Tourism in TATR has not affected tigers: Forest dept

Vivek Deshpande : Nagpur, Fri May 10 2013
Recent media reports of tourists overcrowding Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) and blocking the movement of tigers seems to have miffed nature lovers but not the forest department. The department sees the issue as increased visitor interest in wildlife.

Principal Secretary (Forest), Pravi Pardeshi, clarified that only 20 per cent of TATR area that has six tigers is open for tourists. "The remaining area has 42 tigers. So it would be a sweeping comment to say that all tigers in TATR are exposed to crowding tourists," he said.

The media reports had raised the hackles of tiger lovers and conservationists. So much so that Rural Development Minister Jayant Patil, himself a nature lover, had written to Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam expressing his anguish.

Asked if these six tigers have to face tourist menace, Pardeshi said, "Not at all. The fact that tigers merrily walk through the crammed tourist vehicles means that the animals are not bothered by their presence. Else it would have shied away from people like most wild tigers in deep interiors do," Pardeshi said. He said these tigers and other wildlife have got used to human beings.

Stressing the importance of tourism, Pardeshi said, "The most important takeaway of tourism ist that tourists are converted into harcore non-systemic conservationists, who plea the tiger's case to outside world."

He said tourists crowding places of tiger sighting is commonplace in all tiger reserves. "In reserves like Pench (MP), Kahna and Bandhavgarh, they had even used elephants to track down tigers and corner it for the tourists to see. In Maharashtra, we never used that method," he said.

He said the earnings from tourist visits are useful for conservation and habitat development. "TATR tourist revenue went up from Rs 48 lakh to Rs 3 crore in the last one year. We have a fixed number of vehicles going in every day. All our days are generally fully booked. The revenue is also used to develop 79 villages in the buffer zone," he said.

However, he averred that unruly or overenthusiastic tourists are always present in the crowd. "We have instructed the guides who are local tribal boys not to stop at the sighting place for than five minutes. Their livelihood depends on making their clients happy," Pardeshi said.

He said in view of problems from tourists, the waterholes for wildlife have been shifted from the roadside to a little inside.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tourism-in-tatr-has-not-affected-tigers-forest-dept/1113908/0

Straying tiger pits wildlife activists against locals in Bhubaneswar

Press Trust of India | Updated: May 10, 2013
Bhubaneswar: A wild male tiger, which strayed into the Nandankanan Zoo in Bhubaneswar, has put the Orissa government in a spot as locals demand that it should be kept in the zoo while wildlife activists are opposed to it.

As wildlife activists sought the release of the big cat in the wild describing its captivity as illegal, people living near the zoo and adjoining areas launched a signature campaign against the release of the tiger, fearing it may cause harm.

"We fear that the tiger will again return and create problem for human beings," Balaram Lenka, a local resident, said.

The signature campaign has been launched by "Nandan Kanan Suraksha Parishad" headed by Bijoy Patra. An advocate, Patra filed a PIL in Orissa High Court against any move to release the tiger.

Lenka said though the six-year-old healthy Royal Bengal Tiger had not attacked any human being or cow in the area, pugmarks were detected for three years creating panic among people.

"Fortunately, the tiger has been trapped due to its own fault. Its release may create problem in future," the residents of Baranga and Dadha villages said.

However, wildlife activists oppose any move to keep the tiger in captivity as it would violate the law of the land.

"We wish to lodge a strong protest about attempts of the state government to retain the tiger in zoo to bolster its tiger gene pool for captive breeding," said Biswajit Mohanty, a member of the National Board for Wildlife.

In a letter to the Additional PCCF & Member Secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Mohanty said: "It is a blatant violation of wildlife laws as well as the SOP (standard operating procedure) issued by NTCA."

A perfectly healthy male tiger which has obviously strayed from Satkosia Tiger Reserve, the nearest known tiger habitat, is now doomed for life, he pointed out, adding that captivity of the tiger in zoo would amount to clear violation of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Mohanty said keeping the tiger in a cage would violate Section 38I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Quoting the act, he said "... No zoo shall acquire, sell or transfer any wild animal or captive animal specified in Schedule I and II except with the previous permission of the Authority."

This apart, capturing a wild tiger and retaining it illegally without any attempt to release it amounts to "hunting" which is prohibited under section 9 of the WPA, 1972, wildlife activists pointed out.

This offence is punishable under Section 51 (1) of the WPA, 1972 by a jail term of minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 7 years as it relates to a Schedule I species, they said.

To tackle such situations of straying of tigers into human dominated landscapes, NTCA had thoughtfully issued a Standard Operating Procedure recently which lays down protocols of how to handle such instances.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government has set up a technical committee. "We will go by the recommendation of the TC," said chief wildlife warden J D Sharma, adding NTCA guideline suggests that wild animals should be kept in wilderness with radio collars so that its movement can be tracked.

While there is a debate over the retention of the tiger in the zoo, experts feel that release of the wild cat requires careful consideration.

"We should not take any hasty decision on the tiger. We have to consider a lot of issues for safety of the tiger like what are the circumstances which brought him here. What are the threats the animal faced in natural habitation. Tiger is a highly territorial animal. It is not safe to release it in a new place," said Odisha's former wildlife warden Saroj Patnaik.

Patnaik says, "If this tiger is kept in zoo, it should be kept away from public display and with minimum human contact."

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/straying-tiger-pits-wildlife-activists-against-locals-in-bhubaneswar-365146

Kerala forests now have nearly 100 tigers

IANS | May 7, 2013

The monitoring of the tigers that is currently on at the
Periyar tiger reserve is being done with the
use of cameras.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The number of tigers in Kerala's forests has gone up to 100 due to excellent protection measures for the wildlife, an official said Tuesday.

"The tigers in our forests were around 70 and now the number has gone up to around 100, and similar is the increase for other wild animals also," V Gopinath, principal chief conservator of forests in Kerala, said.

The increase in the tiger numbers has been particularly noted because forests in the Western Ghats are continguous and spread into states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. And given the vast expanse of these forests, it was but natural that wildlife often move from one region to another in search of food and habitation.

"The increase in the tiger numbers has been because of the contiguous nature of forests. Another aspect in the increasing numbers is the excellent protection given to the wildlife using funds from both the centre and states," added Gopinath.

The monitoring of the tigers that is currently on at the Periyar tiger reserve is being done with the use of cameras.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Kerala-forests-now-have-nearly-100-tigers/articleshow/19928046.cms

Contour canal for Parambikulam project turns death trap for wildlife

P. OPPILI, The Hindu

Canal runs to a distance of nearly 50 km: naturalists

• The project is maintained by the State Public Works Department

An open contour canal constructed during the 1960s for the Parambikulam Aliyar Project in Coimbatore district has become a death trap for wildlife in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), Pollachi.

Naturalists and environmentalists say the canal runs to a distance of nearly 50 km, of which a 45-km stretch passes through the ATR.

During seasonal migration and dry periods, elephants, tigers, leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, Indian Gaur, sambhar deer and spotted deer come to the canal for drinking water. If the animals fall into the canal, it would be difficult to rescue them.

The Project is maintained by the State Public Works Department, which began refurbishing the canal as there were many leaks in it. The work began nearly a year ago.

A. Rangarajan, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Green Movement, said his organisation had sent a letter to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) demanding a joint inspection of the place with representatives from the PWD, Forest Department and the National Board for Wildlife. The CEC had also sent a letter to the Chief Secretary to arrange for a site inspection.

However, nothing has been done in this regard, Mr. Rangarajan charged. He said the canal, apart from fragmenting the forest, leads to death and maiming of wildlife, which will be more than a dozen annually.

The Forest Department had divided the 49-km canal into eight stretches and conducted a survey.

During the survey, officials recorded the presence of at least half a dozen species of wildlife along the stretch.

Making provisions for the wildlife to cross over from one side to the other is the recommendation for the first stretch which begins from the Power House till the entrance of the tunnel 1; the second stretch is the entrance of the tunnel 1 where the recommendation was to erect railings.

The other recommendations included installing scalable slopes and railings to prevent wildlife from falling into the canal and facility for wildlife to access water along the canal.

When contacted, wildlife authorities said they have requested the PWD to provide platforms to facilitate animals to drink water safely from the canal.

Similarly, they have given a few designs to the PWD authorities, which would help the wildlife cross the canal without any problem.

“Wildlife concerns are well taken care of by the department,” a senior official added.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/contour-canal-for-parambikulam-project-turns-death-trap-for-wildlife/article4685389.ece

Love-lorn tiger enters zoo

AFP

May have travelled over 100 km in quest of mate

A lonely male tiger that left the jungle and entered a zoo in Nandankanan Zoological Park in Odisha in quest of a mate has been trapped, an official of the state-run park said.

"It seems to have strayed into the zoo attracted by a tigress," Sudarshan Panda, director of the Nandankanan Zoological Park near Bhubaneswar, capital of the eastern state of Orissa.

Panda said foresters kept a lookout for the animal, which had travelled from a protected state forest some 100 kilometres from the zoo and roamed around the facility last weekend. The tiger was captured and is now in the tiger safari area, which has been temporarily closed to visitors due to the presence of the wild cat.

The Nandankanan zoological park has a large number of white tigers as well.

India is home to half of the world's rapidly shrinking wild tiger population and has been struggling to halt the big cat's decline in the face of poachers, international smuggling networks and loss of habitat.

The country has seen its tiger population plummet from an estimated 40,000 animals in 1947, when it gained independence, to just 1,706 in 2011.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/lovelorn-tiger-enters-zoo/article4687447.ece

Ten Sunderbans tigers to get collars

Krishnendu Mukherjee, TNN | Apr 1, 2013
The forest department has decided to radio-collar ten tigers in the Sunderbans where population dynamics of the big cats has al ways remained a mystery. And this time, an advanced set of radio collars, which helped scientists track tigers in Nepal and lions in Gir, will be used in the mangroves.

A team of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) officials, led by senior scientist Y V Jhala, is likely to visit the mangroves in April for the first leg of the exercise. However, a forest department official said the number of tigers to be collared during their first visit will only be decided after consulting the WII scientists. "The dates for their visit is yet to be finalized," said the official.

It may be noted that a total of five tigers, two adult females and three adult males, were radio-collared by the WII scientists in the Sunderbans in 2010. Satellite collars were used for this purpose. Sources said radio-collaring helps experts gauge the home range of tigers , which in the long run comes handy in establishing the density of the big cats in a forest. The study had then revealed that the tigers' home ranges hovered between 190 to 200 square kilometres.

Though large home range indicates lesser density, as a tiger's home range depends on prey base and territory of other tigers, in Sunderbans the exercise didn't yield the desired result then as several collars stopped working within a few days of its deployment.

WII's Y V Jhala said that some data on the tigers' home range and territory could not be established then. "But this time, we have made some changes in the circuitry of the satellite collars to make these robust ones. We have used these collars on lions at Gir and they have even functioned at a stretch for a year. So, this time we expect to get a more reliable data," he said, adding that they are hoping to collar all the ten tigers in a year's time.

However, the exercise then managed to establish the fact that there is tiger movement between the Indian and Bangladesh Sunderbans. "The Khatuajhuri male, which was a stray animal, had crossed the Harinbhanga river to enter the Talpati island of Bangladesh Sunderbans," revealed a WII scientist.

Tracking of the radio-collared tigers had also revealed that there was a general trend of higher movement rate by the mangroves tigers during the day time. However, soon after this study the WII scientists decided to radio collar a minimum of 10 tigers, of which 4-6 in a contagious area of 300-400 square kilometres, to understand home range overlap and territoriality. "The exercise to be conducted now will help the scientists understand whether and how Sunderbans tigers protect their territory," said an official.

Meanwhile, the camera trapping exercise, being done jointly by the forest department and WWF-India, is complete in two ranges of the mangrove's — Sajnekhali and National Park East. "The exercise is on at the Basirhat range. We will start withdrawing the cameras laid at Basirhat from April 11 and hope to give a density for the entire tiger reserve area by the end of April," said WWF-India's Sunderbans chapter head Anurag Danda. After identification, the photographs will be sent to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, so that the Sunderbans tigers can be counted in the UID-type databank.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Ten-Sunderbans-tigers-to-get-collars/articleshow/19315987.cms

Human settlements, a threat to Sathyamangalam tiger reserve

P. OPPILI

Unauthorised temples, new resorts disturbing the tranquillity

The presence of a large number of people in
core areas disrupts movement of animals

Unauthorised temples, new resorts and makeshift shops inside the core area are major threats the newly formed Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is facing.

The State government announced the formation of the fourth tiger reserve in the State through a notification, issued on March 15 this year.

Members of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement pointed out that several unauthorised places of worship were found inside the tiger reserve. There are three main temples – Karuvannayan temple near Nandhipuram, Bannariamman temple Bannari and Madeswara temple in Kongalli. The three temples are under the control of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Board. Apart from them, several unauthorised temples are found inside the core area, say the members.

People visiting these temples camp there, even cook, and travel in large numbers into the core areas in trucks. Their movement creates a lot of disturbance to the wildlife. The State government must immediately relocate the unauthorised temples from the core areas, the members pointed out.

Another important issue is the springing up of new resorts in the core areas. S. Jayachandran of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement said Kongalli, Mavallam, Araiya Palayam and Hasanur are the places where the resorts are coming up. There were more than 200 resorts inside the STR.

Man-animal conflict

In the long run, it will lead to man-animal conflict, he said. The department officials have to immediately promulgate the ecologically sensitive zone to stop any more resorts in the core areas, he said.

Environmentalists also pointed out that during festival season, people set up shops, stay in the forests and defecate in the core tiger reserve area. Temporary shops have come up right on the elephant corridors located between Susilkuttail and Bannari. The Forest department authorities have to intervene and take action under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, the activists said.

‘Make them partners’

Raman Sukumar, Professor and Chairman, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Sciences, who began his research on elephants in the early 1980s, said the tiger population had increased substantially in the Sathyamangalam area. A good number of settlements over a century old were in Hasanur, Talamalai, Geddasal, Chikkahalli, Neydalapuram and Kadambur, to name a few. People in these settlements co-existed with the tigers over time. These people should be made partners in the management of the tiger reserve.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/human-settlements-a-threat-to-sathyamangalam-tiger-reserve/article4560872.ece

CAG faults Project Tiger scheme in State

Odisha TV Bureau | Mar 28, 2013 7:24:34 AM
Bhubaneswar: The Comptroller and Auditor general of India (CAG) has severely criticised the implementation of Project Tiger scheme saying the tiger population in Odisha declined drastically due to inadequate protection measures and deficiency in project management.

The central audit body in its report also rapped the state government for not providing inviolate space for the big cats, low pace of expenditure and delay in relocation of villages from core area.

Quoting tiger census 2004 and 2010, the report stated that tiger population in Odisha fell from 192 in 2004 to 32 in 2010, and both Similipal Tiger Reserve (TR) and Satkosia TR were ranked as ‘POOR’ in the assessment report of MoEF, GoI.

The report pointed out Rs 23.37 crore was utilized by the Field Directors (FDs) of the Rs 27.23 crore released for Similipal TR and Satkosia TR under their Annual Plans of Operations (APOs) for five years (2006-11). “This indicated that there was lack of proper planning and deficiencies in financial management,” it observed.

Lambasting the lack of unified command and control system, the report noted in Satkosia TR there was no full time and the TR was under the supervision of Satkosia Wildlife Division and Mahanadi Wildlife Division.

“As per the guidelines of Project Tiger there should be a Field Director exclusively for each Tiger Reserve” it said.

“Thus the Tiger Reserves did not function under one single line of command and control and the dual administration in supervision of the Tiger Reserves in contravention of the Project Tiger guidelines affected the project implementation and protection inside the Tiger Reserve which has also been specifically mentioned in the assessment report of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for Similipal Tiger Reserve,” the report said.

The NTCA considering the endangered status of tigers and the need for urgently stepping up protection in sensitive areas formulated a set of guidelines in May 2009 for deployment of Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) at Similipal TR with 100 per cent central assistance under the scheme Project Tiger.

“But no initiative was taken by GoO for raising of STPF during the period 2009-11. In May 2012, the GoO passed a resolution for establishment of the STPF as per NTCA guidelines after passage of three years. Thus the Tiger Reserve was deprived of central assistance for protection measures. Thus, poaching of elephants, illegal tree felling and mass animal hunting like Akhanda Shikar in the STR could not be controlled,” it noted.

Source: http://odishatv.in/NewsDetail.php?otv=bmV3c0lkPU5TNjg4NTU

Caught on camera: Rising tiger population

HYDERABAD: Three tiger cubs among 18 sighted in India's biggest tiger reserve has brought good news for authorities, who are trying to save the population of the big cat from dwindling in the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR).

Officials said tiger movements were caught on camera recently in and around 800 square kilometers of NSTR, which experts said were signs that the population was doing well. At least 5 males and 10 females, apart from 3 cubs aged over a year old were caught on camera in the core areas for the first time in the last few years.

NSTR has a total critical tiger habitat area of around 3,600 square kilometers and as per the latest census, the estimated tiger population at NSTR, has been pegged at anywhere between 53 and 67 tigers.

In India, which is home to half of the world's tiger population, the latest census in March 2011, revealed the presence of an estimated 1,706 tigers, way down from a healthy 45,000 population about 100 years ago. Tigers are mercilessly poached for their skin, claws and bones, all sold for its medicinal value in countries such as China and also in the west. Parts from a single tiger can fetch as much as $50,000 in the black market.

Buoyed at the good news, NSTR officials said they are planning to purchase 210 cameras so that 800 square kilometer area can be covered at one go. "Right now we have logistics to cover only 400 square kilometers at a time," said Rahul Pandey, field director at NSTR. So far, Rs 50 lakh was spent for the purchase of cameras. In addition to this, Panthera (a tiger conservation organization) has donated 60 cameras.

Officials plan to scout at least 2,000 square kilometres area of the reserve before the onset of monsoon and complete rest of the area later. "We have divided the total tiger habitat area into nine blocks each measuring 400 square kilometers. So far we have completed camera trapping in two blocks," said Pandey.

The camera trappings were done at the Dornala range of Markapur division, Srisailam range of Atmakur division and at the Mannanur range of Achampeta division. "We saw pug marks of another cub in Mannanur range, but could not get the footage," he added.

This scientific mapping exercise is being done under phase-4 of intensive tiger monitoring under the ministry of environment and forests. Experts said special care must be taken to protect the cubs as the mortality rate is often very high.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/wild-wacky/Caught-on-camera-Rising-tiger-population/articleshow/18473517.cms

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

Sathyamangalam Forest declared Tiger Reserve

S. RAMESH

Sathyamangalam Forest in Erode district has been declared a Tiger Reserve. It is the fourth such reserve in Tamil Nadu. The three other tiger reserves are at Mudumalai in the Nilgiris district, Anamalai in Coimbatore districtand Kalakad-Mundanthurai in Tirunelveli district.

The Forest Department has received the Government Order declaring Sathyamangalam Forests as a tiger reserve, and the Union government has also notified it, Conservator of Forests, Erode circle, A. Venkatesh told The Hindu over the phone on Monday.

The government has earmarked 1.40 lakh hectares for the exclusive protection zone for the big cats. Of the total area, the core zone comprises over 90,000 hectares.

25 tigers

“Sathyamangalam is home to at least 25 tigers, which has been confirmed by various studies conducted by our department and the World Wildlife Fund. The population is healthy and growing,” Mr. Venkatesh said.

The presence of a good number of tigers in the region was confirmed during the recent wildlife census, as well. Enumerators found marks left by tigers in many areas in this region.

The scat study conducted by the department also indicated the presence of 18 to 25 tigers in the region.

“The creation of a tiger reserve will lead to total habitat improvement and improve the flora and fauna in the entire region. The wildlife managers will be able to ensure greater protection to the big cats. The purpose of the initiative is to protect, propagate and improve wildlife and its environment,” Mr. Venkatesh said.

The region has a unique environment where elephants, tigers, black bucks, hyenas and vultures co-exist. The elephant population in the region is estimated to be around 1,200. The region also witnesses a healthy growth in the vulture population, forest officials here said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Venkatesh said, the Forest Department would not evict people living inside the tiger reserve. “There will be no forceful eviction. The livelihood of the forest dwellers will not be disturbed due to the creation of exclusive zone for tigers,” he said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/sathyamangalam-forest-declared-tiger-reserve/article4524318.ece

Reduced to Skin and Bones: Revisited

An updated analysis of tiger seizures from 12 tiger range countries (2000-2012)

In 2010, TRAFFIC produced Reduced to Skin and Bones: An Analysis of Tiger Seizures from 11 Tiger Range Countries (2000-2010) (Verheij, 2010). The purpose of the present report is to provide an updated situational analysis of the current illegal Tiger Pantherea tigris trade picture and to gain an improved understanding of one of the greatest threats to the Tiger's survival. This report also aims ot illustrate the need, use, practicability and direction that can be gained from the central collation and analysis of seizure data. Its conclusions outline the need for Tiger range and consumer countries to agree on and adhere to a standardized format for sharing and reporting data on poaching and illegal trade.

Download Report - http://assets.worldwildlife.org/publications/542/files/original/traffic_species_mammals73.pdf

Source: http://worldwildlife.org/publications/reduced-to-skin-and-bones-revisited

Tiger found dead in private tea garden at Udhagamandalam

Forest officials examine the tiger carcass at Nanjanad, near Udhagamandalam on Tuesday.
Photo: Special Arrangement

A tiger was found dead in a private tea garden at Nanjanad, about a km away from the Ithalar reserve forest, according to the District Forest Officer, The Nilgiris South, B. Sugirtharaj Kovilpillai.

Late in the evening on Monday the department was informed by the villagers that the carcass was lying among the tea bushes.

Stating that it was that of a male aged about ten years, Mr. Kovilpillai told The Hindu that a post-mortem examination was conducted on Tuesday by forest veterinarian Vijayaraghavan in the presence of conservationists from The Nilgiris Wildlife and Environment Association (NWLEA).

It revealed that its last meal was a wild boar and it had suffered a crack on its nasal bone. There were no other injuries.

It indicated that it had died in a fight with a wild boar or another tiger.

Since the carcass was partly decomposed it was presumed that it had died four or five days ago.

After adhering to all the formalities the carcass was set ablaze near the spot it was found.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/tiger-found-dead-in-private-tea-garden-at-udhagamandalam/article4501782.ece

Why thriving wildlife trade should not surprise anyone

Jay Mazoomdaar | Mar 11, 2013
The customary headlines that follow every CITES meeting were reeled out last week after a string of media releases from Bangkok on 7 March. There is global anguish over the shocking numbers — seizures amounting to 1425 dead tigers from 12 tiger range countries between 2000 and 2012, or, more than two killing a week.

The Indian media highlighted the five illegal trading hotspots in Delhi, Kolkata (Sunderbans), Ramnagar (Corbett), Balaghat (Kanha-Pench) and Sathyamangalam (the Western Ghats) which retained its notoriety even after the killing of brigand Veerappan and disbanding of his ivory hunting gang nearly a decade ago.

Since 2000, more than two tigers have been poached every week.
Pic courtesy: CITES/WWF

A spurt in tiger poaching that claimed at least 34 big cats in the first five months of 2012 continues across the country. Since mid-November, three tigers have died of electrocution in live-wire traps set by poachers in and around Bandhavgarh’s Khitoli range. Since mid-January, suspected poisoning has killed four tigers in Karnataka’s Nagarhole. Last week, a one-year-old tigress was rescued from a metal jaw-trap in Dudhwa, Uttar Pradesh, with a damaged paw.

Since 2000, more than two tigers have been poached every week. Pic courtesy: CITES/WWF
While tiger mortality usually makes big news, leopards are being taken out at such regularity that making even a guesstimate has become a challenge. Since 2010, six dozen tigers and nearly 500 leopards have fallen to poachers. That is just the official count.

Compared to big cat pelts and bones, rhino horns command a much higher price. After a lull during 1999-2006, the lucrative trade made a strong comeback in Assam. In 2012, more than 22 rhinos were poached. This year’s toll has already reached 10, prompting a shoot-at-sight order against poachers.

Annually, up to 30,000 star tortoises worth several crores of rupees are harvested in our country. An estimated 50-70 per cent of India’s otter population has been hunted for their pelts. The paintbrush industry’s demand for 8-12 quintals of hair has killed more than a million mongooses – only 10-20g hair is obtained from each — since the 1990s.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to protect wild animals with physical vigil unless we convert open forests into fenced-in zoos. Even then, a large number of wildlife will continue to roam outside. The most effective deterrence to poaching is the fear of getting caught, prosecuted and punished. But after four decades of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and a ban on hunting, how are the syndicates still so active?

There are at least three reasons. We are yet to build the capacity to adequately combat poaching; the administration is mostly in denial; and the powers that be have strong incentive to back wildlife trade.

On paper, we have created the Special Tiger Protection Force in a number of reserves. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has even introduced a high-tech thermal imagery system for round-the-clock surveillance last year and proposed to procure drones to watch over remote forest terrain.

But far from compensating for quality human resource, any sophisticated initiative depends on it for success. Yet, there is no initiative to build a motivated, trained and agile workforce and adequately incentivise it for consistent field results.

Every forest administration needs eyes and ears on the ground. Since the average bureaucrat is not a natural sleuth or an earthy man-manager, field officers should be handpicked for wildlife divisions. Every division also needs a dedicated legal cell with trained staff to ensure that cases do not fall through when rare arrests are made. But even six years after the creation of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, intelligence gathering and prosecution remains inadequate.

Unsurprisingly, the culture of denial is so deeply embedded in forest bureaucracy that most officers refuse to accept that poachers continue to be a threat in their territory. It is standard practice to play the jurisdiction card and disown animals that step out of park limits. Since officers in charge of less-protected areas neither have the resources to fight poachers nor are expected to, nobody is held accountable for poaching of, say, tigers in the Ramnagar forests adjacent to Corbett or rhinos across the road from Kaziranga.

When a suspicious carcass is found, the management tries to get away by attributing the death to anything — from food poisoning to snake bite – anything short of a suicide. Last year, an internal note of the Environment ministry pointed out that “many cases are straightaway declared as occurring due to natural causes or accidents without a detailed investigation to establish the same,” adding that “every case of tiger and leopard death would be henceforth treated as a case of poaching, unless otherwise proved beyond reasonable doubt”.

But a multi-billion dollar industry cannot bet its fortune on administrative laxity alone. So Veerappan funded political parties in two states for over a decade. Sansar Chand’s famous diary apparently had details of collusion with a number of Delhi’s political big guns. Insurgents protect trees for cover in their forest hideouts but have no qualms clearing Indravati of tigers or Manas of rhinos to fund arms deals.

During the 1980s and 1990s, when a number of prime north-east forests became inaccessible to the administration, more than 550 rhinos were poached. As the law and order condition improved in the late 90s, a shoot-at-sight regime forced an eight-year lull, particularly in Kaziranga, till the 2006 Assembly elections unleashed a cycle of “political reward killing”.

Poachers were back to claim 20 rhinos by 2007. Then again, after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, around two dozen animals were killed till 2010. In 2011, only one rhino was poached till the Assembly elections in May. Nearly three dozen have been killed since till the Kaziranga administration finally retaliated last Wednesday gunning down two armed poachers.

While shoot-at-sight orders are necessary in places like Kaziranga to match the fire power of former militants joining the trade, this approach suits few other forests in India. Unlike Kaziranga, most of our forests house villages and opening fire at the sight of people in such areas is a recipe for disaster. Building an anti-poaching network based on field intelligence demands a lot of hard work. But there is no alternative if we are serious about protecting our wild.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/living/why-thriving-wildlife-trade-should-not-surprise-anyone-654771.html

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

Straying tiger trapped in Wayanad

A tiger which spread panic among the villagers of Moodakkolly, a village adjacent to the Chethalayat range of forest under the South Wayanad forest division, after it attacked two persons, was tranquilized at a coffee plantation on Wednesday.

Those attacked were identified as Binu of Pulimootil, 35, and Vasudevan, 36, of Karthamkalayil at Moodakkolly. They were admitted to the Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, with serious injuries.

‘‘While they tried to locate the animal, without heeding to the warning by forest officials and a mob gathered there, it attacked them,’’ the villagers said.

The tiger, nearly 10-year-old, was spotted by a farmer in his plantain farm near Moodakkolly in the morning. The animal was resting inside the plantation after killing a wild boar and a dog near a paddy field adjacent to the farm. When the farmer sighted the animal, it escaped to a coffee plantation near the farm.

A team of forest officials led by South Wayanad forest division officer P. Dhaneshkumar rushed to the spot .

Meanwhile, a team of veterinary surgeons led by Arun Zachariah reached there around 4 p.m. to tranquilize the animal. The animal was tranquilized around 5.30 p.m.

When the forest officials started to shift the animal to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary office at Sulthan Bathery in a vehicle, a mob tried to prevent it and detained the forest officials demanding to disclose the location of release.

Later, the police team dispersed the mob by using force. ‘‘The animal will not be released in the forest area of Wayanad district instead we are planning to release it in Parmabikulam or Periyar Tiger Reserve after examining the health condition of the animal,’’ Mr. Gopinath told The Hindu .

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/straying-tiger-trapped-in-wayanad/article4483600.ece

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/

3 smugglers held, 5 tiger skins recovered

LUCKNOW: The network of wildlife poachers seems to have penetrated into the city and is trying to reach the international market via Nepal. The special operations group and district police caught a murder accused and two more smugglers in possession of five tiger hides from Chinhat area on Wednesday. The police also recovered a porcupine from the smugglers.

The trio had got hold of the hides from a Maharashtra-based poacher and was in the middle of finding a prospective buyer, when the police intercepted them. The three smugglers have been identified as Vishal alias Sahil-the murder accused and Rajmal and Rajan, both residents of Barabanki. A resident of Dewa Road, Vishal had been accused of a murder that took place at Matiyari in 2007.

"The trio was in possession of five tiger hides and porcupine (an endangered species), when they were held by the police. We are trying to find out who was interested in dealing with the trio and suspect that the hides were to be smuggled to international market via Nepal," said J Ravinder Goud, senior superintendent of police, Lucknow.

According the police, the trio had bought the tiger hides from a man identified as Vijay. The trio had been in the business of wildlife smuggling and trafficking for past several years and had developed contacts across several states in the country. From preliminary investigations, it was found that the recovered hides have been smuggled from Maharashtra's Aurangabad district to the city. "The cost price of a single hide is Rs 50,000, while the selling price ranges between Rs 4 and 5 lakh," told Brijlal Verma, the sub-inspector of the team that nabbed the trio from a shanty located off Faizabad Road.

The police have pressed various charges under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 against the trio and have sent them to jail. "We had information of some groups, which were active in smuggling of endangered animals, skins, hides, bones, body parts etc in the city. Following continuous surveillance and help of informers, a notorious group had been held," said a police official.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/3-smugglers-held-5-tiger-skins-recovered/articleshow/18602036.cms

Chase on for a tiger in Rajnandgaon

SUVOJIT BAGCHI

• We have instructed the villagers to stay put at home: DFO
• Government is more worried about tigers than tribals: Villagers

A tiger is giving sleepless nights to villagers in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh. Several teams of forest officials and the district administration have been chasing the adult animal around the central part of the district, adjacent to NH-6, for the last two days but to no avail.

In September 2011, a tiger was beaten to death by villagers in the Bakhru Tola area of Rajnandgaon.

To avoid a recurrence of the incident, the police, paramilitary and forest officials rushed to the chase “as fast as they could” this time, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Abhay Kumar Shrivastav told The Hindu.

The tiger — presumably around eight feet from head to tail — entered Dumurdih village in Dongargarh block, adjacent to the Maharashtra border, a couple of days ago. “Pugmarks were first noticed on February 5 in Chabuknala village, about 11 km east of Dumurdih. Over the week it slowly moved to the more populated Dumurdih area and was sighted in adjoining villages… I have a feeling it has come from Salhewara forest in the north,” Mr. Shrivastav said.

While a massive hunt was launched by villagers, with some of them reportedly carrying arms, the feline entered a reservoir and spent the night there.

In the morning, it could not be located and, according to officials, it has entered the Tinkapar forest even closer to the Maharashtra border.

“We have instructed the villagers to stay put at home and not to disturb the tiger even if it is sighted. Unruly mobs create more trouble,” said Mr. Shrivastav.

Villagers, however, are not happy with the directive. “What are we supposed to do if it attacks our feeble mud houses? These days the government is more worried about tigers than tribals,” said 73-year-old Sukru Ram over the phone.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/chase-on-for-a-tiger-in-rajnandgaon/article4420748.ece