Whole village to be moved from elephant corridor in India

Villagers voluntarily relocate from elephant corridor 

The region is home to some 1800 elephants

May 2013. Marking a significant milestone in efforts to secure a crucial elephant corridor in northeast India, residents of an entire village have literally put down in stone their willingness to relocate voluntarily outside the corridor to provide a clear passage for elephants.

Modern traditional houses

The foundation stone for a model ethnic village was laid down, marking the site of relocation of the Ram Terang villagers from the Kalapahar Doigurung Elephant Corridor. The village will have traditional style houses reflecting the culture of the area, but it will also be equipped with modern facilities and necessities such as electricity, health care and education.

Unveiling the foundation stone in the relocated area

Laying the foundation stone, Rechno Haising Ronghang, the 40th King of Karbi Anglong said, "This is a new step that will benefit wildlife as well as people. There should be no barrier when it comes to wildlife conservation. We need to think of it as something that is necessary for human survival too." He congratulated the team for the initiative that will benefit the people of the corridor areas.

People of the village celebrating their impending move

The Kalapahar-Doigurung Elephant Corridor connects Kalapahar with Doigurung-Nambor Wildlife Sanctuary and Kaziranga National Park. For 30 years the village of Ram Terang, named after the head of the village, has been situated in the middle of the corridor. As a result, human-elephant conflicts have been common and with regular loss of property and life for both the elephants and the humans.

1800 elephants

"There are about 1800 elephants in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape making it the habitat of about 8% of India's elephants. Securing this corridor is not just about the right of passage for these elephants but also to relieve local people of losses caused due to conflicts", said Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, Regional Head (Assam).

The process of course, reaching up to this milestone was not an easy one. It began about three years ago.

"The villagers were very hesitant at first when we approached them with the idea of relocation, and naturally so, as it involved their complete overhaul of their livelihoods. However, eventually they understood the need and benefits of the efforts for animals as well as themselves. Many individuals and agencies played a very crucial role in achieving this, and we are extremely grateful to all of them," said Dilip Deori, Assistant Manager, WTI, while expressing his appreciation for the support and cooperation being shown by the local community and organisations.

The project was supported by Elephant Family, IUCN - Netherlands and Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund, and implemented by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), to assist the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and Assam Forest Department in wildlife conservation in the region.

Source: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/elephant-village013.html#cr

Buying land to return it to nature

Ananda Banerjee,  Live Mint

Some government, non-government bodies, individuals are trying to push back against relentless development

WTI purchased 26 acres of land along the Thirunelli-Kudrakote corridor in Kerala to restore the degraded habitat
and protect wildlife. Photo courtesy WTI

Given the relentless pace at which wildlife habitat is being devoured by the march of development, some government agencies, non-governmental organizations and individuals have been trying to push back—by buying land and letting nature reclaim it.

The past decade has seen a conscious effort to secure wildlife habitats to protect forests.
A recent exercise involved the purchase of 26 acres along the Thirunelli-Kudrakote wildlife corridor in the Wayanad district of Kerala that comes under the watch of the non-profit Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). In the past few months, camera traps have recorded three tigers crossing the corridor.

The land was purchased by WTI with the help of the World Land Trust (WTL), IUCN-Netherlands and the Elephant Family to restore the degraded habitat and protect wildlife along the stretch. The 38 families in four villages in the area were relocated to an alternative site. The exercise cost in excess of Rs.2 crore.

Corridors between two sanctuaries (protected areas) are absolutely critical to wildlife for species dispersal, allowing exchange of individuals between populations and preventing inbreeding, among other ecosystem linkages. The land bought by WTI is gradually being handed over to the Kerala forest department for incorporating it as part of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Thirunelli-Kudrakote corridor connects the Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary (18,100 hectares) bordering Karnataka and Kerala, with the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (11,000 hectares) and the Wayanad north division (21,400 hectares) in Kerala. The stretch is part of a larger swathe of about 12,000 sq. km, with an elephant population of more than 6,300. This by itself constitutes one-third of India’s endangered Asian elephant population, which keeps moving up and down the corridor for food and social bonding.

Buying land back from the villagers has not only secured the corridor for the safe passage of elephants and other wild animals, but also helped reduce human-elephant conflict in the area.

“The people are able to harvest and are spared sleepless nights guarding their crop and houses from elephants,” said Sandeep Tiwari, deputy director, WTI. “The initiatives have also helped in improving the lives of these families as they now have access to education and healthcare centres and opening up employment opportunities.”

How much forest is cut down for development needs? The government’s 11th Plan (2007-12) was particularly severe in terms of loss of forest cover, according to a report by research and activist group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Land was diverted for development projects with scant consideration for wildlife, water and rural communities, it said.

The CSE study looked at five key sectors—thermal power, hydropower, cement, iron and steel, and mining—that have impacted forests. The report said 8,284 projects were granted forest clearance and 197,907.61 hectares of forest land diverted between 2007 and 2011. In the past three decades, 815,534.48 hectares of forest have been cleared for 23,404 projects (see graphic).

India is urbanizing rapidly, and there is heavy pressure on land and natural resources as the population increases. According to a study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), the number of towns has grown from 5,161 to 7,935 in the decade ended 2011, and this may near 10,000 by 2030. Demographic projections show that by then, the proportion of people in urban areas may swell to more than double that in rural areas.

The loss of forest habitat is a reason for declining wildlife populations across the planet. In this scenario, buying land to secure wildlife habitats has given conservationists a method to arrest habitat loss. As renowned conservation biologist Richard Cowling said: “Conservation is 10% science and 90% negotiation.”

Acquiring land for conservation is not new. In the book Buying Nature, authors Sally K. Fairfax, Lauren Gwin, Mary Ann King, Leigh Raymond and Laura A. Watt document the process of land acquisition as a conservation strategy in the US in the last 200 years.
One such current initiative is the American Prairie Reserve, a collaborative effort involving conservation agencies such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the National Geographic Society that aims to acquire land in north-eastern Montana in the US to create a seamless protected area.

“Imagine a grassland reserve of three million acres—a wildlife spectacle that rivals the Serengeti and an awe-inspiring place for you and your children to explore,” says the American Prairie Reserve website.

“Imagine helping to build a national treasure.”

Eric Dinerstein, lead scientist and vice-president, conservation science, WWF, said: “By 2022, I dream of 10,000 bison thundering across 1,000,000 acres with wolves in hot pursuit.”

Back in India, between 2001 and 2003, WTI managed to secure the Kollegal or Edayarhalli–Doddasampige elephant corridor for about Rs.70 lakh. The elephant range to the east of the Biligirirangan Hills had been divided by a long strip of cultivation that cut off the Biligiriranga Swamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary from the forests of the Kollegal division. A narrow corridor now exists between the villages of Kurubaradoddi and Aandipalya along the Kollegal-Satyamangalam highway.

WTI acquired 25.4 acres for the corridor in Aandipalya village from 17 landowners. The land has been transferred to the Karnataka forest department through a formal memorandum of understanding (MoU) to maintain it as an elephant corridor, ensuring connectivity and incorporating it as part of the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. This is the first ever privately bought corridor to be added to a protected areas in Asia.

In the North-East, with financial support from WLT, which pioneered the buy-an-acre concept of acquiring land for conservation, WTI is working with the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), the Meghalaya state forest department and the local community to secure wildlife corridors and the restore wildlife habitat.

As much as “4,150 acres have been secured with notification of 10 Village Reserve Forests,” said WTI’s Tiwari.

WWF-India is keen to follow the model, but rocketing land prices are a stumbling block.
“We are looking across various landscapes to acquire land and hand it over to the forest department,” said Ravi Singh, WWF-India’s secretary general. “Whatever we are doing to get forest land back is being done discreetly as any overt signs may send the land prices spiralling.”

Land for Project Tiger

Project Tiger, the government’s flagship conservation programme that turns 40 years old this month, has secured 2% of the country’s geographical area as tiger reserves. The area under the project gets the highest legal protection under the Wildlife Act. The central government’s programme not only secures the existence of the tiger, but also a gamut of species that thrives in those areas.

Launched in April 1973 in nine reserves across an area of approximately 14,000 sq. km, the project has expanded, especially in the past decade, from 25 tiger reserves in 2001 to 43 now. Project Tiger has secured an area of 66,274.68 sq. km across 17 states in the country.

Under the project, the central government provides 100% monetary assistance to states for strengthening protection; creating basic infrastructure for management; habitat development and restoration; water resources; eco-development programmes; village relocation; use of information technology (IT) in crime detection; monitoring of tiger populations; and carrying out estimations of tigers, co-predators and prey animals among others.

Private forests

Apart from government and non-government initiatives, a few individuals too have acquired land adjoining wildlife sanctuaries across the country and then allowed natural forest regrowth to take place as part of conservation. Most of them refused to speak on record.

One of them is Romulus Whitaker, popularly known as the Snake Man of India for his specialization in reptiles.

Whitaker set up the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) in Karnataka as a field station for the study of rainforest ecology in 2005 on a four-acre plot surrounded by forests. The land was bought with money willed to him by his mother, Doris Norden Chattopadhyaya.

Agumbe is a village in the Western Ghats in Shimoga where, in 1971, Whitaker spotted his first king cobra. He’d always wanted to set up a research base in the area.

In 2005, Whitaker also received the prestigious Whitley Fund for Nature award, which helped him set up basic infrastructure and convert an old farmhouse into a full-fledged forest research base.
“During the setting up of the field station, we had visits from leopards as well as a couple of king cobras, which to us ‘certified’ the place as the ideal field station,” he recalled.
Today, ARRS has 10 acres of land thanks to additional acquisitions and recently came under the administration of the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, which Whitaker set up in the 1980s to study reptiles.

Wildernest, in the Chorla Ghat area of Goa, has secured 450 acres and is perhaps one of the largest private reserve corridors for forests across two sanctuaries as well as two states—between the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa and Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. The Wildernest team runs two independent research stations like ARRS, one in the Chorla ghats and the other at Kuveshi near Castle Rock.

The Sai Sanctuary located in the Western Ghats is another example of a private forest reserve. It’s home to large carnivores such as tigers and leopards, along with elephants and 300 species of birds.

From the initial purchase of 55 acres of private forested lands in 1991, the reserve managed by the Sai Sanctuary Trust has grown to more than 300 acres and today offers a buffer to the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries along its borders—Brahmagiri, Nagarhole and Bandipur.

Securing land, especially degraded forests and leaving them for nature to reclaim, is a sustainable model to restore forests and protect biodiversity. But it’s an uphill task with land costs surging the moment there’s a hint of demand. Also, in a burgeoning economy in which development is the buzzword, it can be a struggle to find the right balance between conservation and economic growth imperatives.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/df1ep278rRHJ7JaeI6ohrL/Buying-land-to-return-it-to-nature.html

Why New Home Can Save India’s Lions

By Saptarishi Dutta

Asiatic Lions, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh

Conservationists say splitting India’s small population of Asiatic lions will help prevent the endangered animal from being wiped out.

India’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled that some of the 411 Asiatic lions that live exclusively in Gir Forest in Gujarat state will be moved to Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

“I am all in favor of it,” said M. K. Ranjitsinh, chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India, a non-governmental organization. “They should have a second home,” he added.

Experts argue restricting the lions to a single geographical area puts them at greater risk of extinction.

“If they are hit by a disease, there is a possibility that the entire population could be wiped out,” said Belinda Wright, founder of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.

“It is best for the species that a second and third location is established,” Ms. Wright added, warning of the risk of extinction.

“India would be a devastated place without this incredible cultural and heritage symbol,” she said.

The court said the lions will move to Madhya Pradesh within the next six months. A special panel comprising wildlife experts will decide how many lions will be move to Kuno Palpur, one of the most suitable habitats in India for Asiatic lions, according to a study by the Wildlife Institute of India.

The court’s ruling puts an end to a long-running interstate dispute. Gujarat has been reluctant to let go of a share of its lion population, a major tourist attraction in the state.

Around 460,000 tourists visited the Gir Forest in 2012 generating revenues of 50 million rupees ($914,745) for Gujarat’s forest department, according to Sandeep Kumar, a forest official at Gir.

The government of Gujarat had opposed the relocation of any of its lions to Madhya Pradesh, citing rampant poaching there.

According to Madhya Pradesh’s forest department, there are between 250 and 300 cases of poaching of all types of animals in Madhya Pradesh every year.

Asiatic lions are smaller than their African counterparts, and have visible ears and a thinner mane. Asiatic lions also have a thicker elbow tufts and a longer tail tuft.

While dividing the lion population between two states will likely help conservation efforts, experts say other worries remain.

Lions have difficulty finding enough to eat, as their prey – mainly deer and antelopes – is frequently killed by humans. “This is an overriding problem throughout India,” Ms. Wright said.

The loss of natural habitat through deforestation caused by a rising human population is also detrimental to the lion population, said Naresh Kadyan, Indian representative of International Organization for Animal Protection, a body affiliated to the United Nations.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed the court’s decision: “I welcome Supreme Court’s verdict on Asiatic Lions. We are well-equipped to welcome them in their new home. #MP,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Follow Saptarishi and India Real Time on Twitter @saptarishidutta and @indiarealtime.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/04/16/why-new-home-can-save-indias-lions/

Speeding train knocks dead tiger cub, injures another

Vijay Pinjarkar & Mazhar Ali, TNN Apr 16, 2013
NAGPUR/CHANDRAPUR: In a big blow to tiger conservation, a 10-month-old tiger cub was knocked dead and another critically injured by a speeding train near Kelzar on Gondia-Chandrapur railway line late Sunday night. This is the sixth tiger death in the state this year but perhaps the first ever in which a train was involved.

The tragedy took place around 10.30pm on Sunday when the Gondia-Chanda Fort passenger was approaching Chandrapur at a speed of 80 kmph. The driver of the train saw the tiger family, which included a tigress and three cubs. Locals say they knew about presence of a tigress with four cubs in the area.

Officials suspect that while the tigress and one cub crossed the railway line, the remaining two, both females, were hit in an attempt to follow them.

Sources say the driver blew the whistle after which the tigress and a cub jumped across the track. However, two cubs were slow to react and were knocked by the speeding train. The incident took place in compartment number 430 under Chichpalli range. The injured cub has been shifted to Nagpur at Seminary Hills nursery at 10pm.

The incident was reported by train guard R M Lohar to Chanda Fort station master who informed forest officials at 11.15pm. RFO VW Morey with his team launched search along the tracks during the wee hours and the trackers traced the carcass. The injured tiger cub was hiding in the bushes around 50 meters from the track and was traced in the morning.

"The cub that was hit died of head injury. Another cub suffered a fracture in its right hind leg," said BSK Reddy, CCF, Chandrapur Circle.

Pradeep Kumar, senior divisional commercial manager (SrDCM) of South East Central Railway (SECR), said the Gondia-Chanda Fort line was converted into broad gauge in 1999 after getting necessary environment clearances.

The mishap underlines the lack of vision and callousness on part of the then forest officials who gave forest clearances to the project without seeking any mitigation measures. ""We were not asked for any mitigation measures then. However, if forest authorities make a request, we will consider restraining speed of passing trains in forest patches,"" Kumar told TOI.

The railway line passes through the corridor between Tadoba and Chaprala sanctuary at Kelzar. "It further passes through forests touching Nagzira sanctuary in Gondia," said Kishor Rithe, member, National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).

Reddy said he will write to the railway officials to limit speed of trains which they pass through wildlife rich forest areas.

"There have been many incidents of sloth bears, leopards, Indian gaurs, and wild boars dying due to train hits in the past," said Bandu Dhotre, honorary district wildlife warden.

The injured cub that sat in the thickets was tranquillized Tadoba divisional forest officer (DFO) G K Vashisht. It was later shifted for treatment to Nagpur late night under the supervision of Dr Chitra Raut and Dr P D Kadukar. Head of forest force (HoFF) AK Joshi, APCCF SS Mishra, Tadoba field director Virendra Tiwari and others visited the spot. They said search operations to track the tigress and other cubs will continue.

Greens express shock

Greens are dismayed over the death of tiger. Harshawardhan and Poonam Dhanwatey of Tiger Research and Conservation Trust (TRACT) said the railway track is becoming a death trap for wildlife. Suresh Chopne of Green Planet said MP Hansraj Ahir will be urged to take up the issue with the environment ministry.

"Last month, a sloth bear was killed near the same spot. In this case, was the tigers' mother missing? This could have led the cubs to cross the track by mistake," said Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation. Prafulla Bhamburkar of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) wanted railway ministry to make budgetary provision for wildlife in such areas.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-16/nagpur/38585770_1_tiger-cub-injured-cub-tigress

An eye on the Hangul

AHMED ALI FAYYAZ, The Hindu  | April 14, 2013

Gathering: This sub-specie of the European red deer is endangered. Photo: Rashid Naqash

A first-ever satellite telemetry tracking of Hanguls in Kashmir’s Dachigam National Park to study the deer’s behaviour and the reasons behind its falling numbers

The Dachigam National Park, habitat of the majestic Hangul, near Srinagar is these days in for an activity never witnessed in the Valley. Technology has ultimately changed what Harwan’s legendary wildlife guard Qasim Wani did for decades before his death at the age of 100 with his empty hands and naked eyes: studying the behaviour of the dreaded Himalayan black bear, leopard, shy musk deer and Hangul.

The multi-terrain expanse of 141 sq km, spread over the plains, dense forest and barren hills from the picturesque Zabarvan range to the high-altitude ridges of Tral, is under the radar to track the Hangul alone. The other inmates in this landscape are musk deer, leopard, Himalayan grey langur, Himalayan black bear, Himalayan brown bear, hill fox, Himalayan weasel, yellow-throated marten, long-tailed marmot and otter.

Hangul, or cervus ellaphus hanglu, a sub-specie of the European red deer known to be existing only in Kashmir, has been for the first time chemically captured and fitted with a state-of-the-art satellite collar by a dedicated team of 30-odd officials and experts from the State government’s Department of Wildlife Protection, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST) and the Dehra Dun-based Wildlife Institute of India [WII]. It is a Rs. 40 lakh research initiative and is being supported by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).

“It was literally an uphill task,” says Dr. Parag Nigam, wildlife health management scientist at WII, “to habituate and chemically capture the animal. It took us three months before we hit success on March 16.” Never before had the Hangul been captured and fitted with a satellite collar, Dr. Nigam claimed. He narrated how arduously one of these fastest running big deer had been lured into the Oak Patch of the national park, habituated for weeks and finally immobilised with a remote drug delivery system, called the syringe projector or a ‘dot gun’. It was hit from a distance of 30 metres by Dr. Nigam.

Candid shot: A Hangul in Dachigam National Park.
Photo: Rashid Naqash

The only Asiatic survivor of the red deer, Hangul, has been declared (the locally) critically engendered wildlife specie in the Red List of The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1996. It has similar categorisation in the list of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which has India as a signatory. It has been incorporated in Schedule-1 of both the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as well as the Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1978.

A.K. Singh, Chief Wildlife Warden of Jammu and Kashmir, puts Hangul’s population at 175 in March 2009 and 218 in March 2011. The department conducts a census every two years with technical support from WII. Findings of a recent census are still under formulation. The 1989 census puts the number of Hangul at 900, indicating its fall towards the verge of extinction in the last 23 years of the armed insurgency and counterterrorism in Kashmir. However, some people like the retired Range Officer Mohammad Ashraf Mir insist that the numbers should be higher as armed poaching came down to zero due to thick concentration of security forces.

The leopard alone had been the killer since 1990, many residents at Harwan and Moolnar villages believe. According to them, the only incident of armed poaching in last several years happened in January 2013 when six poachers were found to have killed a male Hangul. They were accordingly booked and arrested. In the pre-militancy era, organised gangs of local hunters used to fell scores of the deer every year. The male is killed mainly for its 11 to 16 pointed majestic antler that fetches the hunter Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh in international market.

As the census team is said to have spotted antlers at several places — an evidence of the presence of the male — at several places, some like Assistant Project Officer of Wildlife Trust of India, Mansoor Nabi, believe that the numbers may be higher this year. “Not necessarily,” says Mr. Singh though, with a word of caution. “Let us wait for the findings.”

Conservator of Forest Farooq Gilani, formerly Kashmir’s Regional Wildlife Warden, believes that over-grazing of cattle and wild fires in Upper Dachigam and existence of infrastructure of 12 government departments in Lower Dachigam could be a major factor behind the dwindling population of Hangul. Biotic interference, according to him, could be the bigger killer than the poacher and the predator.

Principal investigator and Dr. Nigam’s partner, Dr. Khursheed, who works as the scientist in-charge of the Centre for Mountain Wildlife Science at SKUAST told The Hindu that four of the animals were being captured and fitted with the satellite collars under the Hangul research project. He sounded confident that three more would be seized soon. Black bear and some other animals have been previously tracked through a Global Positioning System and VHF/UHF-fitted ground tracking system.

“Radio collars have been used recently here on black bear and leopard but the satellite telemetry and Global Positioning System on Hangul is in operation for the first time. This will enable us access critical data through a dedicated satellite channel and particular software to observe the animal’s behaviour and activity, including hibernation, mating, conceiving and delivery besides mortality and the ground temperature on a 24x7 basis for two years of the unit’s battery life.”

Germany-based Vectronics Aerospace, which has provided four satellite collars at Rs 2.70 lakh each, has equipped the units with multi-function sensors and implants. These are hooked to the European Iridium satellite which in turn processes and supplies data to the German firm. A particular amount is charged for each downloading of the data, normally with frequency of three hours.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/an-eye-on-the-hangul/article4614448.ece

Hand-reared rhino has a baby, a first for India

Saira Kurup, TNN | Apr 6, 2013
Forest officials in India have notched up a proud first. Nine years after she was rescued from the swirling flood waters of the Brahmaputra in Kaziranga national park, Ganga has become the first hand-reared one-horned rhino in the country to give birth to a calf.

The delivery took place in the wild in Manas national park. Bhaskar Choudhury, regional head, northeast India, IFAW-WTI (International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India), is feeling as proud as a new parent. "This is the most significant news for rhinos and their rehabilitation. The success of a rehab programme depends on the species producing their offspring. We are very happy," he says. IFAW-WTI runs a programme with the Assam forest department to bring rhinos back to Manas, which lost all its rhinos to poaching in 2000.

In July 2004, a badly injured Ganga, then four months old, was rescued from Kaziranga and brought to WTI's rehab centre. The calf was in shock after being separated from its mother. "The basic challenge was to make it survive after the mother could not be found," says Choudhury. Ganga was then gently hand-reared, bottle-fed and weaned for three years, before being gradually acclimatised to the wild in Manas -- her interaction with humans almost ceased, except for periodic medical assessments.

All those efforts have now borne fruition. On Friday, Ganga's three-day-old female calf was first sighted by wildlife experts around noon. "We have been observing them for the past few hours and the calf is suckling every few minutes. Ganga too has adopted the calf. These are good signs, as the chances of rejection by hand-reared rhino mothers are more, than by those in the wild," says Choudhury.

WTI started the rhino re-introduction programme in Manas in 2006. Overall, five hand-reared and radio-collared rhinos have been introduced in Manas so far. The calf's birth is a significant development for the country, which has only 2500 one-horned rhinos now. Manas has 23, and the rest are in Kaziranga. Last year, 20 rhinos were killed by poachers in Kaziranga and this year, 13 have been killed in the first three months alone. "Our biggest worry for the calf is that it will be orphaned if its mother is targeted by poachers," adds Chowdhury. He is hopeful that the two other hand-reared female rhinos in Manas would take cue from Ganga and add to the rhino numbers soon.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Hand-reared-rhino-has-a-baby-a-first-for-India/articleshow/19407874.cms

105 whale sharks rescued in last two years along Gujarat coast

AHMEDABAD: The forest department and the rescue teams along the Gujarat coast have rescued 105 whale sharks in the last two years.

Saurashtra coast is now globally known as
the breeding site of whale sharks.

Minister of state for forest and environment Govind Patel told the House in a written reply to Asarwa MLA Rajnikanth Patel's question that as on December 31, 2012, a compensation of Rs 7.60 lakh was paid to fishermen whose nets were damaged in shark rescue exercise.

The minister said that whale shark protection campaign was on in the state. An officer of the department said that Saurashtra coast was now globally known as breeding site of whale shark. Hunting of the whale shark was an important fishing activity in Saurashtra coast as it fetched substantial earning to the fishermen community.

The forest department and naturalists joined hands and hunting was banned in 2001, in Gujarat, after it became the first fish to be listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The state forest department, along with the Wildlife Trust of India, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and other local NGOs and nature lovers launched a whale shark protection campaign in the state which turned as a role model for conservation.

Morari Bapu was roped in as an ambassador for the project. He went to Dwarka and blessed a whale shark. Although Rs 25,000 is paid for each rescue, the loss to the fishermen was higher.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/the-good-earth/105-whale-sharks-rescued-in-last-two-years-along-Gujarat-coast/articleshow/19150842.cms

'Sex-on-the-reef' recorded for first time ever along Lakshadweep islands

PTI

A rare and curious phenomenon, coral spawning, popularly referred to as "sex-on-the-reef", has been recorded scientifically for the first time along Lakshadweep islands on India's west coast, a Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) researcher has claimed.

Generally observed after full-moon nights, coral spawning is a magnificent phenomenon of sexual reproduction of corals, which involves mass collective expulsion of colourful eggs and sperm clouds into the water by corals.

Normally taking place once a year, the gametes then rise to the surface of the ocean creating a colourful slick.

The slick was first observed by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) marine biologist Subburaman S last week, and also by the Central Marine Fisheries and Research Institute (CMFRI) team.

"I was travelling by boat, when I noticed an interesting effect in the water. Out of curiosity, I collected some pink and brown spawn for examination," Subburaman was quoted as saying by a WTI release here.

Subburaman with the support of CMFRI scientists Dr Jasmine and R Srinath examined the samples and confirmed that they were indeed coral spawn.

Environment wardens Abdul Raheem and Dr Sayeed Ali said that this finding proves that Lakshadweep's corals are recovering from the stress they experienced after El Niño, 2010.

Chief Wildlife Warden, Lakshadweep, Thirunavukarasu, added that it's great news that the Lakshadweep coral reef is in a healthy state.

During spawning, the eggs are fertilised and form larvae.

The larvae then float off till they find suitable substrates, settle and form their own colonies, helping corals thrive.

Coral spawning is a big tourist attraction in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, where it generally happens soon after the full moon in November or December. Spawning normally happens when the water is warm, and when the tide is changing from high to low.

In the Maldives, spawning has been scientifically determined to take place between the end of January and the beginning of March.

One thing is universal though - exact date of spawning is still largely unpredictable.

It was first recorded in 1981, says WTI.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sexonthereef-recorded-for-first-time-ever-along-lakshadweep-islands/1093706/0

Radio collars for elephants in forests along rail tracks

Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava
Environment ministry wants to tag jumbos to track their movements and avert rail accidents

In the wake of the recent deaths of elephants on rail tracks in Odisha, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has decided to put radio collars on elephants that are found roaming near rail tracks. The pilot scheme will be started by radio collaring the surviving elephants of the herd that lost five of its members on January 6 after being hit by a moving train.

The elephant herd was traversing in its own corridor when five of its members , including a calf, were mowed down by a speeding Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express near Rambha railway station in Ganjam district of Odisha. The fatal accident was attributed to lack of coordination between forest department of Odisha and the East Coast Railway.

Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan called a meeting of forest and railway officials on January 8 to take measures to prevent such accidents. Among several directions she gave to the officials, one was to electronically tag the elephants that use forest patches near railway tracks. “There were reportedly around 20 elephants in the herd that met with the accident. We are planning to electronically tag the remaining 15-16 elephants of the same herd with the help of Wildlife Institute of India and IIT-Delhi.

If the pilot project is successful, then wildlife and forest personnel will be able to keep track of the elephant movements, and warn railway officials well in time to enable them to avoid accident,” said S S Garbyal, director general of forests (wildlife) in MoEF. Often, the time lag between spotting of the elephant, and the information reaching the driver of the train is too little to enable effective action to prevent accidents.

Who will tame speeding trains?

Biswajit Mohanty of non-profit wildlife society of Orissa, however, said the real problem is the speed of the train which has not been addressed yet effectively. “It's difficult to radio collar each and every elephant that may come near the track. What if a new elephant crosses the track other than the ones which are radio-collared. For long, railways officials have been reluctant to slow down the speed of trains which causes the accidents. The patches where wildlife is found near the tracks are just two to three kilometre long. It will not affect the journey time of the trains much,” he added.

It has been reported that the train that mowed down the elephants in Odisha was moving at a speed of nearly 100 km per hour. The impact of the collision was so severe that a mature foetus was pushed out of the womb of a female elephant. This despite the fact that the Indian Railways itself has put up at least 10 display boards, indicating it as elephant corridor.

The minister, in the meeting, pressed upon the railway officials that they should follow the advisory issued by the ministry for the movement of trains in the vulnerable patches where wildlife is found crossing the tracks, which includes slowing down of trains in all such patches. The railway officials, however, emphasized this could be done only for very small stretches, as generally slowing down of trains would be very unviable, both in terms of traffic management and economic implications.