Leopard cat found dead

KANNUR: A leopard cat (Felis bengalensis) was found dead near Iritty here on Monday. The body of the animal was found near the State Highway at Madathil here in the morning. Though the animal was initially suspected to have been hit by a vehicle, the Forest and Wildlife Department officials here said that the leopard cat died of injuries from attack by some other animal. It was less than one year old and weighed 1 kg.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/leopard-cat-found-dead/article4477606.ece

Elephants damage crops

A herd of six elephants camping at Vilampatti in Vazhapadi Forest Range in the district damaged sugarcane and maize field and also a house on Monday.

Forest officials through public address system and door-to-door campaign asked people not to venture out during night hours.

On Sunday, over 100 local people threw empty liquor bottles on the herd to divert its path.

The forest officials had to intervene to bring the situation under control.

A team of 85 persons — 60 forest personnel, 15 revenue officials and 10 police personnel — have been involved in overseeing the herd movement round the clock.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/elephants-damage-crops/article4477352.ece

Notice to Centre, States on protecting elephants from rail accidents

• Train accidents account for 37 p.c. elephant deaths
• Train accidents claim lives of eight to ten elephants annually

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre, the Railways and 11 States including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala on a public interest writ petition for a direction to take effective steps for protecting elephants from being killed in rail accidents.

A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra issued notice on a petition filed by Shakti Prasad Nayak challenging the inaction of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, Indian Railways and various States in containing the widespread number of deaths of elephants on railway track either due to electrocution or being hit by trains.

The petitioner said train accidents claimed the lives of eight to ten elephants annually and since 1987, over 110 elephants had been killed in train accidents.

He said train accidents accounted for 37 per cent of elephant deaths in the country.

The petitioner said he made representations to the authorities concerned to take steps to protect the elephants from such accidents but no drastic step seemed to have been taken. Hence the present writ petition for a direction to the Centre and states to take immediate steps to prevent such accidents.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/notice-to-centre-states-on-protecting-elephants-from-rail-accidents/article4477287.ece

Wildlife sanctuaries closed due to fire risk

K. S. SUDHI
Two wildlife sanctuaries — Silent Valley National Park and Wayanad — have been closed to visitors since Friday following high fire risk.

Scanty summer showers and dried vegetation have heightened the fire risk in most of the protected areas of the State. The restriction on tourism activities and curbs on visitors were enforced at the sanctuaries to minimise risk of fire, said V. Gopinath, Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala.

Though sporadic incidents of fire were reported from some forest areas in the State, the situation was under control, Mr. Gopinath said.

Fire prevention measures carried out annually, including the clearing of fire tracts and posting of fire watchers, whad been completed. However, shortage of manpower was a major problem. The department had 2,000 regular employees to protect the 11,000 sq.km of forest area in the State, said Mr. Gopinath.

221 incidents

Last year, 221 incidents of forest fire were reported in Kerala between January 1, 2012 and May 31, according to the statistics collected by the Forest Survey of India. Idukki accounted for the most number of incidents last year with 56 fire outbreaks followed by Wayanad (17) and Pathanamthitta (16). Large tracts of withered bamboo have dried up in Wayanad after their recent mass flowering. The dried-up bamboo poses high risk to wildlife as well as human habitations. A recent meeting of the State Wildlife Advisory Board had decided to approach the National Board for cutting down the bamboo. The board has estimated that there would be around 25,000 metric tonne bamboo to be harvested from there which could be sold to agencies like Hindustan Newsprint Ltd. As the bamboo groves are located inside the sanctuary, the permission of the national board is required for cutting them down, said Roy P. Thomas, Divisional Forest Officer, Wayanad.

In Silent Valley, large tracts of grass have dried up along the forest route from Mukkali to Sairandhri. Heavy dust covers the area as vehicles pass through the parched tracts. The management of the park had also suggested its closure during the summer months. The park will remain closed for two months, a park official said. As the waterholes inside the protected areas have dried up, animals have started leaving the forest area in search of water and foraying into human habitations. An elephant was spotted on a road near the sanctuary last week, the official said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/wildlife-sanctuaries-closed-due-to-fire-risk/article4473415.ece

Marine pollution, poaching threaten dolphins

SANTOSH PATNAIK

PITIABLE:The carcass of a bottlenose dolphin being
shifted after it was swept ashore at Visakhapatnam.
- Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Sighting a dolphin on the shores between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada may become a thing of the past with such a death reported at a regular interval.

North Andhra coast is a habitat for mostly bottlenose dolphins. Spinner, humpback and common dolphins are also found in limited numbers.

Dolphins provide relaxing moments for the mariners and tourists going on a boat ride being organised by AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC). There is also a proposal to promote dolphin tourism in a big way by deploying more vessels to enthral animal lovers.

Due to their dwindling number, dolphins are categorised in Appendix I of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Poaching, indiscriminate dumping of industrial effluents and spurt in commercial fishing have led to falling number of dolphins in North Andhra coast, a study revealed.

Being sports aquatic animals, dolphins are most loved creatures for people of all age groups.

They are not harmful and friendly to human beings and are good at imitating and mimicking them. For feeding they move from one place to another and are normally seen in near shore water.

“For past two decades or so, due to increased activity, their population has been under threat. During our study, we found dolphins, mostly bottlenose dolphins are dying because of killing by fishermen for its tasty meat, pollution caused by industrial effluents and increased fishing activity,” Dr. D.E. Babu, zoology professor of Andhra University, told The Hindu .

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/marine-pollution-poaching-threaten-dolphins/article4473774.ece

Forest officials accused of torturing poachers

NIDHI SURENDRANATH

Two persons accused of poaching were arrested
by forest officers from inside the
Nelliampathy forest range on December 7, 2012.

Forest department officers who claim to have nabbed poachers red-handed have now been directed to appear in a test identification parade before the accused.

The parade was ordered after a proactive police officer met an accused in judicial custody and recorded a statement against the forest officers accusing them of torture.

Officials of the Kollengode forest range insist there were several irregularities in the case.

“The poachers did not complain of torture when they were taken to the Magistrate after the arrest. The allegations were made almost a week after their arrest and confession,” said Range Forest Officer Nibu Kiran. Legal experts also pointed out that it was highly unusual for a police officer to visit an accused in judicial custody at the sub-jail to take down his statement.

According to the investigators, the six poachers were found in the core area of the Nelliampathy forest by a team of eight forest officers early in December 2012. “We had been keeping a vigil after we found cigarette butts and newspapers in the core area a few days earlier,” said Mr. Kiran. Forest officers have recorded the seizure of a dead boar, bear skin, bear meat, animal fat, flashlights and lead pellets from the site.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/forest-officials-accused-of-torturing-poachers/article4473847.ece

Ranger posts to be filled with retired officers

P. OPPILI
In a move that has baffled activists, the Environment and Forest department has given its nod for filling up vacant posts of Rangers in the State by appointing retired range officers instead of direct recruitment of young talent.

According to a government order, the retired rangers could be appointed in Extension, Social Forestry, Plantation, Research, Working Plan wings and for other special duties. The order further said that their work would be assigned by the District Forest Officers / Conservator of Forests concerned. A GO dated December 27, 2012 has cleared such a proposal of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests sent to the government last September.

There are more than 100 vacancies in the department and applications from most of the districts have been received by the Committee members. The Committee is yet to receive application from few more districts. Surprised by the announcement, the Tamil Nadu Green Movement Coordinator K. Mohan Raj said it was shocking that the Tamil Nadu Forest department was offering employment opportunities to retired officers.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/ranger-posts-to-be-filled-with-retired-officers/article4470938.ece