Two new genera of tree frogs found in Western Ghats

• They are named after two remarkable personalities associated with this landscape
• Erratic rainfall during recent years likely to affect breeding patterns of these frogs
• They were found in highly threatened fresh water swamp eco systems

Two new genera of frogs were discovered by a team of independent researchers, led by Anil Zachariah and Robin Kurian Abraham, during their recent exploration in the Western Ghats.

The discovery, published in the latest issue of International Taxonomic Journal Zootaxa , is a joint effort by the team which comprised B .R. Ansil; Arun Zachariah of the Wild Life Disease Research Lab in Wayanad; and Robert Alexander Pyron, Assistant professor, Department of Biological Sciences of the George Washington University, U.S.

Biodiversity hot spot

The discovery once again proves that the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hot spot and Unesco world Heritage site, is a treasure trove of many amphibians.

It was found that the newly found genera belonged to tree frog family ‘Rhacophoridae.’ The frogs were discovered in highly threatened fresh water swamp eco systems, which are unique to the mountain range.

Mercurana myristicapalustris

The frogs discovered are named after two remarkable personalities who had an association with this landscape. One genus is named ‘Beddomixalus’ after colonel Richard Henry Beddome. He was a gifted polymath of the colonial era, who made extraordinary contributions to the understanding to the natural history of the sub-continent while serving as the Chief Conservator of Forests in the Madras Presidency. His works were the first detailed forays towards a systematic and through understanding of the amphibian diversity of the Western Ghats.

The other genus has been christened ‘Mercurana’ to commemorate Freddie Mercury, late iconic lead singer of the British rock band Queen. Mercury (his pen name) was of Indian Parsi origin and had spent major part of his childhood in India in Panchagni, located in the northern part of the mountain range, where the frog now bearing his name has been discovered.

Beddomixalus bijui 

While the ‘Beddomixalus bijui’ was found in the swamp forests of the Anamalai and high ranges of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, ‘Mercurana myristicapalustris,’ is restricted to highly fragmented and threatened low land ‘Myristica’ swamp forests in the foothills of the Agastyamalai hills in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts.

This distinctive forest type is dominated by wild relatives of nutmeg that thrive in waterlogged soil, and hence the name ‘Myristica’ swamp. But much of these types of forests have been lost, having been converted to raise cash crops such as rubber and oil palms, Dr. Anil Zachariah says.

Moreover, episodes of erratic rainfall over recent years are likely to affect the breeding patterns of these frogs and detailed studies are needed to explore such impacts, Mr. Abraham says.

The researchers highlight that the swamp forest and their unique biota are to be preserved. They stressed that the finding of two novel genera after more than a century of herpetological exploration in the region take the total number of tree frog genera in the Western Ghats to seven.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/two-new-genera-of-tree-frogs-found-in-western-ghats/article4628482.ece

Brow-antlered deer flourish in Manipur national park

IBOYAIMA LAITHANGBAM | IMPHAL, April 18, 2013

Threat to endangered species from hydel plant and poaching remains

• Politicians instigated villagers to demand closure of the national park and convert it into a paddy field
• There are suggestions to keep some deer in national parks in Assam

A brow-antlered deer cools off in a water tub in its
open-air enclosure at the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata.
- File photo

Wildlife lovers are overjoyed by the recent report that the population of the brow-antlered deer in its natural habitat at the Keibul Lamjao National Park, located within the Loktak Lake in Manipur, has increased from 180 a few years back to 200 now. However, the big question is how long this deer, listed in the Red Book, will survive.

The deer has been facing a two-pronged threat. The first blow was the commissioning of the 105 MW Loktak project in 1983 by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. As the three turbines are draining water round the clock, the floating biomass on which the deer live, has been ravaged. The second threat is from poachers.

Local newspapers have been regularly publishing reports and photographs on poaching and sale of venison.

This rare deer was first discovered in 1839. Because of extensive poaching by the British and others, it was feared that it had become extinct in 1951. However, just six deer were sighted at the natural habitat in 1953. A flurry of activity was galvanised to save it. The population increased to 14 in 1975 and 155 in 1995. The official census conducted in 2000 counted 162 deer – 54 stags, 76 hinds and 32 fawns. The Manipur Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 was also enforced. The sanctuary created in 1966 was declared a national park in 1977.

Apart from the damage done by the Loktak project, human disturbance is also a great threat to the deer. Large scale use of poison to catch fish has also killed grass in the bio mass.

Some local politicians instigated the villagers to demand closure of the park so that it could be converted to a paddy field. Poachers and villagers beat up the skeleton staff of the wildlife wing guarding the park and even torched their personal belongings. The government deployed a detachment of Manipur Rifles troopers there. This was effective since the forest guards could chase away the poachers and other anti-social elements. However, the troopers were later recalled for unexplained reasons.

There were suggestions to keep some deer in the national parks in Assam. This attracted strong objections as the parks there do not have floating biomass.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/browantlered-deer-flourish-in-manipur-national-park/article4628483.ece

Tiger kills another woman near Nagpur

Express news service : Nagpur, Wed Apr 17 2013
A woman was killed and partly eaten by a tiger near Ranbodi village, about 50 km from here, in the newly-carved-out Umred-Karandla sanctuary in Nagpur district.

Home to at least 12 tigers, the sanctuary declared last year has only one village - Ranbodi.

Villager Layjabai Fukat (65) had gone to the forest to collect mahua flowers. When she did not return home at regular time, a search began. Forest staff and villagers later found her partly eaten body.

"A hand, a breast and part of her neck had been eaten," said Nagpur honorary wildlife warden Roheet Karu.

With this, the human toll in Vidarbha's man-animal conflict this year has gone up to ten — four attributed to tigers, four to leopards and two to wild boars.

Raj gives Rs 5 lakh

MNS chief Raj Thackeray has released the Rs 5 lakh he promised for detection of tiger poaching case in Chandrapur. The case pertained to a tiger whose body was found cut into pieces near Borda village in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve last year.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/tiger-kills-another-woman-near-nagpur/1103672/

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/

Villagers set leopard cubs ablaze, one dead

CHANDRAPUR: A five-month-old leopard cub was killed, while one other was critically injured, as miscreants set the two ablaze alive near Nifandra village in Saolitehsil on Tuesday afternoon. Forest officers initially tried to cover up the incident by claiming that it was a road accident.

The brutal killing comes just a day after a tiger cub was killed and another injured after being hit by a train on Gondia-Chandrapur route.

Tuesday's incident could be a case of revenge killing as leopards recently mauled to death two persons in Saoli tehsil recently.

Sources claimed that unidentified miscreants found two leopard cubs in a pipe laid in the farm of one Prakash Deshmukh located close to the village bus stop. The villagers sealed one end of the pipe with stones, put cow-dung cakes on the other end and set ablaze the inflammable material, used in villages as domestic fuel.

A leopard cub died of suffocation inside the pipe. The other cub somehow managed to force its way out of pipe and fell unconscious at the scene. Nobody came to its rescue till Pathri police reached the spot.

Forest officials on the spot reportedly kept their distance from the fragile cub, whose condition appeared to be critical. Police officers took the injured cub to Pathri police station and gave it some water. It was later dispatched to Chandrapur for emergency treatment with forest staffers.

CCF, Chandrapur circle, BSK Reddy confirmed that a leopard cub was killed, while another was injured in the blaze. He, however, refrained from blaming the villagers for cruel act. "We are investigating into the cause of fire. Possibility of accidental fire cannot be ruled out," he said.

As the news broke out, forest officers initially tried to cover the incident by terming it as road accident. ACF Rajiv Pawar claimed that an unidentified vehicle knocked the two cubs, killing one and injuring the other. RFO, Saoli range, VC Pattiwar maintained that he failed to reach the spot as the tyre of his vehicle got punctured.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Villagers-set-leopard-cubs-ablaze-one-dead/articleshow/19587347.cms

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

Green panel slaps fresh conditions on Posco

Rajaram Satapathy, TNN | Apr 16, 2013
BHUBANESWAR: A high-level committee set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to review the mega Posco steel project in the state has spelled fresh trouble for the much-hyped project.

The committee headed by K Roy Paul was constituted as per the March 30, 2012 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had suspended the environment clearance granted to the project.

The Paul committee had submitted its report to the MoEF in October. Though the report has not yet been made public, information obtained through the RTI about its findings reveals that the project proposal may have to undergo a complete change in the coming days, including layout, study of its impact on the environment, livelihood of people, water requirement and waste disposal management.

The committee said during its visit, state authorities like the IDCO had informed that land requirement for the project had been reduced to 2,700 acres 'leaving out most of the private lands of Gobindapur and Dhinkia villages and a portion of the forest land where betel vines are grown by the villagers'. "This meant that the layout plan of the project would have to be altered substantially," the report said.

The state government has created an impression that the size of the mega steel plant had been reduced from 12 mtpa to 8 mtpa. Posco authorities, however, have denied such speculation. "Our first phase target capacity is 8 mtpa out of the total 12 mtpa capacity, hence we need reduced area," said Y W Yoon, chairman of Posco-India to a visiting media team at Pune recently.

The Paul committee, however, went by the statements made before it and said: "The project proponent should state unambiguously whether the reduced project area would be adequate to accommodate all plans of future expansion of the steel plant."

While obtaining special CRZ (coastal regulation zone) clearance for road and other infrastructures, 'environment impact should be reassessed for the revised layout plan with at least one month current baseline data for all the components of environment and submitted to the MoEF', the report suggested. The committee objected to any move to draw underground water and took note of the state water resources department's advice to Posco to seek alternate sources of water. "Water availability is a critical issue," the report observed, analyzing the inputs submitted by different government agencies.

The area being prone to cyclone, flood and sea erosion, the report also took note of concerns expressed over construction of a sea protection wall and said the issue must be 'seriously investigated' through nationally reputed agencies. "A long term study may be carried out on the impacts due to erosion of creeks, banks, deepening of the creek and widening of the river mouth (Jatadhari river mouth where Posco wants to set up its captive port)," the report said. "On assessing the documents submitted to the committee, which include the comprehensive EIA (environment impact assessment) for 4 mtpa steel plant, there is still no clarity as regards the scenario relating to future expansion of 12 mtpa capacity, especially about the availability of land, water, minerals and infrastructure," the report observed.

The committee said eight years after signing an MoU to start the project, the government and Posco have not yet carried out many basic studies on issues like actual water availability, the project's impact on fisheries, which support more than 20,000 people in the area, plan for management of oil spills, impact of dredging of material for the private port, impact on marine ecology and wildlife, etc.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Green-panel-slaps-fresh-conditions-on-Posco/articleshow/19569682.cms

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

Feathered friends of India now homeward bound

IANS | Apr 14, 2013
SHIMLA: They still take the traditional Silk Route. Only, unlike ancient traders and travellers, they take wings.

The feathered guests that descend on various waterbodies across India with the onset of winter, after crossing national and international boundaries to avoid the extreme chill of their native habitats in Tibet, Central Asia, Russia and Siberia, are now set to make their annual return journey.

A migratory bird in the Kangra Valley's Pong wetlands in Himachal Pradesh, which was tagged with a global positioning system (GPS) transmitter last winter, has returned to its native China. A few other bird species are currently in lakes in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan, after their winter sojourn in Pong's man-made wetlands, in the Himalayan foothills, about 250 km from state capital Shimla.

A few "holidaying" birds remain, though, in Pong.

"A pintail that was tagged with a satellite transmitter in Pong was recorded last week in China. Another bird of the same species has reached Kyrgyzstan," chief wildlife Warden AK Gulati told IANS.

He said the migratory routes of the birds stretched from India to China, with brief stopovers at key wetlands in the Himalayas and the trans-Himalayas.

The state wildlife department, in association with the Mumbai-based Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), under a central government-aided project to track their migratory routes through satellite, tagged 14 migratory birds of different species for the third consecutive year in Pong.

BNHS assistant director S Balachandran, who installed the GPS chips on the birds and monitored their movements, said a common teal, tagged in Pong, was recently recorded in Pakistan.

Two birds - a greylag goose and a shoveller - were recorded in Srinagar and Harike in Punjab, respectively, this month.

"They might be on their return journey from Pong to their native habitats," he said.

Balachandran said a tagged common teal and a shoveller are still roosting in Pong.

"Some common teals and shovellers are still in Pong. They could start their return journey to their native habitats anytime now," he said.

Crossing national and international boundaries, millions of migratory birds of several species descend on various water bodies and wetlands in the region. They start returning by the end of February or the beginning of March.

In the last two years, the BNHS also installed metal bands and red and white neck collars with a serial number, place and date on more than 350 migratory birds in Pong.

The prominent species were the bar-headed geese, pintails, common teals, coots, cormorants, European lapwing, shovellers and wigeons.

Wildlife officials said a common teal that was ringed in Pong last year was shot dead in northeast Russia this year.

Around 123,000 waterfowl of 113 species were recorded in a census conducted by the wildlife wing in the first week of February at Pong Dam wildlife sanctuary spread over 307 sq km.

The largest influx was of the bar-headed goose, a regular visitor from Central Asia, including Tibet and Ladakh. Their number was around 34,000, wildlife officials said.

The other main species found were northern pintail (21,000), common pochard (12,000) and little cormorant (7,700), besides common coot, red-crested pochard, great cormorant, pintail duck, river tern and great-crested grebe.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Feathered-friends-of-India-now-homeward-bound/articleshow/19541384.cms

Workshop offers tips and tricks on peaceful coexistence with elephants

Participants learn ways to avoid confrontation with animals

• Over 45 members of non-governmental organisations and self-help groups participate
• People have been practicing for centuries, methods of avoiding conflicts with elephants
• Primary purpose of training is reducing incidents leading to death or injury

Friends of the gentle giants:Master trainers wear elephant
masks during a workshop on coexistence with elephants,
in Krishnagiri on Friday. - Photo: N. Bashkaran

A three-day residential workshop on coexistence with elephants for master trainers began here on Friday.

It is being conducted by the Zoo Outreach Organisation, Coimbatore in association with SWORD, a local non-governmental organisation in Krishnagiri.

Over 45 members of NGOs, staff and self-help group leaders including 15 women are taking part in the programme.

Dr. B.A. Daniel, Conservation Educator, Zoo Outreach Organisation, Coimbatore was the resource person for the workshop.

He told The Hindu that this workshop was the first of its kind being held in the district.

The training programme had been necessitated due to the increasing incidents of human-elephant conflict reported in many parts of the nation.

To address the issue, the Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) decided to take the emphasis off “mechanistic solutions for conflict” and put it on coexistence.

It was true that there was no permanent or all-encompassing solution to Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) due to its complexity and variety but that the approach of ZOO would be through an age-old and imperfect method, coexistence.

He said that the coexistence is not a new method of living with elephants; people have been doing it for centuries.

People have to rely too much on the government to come to their rescue like chasing away the animal or shooting down psychotic rogues, offering advice and paying compensation, but they would not be able to bring a human breadwinner back to life or restore a permanently damaged body or mind.

Keeping all these in mind, the ZOOs approach is to teach methods of learning ways to avoid confrontation and promote self protection, be willing to exchange some old habits and beliefs for survival and thus reduce the incidence of injury and death due to Human-Elephant Conflict.

Hence, it is the need of the hour to teach the people to get along with the elephants and salvage property and crops. Primary purpose of the training was mitigation, and reduction of incidents of death or injury.

The master trainers are trained to encourage thinking about these teaching tools, not just for elephants, but for other species and issues as well. They should spread the message they have learnt in the workshop and try to mitigate the sufferings of the farmers, Dr. Daniel said.

The training programme was sponsored by US Fish and Wildlife Service, he said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/workshop-offers-tips-and-tricks-on-peaceful-coexistence-with-elephants/article4616223.ece