Elephant dies in train accident

BHUBANESWAR, March 22, 2013
An elephant died after being hit by a goods train near Ghatagon in Keonjhar district early on Thursday.

“The elephant was possibly a part of a herd. When collision took place it was isolated from the herd. The accident took place at around 4.15 a.m.,” Keonjhar Divisional Forest Officer Ajay Kumar Jena said.

The dead elephant was an adult female jumbo. The accident occurred between Nilakantheswar and Harichandanpur station.

Earlier incidents

It may be recalled here that elephants were mowed down by the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express in Ganjam district on December 30 last. Prior to that in August 2012, two elephants were killed in train accidents in Keonjhar district. As many as 12 elephants died in train accidents during the past two years.

The railway track was laid right through the forested region of Keonjhar district which has a good elephant population. About 60 to 70 km stretch of railway line in Keonjahr is considered to be vulnerable zone for elephants.

“The investigation is in preliminary stage. We have not registered a case against any person. As the investigation would progress, a case could be registered,” said Mr. Jena.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/elephant-dies-in-train-accident/article4536811.ece

Guidelines issued to deal with straying tigers

IGNATIUS PEREIRA

• Crowding by the local people should be avoided by clamping prohibitory orders
• If a captured tiger is healthy, it should be released into a suitable habitat after radio collaring
• A tiger should never be eliminated if it doesn’t cause human casualties: NTCA

A standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with the emergency arising due to the straying of tigers in human-dominated areas has been issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), stipulating the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the area of its operation.

The SOP, intended for the forest departments of all States, has already been notified by the Kerala Forest Department. It was designed by the NTCA in the wake of an incident on December 2, 2012, at Wayanad, when a team from the Forest Department shot a male tiger that strayed into areas inhabited by human beings.

The SOP underlines that “under no circumstance should a tiger be eliminated by invoking the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, if it isn’t habituated to causing human casualties. But confirmed man-eaters should be eliminated as per the statutory provisions under Section 11 of the Act”.

Therefore, while forest authorities engage in dealing with straying of tigers and even leopards into human-dominated areas, crowding by local people should be avoided by clamping prohibitory orders. Authorities should ensure to proactively involve the district administration and the local police in the area at an early stage. Clamping prohibitory orders is essential to avoid agitation of the local people surrounding the animal’s location, which will hamper the capture operation and can also result in serious injuries to the staff and the people, the SOP notes.

It can even result in incidents like the one that took place at Wayanad. “Effective coordination with the district administration and police is critical to control crowds.” If an area is habitually prone to livestock predation by big cats, the Forest Department has to take up research to assess the reasons for frequent tiger emergencies. Under no circumstance should a captured tiger, if it is found to be injured or incapacitated, be released into the forest. It should be sent to a recognised zoo. But if a captured tiger is healthy, without injuries, it should be released after radio collaring, into a suitable habitat with an adequate prey base.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/guidelines-issued-to-deal-with-straying-tigers/article4536147.ece

Tigress found dead at Ranthambore

JAIPUR: A tigress T-37 was found dead in its territory (zone-9) at the Ranthambore tiger reserve on Monday. Locals said the tigress was seen in the morning by visitors but was found dead around 2.30pm. Forest officials are clueless about the reason behind the death.

The tigress' body was first spotted by a guide at Pandu Kho in Kanwalji area, which is a part of zone-9.

"The doctor who was immediately called to examine the body was not sure about what led to the death," said a local journalist who visited the spot.

He said eye-witnesses had seen the tigress coughing during the day. "The doctor said it could be kidney or liver failure," he said.

The doctor also didn't rule out the possibility of the tigress being pregnant and some complication in pregnancy causing the death.

"Post-mortem will be conducted on Tuesday morning," said a forest official.

Another forest official however said that it could be a revenge killing by the villagers from the adjoining areas of the reserve.

"We have not found any poisonous substance in the area. However, the zone where the tigress was found dead is surrounded by villages and it happens to be a disputed area between villagers and the reserve," he said. Villagers also graze their cattle in the area.

In the past one year, this is the fourth big cat death in the state. Three months ago, a tigress, yet to be identified, was found dead in Ranthambore while two tigers died in Sariska few months ago.

With the recent death, the tiger population at the reserve now stands at 49.

Experts said the death of T-37 is a major blow to the zone-9, a popular destination for tourists. The male tiger T-42 in the zone will now explore some other territory, which could also lead to a territorial fight.

"The T-42 was the partner of the dead tigress in the zone-9 area," said Yaduvendra, president, Ranthambore Naturalists Association. The sibling of T-37 was killed by T-42 last year in a territorial fight, he said.

"Death of T-37 is a major loss to the wildlife in the region where the two tigers were living," he added.

He said that the death of the tigress was mysterious as she was seen a few hours before found dead.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Tigress-found-dead-at-Ranthambore/articleshow/19052436.cms

Sparrows lose homes in urban jungle

Chinmayi Shalya, TNN | Mar 21, 2013
MUMBAI: Sparrows seems to be flying out in search of another habitat.

The house sparrows, the most commonly sighted bird in the country, is gradually losing its presence in the urban landscape.

According to the Common Bird Monitoring of India (CBMI), a year-old initiative of environment organization Nature Forever Society, the sparrow is now the fourth most common bird in the country.

The CBMI identified 794 locations in the country where rock pigeons are found, 822 locations where crows were often spotted, 743 where the common myna were spotted, and only 494 locations where the house sparrow were seen in the last one year.

CBMI observations also showed that Mumbai has the highest number of pigeons and crows in the country, while the presence of sparrows is almost half of their numbers.

The observations can be extended to major cities, including Mumbai, where the population of more resilient birds like pigeons and crows has grown despite rapid urbanization, but small birds, like sparrows, have faced a loss of habitat.

On World Sparrow Day ,on Wednesday, ecologists and nature lovers lament this change. Others feel that the bird's stint with humans might be over now.

"The city has many kabutarkhanas where abundance of grain has given an artificial boost to the number of pigeons. And, the open garbage provides a lot of food for the crows. Pigeons can subsist on grain and produce pigeon milk to feed their young ones. But it is not the same with sparrows," said Mohammed Dilawar from the Nature Forever Society.

Sparrows feed insects to their young. But the loss of green cover and open grounds in the city has modified the ecology and led to a decline in number of insects on which young sparrows feed.

Also, sparrows need nests, unlike pigeons. Sparrows require sheltered corners and trees to make a home. "There has been a fall in the number of nesting sites and loss of small prey due to loss of green patches. We must remember that Until sparrows and other small birds have little green patches, even derelict and overgrown little corners, where they can catch insects, it would be difficult for them to survive," said naturalist, writer and photographer Sunjoy Monga.

Ecologists believe that the sparrows represented a different world where houses were more open, and there were many nooks, crevices and green patches which made it easy for sparrows to co-habit with humans.

The change in urban architecture, characterized by small enclosed houses, wire meshed windows and lack of green space has left very little shelter for sparrows to nest.

"I feel the sparrow may have reached the peak of having made the most of its association and commensalism on humanity and will possibly stabilise to a different level under a different set of conditions now,"added Monga. He added that we cannot re-create the situations of the past.

On World Sparrow Day, the Nature Forever Society launched a campaign where people can observe sparrows in their area for 15 minutes and report it on their website. People can also report if they do not spot the bird.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Sparrows-lose-homes-in-urban-jungle/articleshow/19098923.cms

Big leopard numbers in human habitats: Study

Amit Bhattacharya, TNN | Mar 21, 2013

File picture of a leopard in Mumbai's Aarey Milk
Colony in 2011. (TOI photo by Hemant Shirodkar)

NEW DELHI: Most people think of leopards as predators that live in forests except for a few that occasionally stray into human settlements. Breaking that myth, a new study has found that a large number of these big cats may be residing in human habitats, quietly sharing space with people in villages, farmlands and even on the edge of towns.

The study was conducted in a densely populated valley in Akole tehsil of Ahmednagar district in western Maharashtra, where researchers set up camera traps in 40 locations for a month to gather evidence of wildlife in this prosperous sugarcane belt.

The results were startling. A total of 81 leopard images were captured across a sampled area of 179 sq km, in which five distinct adult males and six adult females were identified.

Two females were clicked with cubs and a third gave birth six months later — all in an area with a population density of 357 people per square km.

Using a GIS-based software, the researchers estimated animal density at five leopards (4.8) per 100 sq km. That's not all. As many striped hyaenas (5.03/100sq km) were found in the area, taking the number of large predators in the landscape to 10 per 100 sq km. The findings were published on March 6 in the Public Library of Science journal.

"Nowhere in the world have such large number of big predators been reported in such densely populated human landscape," said Vidya Athreya, a wildlife biologist with Wildlife Conservation Society, India, who is the lead author of the study carried out in collaboration with the Maharashtra forest department.

The big cat's density in Akole tehsil was found to be higher than some national parks. In Rajaji, for instance, distribution of leopards is reported to be just 2.07/100 sq km following an increase in tiger numbers. Overall, leopard density in India's protected forests is 15/100 sq km.

Athreya said with the nearest protected forest some 18km away, there was little doubt that the big cats were living in "human areas", mainly in sugarcane fields. "The leopards were marking their territories on roads and on bunds in sugarcane fields. This was as much their land as it was of the people," she said.

During daytime, the felines would sit very still in the fields, often just a few hundred metres from houses. "However, the night made the leopard king. They even went close to houses to kill dogs, cats and goats," Athreya reported.

Akole tehsil is by no means an isolated example. Athreya said leopards can be found across the sugarcane belts of western Maharashtra, Gujarat and western UP, as well as the tea-growing areas of Bengal, Assam and south India.

Remarkably, no human deaths were reported from the study area. Athreya believes this is so because the leopard population in the area is more or less settled. "Leopards instinctively shun humans. That's particularly true of an animal that has grown up in the same area. We found one of our radio-collared leopards visited a particular house every few days without ever disturbing its residents, who sleep in the open," she said.

In contrast, serious leopard attacks were reported from neighbouring forested areas which happen to be close to administrative borders. Athreya believes most of these attacks were because big cats trapped in human habitats were often released in these areas. "A relocated leopard is disoriented and unpredictable," she added.

The study calls for a shift in the concept of conservation, which is focused solely on protected areas. "The presence of big predators in human landscapes throws up challenges which conservationists haven't yet begun to understand," Athreya said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Big-leopard-numbers-in-human-habitats-Study/articleshow/19098494.cms