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

Rajasthan gets third tiger reserve

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has notified the Mukundra hills sanctuary as the third tiger reserve in the state.

The reserve area will be over 759 sq km spread between
 four districts of Kota, Bundi, Chittorgarh and Jhalawar
 near the Ranthambore tiger reserve.

The reserve area will be over 759 sq km spread between four districts of Kota, Bundi, Chittorgarh and Jhalawar near the Ranthambore tiger reserve. "Nearly 417 sq km have been earmarked as the core tiger habitat, while 342.82 sq km has been notified as the buffer zone," senior a forest official. The other two tiger reserves of Ranthambore and Sariska have a core area nearly thrice this size.

"With powers bestowed under Section 38 V of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, we have declared Mukundra hills national park as a tiger reserve. When the budget announcement was made last financial year, we had taken the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) into confidence. Now that we have declared it as a reserve, we will be forwarding the notification to them," said A S Brar, head of forest forces and chief wildlife warden, Rajasthan.

The Section 38V of the Wildlife Protection Act says that the state government shall, on the recommendation of the Tiger Conservation Authority, notify an area as a tiger reserve. The state government has received an in-principle nod from the NTCA.

According to Brar, a three-member expert committee had been constituted under the then chief wildlife warden A Choubey which included a member from the state wildlife board and the chief conservator of forests, Kota, which surveyed the area and consulted the gram sabha. Consultation with the gram sabha is necessary, as under the law, the core area of the reserve is to be an inviolate space and all villages have to be relocated. However, the law permits man and animal to co-exist with some restriction on commercial activities.

The core area of the Mukundra reserve currently has six villages, two of which are uninhabited. Eventually all these villages will have to be relocated funded by the NTCA. The sanctuary currently has wolves, sloth bear, chinkaras and leopards.

"After the declaration of the area as a tiger reserve, NTCA will also give funds for developing the forest area," said an official.

The Mukundra hill sanctuary was already declared as the satellite core area of Ranthambore reserve by the NTCA and Tigers often stray into the area. "The objective was always to link this to Ranthambore so as to let the tigers that stray from the park come and breed here. It was the next best forest after Ranthambore for rehabilitation of tigers. But we have went a step ahead and declared it as a reserve itself," said the official.

Officials added that at a later stage, tigers will be relocated from Ranthambore reserve so as to provide optimum space to the big cats. Before that the annual working plan for the development and management of the reserve will have to be approved by the NTCA.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Rajasthan-gets-third-tiger-reserve/articleshow/19503766.cms

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

When the tiger shows us the passageways

While experts dither over corridor viability, big cats from Rajasthan offer some lessons
Jay Mazoomdaar
IT WAS Jaipur, late 2007. A few months before the PMO cleared the plan to fly in tigers to Sariska from Ranthambhore, an IAS officer was holding forth on the subject at a private function. “Let’s build a corridor for tigers; 100-metre wide. How much land (do) we require? It’s not even 200 km between the two forests,” he said, clearly exasperated by the delay. Just 140 km, a colleague assured him, and generously proposed that the width of the passage be doubled: “We will put trees and all. It will be fenced and safe.” The enthusiasm was infectious till a senior forest officer jumped in to play spoilsport.

As forests get fragmented due to rapid incursion of roads, railways, mines, cropland or settlements, maintaining connectivity and therefore healthy gene flow among small wild populations is becoming more challenging than ever. More so, because the popular perception of a wildlife corridor, particularly to those in the corridors of power, is indistinguishable from say, freight corridors.

The term corridor gives an impression of linearity. But animals seldom move like crows fly. The shortest course we chart out for tigers at official meetings and even in research papers may not suit them at all. The route may not have enough water sources or vegetation cover in which they can sneak around. Or it may be just too crowded.

For many years now, experts and officials have been wondering how to make the 2-4 km stretch between Ranthambhore National Park (RNP) and Keladevi Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS) — both part of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR) but separated by the Banas river — a safe animal corridor so that tigers from the park can populate the sanctuary.

The ravine wilderness that connects RNP and KWLS is being flattened for agriculture by local villagers who have established several hamlets to manage their new cropland. Though ecologically vibrant, ravines are classified as wasteland, reclamation of which is officially encouraged. Illegal sand mining on several stretches along the Banas further chokes this passageway. Unsurprisingly, of the 50-odd Ranthambhore tigers, only one is settled in KWLS, crowded by dozens of villages and their livestock.

But while the close proximity of RNP and KWLS makes restoring connectivity look feasible, any prospect of reviving the Ranthambhore-Kuno corridor has long been written off. Tigers from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh mated frequently till the trans-Chambal link snapped three decades ago. While Kuno remained connected to other MP forests, Ranthambhore became an island, hemming in its then population of 14 tigers.

The numbers have multiplied almost four-fold in RNP since. But the only way the Ranthambhore tigers can escape disastrous consequences of inbreeding is through revival of the gene flow from MP. But nobody gave the lost corridor a chance. Once the resident tigers of Kuno were poached, it was readied for lions from Gujarat. When Narendra Modi refused to oblige, the focus shifted to reintroducing cheetahs from Africa.

BETWEEN RTR and Kuno, the Chambal river forms the boundary between Rajasthan and MP. In this stretch, five Rajasthan rivers — Mez, Chakan, Kharad, Kundli and Banas — join the Chambal from the north. Another six tributaries — Kalisindh, Parbati, Seep, Param, Doni and Kuno — reach from the south.

Dispersing tigers prefer to keep to watercourses. Each of these meandering rivers connects RNP to neighbouring forests. Along the Chambal axis, Chakan, Kharad and Kundli lead to Sawai Mansingh sanctuary while Mez offers passage to Ramgarh Bishdhari forests. Kalisindh is the access to Darrah sanctuary while Parbati reaches the forests of Baran district. Kuno and Param rivers pass through the Kuno sanctuary while Doni and Seep flow in the larger Kuno landscape.

In the recent past, Ranthambhore tigers have travelled far and wide — Kota, Bharatpur and Mathura — as the rivers flow. There was no reason why they, if their nerve held, would not reach Kuno in MP. In fact, quite a few floaters — the last one in 2010 — ventured south inside MP across the Chambal, but eventually moved back to Rajasthan.

So, many considered it a fluke when a Ranthambhore male (T38) walked out of RNP’s Sultanpur area in late 2010 and reached Kuno in January 2011. The itinerary is sketchy but T38 walked southeast to cross the Banas and spent two weeks in a patch of ravine forest before crossing the Chambal at its confluence with Param and then followed the river upstream to reach the heart of Kuno. It was a leisurely journey, with many stopovers and kills.

Yet, T38 was merely considered lucky, till a sub-adult tiger decided to match his skills last month. One of the three cubs of T26, the young male left RNP’s Khandar area on 23 January. It reached the Banas the next day and apparently sensing mining activities to its right, turned left along the river, crossed a couple of roads, and climbed atop the hills of KWLS using the only available pass by 26 January. Unimpressed by the mess inside Keladevi, it charted its course down to the Chambal river and across to MP in the next five days.

Here, its intuition took over again and it chose to follow the Kuno river southward. Parallel to the Chambal runs a 12- feet deep irrigation canal that briefly goes inside a tunnel while passing over the Kuno. The tiger reached the other side of the canal walking under this tunnel on 5 February and, as if to reward himself, made its first kill in MP soon after. Then it slowed down in the comfort zone of reserve forests south of Kuno sanctuary that offer ample feral cattle. The tiger has made three more kills since and is not showing any urgency to head southwards along the river. It has already walked at least 80 km, more than the linear distance between RNP and Kuno, without being spotted even once, and is a day’s walk away from joining predecessor T38 inside the sanctuary.

Unlike T38 in 2011, T26 junior is being tracked daily by the forest departments of the two states with the help of TigerWatch, a Ranthambhore NGO, and village wildlife watchers appointed for the task. Tired of waiting for lions, and now cheetahs, the guards at Kuno sound both excited and nervous to be hosting tigers again. Veterans, who still remember Kuno’s last tigers, are wary of poachers even as they pray that the next Ranthambhore crossover is a female.

The remarkable journeys of the Ranthambhore duo have three lessons for us. The wild does not need handholding and knows what it is up to. The river courses, and the surrounding ravines, must be secured and monitored for tiger migration. Every tiger in transit needs rigorous tracking to avoid poaching or conflict.

Meanwhile, with RNP finally having surplus tigers and habitats not improving in KWLS, dispersal of cats outside the reserve will continue. As a bunch of cubs get ready to break free in the coming months, Kuno is likely to welcome a few more tigers, hopefully females this time, from Ranthambhore.

Once the settlers start breeding in Kuno, young tigers will eventually venture further south inside MP to find partners or perhaps individuals from MP’s northernmost tiger pockets will come checking at Kuno. With time, the reverse wild traffic will hit Ranthambhore, carrying fresh genes to Rajasthan in many decades.

If only we take cue from the tiger instead of deciding for it.

Source: http://tehelka.com/when-the-tiger-shows-us-the-passageways/

How can we help to bridge critical gap in tiger conservation

By Dharmendra Khandal Feb 27 2013

Photo: Dharmendra Khandal

Famous tiger conservationists Belinda Wright wrote on a social networking site that “Unfortunately, there was news of two dead tigers, and a third caught in a poacher’s trap. One of the tigers was electrocuted in a live-wire trap set by poachers for wild meat in Katni District, adjoining Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Shockingly, this was the third tiger to die in an electrocution trap set by poachers in the Bandhavgarh area since 18 November 2011, a period of only 15 weeks. Another tiger was found dead near Nagarhole NP. And a third young tiger was found in a metal jaw trap in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve. This one survived, although it is uncertain whether it can be returned to the wild.”

It is indeed a sad situation in which our national animal is being killed so heartlessly. Can we think of a solution and long-term vision for its survival? To understand the circumstances better, we have to differentiate these killing cases into three categories — first type is the crime, which is executed by hard core poachers, who are part of an organised poaching syndicate wanting to supply animal parts for money. The second type of killings is due to accident, because community living along the park were targeting deer or wild pig for the bush meat and the same trap killed a tiger or leopard. The third type is deliberate, revenge killing of tigers and leopards by the community to protect their livestock, which is a big crisis.

To control all these worrisome situations in right time and beforehand can be are really challenging. We have to admit that government agencies are still not equipped and trained to control these organised crimes. Some NGO’s performance fair better than the government agencies in the field of anti-poaching such as WPSI and WTI. While some local NGOs such as Tiger Watch are working effectively in and around single parks, in this case the Ranthambhore tiger reserve. But NGOs cannot work on a large-scale single-handedly without government support. The forest department is not putting enough resources for intelligence gathering. Also, if they execute the poaching raids well, they are hardly able to convert them into correct court cases. They mostly lose the court cases and the same poachers become more immune and trained towards the system loopholes. The success rate of conviction is just 3 per cent in India, and if we removed Sariska poaching cases from them; the conviction is less than 0.3 per cent of total wildlife crime cases. Hence, the same people always come back into the poaching business.

The other killing is because of meat or revenge killing and this can be control only with the help of local community’s support. Only the local resident of adjoining villages can provide information for this and they can be employed for the same, this way they would be involved and part of the monitoring team. In Ranthambhore, almost 20 villagers have been employed by the partnership of forest department and an NGO for this work. It is working well in the region in managing anti-poaching, but also managing the stray tigers when they move outside the protected areas into villages or farms. They are also working as a buffer link between the forest department and local village community whenever big cats kill their livestock. They help the department to estimate the cost of the animal and inform whether compensation was provided in time, among other things. Such projects can bridge the critical gap in conservation and the villagers can become partners in conserving our last wilderness.

(The writer is a conservation biologist at Tiger Watch, Ranthambore)

Source: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/leisure-writing/how-can-we-help-bridge-critical-gap-tiger-conservation-526&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Another big cat relocated, Sariska tiger count reaches 9

TNN | Jan 24, 2013

The tigress was released in a separate enclosure in
Nayapani area of Sariska at 3.35pm

SARISKA: Re-populating of the Sariska tiger reserve continued for the second day on Wednesday with the relocation of yet another tigress from Ranthambhore. Two-year-old Beena 2, sibling of the tigress relocated on Tuesday, was tranquilized and taken by road to Sariska.

Officials said the tigress was tranquilized in Ranthambhore at 9 am and a satellite collar fixed on her. Later she was put in a cage on a canter as she began her six hour journey.

The tigress was released in a separate enclosure in Nayapani area of Sariska at 3.35pm. The tigress immediately ran into a bush. She will be released later in the forest.

On Tuesday, Beena 1 was also shifted to Sariska. The total count of tigers in Sariska has now reached nine - two males, two cubs and five females.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Another-big-cat-relocated-Sariska-tiger-count-reaches-9/articleshow/18156934.cms

Need corridor so tigers don't fight to death

IANS Dec 28, 2012, 10.08PM IST

JAIPUR: Even as the Wildlife Conservation Society recently reported a 50 percent increase in the population of tigers in the wild in India with their population now estimated at 3,200 after years of dangerously dwindling numbers, there is fresh cause for worry for tigers in sanctuaries.

As tiger-numbers increase in reserve areas, territorial fights are becoming frequent. In Rajasthan's Ranthambore National Park, the large number of tigers dying because of such fights has led to the state government planning for a corridor connecting this sanctuary with the adjoining Keladevi Sanctuary, an official said Friday.

The new corridor will come up at an estimated cost of Rs.200 crore.

About 45 villagers will need to be relocated to create the corridor, an official said.

The decision to create such a corridor was taken following the mysterious death of a yet-to-identified tiger in Ranthambore recently. Senior forest department officials said preliminary investigation hints at the possibility of the majestic cat being killed in a territorial fight.

"The state government has sought Rs.200 crore from the central government for developing the corridor. We are hopeful of receiving the money in the near future," a senior forest department officer told IANS.

Four tigers were killed in territorial fights over the past four years in Ranthambore National Park, leaving environmentalists worried that as the tiger population increases, there is also need to create a habitat in which they can thrive.

The tigers are overlapping each other's territory. To get their share of space, the big cats are fighting each other to death in the reserve in Sawai Madhopur district, some 150 km from Jaipur, wildlife experts said.

A tigress died in the reserve area Dec 23, and the death was attributed to a territorial fight with another cat. The mutilated, maggot-ridden carcass of the tigress was recovered from the reserve's Gilai Saga-Khadar area early Sunday morning, officials said.

A senior forest department officer told IANS that a probe has been launched into the animal's death.

"Prima facie, injuries suggest the death occurred in a territorial fight with another tiger. However, we are awaiting the post-mortem report to ascertain the cause, and rule out poaching," a wildlife officer said.

The number of such fights had been increasing in the recent past, the officer said.

A tiger named T-36 died of serious head injuries during a territorial fight with T-42 Aug 22, 2010. The body of tigress T-4 was found April 4, 2009. Officials had concluded that she was attacked by another tiger in a territorial fight.

Similarly, tigress T-15 was killed Sep 1, 2008.

According to a census conducted by the state forest department in 2009, there were 40 tigers in and around Ranthambore National Park and Sawai Madhopur wildlife sanctuary. The census conducted in the core division from April 30 to May 10, 2009 revealed that there were 14 males, 16 females and 10 cubs.

However, a recent survey found that the number of tigers has increased to 52, including 26 cubs.

"The core area of the reserve is spread over 1,113.36 sq km. Besides, the buffer zone earmarked by the state government around the reserve is 297.9 sq km. The area is inadequate for housing 52 tigers," a wildlife expert said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Need-corridor-so-tigers-dont-fight-to-death/articleshow/17799464.cms