, the captive ones are vanishing too. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that a day does not come when the national heritage animal is confined to postal stamps, wall papers and posts on social networking sites.

Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan works with WCS-India Programme, National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru

Source: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/last-trumpet

Leopard attack creates panic

The Hindu | April 22, 2013
Killing of a calf by a leopard has made villagers of Bonthapally in Jinnaram mandal of Medak district jittery on Sunday.

According to sources, a farmer Veeraswamy had tied his calf in the farm yard and gone for lunch. When he returned, he found his calf killed by some wild animal.

Forest officer Ravi visited the spot and confirmed that the calf was indeed killed by a leopard. The villagers felt that wild animals have been entering the villages, as there was no drinking water available in the forest areas.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/leopard-attack-creates-panic/article4641836.ece

New wild banana species found

T. NANDAKUMAR, The Hindu | April 22, 2013

Musa velutina subsp. markkuana.

A team of researchers from the University of Calicut has reported the discovery of a new subspecies of wild banana that could be developed as an ornamental plant for tropical gardens.

The plant Musa velutina subsp. markkuana was discovered from the forests of Arunachal Pradesh and is characterised by smooth skinned fruits, purple pseudostems, erect maroon-coloured inflorescence and pink fruit. It has been named after Markku Hakkinen, an international expert on wild banana, attached to the Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Finland.

The research team led by M. Sabu, Head, Department of Botany, University of Calicut, and comprising Alfred Joe and P.E. Sreejith, discovered the subspecies as part of a project funded by the Union Department of Science and Technology. The plant grows in the forests as undergrowth in marshy areas. The researchers found many fruiting plants from the Balukpong area, West Kameng district and the Tezu and Hayulyang areas.

The finding has been published in ‘Phytotaxa,’ an international journal on botanical taxonomy.

According to Dr. Sabu, the plant could be promoted as an ornamental variety. It also held commercial value for the cut flower industry. “We have found that the cut plant remains fresh in the flower vase for more than one week. Growing up to a height of two metres, it produces inflorescence continuously for more than one month. In the fruiting stage, it bears bunches of pink or maroon fruits.”

He feels that the plant could be crossed with other species to improve the ornamental value. “The use of wild species for the improvement of crop plants is an area of great potential.” The seed-producing nature of the tropical species made it easy to propagate.

According to Dr. Sabu, the finding confirms the rich genetic diversity of banana in India.

The paper published in ‘Phytotaxa’ said wild species of banana were distributed in the north-eastern states, the Western and Eastern ghats and the Andaman and Nicobar islands. But many of these regions had not been explored systematically.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/new-wild-banana-species-found/article4641722.ece

3 smugglers held, 5 tiger skins recovered

TNN | Feb 21, 2013
LUCKNOW: The network of wildlife poachers seems to have penetrated into the city and is trying to reach the international market via Nepal. The special operations group and district police caught a murder accused and two more smugglers in possession of five tiger hides from Chinhat area on Wednesday. The police also recovered a porcupine from the smugglers.

The trio had got hold of the hides from a Maharashtra-based poacher and was in the middle of finding a prospective buyer, when the police intercepted them. The three smugglers have been identified as Vishal alias Sahil-the murder accused and Rajmal and Rajan, both residents of Barabanki. A resident of Dewa Road, Vishal had been accused of a murder that took place at Matiyari in 2007.

"The trio was in possession of five tiger hides and porcupine (an endangered species), when they were held by the police. We are trying to find out who was interested in dealing with the trio and suspect that the hides were to be smuggled to international market via Nepal," said J Ravinder Goud, senior superintendent of police, Lucknow.

According the police, the trio had bought the tiger hides from a man identified as Vijay. The trio had been in the business of wildlife smuggling and trafficking for past several years and had developed contacts across several states in the country. From preliminary investigations, it was found that the recovered hides have been smuggled from Maharashtra's Aurangabad district to the city. "The cost price of a single hide is Rs 50,000, while the selling price ranges between Rs 4 and 5 lakh," told Brijlal Verma, the sub-inspector of the team that nabbed the trio from a shanty located off Faizabad Road.

The police have pressed various charges under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 against the trio and have sent them to jail. "We had information of some groups, which were active in smuggling of endangered animals, skins, hides, bones, body parts etc in the city. Following continuous surveillance and help of informers, a notorious group had been held," said a police official.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/3-smugglers-held-5-tiger-skins-recovered/articleshow/18602036.cms

Endangered spider sighted at Tirumal foothills

A. D. RANGARAJAN, The Hindu | April 20, 2013

It was way back in the year 1899 that the spider was first sighted near Gooty (in the present Anantapur district) by a researcher Pocock and reported last.

Seshachalam hills, home to a variety of plants and animals, reptiles and amphibians, have proved again to be rich in biodiversity, with the recent sighting of a rare poisonous venomous spider after a gap of 113 years in India at the foothills of Tirumala.

The spider belonging to the genus poecilotheria is known to be native to India and Sri Lanka, of which eight species are found in India and seven in Sri Lanka. While taking inventory of the Seshachalam Biosphere reserve spread across Chittoor and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh, officials of the Seshachalam Biodiversity Lab attached to Tirupati Wildlife Management Circle sighted a dead specimen of Theraphosid spider, a variety listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as ‘critically endangered.’

Very little published information is available on the species’ ecology and distribution. It was way back in the year 1899 that the spider was first sighted near Gooty (in the present Anantapur district) by a researcher Pocock and reported last. Though it was sighted after 102 years in the Eastern Ghats between Nandyal and Giddalur towns, it has not been recorded officially, making the Tirupati discovery the first in 113 years.

The specimen poecilotheria metallica has coloured carapace and abdomen much as in the other species of the genus poecilotheria, but dark bands on the carapace are found to have higher mesial separation.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/endangered-spider-sighted-at-tirumal-foothills/article4634330.ece

'Package deals' on internet for tockay geckos

GUWAHATI: Online shopping has acquired a whole new dimension thanks to illegal trading in the rare tockay gecko lizard. Now, interested buyers can purchase the Asian lizard, coveted for its reported medicinal properties, in 'bulk' on the internet and also secure 'package deals' for specimen of the protected species.

The demand of this reptile with sticky feet has shot up so much that illegal traders of geckos in the region are now expanding their business through the internet. Some gecko suppliers are even taking bulk orders through social networking sites and offering 'package deals'.

The city police have rescued at least four gecko lizards in recent times. These lizards were handed over to the Assam state zoo here. "We have arrested at least 12 illegal gecko traders from several areas of the city in the last couple of months. They are mostly from Manipur and Nagaland. They bring samples of geckos from their home states to show buyers from outside the state and even the country. Many agents working for markets in New Zealand too come here to pick up their supply of geckos. Most of these agents contact each other via the internet," said a senior police officer here.

At a time when the illegal trade in rhino horns is causing the pachyderm's population in the state to dwindle, wildlife criminals serving the medicine markets of Asia are now targeting the tokay gecko.

The demand for tokay gecko, a nocturnal Asian lizard growing up to 40cm in length and easily identified by its orange-spotted, blue-grey skin and unmistakable vocalization, is very high. The local name of the lizard is 'keko shap'.

Myths about the medicinal value of these creatures abound in South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, resulting in their high demand. However, wildlife experts say there is nothing to the claims. "The reason behind the high demand for this lizard is that many believe its reddish, spotted meat cures HIV/AIDS and even cancer. A gecko in good health, measuring between 12 and 14 inches and weighing around 200-250gm is sold at around Rs 8 to 20 lakh," a senior forest official said.

Wildlife activist Firoz Ahmed said, "We have been trying to tell people these geckos have no medicinal value. Rather, the reptile has tremendous ecological value. Some communities in countries like China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan believe that the gecko meat can heal deadly diseases like cancer and HIV."

The police officer added that the hunt for geckos in the hills of Tezpur in Sonitpur district and adjoining areas of Arunachal Pradesh has taken alarming proportions.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Package-deals-on-internet-for-tockay-geckos/articleshow/19640840.cms

Six suspected poachers arrested near Corbett

D S Kunwar, TNN | Apr 20, 2013
DEHRADUN: A joint team of the Special Operation Group (SOG) and the Special Task Force (STF) on Friday arrested six members of a gang of suspected poachers after raids in the Corbett National Park landscape under the Ramnagar forest division. The gang is thought to be responsible for Thursday's killing of a six-year-old tiger near Choi village in Nainital district.

The raids had followed a tip-off that the gang members were hiding near Choi. An STF officer said the suspected poachers had been operating in the region for the past four months.

An IPS officer told TOI that the arrested men were taken inside the forest for their interrogation in connection with the recent poaching. "Since these poachers had used firearms and sharp-edged weapons in poaching the tiger, we hope to recover these weapons from there after the interrogation is over," said the officer. He said cases would be registered against the six men after their interrogation.

An Uttarakhand STF officer said the government had entrusted the responsibility of nabbing poachers to the joint SOG and STF team since it was upset over the way state forest department officials had virtually failed in protecting tigers and other endangered species.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Six-suspected-poachers-arrested-near-Corbett/articleshow/19642413.cms

Officials, civil society join hands to restore wildlife corridor

Subhash Chandra N S Bangalore | Deccan Herald

Govt declares Kaniyanapura and nearby villages as reserve forest. This is one classic example of how concerted efforts by government officials and civil society can make a difference to conservation. 

Sustained pursuance of the case by a few bureaucrats and wildlife activists has ensured that revenue land, over 5,000 acres, falling in a critical wildlife corridor at Kaniyanapura is declared a reserve forest. The efforts bring to an end the two-decade old issue of protecting the Kaniyanapura elephant corridor - which links Bandipur Tiger Reserve and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.

Kaushik Mukherjee, former additional chief secretary, B J Hosmath, field director, Project Tiger, Sanjay Gubbi, member, State Board for Wildlife, Basavaraju, assistant commissioner, Kollegal and Manjunath, tahsildar, Gundlupet have together got thousands of acres of revenue land, which had features of forest, declared reserve forest.

“A notification under Section 4 of Karnataka Forest Act has been issued with an intention to provide legal status to this forest patch,” Kumar Pushkar, Chief Conservator of Forests, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, told Deccan Herald. The notification - dated February 2, 2012 - grants reserve forest status to more than 5,000 acres of revenue land to ensure their protection.

Pushkar said the corridor was very important as far as wildlife protection is concerned as almost all animals, including tiger and elephant, use this stretch for their movement. He said declaring such a huge stretch of land as reserve forest was not an easy task. Not doing so would have been a great loss to wildlife as the notified area binds north and south ears of the corridor, he said.

“This area had become a hub of numerous activities. We would have lost the habitat. By declaring it reserve forest, we have secured it for wildlife,” he said.

“This is the patch which connects Biligirirangana Hills Tiger Reserve and Satyamangala forest with Nagarhole and Bandipur,” he added.

The revenue land falling in the limits of Chikyelchetti, Bachalli, Kebbepura, Kaniyanpura, Mangala, Yeriyur, Heggavadi and Kundukere villages have forests that connected the two important protected areas within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

“Despite a Supreme Court order that land with characteristics of forests should not be diverted for non-forestry activities without proper permissions, several resorts and private farms had come up here. Many of them were illegal and had reduced the corridor to a chicken neck in some locations,” explained a wildlife expert who has conducted a study of this corridor.

Sanjay Gubbi conducted a quick survey of the area with the help of volunteers from Vanya and Aranya wildlife groups in 2011. An area of 9,662.3 acres was found to have forest cover and a report was submitted to the government recommending that these areas be declared reserved forest.

Finding that an area of 5,599.05 acres was not diverted to private use, the department officials made a proposal to the government to declare it reserved forest under the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963. This finally led to the notification declaring the area as reserve forest.

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/257712/officials-civil-society-joi

Unruly nilgais on dangerous bull run

Shobha John, TNN | Apr 20, 2013

Nilgais come under Schedule III of the Wildlife Act.

NEW DELHI: Gujarat is still smarting over the loss of some of its Gir lions to Madhya Pradesh. But many states would gladly give away an animal whose burgeoning population is causing havoc in farms, airforce stations and on national highways — the blue bull or nilgai. So fraught has this man-animal face-off become that Bihar issued an order on February 19 for culling these animals in a restricted way.

For Rahul Gupta (name changed), a nilgai will always evoke trepidation. Recently, as he was driving down a national highway at 9 pm, a blue apparition suddenly jumped in front of his luxurious car. It was a nilgai -- big, agile and just as bewildered as Gupta. The car crashed, the bonnet crumpled. Fortunately, the airbags saved him. "But it will cost me Rs 22 lakh to repair the car," says Gupta. He was lucky. Last April, a toddler and his father were killed when their Santro turned turtle on ramming into a nilgai in Gurgaon.

Nilgais also raid farms and damage crops. "Poor farmers existing on subsistence agriculture can ill-afford this and are increasingly hostile to them," says Dr N P S Chauhan, head of population management, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. "After introduction of the Wildlife Protection Act (1972), many wildlife species, including nilgais, have increased considerably outside protected areas," says Chauhan in a research paper. This leaves crops as the only food available to them, says Bittu Sahgal, editor, Sanctuary Asia. Also, the decrease in predators -- wolves and jackals -- has further increased their numbers.

Nilgais, incidentally, come under Schedule III of the Wildlife Act. "Basically, this means that if a state government, under political pressure, wants to issue permissions to shoot nilgais, they can," says Sahgal. Constant skirmishes led the chief wildlife warden in Bihar to constitute a committee to issue licenses to kill them in a restricted way. The February 19 order states that the license to use stipulated firearms for culling will be valid for four weeks, that Rs 500 will be paid for each killing and Rs 1,000 for disposal of the body. Culling has also taken place in other states such as HP, MP and Gujarat.

Air force stations, too, are frequented by nilgai herds and use choppers to scare them away. Former group captain Pankaj Chopra says, "When I was the chief commanding officer of a forward station, I saw a nilgai and a MiG colliding on the runway. The plane turned turtle. We had a tough time extricating the pilot. The plane was written off." In 2008, an AI flight hit a nilgai at Chakeri airport in Kanpur. All escaped unhurt.

So what's the solution? "One should restore ecosystems so that the predator-prey ratio gets balanced," says Sahgal. "In the US where virtually every predator has been shot, humans have taken on this role and are turning the guns on animals." How about fencing highways or relocating them like the Gir lions, asks Gupta.

Easier said than done.

(Inputs from Madan Kumar in Patna)
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Unruly-nilgais-on-dangerous-bull-run/articleshow/19642514.cms

How elephants see the world

ANI | April 20, 2013

Washington: 12 to 14 year old students from East Side Middle School in New York City are attempting to put an end to the elephant crisis, which is at an all time high with more and more demand for ivory taking more and more lives.

Think Elephants International, a not-for-profit organization striving to promote elephant conservation through scientific research, education programming and international collaborations, today announced its latest study, "Visual Cues Given by Humans are Not Sufficient for Asian Elephants (Elephas Maximus) to Find Hidden Food." 

Designed in collaboration with and co-authored by students from East Side Middle School, the study revealed that elephants are not able to recognize visual cues provided by humans, although they are more responsive to vocal commands.

These findings may directly impact protocols for future efforts to conserve elephants, which are in danger of extinction in this century due to increased poaching and human/elephant conflict.

The publication of this paper is the climax of a three-year endeavor to create a comprehensive middle school curriculum that educates and engages young people directly in elephant and other wildlife conservation.

The study was carried out at Think Elephants' field site in northern Thailand, and students participated via webcam conversation and direct web-links to the elephant camp.

According to Joshua Plotnik, PhD, founder and CEO of Think Elephants, "if elephants are not primarily using sight to navigate their natural environment, human-elephant conflict mitigation techniques must consider what elephants' main sensory modalities are and how elephants think so that they might be attracted or deterred effectively as a situation requires. The loss of natural habitat, poaching for ivory, and human-elephant conflict are serious threats to the sustainability of elephants in the wild. Put simply, we will be without elephants, and many other species in the wild, in less than 50 years if the world does not act."

The Think Elephants study tested whether captive elephants, wild animals in relatively close contact with humans, could follow visual, social cues (pointing and gazing) to find food hidden in one of two buckets.

The elephants failed at this task, but were able to follow vocal commands telling them which bucket contained the food.

These results suggest that elephants may navigate their physical world in ways that primates and dogs do not.

Based on the results of this study, Dr. Plotnik suggests further attention to research on elephant behavior and an increase in educational programming are needed, particularly in Asia where the market for ivory is so strong.

The study has been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/how-elephants-see-the-world_843388.html

Export the pride

The Hindu EDITORIAL | April 19, 2013
The last lions of Asia found in Gir have been nurtured with great care by Gujarat. The protective hand of the government and people there enables an estimated 400 members of Panthera leo persica to survive today, overcoming a variety of challenges. This is an achievement that the State can be justifiably proud of. It is now time for Gujarat to build on its success and help improve the long-term survival prospects of these magnificent animals. Rather than stand on prestige, it must wholeheartedly accept the Supreme Court’s decision directing that lions be translocated to create a second population in Kuno, Madhya Pradesh. Providing new habitat for the cats is important for several reasons. There is scientific consensus, for one, that Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary and its surrounding areas cannot support many more lions. More significantly, the existing isolated population could face annihilation in the event of a disease outbreak, or a natural disaster. These key questions were considered by experts at the Wildlife Institute of India and elsewhere two decades ago, before arriving at the conclusion that Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, among three locations, is best suited for translocation. Gujarat can easily identify a pride of five to eight lions to be moved, since they are now found even outside the protected area of Gir.

The fundamental test that the plan must satisfy is scientific. Happily, conservation science has matured considerably since a failed attempt was made over five decades ago to create a second home for lions in Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh. The one significant issue to be addressed in Kuno is that of poaching. A reduction in the major prey base including large animals such as nilgai and spotted deer due to hunting automatically depresses big cat populations. The Madhya Pradesh government, which has spent large sums to relocate villagers and prepare the sanctuary for lions, should curb poaching effectively. Together with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, it must also double the protected area to 700 sq km and upgrade it to National Park status for viability. For Gujarat, there is much to gain from the rise of a second population. After all, the species is now emblematic of its home and commonly referred to as the ‘Gir lion,’ even if it comes to exist at a new location. Historically, Asiatic lions were free-ranging over a large area that included parts of central India and much of the northwest, and thrived in climates as varied as hot desert in Palestine and cold forests in Iran. As an experiment in species survival, the Kuno project must be actively pursued by Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and the Centre.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/export-the-pride/article4634184.ece

PM urged to announce special package to address man-animal conflict

TNN | Apr 19, 2013
NAGPUR: Following unprecedented rise in man-animal conflict in which eight villagers were mauled by a problem leopard in 25 days, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been urged to announce a special package to implement 'alternate livelihood programme' for minor forest produce (MFP) and livestock dependent families living in Tadoba landscape and wildlife corridors.

Satpuda Foundation, which is a member of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), has demanded a special package from the Prime Minister, who is also the chairman of NBWL. In a letter to the PMO on Wednesday, the Satpuda Foundation chief Kishor Rithe said that there are at least 189 spots in TATR landscape where there is presence of big cats.

Explaining the problem, Rithe said that communities living in Tadoba's buffer villages and wildlife corridors mostly depend on MFP like bamboo, mahua flowers and tendu leaves for livelihood. Wild animals, who are not so familiar with humans, tend to attack villagers who enter the forest to collect these forest produce or to graze livestock.

From 2007 to 2013, around 83 human deaths and around 5,861 cattle kill cases have been recorded in Chandrapur district alone, as against 223 human and 21,775 cattle kills in the entire state.

The Satpuda Foundation has sought PMO's intervention to implement preventive steps rather than simply paying compensation.

"It is high time, that a special package to solve man-animal conflict is implemented under alternate livelihood programme for MFP," said Rithe. The Satpuda Foundation will also write to MLAs and MPs in Vidarbha to gather support to design and implement such package.

The copy of the letter has also been sent to Jayanthi Natarajan, Union environment and forest minister, and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of Planning Commission.

Trail of death

* March 24: Anusaya Shende, Usrala Chak (Saoli)
* April 6: Dhrupada Madavi, Sadagad (Saoli)
* Leopard caged and released in Girghat (TATR)
* April 10: Tukaram Dharne and Malan Munghate ((Adegaon)
* April 10: (Wrong leopard caged)
* April 11: Lalita Pendam (Pathri)
* April 12: Nileema Kotrange (Chorgaon)
* April 17: Kirti Katkar (Payali)
* April 18: Gopika Kalsarpe (Kitali)

(Six deaths after release of problem leopard in TATR. On April 16 Laijabai Fukat was killed by a tiger in Ranbodi in Umred-Karhandla)

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/PM-urged-to-announce-special-package-to-address-man-animal-conflict/articleshow/19623792.cms

Making space for the tiger a reality

PRAVEEN BHARGAV

WAY OUT: A participatory community-based tourism plan can help reduce pressure on core areas.
Photo: Special Arrangement

Promoters of development projects in forest areas can be made to compensate by creating buffer zones around sanctuaries through minor modifications to the Forest Conservation Act guidelines
The contentious issue of notifying buffer areas around tiger reserves came under sharp debate when the Supreme Court issued interim directions to stop tourism in core or Critical Tiger Habitats (CTHs) and notify buffer areas. However, after the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) filed comprehensive guidelines on tiger conservation and tourism on October 15, 2012, the Supreme Court permitted the reopening of tourism strictly in accordance with the guidelines. Visitation is now permissible in existing tourism zones subject to a maximum of 20 per cent of core areas being used. But the important issue of creating viable buffers around a core area lost focus even though the NTCA guidelines harp on its importance to sustain tiger populations.

In most tiger reserves, core areas comprise notified sanctuaries and/or national parks, which are to be managed as areas free of incompatible human activity. Reserved forests, deemed forests and other unencumbered government land with some vegetation immediately abutting the CTHs are to be notified as buffer areas, which can act as “shock absorbers” for core areas.

Viable buffers

While notifying such contiguous forests as buffer areas may be relatively easy, the real challenge is in creating viable buffers wherever private agricultural lands abut core areas. Merely notifying such areas as buffer or peripheral areas without any viable habitat, as is being done now, may not only fail to deliver the imagined benefits for tiger conservation but also lead to hostility and loss of support from the local community.

Yet, acquiring large extent of private land abutting tiger reserves, to insulate the entire core area with a complete “wrap around” buffer that can support wildlife might be impractical. So is there a way forward to resolve this important issue?

An innovative mechanism can be created within the current legal framework with some very minor modifications to the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 Guidelines. This could greatly contribute to creating additional areas as viable forested buffers around tiger reserves.

Presently, most development project promoters seeking diversion of forest land for a non-forestry purpose have to identify an equivalent area of non-forest land. This has to be transferred and mutated in favour of the forest department for declaration as reserved forest/Protected Forest (PF). The project must also deposit funds for taking up compensatory afforestation in such lands. Stage II clearance under the Forest Act is to be granted only after compliance of this important condition. As far as possible, such areas should be contiguous with reserved forests for effective management. This is mandated under Chapter 3 of the Act’s guidelines.

Legal loophole

Unfortunately, in most cases, this important condition is relaxed based on certification by the State that sufficient/appropriate non-forest land is not available. In such cases a simpler condition of compensatory afforestation in degraded forest land twice the area diverted is insisted upon. This legal loophole has meant the loss of an excellent opportunity to create viable buffer areas as State governments routinely provide this exemption to most projects.

To facilitate the creation of viable forested buffers, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) must first revise the current guidelines appropriately to plug this loophole. A new mechanism must then be created whereby the Tiger Reserve Authority in each tiger reserve State identifies private (non-forest) land immediately abutting a reserve, based on scientific and objective criteria, to be developed as ecologically viable buffers.

Private enclosures within contiguous reserve forests can also be identified. This data must be shared with development project promoters to explore the possibility of them privately acquiring the lands to comply with the Forest Act guidelines.

There could be two possible scenarios under which this idea could be enabled:

1. The owner(s) of such identified farm land may be willing to sell the land at prevailing market prices (which the project proponent /owner mutually agree upon as in any private land transaction). The project promoter has to then transfer and mutate the land in favour of the Forest Department for notification as a reserve forest/PF, as mandated by existing guidelines or even as a conservation reserve under Section 36-A of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 under the proposed new mechanism or;
2. The owner(s) may not be willing to sell but may be agreeable — with suitable benefits — to develop it as a private/community reserve based on an appropriate management plan. There are enabling provisions in the Wildlife Act, which allow for any individual/group of individuals or community volunteering to conserve wildlife and its habitat to approach the government for a notification. While the land will continue to be owned by the individual/community, the land use will be agreed upon jointly with the Forest Department based on a management plan.

Participatory plan

This will enable appropriate development of the private/community reserve or the land mutated in favour of the Forest Department, by creating suitable vegetation with mixed plantation/bamboo/grassy patches/salt licks, etc to attract wildlife. The funding for this can come from money deposited by the project promoter for compensatory afforestation. The individual or community could then be encouraged and assisted to develop a participatory community-based tourism plan with benefit sharing as envisaged in the new NTCA guidelines. The tourism pressure on core areas can thus be reduced progressively.

All that is required are some minor modifications in the Forest Act Guidelines to include the terms “Core or Critical Tiger Habitat,” “Protected Area” and “Community Reserve” to enable identification and transfer of lands adjacent to these areas to the Forest Department by the project promoter. But for this idea to work, the MoEF must issue a proper clarification to States that, henceforth, transfer of non-forest land will not ordinarily be condoned.

This innovative mechanism, which is within the framework of existing laws, could open up tremendous opportunities for increasing viable buffers and creating additional habitats for wildlife where it is most needed — around tiger reserves/protected areas. It will not only help in achieving the true objective of compensatory afforestation, but also deliver benefits to local communities from the increasing economic opportunities of non-consumptive tourism outside core areas.

(Praveen Bhargav is a trustee of Wildlife First and has served on the National Board for Wildlife.)

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/making-space-for-the-tiger-a-reality/article4630903.ece

Tigers moving from Rajasthan to Madhya Pradesh, officials concerned

P Naveen, TNN | Apr 19, 2013
GWALIOR: Movement of tigers from Rajasthan's Ranthambore to the Chambal range in Madhya Pradesh has become a cause for concerned of the two states.

Three tigers who went missing from Ranthambore have been located in Madhya Pradesh including one in Seoda range in Datia district - a mix of reserve and protected forest area and two in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, selected for relocating lions from Gir in Gujarat.

After writing to the Madhya Pradesh forest officials to check whereabouts of the missing tigers, a team of officers from Ranthambore visited Datia district last week. They installed camera traps to check its movements. The tiger was finally caught in the camera traps of Madhya Pradesh forest department.

"Our team followed the tiger all the way to MP. We are happy that it's safe there and the officers were very cooperative. We cannot stop dispersal, only concern is its safety," said Y K Sahu, district forest officer Ranthambore.

The tiger in Datia is said to be a 3-year-old cub of Ranthambore's T-26 tigress. Information collected from the forest officials and the GPS tracking by WWF India- Western India Tiger landscape team indicates this cub travelled more than 220 km to reach the Seoda range.

On March 14, 2013 the tiger was found in Seoda range of Datia territorial forest division, which is a forest patch of 55km in length and width of 11-12 km. The range has both reserve and protected forests with the Sindh river flowing in the middle and the Vindhya hill ranges on the western side. There are many villages on both sides

From March 14 till date several samples and pugmarks have been recorded while following the tiger. There was no tiger sightings reported from Datia till one was shot dead by poachers in 1998. Prior to that one was hunted 'legally' by member of a Royal family in 1960, said sources.

"We are very concerned about the tiger's safety. Additional patrolling is being done to keep tab on its movement," said chief conservator of forest (Gwalior circle) S P Rayal.

Kuno is now a house to two Ranthambore tigers, T-38 that was spotted there since last year and other one that moved in recently. Officers had been visiting the place to track the tigers. "We have not received any pictures of the tiger so far. Search is on," Sahu said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Tigers-moving-from-Rajasthan-to-Madhya-Pradesh-officials-concerned/articleshow/19624981.cms

Dawood ‘aide’ gets jail for 1998 wildlife crimes

Aniruddha Ghosal, TNN | Apr 19, 2013
NEW DELHI: Romesh Sharma, a suspected aide of Dawood Ibrahim, was convicted of illegal possession of tiger and leopard skins and sentenced to three years imprisonment by the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate (special acts) in Delhi. He has also been fined Rs 1 lakh.

The conviction came for a case which dates back to 1998 when the Delhi police, on raiding his south Delhi residence found a tiger skin, a leopard skin and a cheetal skin. At the time of the inspection which was headed by wildlife inspector VB Dasan, the accused failed to produce any documents supporting the possession of the wildlife articles. Dasan was complainant in the case.

Romesh Sharma was found guilty under Section 49 (Purchase of captive animal by a person other than a licensee) and Section 49B (Prohibition of dealings in trophies, animal articles, etc. derived from scheduled animals) read with Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Dawood-aide-gets-jail-for-1998-wildlife-crimes/articleshow/19624658.cms

Ban on night stay at Bhitarkanika National Park removed

PTI
KENDRAPARA, Odisha: The ban on night stay of tourists at the Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha, which led to a decline in footfall of Indian and foreign visitors, has been withdrawn.

The fall in number of visitors to the internationally acclaimed wetland in Kendrapara district also adversely affected the economy of villages on its fringes as residents found few employment opportunities to make a living.

"We have lifted the night stay ban on tourists. The restriction had to be imposed following attack by hooligans on forest staff in January," Divisional forest officer, Rajnagar Mangrove Forest, Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, said.

The national park would remain open till May 15 and thereafter close till July 1 because of the nesting season of estuarine crocodiles.

It has now been made mandatory for visitors and tourists to carry proof of identity and it was necessary for securing an entry permit, forest officials said.

The forest department has also sought closure and relocation of IMFL shops at Gupti and Dangmal at the entry points to the national park, but the district administration was yet to respond, they added.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Ban-on-night-stay-at-Bhitarkanika-National-Park-removed/articleshow/19632510.cms

Two new genera of tree frogs found in Western Ghats

• They are named after two remarkable personalities associated with this landscape
• Erratic rainfall during recent years likely to affect breeding patterns of these frogs
• They were found in highly threatened fresh water swamp eco systems

Two new genera of frogs were discovered by a team of independent researchers, led by Anil Zachariah and Robin Kurian Abraham, during their recent exploration in the Western Ghats.

The discovery, published in the latest issue of International Taxonomic Journal Zootaxa , is a joint effort by the team which comprised B .R. Ansil; Arun Zachariah of the Wild Life Disease Research Lab in Wayanad; and Robert Alexander Pyron, Assistant professor, Department of Biological Sciences of the George Washington University, U.S.

Biodiversity hot spot

The discovery once again proves that the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hot spot and Unesco world Heritage site, is a treasure trove of many amphibians.

It was found that the newly found genera belonged to tree frog family ‘Rhacophoridae.’ The frogs were discovered in highly threatened fresh water swamp eco systems, which are unique to the mountain range.

Mercurana myristicapalustris

The frogs discovered are named after two remarkable personalities who had an association with this landscape. One genus is named ‘Beddomixalus’ after colonel Richard Henry Beddome. He was a gifted polymath of the colonial era, who made extraordinary contributions to the understanding to the natural history of the sub-continent while serving as the Chief Conservator of Forests in the Madras Presidency. His works were the first detailed forays towards a systematic and through understanding of the amphibian diversity of the Western Ghats.

The other genus has been christened ‘Mercurana’ to commemorate Freddie Mercury, late iconic lead singer of the British rock band Queen. Mercury (his pen name) was of Indian Parsi origin and had spent major part of his childhood in India in Panchagni, located in the northern part of the mountain range, where the frog now bearing his name has been discovered.

Beddomixalus bijui 

While the ‘Beddomixalus bijui’ was found in the swamp forests of the Anamalai and high ranges of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, ‘Mercurana myristicapalustris,’ is restricted to highly fragmented and threatened low land ‘Myristica’ swamp forests in the foothills of the Agastyamalai hills in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts.

This distinctive forest type is dominated by wild relatives of nutmeg that thrive in waterlogged soil, and hence the name ‘Myristica’ swamp. But much of these types of forests have been lost, having been converted to raise cash crops such as rubber and oil palms, Dr. Anil Zachariah says.

Moreover, episodes of erratic rainfall over recent years are likely to affect the breeding patterns of these frogs and detailed studies are needed to explore such impacts, Mr. Abraham says.

The researchers highlight that the swamp forest and their unique biota are to be preserved. They stressed that the finding of two novel genera after more than a century of herpetological exploration in the region take the total number of tree frog genera in the Western Ghats to seven.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/two-new-genera-of-tree-frogs-found-in-western-ghats/article4628482.ece

Brow-antlered deer flourish in Manipur national park

IBOYAIMA LAITHANGBAM | IMPHAL, April 18, 2013

Threat to endangered species from hydel plant and poaching remains

• Politicians instigated villagers to demand closure of the national park and convert it into a paddy field
• There are suggestions to keep some deer in national parks in Assam

A brow-antlered deer cools off in a water tub in its
open-air enclosure at the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata.
- File photo

Wildlife lovers are overjoyed by the recent report that the population of the brow-antlered deer in its natural habitat at the Keibul Lamjao National Park, located within the Loktak Lake in Manipur, has increased from 180 a few years back to 200 now. However, the big question is how long this deer, listed in the Red Book, will survive.

The deer has been facing a two-pronged threat. The first blow was the commissioning of the 105 MW Loktak project in 1983 by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. As the three turbines are draining water round the clock, the floating biomass on which the deer live, has been ravaged. The second threat is from poachers.

Local newspapers have been regularly publishing reports and photographs on poaching and sale of venison.

This rare deer was first discovered in 1839. Because of extensive poaching by the British and others, it was feared that it had become extinct in 1951. However, just six deer were sighted at the natural habitat in 1953. A flurry of activity was galvanised to save it. The population increased to 14 in 1975 and 155 in 1995. The official census conducted in 2000 counted 162 deer – 54 stags, 76 hinds and 32 fawns. The Manipur Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 was also enforced. The sanctuary created in 1966 was declared a national park in 1977.

Apart from the damage done by the Loktak project, human disturbance is also a great threat to the deer. Large scale use of poison to catch fish has also killed grass in the bio mass.

Some local politicians instigated the villagers to demand closure of the park so that it could be converted to a paddy field. Poachers and villagers beat up the skeleton staff of the wildlife wing guarding the park and even torched their personal belongings. The government deployed a detachment of Manipur Rifles troopers there. This was effective since the forest guards could chase away the poachers and other anti-social elements. However, the troopers were later recalled for unexplained reasons.

There were suggestions to keep some deer in the national parks in Assam. This attracted strong objections as the parks there do not have floating biomass.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/browantlered-deer-flourish-in-manipur-national-park/article4628483.ece

Tiger kills another woman near Nagpur

Express news service : Nagpur, Wed Apr 17 2013
A woman was killed and partly eaten by a tiger near Ranbodi village, about 50 km from here, in the newly-carved-out Umred-Karandla sanctuary in Nagpur district.

Home to at least 12 tigers, the sanctuary declared last year has only one village - Ranbodi.

Villager Layjabai Fukat (65) had gone to the forest to collect mahua flowers. When she did not return home at regular time, a search began. Forest staff and villagers later found her partly eaten body.

"A hand, a breast and part of her neck had been eaten," said Nagpur honorary wildlife warden Roheet Karu.

With this, the human toll in Vidarbha's man-animal conflict this year has gone up to ten — four attributed to tigers, four to leopards and two to wild boars.

Raj gives Rs 5 lakh

MNS chief Raj Thackeray has released the Rs 5 lakh he promised for detection of tiger poaching case in Chandrapur. The case pertained to a tiger whose body was found cut into pieces near Borda village in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve last year.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tiger-kills-another-woman-near-nagpur/1103672/

Why New Home Can Save India’s Lions

By Saptarishi Dutta

Asiatic Lions, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh

Conservationists say splitting India’s small population of Asiatic lions will help prevent the endangered animal from being wiped out.

India’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled that some of the 411 Asiatic lions that live exclusively in Gir Forest in Gujarat state will be moved to Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

“I am all in favor of it,” said M. K. Ranjitsinh, chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India, a non-governmental organization. “They should have a second home,” he added.

Experts argue restricting the lions to a single geographical area puts them at greater risk of extinction.

“If they are hit by a disease, there is a possibility that the entire population could be wiped out,” said Belinda Wright, founder of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.

“It is best for the species that a second and third location is established,” Ms. Wright added, warning of the risk of extinction.

“India would be a devastated place without this incredible cultural and heritage symbol,” she said.

The court said the lions will move to Madhya Pradesh within the next six months. A special panel comprising wildlife experts will decide how many lions will be move to Kuno Palpur, one of the most suitable habitats in India for Asiatic lions, according to a study by the Wildlife Institute of India.

The court’s ruling puts an end to a long-running interstate dispute. Gujarat has been reluctant to let go of a share of its lion population, a major tourist attraction in the state.

Around 460,000 tourists visited the Gir Forest in 2012 generating revenues of 50 million rupees ($914,745) for Gujarat’s forest department, according to Sandeep Kumar, a forest official at Gir.

The government of Gujarat had opposed the relocation of any of its lions to Madhya Pradesh, citing rampant poaching there.

According to Madhya Pradesh’s forest department, there are between 250 and 300 cases of poaching of all types of animals in Madhya Pradesh every year.

Asiatic lions are smaller than their African counterparts, and have visible ears and a thinner mane. Asiatic lions also have a thicker elbow tufts and a longer tail tuft.

While dividing the lion population between two states will likely help conservation efforts, experts say other worries remain.

Lions have difficulty finding enough to eat, as their prey – mainly deer and antelopes – is frequently killed by humans. “This is an overriding problem throughout India,” Ms. Wright said.

The loss of natural habitat through deforestation caused by a rising human population is also detrimental to the lion population, said Naresh Kadyan, Indian representative of International Organization for Animal Protection, a body affiliated to the United Nations.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed the court’s decision: “I welcome Supreme Court’s verdict on Asiatic Lions. We are well-equipped to welcome them in their new home. #MP,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Follow Saptarishi and India Real Time on Twitter @saptarishidutta and @indiarealtime.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/04/16/why-new-home-can-save-indias-lions/

Villagers set leopard cubs ablaze, one dead

CHANDRAPUR: A five-month-old leopard cub was killed, while one other was critically injured, as miscreants set the two ablaze alive near Nifandra village in Saolitehsil on Tuesday afternoon. Forest officers initially tried to cover up the incident by claiming that it was a road accident.

The brutal killing comes just a day after a tiger cub was killed and another injured after being hit by a train on Gondia-Chandrapur route.

Tuesday's incident could be a case of revenge killing as leopards recently mauled to death two persons in Saoli tehsil recently.

Sources claimed that unidentified miscreants found two leopard cubs in a pipe laid in the farm of one Prakash Deshmukh located close to the village bus stop. The villagers sealed one end of the pipe with stones, put cow-dung cakes on the other end and set ablaze the inflammable material, used in villages as domestic fuel.

A leopard cub died of suffocation inside the pipe. The other cub somehow managed to force its way out of pipe and fell unconscious at the scene. Nobody came to its rescue till Pathri police reached the spot.

Forest officials on the spot reportedly kept their distance from the fragile cub, whose condition appeared to be critical. Police officers took the injured cub to Pathri police station and gave it some water. It was later dispatched to Chandrapur for emergency treatment with forest staffers.

CCF, Chandrapur circle, BSK Reddy confirmed that a leopard cub was killed, while another was injured in the blaze. He, however, refrained from blaming the villagers for cruel act. "We are investigating into the cause of fire. Possibility of accidental fire cannot be ruled out," he said.

As the news broke out, forest officers initially tried to cover the incident by terming it as road accident. ACF Rajiv Pawar claimed that an unidentified vehicle knocked the two cubs, killing one and injuring the other. RFO, Saoli range, VC Pattiwar maintained that he failed to reach the spot as the tyre of his vehicle got punctured.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Villagers-set-leopard-cubs-ablaze-one-dead/articleshow/19587347.cms