Rajendra Sharma, TNN May 20, 2013
ALWAR: A two-year-old male panther died in Sariska reserve after being hit by a speeding vehicle on Sunday morning. The incident took place between Kushalgarh and Bharthari areas.
The animal suffered traumatic shock, cervical fracture and a head injury, says the autopsy report.
Though the state government had come up with a panther conservation committee recently, it still remains on paper, said sources.
Panthers are endangered animals listed under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act which gives them absolute protection. A separate area was to be developed for them so that they could roam safely. According to the census conducted in 2010, the number of panthers in the reserve was put at 45 but on an average one panther is killed in road accident, poached or attacked after straying into human habitats every two days, says a study.
Concerned over the rise in panther deaths, the state was to constitute a committee for panther conservation and develop a separate territory for them in Sariska Tiger Reserve. Wildlife experts and officials of forest department were to chalk out a plan for their safety in the reserve, but hardly anything has been done so far.
According to honorary wildlife warden Anil Jain, "It is difficult for Sariska to stabilize given the fact that the Ranthambore lobby plays a very predominant role in Rajasthan. They want tourists to be diverted from Sariska and the forest department just does what they want. It has been on record that the every three to six months a divisional forest officer has been transferred from Sariska and similar is the case with the assistant conservator of forests."
Besides since the reserve is big, there is a dire need of more rangers and forest guards. "At the moment there are only six rangers which ideally should be double the number. The number of forest guards is just 110 while it should ideally be nearly 300," said Jain.
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-20/jaipur/39392193_1_sariska-tiger-reserve-forest-guards-panther
ALWAR: A two-year-old male panther died in Sariska reserve after being hit by a speeding vehicle on Sunday morning. The incident took place between Kushalgarh and Bharthari areas.
The animal suffered traumatic shock, cervical fracture and a head injury, says the autopsy report.
Though the state government had come up with a panther conservation committee recently, it still remains on paper, said sources.
Panthers are endangered animals listed under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act which gives them absolute protection. A separate area was to be developed for them so that they could roam safely. According to the census conducted in 2010, the number of panthers in the reserve was put at 45 but on an average one panther is killed in road accident, poached or attacked after straying into human habitats every two days, says a study.
Concerned over the rise in panther deaths, the state was to constitute a committee for panther conservation and develop a separate territory for them in Sariska Tiger Reserve. Wildlife experts and officials of forest department were to chalk out a plan for their safety in the reserve, but hardly anything has been done so far.
According to honorary wildlife warden Anil Jain, "It is difficult for Sariska to stabilize given the fact that the Ranthambore lobby plays a very predominant role in Rajasthan. They want tourists to be diverted from Sariska and the forest department just does what they want. It has been on record that the every three to six months a divisional forest officer has been transferred from Sariska and similar is the case with the assistant conservator of forests."
Besides since the reserve is big, there is a dire need of more rangers and forest guards. "At the moment there are only six rangers which ideally should be double the number. The number of forest guards is just 110 while it should ideally be nearly 300," said Jain.
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-20/jaipur/39392193_1_sariska-tiger-reserve-forest-guards-panther
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