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RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Apollo - 12-03-2016
(12-03-2016, 05:17 PM)Apollo Wrote: Good work guys.
Keep it up.
Based on the studies "Home Range of the Radio-collared Bengal Tigers in Pench Tiger Reserve", three tigers were radio collared (one adult female, one adult male and a subadult male). During the period March 2008 to December 2011.
*This image is copyright of its original author
All three tigers were weighed and measured. The adult male was estimated in at 200-220Kg and was administered 3ml sedative, but it was not enough to bring the male down so they again sedated the male with another 1.2ml sedative, which is 40% more sedative than actually required for a (200-220Kg) male. So this could been the adult male was possibly heavier than their estimated weight. Unfortunately I guess there weighing scale was not big enough to see this males full potential and hence they reported the weight to be greater than 200Kg.
The T15 adult female is none other than Collarwali tigress.
She was born in October 2005 and was radiocollared on March 2008 (2 years 5 months).
So when collarwali was weighed at 145kg she is just a 2 years and 5 months old subadult and not an adult tiger as the document states.
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Another Dead Tiger Cub Found in Primorye
18.06.2008
*This image is copyright of its original author
On June 18, Rosprirodnadzor (Federal Nature Use Oversight Agency) got information from a villager that he had seen a tiger cub lying near the apiary he worked at, 45 km far from Novopokrovka town in Krasnoarmeisky district. Apparently it was ill or wounded, as he made no attempts to get up and run away.
The team of three men: the Rosprirodnadzor officer, a specialist of the Regional Department of Game and Rare Species Protection and the watchful villager, arrived at the palce. The female cub aged 5-6 months 20 kg of weight was discovered 200 m far from the apiary of “Taiga” Ltd. The carcass had no visible injuries except for the nose and the left forepaw. The men saw no tracks of the tigress nearby.
The incident was reported to Rosprirodnadzor Department of Primorsky region and the Regional Department of Game and Rare Species Protection. An administrative case was initiated on the fact of the Red Book animal death. As a part of the investigation, veterinarians from the Lazovsky nature reserve and Primorsky State Agricultural Academy did an autopsy and determined that double-sided pneumonia had provoked the death.
Several days before the discovery a tiger had stolen two dogs from that village. On June 16 and 17, a local resident had seen an adult tiger not far from the place where the cub was later found. Most probably, that very tigress attacked the dogs. Witnesses say that two cubs followed her.
Sergey Bereznyuk, Director of the Phoenix Fund, comments:”: Since the beginning of winter, this is already the second tiger cub found dead. Another two cubs were half-alive, and specialists were unable to save them. There is a lucky cub that is now being rehabilitated and will be released back into the wild this fall. For several years running the Phoenix Fund with the Federal State Institution “Inspection Tiger” have been running the Conflict Tiger project, in the framework of which we monitor situations with ill and problem predators, and search for effective ways to solve them”.
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Death of rare Sumatran tiger draws ire, scorn
Apriadi Gunawan
The Jakarta Post
Medan | Fri, March 11, 2016 | 07:02 am
Enviromental activists have condemned the killing and butchering of a Sumatran tiger by residents of Silantom Tonga village in North Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra.
Activists from the Sumatra Rainforest Institute, Scorpion, the Indonesian Species Conservation Program and the Orangutan Information Center on Thursday flocked to the North Sumatra Police headquarters in Medan to urge the force to thoroughly investigate the mistreatment of the tiger.
A spokesperson for the groups, Panut Hadisiswoyo, said they had called on the police to take tough action against the police officer reported to have shot the tiger dead after it wandered into Silantom Tonga.
'This was a barbaric act and a violation of law,' Panut said after meeting officers from the North Sumatra Police's special crime directorate.
When tigers wandered into villages, he went on, they should not be killed, but shooed away back into the jungle.
'Ironically, it was a police officer ' who should be aware that the Sumatran tiger is a protected animal ' who shot the tiger,' he said.
Directorate head Adj. Sr. Comr. Robin Simatupang said the force would begin investigation upon reception of complete reports from the North Tapanuli Police..
The 1.5-meter female tiger weighing 80 kilograms was shot dead by an officer from the Pangaribuan Police on Monday, at the request of local people who had alerted the police after the beast wandered into the village.
The villagers then dismembered and butchered the carcass, distributing the meat to local households to be eaten.
Such practices are locally referred to as binda, a tradition whereby any wild animals encountered are slaughtered and eaten.
Anthropologist and noted Batak cultural figure Bungaran Simanjuntak of Medan State University insisted that eating wild animals, especially protected ones, was not a Batak tradition.
If certain Batak communities ate tiger meat, he said, it might mean they were related to a certain cult or local tradition.
'For a long time now, we Bataks have shunned eating the meat of Sumatran tigers,' Bungaran said.
Animals traditionally eaten by the Batak people as part of certain traditions included buffalo, swine, cows and goats, he said.
_____________________________________
'Ironically, it was a police officer ' who should be aware that the Sumatran tiger is a protected animal' who shot the tiger.'
Bungaran added that although the killing of the tiger was intolerable, he did not want to rush to blame the denizens of Silantom Tonga.
'It's possible that they didn't realize that the Sumatran tiger was a protected species,' he suggested.
To prevent similar incidents from reoccurring, he urged authorities to inform villagers of which species were endangered and should not be eaten.
North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) protection section head Joko Iswanto said the agency would summon 50 residents of Silantom Tonga for questioning.
Questioning, Joko said, would be carried out in stages, starting from village leaders to local community figures. 'We will announce later whether they are guilty or not,' he said.
'We have noted 50 names allegedly involved in the distribution of the tiger meat,' he added.
BKSDA data show that the population of Sumatran tigers in North Sumatra is sharply decreasing as a result of conflict with humans.
In 2014 a Sumatran tiger was speared to death by people in Toba Samosir regency, while last year, a 5-year-old tiger almost died after having its leg amputated. The leg was decaying after being caught in a trap set by residents in Batu Madinding subdistrict, Batang Natal district, Mandailing Natal regency.
The Wildlife Conservation Society Indonesia Program (WCSIP) has recorded a decrease in the population of Sumatran tigers from 150 in the 1990s to 100 as of today; the majority live in and around Mount Leuser National Park, which straddles the border between North Sumatra and Aceh.
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
92-year-old Riau tiger slayer finally caged
22 Mar 2010
JAKARTA, March 20, The Jakarta Globe — Most Indonesians his age lead a calm life, spending time spoiling grandchildren or taking up pastimes such as gardening. But not Wiryo Asmada.
The 92-year-old resident of jungle-covered Riau has continued his life’s calling, depleting the local population of Sumatran tigers, a protected species on the brink of extinction.
Conservation officials yesterday put an end to his 75-year trapping career that has seen him kill at least 44 of the rare cats, catching him red-handed trying to sell the skin of his latest victim, a 23-year-old, 215cm-long and 160cm-tall tiger he trapped on March 3 in Pelor village, Kuala Cenaku.
“He had been killing Sumatran tigers since he was 17 years old. He has confessed to having killed at least 44 in Riau since 1960,” said Refdi Azmi, protection programme head with the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BBKSDA).
The tally, however, did not include other tigers Wiryo hunted outside Riau. Refdi said the strongly-built old man also hunted his prey in neighbouring West Sumatra.
Wiryo said he usually sold the tigers’ body parts — skin, bones, meat, fangs and claws — to customers in Singapore.
“We are still investigating whether this trade involves a syndicate,” Refdi said.
He said Wiryo’s arrest followed a tip from residents of Indragiri Hilir district who said a skin was being sold in Kuala Cenaku subdistrict of neighbouring Indragiri Hulu on Thursday afternoon.
Wiryo, better known as Pak Jenggot because of his beard, was arrested while transporting his latest catch’s skin and bones.
“When we caught him, he was on a boat, and we have secured him in our office in Pekanbaru,” Refdi said.
An official at BBKSDA’s branch at Rengat district, Murmaidin Iskandar, said the illegal hunting of Sumatran tigers had become more rampant in the past three years. According to the World Wildlife Fund, the Sumatran tiger population is getting smaller by the day, with fewer than 300 remaining in Indonesia, half of them in Riau.
“That is why we are determined to investigate the syndicate in the Sumatran tiger trade,” he said, adding that perpetrators could be charged with violating a 1999 law on the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems that carries a minimum of five years in prison or a fine of Rp100 million (RM37,400).
On Monday, Willem Wijnstekers, secretary-general of the UN’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, said that 35 years of global efforts to save tigers in the wild had “failed miserably” and that the big cat was closer than ever to dying out. The Balinese and Javan tigers were driven to extinction in the 1930s and 1980s, respectively.
-courtesy to The Jakarta Globe
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Mandailing Tiger- Rescue-November 2015
Rasyid Dongoran voor Tapanuli Wildlife Rescue Centre
18 november 2015
Nov 27,2015. A Female young sumatran tiger rescued and evacuated yersterday. This tiger was trapped by illegal snares at Mardinding Village, Batang Natal Sub-District at North Sumatra.
This species is critical endangered specis (IUCN red list category) and only 400-500 individual that still exist in the world and endemic species for sumatra. Its got attention from World peoples to save this species from extinct.
Rescue mission was completely done with success, After recieved a information from a villager about the situation, our Widlife Rescue Unit( WRU)/TWRC staffs with full first aid material & equipments and heading to the location.
2,5 kilometres from villages head to the secondary forest near Mardinding Village. Its a great success of rescue mission for this tiger.
The tiger with approx 80-80 kg, female, 3 years old. She was evacuated to the National Park office for medical treatments and waiting the instruction from Ministry of Forestry in Jakarta for the next step. But the facility for her is not good enough. We hope the central government have a special attention for this.
Thank you for our WRU team member ( Dr Jennifer Showers, Bayu Firmansyah, Jakfar, Halim Gurning, Ali Hasibuan) for your great jobs! Bravo!
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Tiger found dead near attack spot
Mon, Feb 08, 2010
The Star/Asia News Network
By SYLVIA LOOI
IPOH: The tiger that attacked an orang asli man at the Bukit Tapah Forest Reserve on Saturday has been found dead.
A team from the Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) found the male tiger with gunshot and blow pipe wounds within 100m from where it attacked the orang asli.
It had also lost its left forelimb.
State Perhilitan director Shabrina Shariff believes the animal could have escaped a trap set by poachers.
''The tiger might have attacked Yok Meneh because it was in pain,'' she said yesterday.
''That is why I was surprised to read that the tiger had attacked a human as tigers are normally reclusive animals which keep to themselves,'' Shabrina said.
The tiger tipped the scale at 120kg and measured between 1.5m and 1.8m in length.
The tiger's carcass is expected to be taken to the department's Sungkai office for further checks.
Yok Meneh, a 47-year-old gatherer from the Semai tribe, was attacked while he was on his way to gather petai and suffered a deep wound measuring 15.2cm on his back.
He also suffered injuries to his hands and legs from fighting against the tiger.
Shabrina urged Yok Meneh to lodge a police report on the matter as he was entitled to compensation for being attacked by a fierce animal.
She said the department would recommend to the relevant authorities that Yok Meneh be compensated.
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Tiger rescue points to urgent need for more patrols
Posted on 05 October 2009
The sedated tiger will be sent to Malacca Zoo for treatment
© WWF-Malaysia / CF Lau
*This image is copyright of its original author
PERHILITAN officers removing the wire snare from the animal's leg
© WWF-Malaysia / CF Lau
*This image is copyright of its original author
"Kuala Lumpur - The rescue of a tiger from a snare set by poachers near the Gerik-Jeli highway yesterday should set alarm bells ringing for the remaining wild tigers in the Belum-Temengor forests, one of the last strongholds for this species and other mammals in Malaysia.
The five-year-old male tiger was freed from its snare by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) officers after it was discovered late yesterday by WWF’s Wildlife Protection Unit (WPU), which conducts regular patrols together with PERHILITAN in the area. The tiger has been taken to the Malacca Zoo for treatment.
The WPU rangers on a routine patrol had earlier detected two men on motorcycles near the site who fled when they saw the WPU rangers approach. When rangers returned to check the area, they found the tiger with its front right paw caught in a snare.
........"
Tiger rescued from poachers in Malaysia perishes from injuries
29 October 2009 / Jeremy Hance
"Rescued in early October from a poacher’s snare, a Malayan tiger has died from stress and infection due to its injuries. The 120 kilogram (264 pound) male tiger died on October 19th in the Malacca Zoo after undergoing surgery to amputate its right foreleg, which two weeks before had been caught in a poacher’s snare and severely injured. “It broke my heart as I was there during the rescue. Everyone had such high hopes of the tiger being released back into the wild after its treatment at the zoo, and no one spoke of the in-betweens", says Reuben Clements.
........"
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Police discovers 120-kg dead tiger hidden in car
DECEMBER 24, 2014
*This image is copyright of its original author
Environmental criminal police in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An yesterday said that it has found a dead tiger weighing over 120 kilogram with no clear origin hidden in a car on December 22.
Environmental criminal police discovered a dead tiger hidden in a truck travelling in the National Highway with doubtful sign; accordingly they asked traffic police to stop the truck and found a 120-kg dead tiger.
34 year old driver Nguyen Van Lap from Quynh Luu District said that an unknown man had hired him to carry the tiger to a northern province. He will be paid VND8 million (US$ 374) later.
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Police seize frozen tiger, monkeys transported illegally in central Vietnam
TUOITRENEWS
UPDATED : 01/26/2015 10:14 GMT + 7
The frozen tiger seized by police in the central province of Nghe An on January 20, 2015.
*This image is copyright of its original author
Vietnamese police have detained two men for illegally transporting and stockpiling one tiger and eight monkeys, all frozen, in the central province of Nghe An.
Provincial police on Sunday said they were waiting for identification results of the dead wild animals they seized from Nguyen Dac Sung, 51, and Nguyen Dac Phu, 19, two local men, last week.
Sung and Phu will be charged with breaching regulations on the protection of precious and rare wild animals
The two men were arrested on January 20 after being caught carrying three frozen monkeys weighing 30 kg in total packed in two sacks, said senior lieutenant colonel Luong The Loc, chief of police of Thanh Chuong District.
Both men failed to show police any documents to prove the origin of the wild animals.
Based on their testimony, police raided the house of Phu’s mother – Nguyen Thi Nhuong, 45 –in the district’s Thanh Van commune and discovered five more dead monkeys weighing 70 kg in total and one dead tiger weighing 140 kg in a large freezer.
Nhuong told police an unknown young man in the province’s Dien Chau District offered to sell to him the dead tiger and eight dead monkeys for VND150,000 (US$7) per kilogram of monkey and VND5 million ($234) per kilogram of tiger.
Nhuong then bought the monkeys only as he did not have enough money to buy the tiger. Nhuong and the young man then agreed that if Nhuong could help sell the tiger for the above price, the young man would pay him VND20 million ($937) as remuneration.
Currently, all the dead wild animals are being preserved at the Thanh Chuong district police office, police chief Loc said.
On December 22, 2014, police in the same province also confiscated a frozen dead tiger, weighing 120kg, from a local man, Nguyen Van Lap, 34, who was illegally transporting it in a car on National Highway 1.
Earlier this month, police in the northern province of Bac Kan arrested Nguyen Van Duoc, 51, director of the Bac Kan Trading and Hotel Co. Ltd. for illegally procuring a large dead tiger,an endangered wild species, to make bone glue.
Duoc was detained after investigators concluded that he was the owner of five separated parts of a big tiger that was discovered in a truck at the Bac Kan Hotel, owned by Duoc, in Duc Xuan Commune on January 15.
Some believe that tiger bone paste treats a variety of ailments, including rheumatism, though there is no scientific basis for this.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species, tigers are classified as “endangered,” with the current global wild tiger population estimated to be around 3,000 individuals.
The illegal trade in high-value tiger products including skins, bones, meat, and tonics is the primary threat to tigers, according to IUCN.
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Three men arrested after discovery of tiger carcass in toilet
BY ZARINA ABDULLAH - 21 JANUARY 2016 @ 5:51 PM
KUALA TERENGGANU: Three men face the prospects of spending five years in jail and a fine of RM500,000 for possessing a tiger carcass at their house in Kemaman on Wednesday.
They are being investigated under Section 68(2)© of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, after being detained by State Wildlife and National Parks Department rangers.
The rangers from the department's headquarters here mounted an ambush following a tip-off from the public and waited for three days before making their move.
"The rangers targetted a house in Pasir Semut in Kemaman. When the house was raided at 6.30pm, they found a tiger carcass hidden in the toilet and three men in the house," said State Wildlife and National Parks director Mohd Hasdi Hussin.
Hasdi said the tiger, weighing about 150 kilogram, was trapped before it was shot in the head and had its organs removed and separated into four parts.
"We believe the age of the tiger is about 20 years. We suspect a syndicate is involved and the carcass is waiting for buyers from a neighbouring country," he added.
Tiger or Panthera tigris is an endangered and a protected species.
Hasdi said the three men aged between 50 and 60 years were detained at the Kemaman police station.
Terengganu Wildlife and National Parks director Mohd Hasdi Hussin (left) showing a shot wound at the tiger's head. Pix by Mohd Shafiq Ambak
*This image is copyright of its original author
Terengganu Wildlife and National Parks director Mohd Hasdi Hussin (left) showing a tiger carcass that was found during a raid.
*This image is copyright of its original author
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Shocking images show man-eating tiger shot dead and paraded through street
THE body of a man-eating tigress was paraded through the streets after her deadly reign of terror was brought to an end with 11 rifle shots.
By STUART WINTER
PUBLISHED: 14:04, Fri, Oct 21, 2016 | UPDATED: 14:18, Fri, Oct 21, 2016
For 44 days, the authorities had tracked the powerful big cat in attempt to take her alive – even though she had already killed three villagers.
Helicopters, drones, tracker dogs and 150 personnel, including five sharp-shooters on elephant-back, were put on the trail of the predator who had been dubbed the Sugarcane Tigress – her favourite hunting habitat.
There were hopes that the £100,000 operation would end with forest rangers darting the tiger with a sedative close to the outskirts of India’s famous Jim Corbett National Park.
Uttarakhand chief warden of forest and wildlife D V S Khati today: “Although she was a man eater, our priority was to tranquillise her but we had to fire bullets to kill her after many failed attempts to capture her."
Eleven shots from marksmen finally brought the tiger down in a sugarcane field near the village of Gorakhpur, about 100 miles north of New Delhi.
News of the killing sparked scenes of celebration with the tiger’s 300lb body paraded on shoulders and displayed in front of cameras.
Officials finally called the celebrations off as a mark of respect to the endangered creature.
*This image is copyright of its original author
The six-year-old Sugarcane Tigress’s terror reign began last month when she killed three people
*This image is copyright of its original author
Head of the search, Parag Madhukar Dhakate, a regional conservator of forests, explained how the animal was finally tracked down.
“The tigress was spotted in the morning near a drain at Gorakhpur village with the help of camera traps,” he told the Times of India.
“Our team approached the big cat with shooters mounted on three elephants. The animal was put down after a few hours of the operation.”
The six-year-old Sugarcane Tigress’s terror reign began early last month when she killed three people and injured another four as she seemed to get a taste for human blood while stalking sugar cane plantations.
While more than 100 leopards have been declared as man-eaters across the region, tigers preying on humans is an extremely rare event but this did not stop widespread panic ensuing with villagers refusing to leave their homes after sunset and students staying away from schools.
Tigers preying on humans is an extremely rare event
*This image is copyright of its original author
Dhananjai Mohan, additional principal chief conservator of forests, Uttarakhand, said: “An animal is declared a man eater after it has killed human beings repeatedly.
"If a man-eater is in the dense forest area and there is a possibility of it not digressing towards a human habitat, it can either be captured or shot. But in this case, the animal was on prowl in highly populated areas and had become a cause of terror for the local people.
"So it was necessary to put it down.”
One local said: “Our life had become difficult. We could not venture out at night or go into our fields.
"The tigress had made it very difficult for us to reap our crops. Now we have to breathe and get back to our normal farming.”
“We also had to be careful with our children. The tigress was a big threat in our villagers here.”
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
A LONG-AWAITED FORTUNE
admin_knikolaeva posted on February 27, 2011 21:31
*This image is copyright of its original author
The Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve is the largest protected area inside the range of the Amur (Siberian) tiger. Therefore it’s not surprising that this particular protected area was chosen in 1992 for a joint tiger research and conservation program, which is run by the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve (SABZ) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The goal of the Siberian Tiger Project is to collect the best scientific data about tiger ecology, and to use these data to inform development of conservation strategies.
In our work we employ the most recent research techniques – radio and GPS tracking of collared tigers, identification of individuals using camera traps, and others. The Siberian Tiger Project is a joint program between Russian and foreign scientists. A distinctive feature is that experienced professionals who have already made a name for themselves internationally work here alongside younger scientists who are just starting out – students and graduate students from different countries. This allows for exchange of information and experience, and furthers our scientific and conservation efforts. Over the course of the Project’s existence we have gathered unique data on the spatial and social structure of the Siberian tiger population, feeding habits, reproduction, and other aspects of the tiger ecology. The information gathered has been used to develop programs and strategies to conserve Siberian tigers in the Russian Far East.
The Year of the Tiger – 2010 – was far from the most fortunate for Siberian tigers, at least for some. Within the first 5 months of the year, the Siberian Tiger Project lost 3 of our collared individuals, and then at the end of May, we tragically lost the last one – the tigress Galya. This death shocked the Project’s entire team – all these events were too sudden and unexpected. We had followed Galya for 9 years, practically from birth. (Her mother, the tigress Lidiya, also had a radio-collar, and therefore we knew relatively precisely when Galya appeared in the world.) Collecting information about Galya’s life bit by bit, we monitored how she carved out her own home range and raised her first litter of cubs. Over many years, she had been a vital member of our team. And now she was gone...
Among other things, Galya’s death meant that for the first time in 18 years, Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve had no radio-collared tigers. Therefore it was imperative that we capture and outfit new individuals with collars in the fall of 2010. According to our estimates, our study area in the southeastern portion of the reserve had 3 more individuals besides Galya, whom we had regularly captured on film with camera traps. To better prepare for the fall capture season, we decided to turn to our camera traps for help in determining where to focus our capture efforts. After the cameras have been set, we waited and waited for new pictures. But weeks passed, and the rolls of film didn’t yield a single image of a tiger.
This had never happened before! Moreover, over the entire summer, neither the Reserve employees nor the Siberian Tiger Project staff noted any evidence of tiger sign in our study area. This caused us serious concern, and more and more we became certain that something strange was happening in the local tiger population. Was a disease was causing their deaths? We didn’t know.
Fall came. In spite of the fact that we still hadn’t collected any information whatsoever on the presence of tigers in our study area, we began the capture season. We probably haven’t hoped for success so hard at any other time over the 18-year span of our work, perhaps with the exception of the very first capture effort, in February 1992. This time, as back then, we hoped and waited.
And then it was already October. Once again, time to travel to Dalnegorsk to develop the film from camera traps. My heart beating rapidly, I scan the negatives… and sigh with disappointment – there’s nothing there, once more. As I leave the photo center, I hear one of the girls who work there calling me to come back – they have forgotten one roll of film in the developing machine. Not hoping for anything, I scan the remaining negatives standing on the sidewalk – and spot a tiger! I can’t believe my eyes! As if by fate, the printer is broken at the photo center, and all the way from Dalnegorsk to Terney I wonder – which tiger is it? Is it one that we photographed before, or a new one? At home, we scanned the film into the computer. There he is, and a beauty! A large tiger, clearly a male, whom we had never photographed before. It was disappointing that he was photographed in a place completely different from where we had set our trap lines for captures. But what’s important is that there is a tiger, and a reason to hope that we’ll capture him anyway.
Sill more weeks of waiting followed. Our coworkers had been in the forest for more than a month and a half. This meant that every morning they go out with backpacks and check the trails where our capture snares are set. Regardless of rain, snow or heat, they have to be on the trail. But according to them, the hardest thing was not the daily 14km trek with heavy packs. The hardest part was losing a bit of hope every evening. Each morning, getting on the trail, they had hope that maybe the next trap had a tiger, or the next one. Then the final kilometer came, and the last trap, once again empty… This was psychologically trying for them. All of us knew that in a bit more time the capture effort will have to end – temperatures dropped with each day, and we never capture tigers at low temperatures, to avoid potential frostbite in the limb that gets caught in the trap. On November 5th our capture specialists once again left their backcountry cabin with their packs and went out onto the trail. As one song goes, “all things pass…” and so our reserve of hope was indeed passing – it was running almost empty. So our staff walked only because they had to. But suddenly, very close to the cabin, right on the trail, they saw a fresh tiger track! And with it came a new surge of energy and adrenaline! But they walked for one kilometer, and another, and the snares were empty. The tiger must have walked off the path and left. But then, when they had already stopped expecting it, they heard a low growling as they approached the next snare at the sixth kilometer. After that, it was a matter of technique. Our specialists are true professionals! A shot of anesthesia, and the tiger fell asleep.
It turned out to be a large male, nearly 200 kilograms in weight, about 4 years old, in good physical condition, with perfect teeth. Our staff quickly took all the measurements, snapped a few pictures from both sides (so we could later compare this tiger to images from camera traps and determine whom we had caught), and most importantly, put a collar around his striped neck – a GPS collar, which would give us information on the tiger’s location every 1.5 hours. Trying to make as little noise as possible, they left the tiger to wake up on his own.
From the data from the GPS collar, we knew that our new charge was already 5 kilometers away from the capture site one day later, and over the course of the following 3 days, he walked more than 30 kilometers and crossed over a watershed more than 1000m above sea level. This meant that the tiger had completely recovered from the capture. By comparing his pictures to those that we had from camera traps, we determined that we captured the very same tiger whose photograph we received in October. And now, we’ve been monitoring him for 3.5 months already, regularly receiving information on his movements, checking places where he remained for a few days, and finding the remains of his successful hunts. Our work keeps going!
- Svetlana Soutyrina, Siberian Tiger Project
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
200-kg tiger illegally raised in Nghe An house
TUOITRENEWS
UPDATED : 01/02/2013 13:12 GMT + 7
*This image is copyright of its original author
Central Nghe An province’s forest protection officers have seized a tiger that had been illegally kept in captivity by a local resident.
Following a tip-off from the public, provincial forest rangers, with the aid of local police, yesterday examined a house in Do Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District and found a tiger being kept there.
Le Van Dat, the house’s owner, failed to show any documents related to the tiger, which weighed about 200 kg.
The rangers initially waited for experts from the Wildlife Rescue Center in Bu Gia Map National Park to come and give the animal a shot of anesthetic before transporting it from the house to the center.
However, since such experts could not come soon, the rangers later asked Dat to give the tiger a shot of anesthetic and then put the animal in an iron cage.
The tiger was then transported by a van of the district traffic police to the center for necessary care before the animal can be released into the wild again.
As previously reported, over the past decade, several villages in the commune have become hectic markets for trading in tiger parts.
In a recent investigation, Tuoi Tre reporters shed light on illegal tiger farms where the large cats are kept in captivity in small, unsanitary cages like those found at pig farms.
T, a tiger farmer in the commune, told Tuoi Tre that a pair of tiger cubs weighing from 3-4 kilograms each was offered for sale from VND350 million ($16,800) to VND370 million ($17,762) (transportation costs included) in Thailand or Laos.
When the reporter asked to buy some tiger bone paste, T said there are two different prices: an “internal” price for those who produce the bone paste at VND15 million (US$720) per ounce, and an “external” price for strangers ranging from VND20 million ($960) to VND21 million ($1,008) per ounce.
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Ngala - 12-04-2016
Thyangkata’s rescue trip
- One leg amputated, tiger as fearsome as ever
A STAFF REPORTER
The Sunderbans tiger at Alipore zoo. Picture by Amit Datta
*This image is copyright of its original author
A wounded tiger captured from the Sunderbans six months ago and treated at Alipore zoo set off for Khayerbari Tiger Rescue Centre, in Jalpaiguri, on Thursday evening.
The animal, fondly called Thyangkata by the zoo staff as he had lost one of his legs, left the veterinary hospital of the zoo on a minitruck around 5.30pm.
The tiger weighed 250 kg and it took around 20 men to lift the cage on the vehicle. It was calm while being taken away from the hospital but once on the truck, it roared and leapt towards the crowd around the cage.
The carriers panicked and two of them lost their balance and fell from the truck. Another suffered a knee injury after being hit by the iron rods of the cage.
“Baghta tinte pa niyeo nachiye chharche...,” laughed an injured carrier, resting on the shoulders of a colleague. The animal calmed down minutes later, after which the cage was covered by tarpaulin sheets.
Zoo officials said the tiger had come to the zoo on February 22 with critical wounds on its left hind leg, right foreleg and in other parts of the body. Doctors at the zoo had to amputate the left hind leg and treat the animal for anaemia and septicaemia. After six months of medication and a healthy diet of 12 kg buffalo meat daily, the tiger is now “clinically fit.”
“But since it has lost one leg, it can never hunt. So, we have decided to send the tiger to the rescue centre,” said zoo director Subir Chowdhury. At the centre, the animal will stay in a 20ft x 12ft cell. “The life span of a tiger in the wild is 15 years. In captivity, it can live up to 18 years,” said an official.
RE: Modern weights and measurements on wild tigers - Pckts - 12-04-2016
I guess some of the photographers weren't lying about Sunderban tiger size. 250kg!! I can't believe it