(08-16-2014, 04:20 PM)'Apollo' Wrote: Last hope of stopping lion transfer dashed

In a major blow to the Gujarat government, the last hope against translocation of Asiatic lions to Kuno Palpur has been dashed. The three judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India R M Lodha rejected the curative petition filed by Gujarat government against the apex court's order directing the translocation to Kuno Palpur.

On April 15, 2013, the apex court in a judgment directed that the lions be translocated to Kuno-Palpur in Madhya Pradesh from the Gir Sanctuary. The apex court had also formed a 12-member expert group to decide on aspects of the translocation. The court had, in the order dated April 15, 2013, directed that the translocation be done in accordance with the guidelines of IUCN.

The apex court had asked the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to take urgent steps for the reintroduction of a small number of lions to Kuno from Gir, on the ground that the highly-endangered species needed to be dispersed to eliminate the risk of extinction in case of an epidemic.

The bench of Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Justice C K Prasad had ruled that no state, organization or person can claim ownership or possession of wild animals in forests. Animals in the wild are the property of the nation for which no state can claim ownership and the states duty is to protect wildlife and conserve it.

Gujarat had later in May 2013 preferred a review petition which was dismissed in October the same year.

Later, the Gujarat government filed a curative petition. The petition was taken up on Tuesday for an in-chamber hearing by Chief Justice of India R M Lodha, Justice H L Dattu and Justice T S Thakur.

The three-judge bench in the order said: "We have gone through the curative petition and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out. Hence, the curative petition is dismissed."

With this curative petition dismissed, Gujarat is left with no legal option but to translocate the lions to Kuno Palpur from Gir. The matter now rests with the 12-member committee, which has senior government officials along with lion expert Ravi Chellam and scientist Y V Jhala, which will have to take a final call.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Last-hope-of-stopping-lion-transfer-dashed/articleshow/40209169.cms

 

Rarely seen clouded leopard photographed

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One of the most elusive cats in the world, the clouded leopard, has been photographed in north Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve. This is only the fourth photographic evidence of the clouded leopard in Buxa, and the first in almost a decade.

Buxa field director Sandeep Sundriyal said the clouded leopard — the smallest of the big cats — was clicked by a camera trap on the upper reaches of the tiger reserve. "The exercise is part of our monitoring protocol. We had set up 80 camera traps in different parts of Buxa with each pair covering 4 sqkm. The sites are changed every one and a half months," he said.

Though there have been reports of sightings of this shy cat in Buxa, there is very little photographic evidence. State wildlife advisory board member Biswajit Roy Chowdhury said he photographed a clouded leopard in Buxa's Panbari way back in 1996. Former deputy field director of Buxa, Subhankar Sengupta, said that in 2005 two clouded leopards were spotted in the forests of Kumargram and Hatipota and both were filmed. "After that, there were sporadic sightings but never photographed," he added.

Chief wildlife warden Ujjwal Bhattacharya said that since clouded leopard is a nocturnal animal, it's rarely seen. "Places like Newlands and Sankosh in Buxa are very good habitat for this animal. We are lucky that it could be captured in a camera trap as they are great climbers and mostly found atop tree branches," he added.

Additional principal chief conservator of forests Pradeep Vyas said this shows that several elusive species like clouded leopards live in Buxa but can't be sighted due to the thick vegetation. "This is the same with tigers. The foothills of Buxa are not as disturbed as the plains and these are good wildlife habitat," he said.

Former field director of Buxa, Pranabesh Sanyal, said that the vegetation on both sides of the forest road between Jayanti and Rajabhatkhawa is good clouded leopard habitat. "In 1992, when I was field director, a clouded leopard was rescued from a house in Alipurduar. It was taken to an enclosure in the forests of Bhutanghat and later released in the core area. But its photographic evidence is indeed rare," he said. State wildlife advisory board member Animesh Bose said this indicates that Buxa's biodiversity is indeed rich.

Clouded leopards are found in the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and have been classified as 'vulnerable' in 2008 by IUCN. There are fewer than 10,000 adults left and their numbers are falling. The clouded leopard is unique in that it's considered to be an evolutionary link between the big cats and small cats and despite the name, it is not closely related to the leopard.

Buxa's tryst with the shy cat

1996: Clouded leopard photographed in Panbari

2005: Two clouded leopards photographed in Kumargram and Hatipota

This clouded leopard was photo-captured in one of the camera trap stations set up on the upper reaches of Buxa in March, 2014

Fast facts

Clouded leopard has been classified as 'vulnerable' in 2008 by IUCN

Its total population size is suspected to be fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, with a decreasing population trend, and no single population numbering more than 1,000 adults

The clouded leopard, the smallest of the big cats, is considered to form an evolutionary link between the big cats and the small cats

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(08-20-2014, 09:46 PM)'Pckts' Wrote: Aug,19,2014...
one-year-old tiger, which got trapped in a goat house,Police said the tiger cub had strayed into a hamlet of Mountanchetti tribe, and entered the goat house and started attacking the goats, early today.Forest department officials rescued It 

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Killer tiger shot dead with AK47....

NAGPUR/CHANDRAPUR: Police sharp shooters shot dead a problematic sub-adult (less than 3-year old) tiger in Chichpalli range of FDCM with AK47 rifles on Tuesday. Conservationists say the shooting was ordered by the state forest chief under political pressure with both, the Congress and BJP, trying to 'make a killing' ahead of state assembly elections in October.

The killing brought some relief to the people of Pombhurna village and its surroundings where seven people had been mauled to death by tigers in six months. But there are doubts if the right tiger was shot.

State's chief wildlife warden Sarjan Bhagat, who ordered the shoot on Monday, said, "It is the same tiger that had mauled to death a villager on August 17 near Dongarhaldi. We matched the earlier camera trap pictures with that of the shot tiger." Bhagat added that of the seven victims, who had ventured deep into the forests, the shot tiger is suspected to have had claimed 4-5.

A tigress with two sub-adult male cubs was frequently sighted in Pombhurna forests in recent times. But Bhagat was firm that no permission would be given to shoot another tiger. "I can't keep giving permission to shoot tigers," he said.

Since Tuesday 11am, the tiger was being tracked and it was finally cornered and shot dead near Dongarhaldi around 6.30pm. The shooters fired over 30-33 rounds with AK47 rifles killing the tiger on the spot.

Its carcass was immediately shifted to Chandrapur after a huge mob gathered at the spot. Post-mortem and other formalities of the tiger will be carried out on Wednesday morning.

Surprisingly, the forest officials are themselves not sure whether the shot tiger had killed all the seven villagers. This is against the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) protocol which directs to first identify the problem animal.

According to team members, the tracking team found pugmarks of the tiger in a farm and followed them. The big cat, lurking in thick foliage, charged at the grazing cattle in the field and was spotted by the trackers. Before they could corner it, the tiger disappeared in the thick forest.

"All the teams tracking the tiger were immediately summoned to the spot. The shooters and trackers were then split into three teams. Officials laid a bait in the farm to lure the tiger and deployed a team of shooters there. Two other teams were dispatched to track the tiger," said one of the team members involved in the operation.

Chandrapur chief conservator of forests (CCF) Sanjay Thakre said the problem tiger was aggressive and it had tried to attack the tracking teams thrice during the day. The teams had captured a video and pictures of the tiger earlier. Its stripe pattern was matched with the pictures of the tiger singled as man-eater. "Once we were sure about the identity, shooters were dispatched to kill it," he said.

The tiger was again spotted at around 5pm in the fields near Dongarhaldi. After some farm labourers started shouting on seeing the tiger, it moved into an adjacent forest patch.

"During the pursuit, a tranquillizing expert tried to dart the tiger but they never got on the broader side of the animal. Finally, while the tiger was lurking in a bamboo foliage in FDCM compartment number 516, Thakre, who was himself leading the team, ordered the shooters to fire at the tiger. They fired indiscriminately, killing the tiger on the spot," said one of the members.

Earlier, in the morning, BJP MLA from Ballarshah Sudhir Mungantiwar marched to the CCF's office with his supporters, demanding that the tiger be shot. In Pombhurna, former Congress MP Naresh Pugalia too launched a dharna for the same.

"In Pombhurna, the constituency of Mungantiwar, several posters displayed the MLA on one side and tiger on the other. All this indicated how serious the BJP leader was to save our national animal. It was all to gain sympathy of people ahead of elections. It is really shocking. Tigers do not deserve such a death. It was shot as it doesn't have votes," said Suresh Chopne of Green Planet, Chandrapur. "I'm planning to file a PIL," he added. (Source: TOI, Via: SST, Representational Picture).

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