More turtles visit Chennai beach for nesting

CHENNAI: After a drop in the number of nests in 2012, Olive Ridley turtles seem to have made an impressive comeback this year.

This year, volunteers of Students Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN) found 213 nests along the Neelankarai-Napier Bridge stretch between January and March. Between Neelankarai and Urur Kuppam near Elliot's Beach, 110 nests were found and 103 between Srinivasapuram and Napier Bridge.

"This is the highest since 1991 when we found around 206 nests. It looks like the 1991 mark will be crossed as we have two more weeks left for the nesting season to end," said V Arun, coordinator for SSTCN.

In 2012, volunteers found only 120 nests, and 183 nests in 2011. However, it is not all good news. While the number of nests has gone up, volunteers said the number of turtles washed ashore dead was high compared to previous years. "Many of the dead turtles that had washed ashore were females that had come to nest," said Arun.

Scientists say despite threats from fishing trawlers and urbanisation along the coast, turtles seem to be surviving. "There isn't strong evidence to show that there has been a significant decline in turtle population in the the past decade," said Kartik Shanker, assistant professor at Centre for Ecological Sciences at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. "The mass nesting (arribada) season at Rushikulya in Odisha was good this year, but conservation issues still need to be addressed," said Shanker.

Volunteers on patrol said they have had an eventful season. "On Saturday night, we found seven nests between Srinivasapuram and Napier Bridge. But what was difficult was that an adult turtle had walked to a platform in Pattinapakkam. It was walking towards the mast light. We had to carry it back to release into the sea," said R Nishanth, a student who volunteers for SSCTN. "By the end of January, we found 38 nests on Marina," he said.

The Tamil Nadu forest department too has stepped up efforts to save these endangered species. The department recently floated a tender calling for NGOs to take care of conservation activities along the coast of Tamil Nadu. Olive Ridleys are classified under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act. They nest along the Indian coast between January and March. Fishing trawlers pose a big threat as turtles get trapped in nets. The street lights along the coast often misguide hatchlings towards land as they are instinctively drawn to the brighter lights.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/More-turtles-visit-Chennai-beach-for-nesting/articleshow/18900024.cms

Jumbo trouble for foresters

Officials of Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on Saturday announced that five teams had been formed to prevent a wild male elephant, which was in musth, from entering tribal settlements in the Pollachi forest range.

The elephant had killed three female elephants in the past few weeks. The carcass of a 20-year-old female elephant was found with multiple injuries, in Maniyancholai forest in Pothamadai beat, in Pollachi on February 26.

Officials believe that the same tusker had also killed a 20-year-old female jumbo and its five-month-old calf in Pothamadai on March 7. Officials are of the opinion that the tusker has been in musth for about a month and was probably aggressive over failure to mate.

The five teams comprise 35 personnel from the anti-poaching watchers, forest guards, forest watchers and foresters. Three teams have been deployed at Pothamadai and the rest to the Ayirangal beat.  The teams burst crackers and burn fires to prevent wild elephants from entering tribal settlements in Sarkarpathy, Thammampathy and Saralapathy. Officials of ATR also asked for assistance in case tranquillisers have to be used to subdue the elephant.  Wildlife veterinary officer N S Manoharan, attached to the Coimbatore Circle, is expected to arrive in Pollachi on Sunday.

Nanjan and Pari, both Kumki elephants in Chadivayal, cannot be roped in for the drive as they too are in musth. Kumki elephants at Kozhikkamuthy and Chinnar tribal settlements in Topslip also cannot be used as they have not been trained for such operations.

Source: http://newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/article1495393.ece

Human intrusion leading to more leopard attacks, says report

ALOK DESHPANDE

Campaign launched across tribal hamlets near sanctuary explaining dos and don’ts

• Engage people and stakeholders in conservation effort, Forest Department told
• Garbage attracts dogs, which in turn attract the big cats

Buildings and infrastructural activities, ill-treatment by authorities and apathy of human encroachers to the animals inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), the only wildlife sanctuary in India adjacent to a large metropolis, is leading to increased conflict between people and leopards, a report published after a year-long project has said.

From 2000 to January 2013, there have been 125 leopard attacks on humans in and around the sanctuary.

The SGNP has 21 leopards, while the population density around it is approximately 20,000 people per kilometre.

The forest authorities have launched a campaign across the tribal hamlets in and around the Park explaining dos and don’ts to the people to avoid attacks. In Maroshi Pada, where an attack took place in January, posters alert people to the threat.

Mumbaikars for SGNP (MfSGNP), the project carried out by the Forest Department, SGNP and Centre for Wildlife Studies, was aimed at identifying the causes of conflict and measures needed to prevent it.

The report stressed the need for the Forest Department to engage with people and various stakeholders to fulfil its mandate to protect the leopards.

Around 103 sq km of the SGNP is nestled within a larger landscape administered by the Thane Territorial Forest Division. The three adjoining forest divisions to Thane are Junner Forest Division (belonging to Pune Forest Circle), Ahmadnagar and Nashik Forest Division (belonging to Nashik Forest Circle). There have been instances when leopards caught elsewhere were released in the SGNP, increasing the big cat population.

The Film City and Aarey Milk Colony, administered by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), are situated on the fringe of the Park.

“The garbage in Aarey colony is neither picked up by the Municipal Corporation nor by the Aarey management committee. It attracts dogs which are abundant in numbers and easy prey to leopards. When the big cats come to human habitations, naturally conflicts arise, leading to attacks,” said Sunil Limaye, chief conservator of the SGNP.

The leopards have also met with accidents on roads, especially on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway which is close to the forest area. Hotels on the highway dump garbage near the road. This attracts the dogs, which in turn attract leopards. Since 1994, there have been 43 cases of such accidents.

The report mentioned that the landscape of the SGNP was currently spread across several government departments and sub-departments within the Forest Department, which often led to lack of coordination. Vidya Athreya, wildlife expert and one of the contributors to the report, said arbitrary capture and release (of leopards) worsened the problem.

“The conflict was at the peak when the capture was the highest too,” she said.

According to Ms. Athreya, political and public pressure led to more number of capture of leopards.

“People need to understand that they are living in the original habitat of leopards. Unless they accept this reality, the conflict between humans and leopards will continue,” said Mr. Limaye.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/human-intrusion-leading-to-more-leopard-attacks-says-report/article4493482.ece

High alert at tiger-bearing forests in State

NTCA move to counter poaching

• Poaching rampant at Melghat Tiger Reserve
• Body parts of poached tiger recovered

A high alert has been declared in the tiger-bearing forest areas of the State as part of a countrywide exercise. Chief Wildlife Warden V. Gopinathan told The Hindu that the alert had been declared following an advice from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to step up vigil in such areas.

The NTCA advice to the Chief Wildlife Wardens and other authorities of tiger range States came in the wake of an incident last week in which a tiger was poached at the Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. Authorities of the reserve arrested four persons in this connection on Monday.

Rajesh Goyal, Additional Director General of Forests (Project Tiger) and Member Secretary of NTCA, who issued the advice, said that the body parts of the poached tiger could not be recovered and that those arrested had links to an alleged Delhi-based poacher, Ranjit Singh Bhawaria alias Khawalya.

In the wake of the development “it goes without saying that there is a strong possibility of wandering gangs of professional poachers targeting our tiger-bearing forests which in turn calls for due vigil and caution,” Mr. Goyal said in his advice issued on Tuesday.

Mr. Gopinathan said that apart from the two tiger reserves of the State, tigers had been sighted at most of the forests in the State. It meant that a good portion of the State’s forest areas were tiger ranges too. This called for high alert and extra vigil in all forest areas of the State in the wake of the NTCA sounding the alert.

Though the forest areas of Kollam district were not popular as tiger range areas, images of tigers were taken by a camera trap in the Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary of the district. Earlier only circumstantial evidence such as tiger kills and pug marks were cited to show the presence of the big cat in the district. Mr. Gopinathan said that the tiger population of the State was estimated in vicinity of 70 to 100.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/high-alert-at-tigerbearing-forests-in-state/article4493981.ece

Cause of elephant’s injury being investigated

Forest officials, who are assigned the task of monitoring the condition of an injured 40-year-old tusker in the Sugur Reserve Forest near Masinagudy, are in the process of determining what caused the injury.

District Forest Officer, The Nilgiris North, Ashish Kumar Srivasrava on Saturday said that the nature of the injury on the tip of the trunk indicated that it was not natural. It may have been caused by a sharp object or a barbed wire fence.

Wildlife offence

However, “we are not ruling out anything”, he said and added that a piece of the trunk had fallen off.

If it had been caused by a snare it would be treated as a wildlife offence and appropriate action initiated.

Pointing out that the animal was now roaming along with two other elephants or alone, Mr. Srivastava said that it was very docile.

A swelling in a part of the trunk, which was noticed earlier, had come down.

To a question, he said that the injury was not life threatening.

Medicine

Though normally in such situations the law of the jungle would be allowed to take its course, in this case steps had been taken to provide oral medicine through bananas, jack fruits, and water melons.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/cause-of-elephants-injury-being-investigated/article4493819.ece