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RE: Bigcats News 2 - Pckts - 10-03-2014

Here is a great read from Billy Arjan Singh, from 1982.
It appears this dilemma has been going on for some time and we are still doing nothing about it.
Sealing off corridors, fencing tigers in, destroying their habitat, going through gov't propaganda just to transolocate 3 individuals.
How many Tigers do we have in our Tourism Zones that could easily be trans located to other areas to begin the re population of tigers there, tear down our fences or just get out of the way their natural movement. But No, its not easy enough to see them in these areas, its to hard for tourists to make their way through, we can't control their #'s etc...
Time for us to protect them and let them populate the areas the once roamed freely, without the threat of Poaching. Employ a world wildlife police that monitors all wildlife areas and reserves, we have the $ and we certainly have enough people in this world. All it takes is to stop paying big corporations outrageous wages for Oil, Lumber, Real Estate, stop giving them outrageous tax breaks and use a small portion of the income to finance our Wild life protections.
In the US, we spend 70% more money on military funds than any other country in the WORLD! We have slashed NASA's budget to half a % of a penny on every penny spent in taxes.
While doing what with this money? Thats right, starting wars for oil and giving big corporations large sums of research budget as long as they give $ to campaign and political parties.
I can guarantee that this happens all over the world. It makes me sick.....
Any way, enough of the rant. Here is the article



Tara – A Tigress by Billy Arjan SinghJanuary/March 1982: In a world that has eventually realised the value of its natural wealth, most nations are engaged in a race to save what is left of their wildlife, forests and natural areas. But for some animals it may already be too late. Tigers for instance, though saved temporarily, have been isolated in pockets on the sub-continent and do not have the opportunity to intermix between one area and another.  This means that their progeny may face, in the future, the possibility of in-breeding problems. To counter such problems there are some naturalists who favour the idea of translocating tigers from zoos to forests to improve the genetic pool. Others feel that this action would be ill-advised as animals so released would either die as a result of having lost their hunting abilities, or may turn into man-eaters or cattle-lifters as they stray to villages in search of easy prey. Whatever be the merits or demerits of any particular suggestion, no one can ignore the portents for the future and dissent is bound to take place as involved people search for solutions. Billy Arjan Singh has many admirers and many detractors. He is, however, accepted by all as a naturalist who has the animal's welfare at heart. He was mainly responsible for the creation of the Dudhwa National Park where eventually he released a tigress, obtained from foreign shores as a cub, in the hope that she may establish herself, find a suitable mate and procreate. Therein lies a tale; for the authorities insist that Tara, as the tigress was named, is dead; the victim of an ill-advised experiment. Arjan Singh, however, in his latest book titled, `Tara -- a Tigress' maintains that she is alive and well and that his experiment was an unqualified success. Somewhere in between these two poles lies the truth, battered by miscommunication and human frailty. We give below some excerpts from the book: “When people who should know better say that it is impossible to reintroduce hand-reared wild animals into their natural environment, they speak through ignorance. The instincts of such animals pull them towards a return to natural conditions of life, and all that is required in the case of major predators is that they should be isolated from humans soon enough for them to retain their inborn natural abhorrence of the human presence. Once necessity and the environment take over, the dependent animal will soon evolve into the complete predator." "The successful conclusion of any wildlife project is a source of great satisfaction, and when it demonstrates that a declining population can be restored to its original state, then the possibilities seem endless. Reactions are often debased by social stresses, but deep down in most humans is a concern for the underdog. Venerated in folklore and legend, the predator is everywhere under threat of extinction. Sport killing and the fur trade have taken their toll. Competition and the desire to eliminate a rival, and thereby acquire a status symbol, have served to drive the great predators to the point of no return, and when the legend is complete we will have to live with our regrets. For it has truly been said that we have not inherited the earth from our parents, but have borrowed it from our children. Of the eight sub-species of tiger, four are either extinct or nearing extinction. Yet scientific quibbles still deny the integration of one sub-species with another, although they have both descended from a common ancestor in Siberia and adapted to their environment during the process of colonization. Minimal populations in restricted areas are all eventually doomed to genetic failure and extinction, and the only remedy is the translocation of animals by an international body in the belief that they will evolve a local morphology in the course of time. If the white rhino could be moved from South Africa, why can't we do the same with the tiger? Hitler's theory of herrenvolk was condemned, but are we being anthropomorphic when we apply the concept of ‘One World’ to save the tiger? Wildlife is a truly international subject: the developed nations, who have largely destroyed their own wild animals, seek to preserve those of the developing countries. However, the government of the people by the people and for the people is strictly on a national basis, and in this lies the greatest danger to the preservation of wildlife. The fact that Tara came from Twycross Zoo in England and was integrated into an Indian National Park demonstrates that international cooperation is possible. Is it too much to hope that this might set an example for the future?” “Before we could leave, however, an ominous rumble came in the shape of a telephone call from India. Some bright person had pointed out that no zoos had pure-bred Indian tigers and that a mixed strain should not be imported into the country. I was taken aback and obtained confirmation from Twycross that Tara was indeed a tigress of Indian parentage. It struck me as a most ludicrous scientific quibble when every effort was being made to save the tiger from extinction. While we were prepared to talk of racial integration among humans and condemn Hitler's theory of herrenvolk, it seemed that we applied different standards to animals which had the same natural functions as our own, but from whom we were too proud to take lessons. Also, India had been unable to produce a tiger cub for the occasion!” “I had to leave Tiger Haven to attend a meeting in Delhi, but Babu Lal relates that in the early night a bear grunted and fled near the Double Storey Machan and Tara visited the Jungle Fowl Jetty Reach. Her pugmarks showed that she came as far as her cage, though she did not enter it, and that she had then swum across the Soheli after jumping into the tethered boat. The next three days she spent with the male tiger in the neighbourhood: several places where the grass had been flattened by rolling revealed the presence of the two tigers. Then they disappeared  – Tara had finally chosen to return to the wild.” “Nowhere do I claim to have taught Tara anything, for the simple reason that a human cannot teach an animal: his lifestyle is too different. The tiger belongs to the hours of darkness when his acute senses are employed in a search for prey and for procreation; the daylight hours are devoted to the seclusion which he normally seeks. The human, on the other hand, lives in an artificial environment of his own making and it is sheer arrogance for him to claim that a hand-reared wild animal will be so smitten by regular mealtimes that it will not wish to leave.” “When Tara left she too was responding to her instincts: as a female she was more dependent than a male because of her biological functions, and what she did was to exchange one form of dependence for another, choosing as a replacement the young male tiger who had been in constant attendance in her later days at Tiger Haven. All I did was to give her the option and the opportunity.” “Tara had now been living in the wild for almost three months and at this point an interesting change took place in the social relations between the local tigers. In the middle of April, Tara's pugmarks were seen for the first time with Long Toes near the Ghulli Pool. Evidently she had switched partners. Not long after, this was confirmed when my brother Balram made the first definite sighting of Tara as he was driving towards Tiger Haven.” “I had to wait until early the following year before I finally succeeded in getting the photograph I needed. By then I realized that it had to be taken by night, and as my own equipment was not sophisticated enough for night pictures I sought the help of a young naturalist who possessed a motor-operated camera and a remote-control device. Tara was now regularly attending feeding sessions with Old Crooked Foot and the other tigers at the spillway site at Tiger Reach, and only fifty metres away there was a machan. We camouflaged the cameras and tried to muffle the sound of the motor, which was within a few metres of the kill, in the hope that the tigers would confuse the flash with some unseasonal summer lightning. This worked remarkably well, and in the photographs which emerged the left-cheek stripe matched the one in a picture taken of Tara when she was about fourteen months old. So too did right eyespot. At last there could be no doubt in anybody's mind that Tara was alive. Her survival as a wild tigress had shown that it was indeed possible to take a zoo-born cub of the fifth generation and reintroduce her to her native habitat more than 8000 kilometres away.” “Since last years three tigresses have been declared man-eaters, and two tigers and three tigresses have been shot. In no instance have the cubs been successfully rescued. Thus we treat our national animal. The remedy surely is to tranquilise these hard-pressed animals and translocate them to favourable areas, but it is easier to kill them and apportion their skins to the murderers -- even in death wildlife must pay for itself.”- See more at: http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/conservation/field-reports/1698-taraa-tigress-by-billy-arjan-singh.html#sthash.j2Rh6yTw.dpuf

 


RE: Bigcats News 2 - Apollo - 10-08-2014

Tigers recorded in Thailand's Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary for the first time


Check the link 
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/salakpra-sanctuary-681.html#cr


RE: Bigcats News 2 - Apollo - 10-08-2014

Hotspots in India's tiger-trading network revealed


Check the link

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429891.700-hotspots-in-indias-tigertrading-network-revealed.html#.VDUrNfmSwgs
 


RE: Bigcats News 2 - Pckts - 10-08-2014

Sanctuary Asia Liked · October 6 ·   
Leopards hugely benefit from the umbrella protection offered to tiger forests, however, do we ever stop to think about the people that are working tirelessly to safeguard these forests?

Our cover story this month discusses the life of a Forest Guard, their duties, the challenges that they face on a daily basis and the unwavering sincerity, passion and pride with which they perform.
Read more here - http://bit.ly/OnTheirShoulders — with Javid Natalia, Imran Pathan and Phillip Ross
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RE: Bigcats News 2 - Apollo - 10-11-2014

Another Cat Found dead at Mudumalai Forests

A few days after the death of a six-month-old tiger, another tiger was found dead on Tuesday in Masanagudi forest range in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).

The tiger which is about three to five years old was found dead and the body was in a decomposed state, said N Chandran, Deputy Director, MTR.

The forest staff found the body in Morganbetta beat in Masanagudi forest range in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, he said. The forest officials immediately informed the National Tiger Conservation Authority and later a postmortem was conducted, he added.

A senior forest official said the tiger would have died about five days back and it had symptoms of diarrhoea. Few small pieces of monitor lizard have been found in its stomach. However, to get more details the organs have been sent for lab test and further report is awaited.

On September 24, a six-month-old male tiger was found dead in Abhiranayam at Masanagudi range. It was found by a team of forest staff who were patrolling the area. The team of doctors found worms inside its stomach. The organs have been sent for lab test.



http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Another-Cat-Found-dead-at-Mudumalai-Forests/2014/10/08/article2467031.ece


RE: Bigcats News 2 - Apollo - 10-11-2014

Mukundra, a tiger reserve with no tigers

Twelve years back, it was a matter of pride when yet another national park was added to the conservation kitty of Rajasthan. 

After passing through three successive governments, the park got the nod from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 2013 and the state bagged its third tiger reserve in the form of the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve. But now perhaps it is the one of its kind without a tiger in it.

Known to be a natural habitat for tigers, the area comprising the Mukundra Hills National Park has been the hunting ground for kings. Carved out of Bhainsrogarh, Darrah, Rawatbhata and the ravines of Chambal, the park once upon a time served as the hunting ground for the nobles of Kota till the Wildlife Conservation Act came into being.It was only in 2002 that the then Congress government issued a preliminary notification and declared the area as the Rajiv Gandhi National Park. 

But the code of conduct for the 2003 assembly elections came into effect and the final notification could not be issued. After the polls, BJP came to power and the park was christened Mukundara Hills National Park.Interestingly, at the same time the park was also becoming a natural corridor for tigers migrating out of Ranthambore. Tigers from Ranthambore began migrating to Mukundra hills via Qualji, Ramgarh Vishdhari and Jawahar Sagar.

If first it was the tiger 'Broken tail' that ventured out of Ranthambore and was crushed by a train on the Mumbai-Delhi tracks in 2002, years later it was the Sultanpur tigress that has made a home there for the past six years.The tiger reserve is spread over an area of 759 sq km between four districts of Kota, Bundi, Chittorgarh and Jhalawar near the Ranthambhore tiger reserve. Nearly 417 sq km area has been earmarked here as the core tiger habitat, while 342.82 sq km has been notified as the buffer zone."But that has been all. 

Since then there has been no effort by the government in all these 12 years to groom the area into a proper forest with a prey base or even to populate it with tigers. The department has in fact also appointed 10 officers for the reserve but after that nothing has happened. There has been no effort to increase the population of four-horned antelopes, chinkaras, Sambhar, Cheetal and wild boars which are all so essential to sustain a tiger population," say conservationists.

"In fact having staged the first tiger relocation in the world in Sariska, the forest department should have taken steps to relocate excess tigers from Ranthambore which is now brimming with cubs. These cubs will later migrate away from there and relocation would prevent them from straying into Madhya Pradesh," he added. 

"We had submitted a plan to the government long time back on how the area can be populated with tigers. The area was to be demarcated as the Rajiv Gandhi bio-sphere. But the government has been sitting on the plan. It is high time now that it gets its act together and works towards getting tigers at the Mukundra reserve," said conservationist Rajpal Singh.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Mukundra-a-tiger-reserve-with-no-tigers/articleshow/44549222.cms


RE: Bigcats News 2 - Pckts - 10-13-2014

Fearing the economic situation in his home country and excited about the opportunities available in China, Kuzya, a 23-month-old Siberian tiger raised by Russian President Vladimir Putin, moved to China on Friday, according to government officials.Kuzya was personally released back to the wild by Putin in Russia's remote Far East in May, The New York Times reports. Finding it hard to make a living, he trekked some 300 miles to the Chinese border and recently swam across the frigid Amur River towards a better life in the PRC.This is a serious loss of face for Russia. One Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, wrote this week. "There is still hope that Kuzya will be sensible and swim back before the river turns to icy slush."It also could be a serious diplomatic incident for China, as wildlife officials scramble to locate Kuzya by installing infrared cameras and disabling illegal tiger traps—before Kuzya ends up as a rug in a rich official's living room.According to The New York Times, a tiger carcass is worth around $10,000 and 40 tigers are illegally hunted each year. There are fewer than 500 Siberian tigers still living in the wild, with only 18 or 22 living in China. This is partly due to tiger feasts/slaughters attended by the rich/cruel in China, and the fact that the Chinese government doesn't ban the trade the trade of tiger skins (but it does ban the trade of tiger bones).Despite the dangers, another of the set of tigers released by Putin isn't far behind Kuzya. Xinhua reported on Friday that Ilona was found roaming some five kilometers from the border.Putin has said that the tigers gathering on the Chinese border are not under the Russian military, but are merely peacekeepers.

http://shanghaiist.com/2014/10/13/putins-tiger-immigrates-to-chin.php


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RE: Bigcats News 2 - Pckts - 10-13-2014

Awesome first hand account of a Scientists 108 day adventure through Bandipur
http://jlrexplore.com/explore/from-the-field/field-notes-108-days-in-bandipur

Seems like Bandipur has a wide array of many different animals


RE: Bigcats News 2 - Pckts - 10-14-2014

Kidnapped girl 'rescued' by lions
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A pride of lions has rescued a girl from her kidnappers in rural south-west Ethiopia, according to police. A 12-year-old girl was snatched by four men on her way home from school early in June. A week later, kidnappers were moving her with police in pursuit when three lions encountered the group and chased the men off, local police said. The lions stayed with the girl without harming her, before departing as police searching for her came near. Sergeant Wondmu Wedaj told the media from Bita Genet, some 560 kilometres (348 miles) south-west of the capital, Addis Ababa, that they found the girl alive but shocked and terrified. 'Gift' "They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," the policeman said.  
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The police did not know the sex of the lions  However, some lion experts have expressed doubts about the credibility of the story. "They were probably preparing to eat her but were intercepted by the police and the others," game hunter Colonel Lemma Legesse told the AFP news agency. He said lion attacks on humans and farm animals have become increasingly frequent in the region. The girl told the police she had been beaten by her kidnappers, but no harm was done to her by the lions. An Ethiopian wildlife expert said the lions may have spared the girl because her crying may have sounded like the mewing sound from a lion cub. "Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people," Sergeant Wondimu added. Four men have been caught by police. The United Nations says abductions, which lead to marriage, are rife in rural areas where the majority of Ethiopians live.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4116778.stm


RE: Bigcats News 2 - Pckts - 10-14-2014


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Kay Tiwari Similar articles Into the JungleAn elephantine task - Tiger monitoringPark Round Up, Part 4: The Blooming Tala rangeA park slowly awakes to a new season by Kay TwariBandhavgarh's Tala range update: Summer 2013 by Kay TiwariDeath of a youngster - Another Challenger?21 Aug 2014 
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T8 on right with his mother Tulsi © 2014After the untimely death of Vijaya there are many who love Bandhavgarh, now spending hours mulling over concerns as to which tigress might take her space and the future of her one remaining cub. With little news forthcoming from the Forest Department these days it is very difficult to say anything concrete. It’s a game of wait and see as usual.  
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Tulsi with her three cubs in June 2013. One now missing and one dead. © Kay Tiwari Also many are wondering which male tiger actually died back in July after a nasty fight. It was reported as a male cub of the Milchaini tigress, called Tulsi, but of the remaining two which is actually dead?  Is it T7 or T8?  T6 had already vanished earlier in the season, fate unknown, presumed killed in the continued male struggle that has hit Bandhavgarh.  
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Two brothers of the original three. Tulsi's sub adults in June 2014 © Kay Tiwari Neither male had been seen regularly during the season due to Tulsi’s continued cleverness in keeping her tribe well concealed. However when sightings were made a little of their individual characters were becoming apparent. T7, being less shy than his brother T8, was more curious and interested in the tourism attention of which T8 basically tried to ignore - as his mother so often does. For T7 the attention seemed fascinating. Both boys clung to their mother often walking close by her side rubbing up against her enjoying the security she offered. Never before with a litter had Tulsi kept her growing cubs so close. Even at 18 months of age she was reluctant in leaving them alone for long, feeling it necessary to keep the two remaining boys within her sights and high in the hills away from marauding young males travelling long distances from kill sights and moving her family regularly to secret places away from danger.  Of course as the cubs grew older demands on their mother would have grown. Food would have been for ever on her agenda and therefore the constant fear of an unknown and unwelcome intruder at the table. Not only was Tulsi dealing with her own family struggles supplying food for the father of the cubs, presumed to be Shashi, she was also dealing with several youngsters. Pushpraj and his brother Kanvar who had caused her stress the previous season were continually following her in the hope of food. Somanshu, Vijaya's son from Chakradhara on occasions made an entrance and the very fiery visitor from Magdhi, an complete unknown has recently turned up to add to the trauma. 
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T7's right flank. May 2014 © Kay Tiwari In fact it was this unpredictable male that by the end of the summer was regularly seen in Milchaini and many believe that it is this male that is now causing the chaos while Pushpraj has vanished from sight having been accused of decimating his mother Wakeeta's second litter, his own step brothers and sister. At the same time Somanshu has holed up in the slightly more peaceful area of Chakradhara/Barua Nallah and Banbehi/Ghorademon. It is therefore being presumed the aggressive Magdhi male killed the cub in July or at least injured it during a fierce fight. Another story however reports that actually the elephant Astam killed the injured cub after it attacked from behind by applying pressure to its trachea when forcing it down by his trunk? The truth is we at TN will probably never know the true facts or the reality of which tigers were involved. The jungles keep their secrets from prying eyes. Anyone have any other news?


RE: Bigcats News - Apollo - 10-17-2014

Metros the new urban hubs of tiger crime

Lucknow has as high a probability of tiger crime as Delhi. Among the tiger-crime hotspots are now cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Mysore, Bangalore, Delhi and Indore.Rail connectivity has made poachers shift base to cities to facilitate illegal tiger trade. 

A report titled 'Tiger poaching and trafficking in India: estimating rates of occurrence and detection over four decades', published in scientific journal 'Biological Conservation' in September focused on "cumulative effect of tiger habitats, proximity to road and rail, and presence of tiger trade hub," said researcher Koustubh Sharma.At least 17 districts ranked high on tiger-crime despite not being surrounded by tiger habitats. 

"These districts are also likely to be tiger trade hubs," he said. Apart from metros and upcoming cities, Balrampur, Darjeeling, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Indore, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Dehradun, Udhamsinghbagar, Kolhapur, Haridwar, Pilibhit, Kheri, Bahraich are active tiger-crime centres.

The report has analysed tiger-crime data between 1972 and 2012. Tiger deaths due to road accidents, natural disasters and conflict were excluded. Between 1997 and 1999, there were 86 tiger-crime prone districts in the country. Between 2009 and 2012, the number came down to 73 but, at the same time, metros became the centres of illegal tiger trade despite being far from tiger habitat.

Despite focused efforts, the report said "poaching continues to be the key threat to tigers in India". Large number of districts along Indo-Nepal border, like Pilibhit and Kheri in UP, are at a high risk of tiger-crime because the area is the "main international hub for trafficking of tiger parts into China".Tiger poaching in India has always been a specialised job led by mostly family groups and individuals with traditional expertise. 

Poachers prefer to operate in specific tiger habitats, mainly because of their familiarity with these areas and trusted network individual poaching gangs have set up over several years.

Illegal trafficking of tiger parts has two components—poaching tigers and then selling, buying and smuggling their body parts in the illegal international market. "Poachers use rail routes over road highways that is why poaching is higher in districts with access to rail routes," said the report.

Some serious enforcement efforts were made between 1993 and 1996 due to seizure of 8 tiger skins, 43 leopard skins and 287 kg tiger bones on August 31, 1993. Post 1997, detection of tiger crime reduced because poachers and buyers started using new methods to avoid detection. 

By the end of the year 2000, the trade became organised but with minimum detection of crime between 2001 and 2003."Three tiger skins and 50 leopard skins 'precisely folded, finely tanned and signed on the back' were seized on December 18, 1999 from Ghazibad, UP, in the first-ever evidence of organised wildlife crime," said researcher from Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), Tito Joseph."

The paper follows the challenge that we were facing for a while where the increase in reports of poaching or illegal trafficking were not essentially synonymous to increase in wildlife crime. Conversely, fewer cases reported could also mean poor policing and not actual reduction in wildlife crime," said Sharma




http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Metros-the-new-urban-hubs-of-tiger-crime/articleshow/44792153.cms


RE: Bigcats News - Apollo - 10-21-2014

2-yr-old tiger found dead in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve


A two-year-old tiger was found dead in Mahof forest range ofPilibhit Tiger Reserve on Thursday morning. The tiger had sustained various injuries on its throat and pelvic region. Many deep wounds of claws and teeth were also found on its body. 

Forest officials are suggesting that the tiger might have been killed because of mating mayhem. However, the tiger's body has been sent for post mortem at Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, to confirm the actual cause of its death.

The tiger was 2.57 meters long and was in sound health. Many apparent marks of fighting were found between the adolescent tiger and a matured one in a stretch of 201 meters at the borders of Uttarakhand and UP forests.

Senior forest officials including chief conservator of forest M P Singh, DFO Kailash Prakash, SDO D P Singh and Project manager of WWF Naresh Kumar reached the spot after receiving the information of recovery of a dead tiger. The forest officials found many pug marks of a matured tiger as well as a tigress between the stretch where the killing conflict between the two tigers had taken place.

According to the chief conservator, "A tigress had been reported strolling on the border of Mahof and the Surai forest ranges for the past few weeks along with her three adolescent cubs out of which two had been identified to be female while the third cub was a male."The divisional forest officer Kailash Prakash and the project manager of WWF (India) Naresh Kumar told that the present killing of tiger in infighting was third incident recorded in the forest area of Pilibhit district.

Prior to this, one incident of the same kind had occurred in Mala forest range in the year 2004 in which a one year old cub had been killed by a matured tiger while the second incident had been reported from Garha forest range in 2010.




http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/2-yr-old-tiger-found-dead-in-Pilibhit-Tiger-Reserve/articleshow/44839995.cms


RE: Bigcats News - Pckts - 10-21-2014

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Tiger Trackers13 hours agoHey All,

Here is a brief summary of Tiger families of Ranthambhore this season.

Tigress Krishna (T-19) : She has been the star attraction of the park and is being sighted every other day along with her 3 chubby & playful (7 month old) cubs. The young ones are growing in size by the day and Momma dear will have to keep hunting frequently to feed them. While her beau, Star Male (T-28) has paid an occasional visit, Krishna remains wary of her son from the previous litter Aakash (T-64), who seems to be lurking around in search of a free meal. A showdown looks imminent in the near future.

Tigress Machli (T-16) : She seems to have shifted base to an area adjoining the periphery of the park which are devoid of motorable tracks. The forest guard in-charge of monitoring her is on the job every single day. Apparently, it seems that she is being fed bait by the authorities. Ever since she departed from her territory, Tigress T-73, the daughter of late Sundari, seems to have taken over Machli’s area.

Tigress Noor (T-39) : She has been sighted with her 2 cubs (6 months old) infrequently but remains as contended as ever, in her territory. While her beau Ustad (T-24) seems to lurk around her vicinity, Sultan (T-72), her son from the previous litter, is being sighted in her territory more often than not.

Tigress Ladli (T-8) : Surprisingly, the shy & elusive Ladli (sister of Romeo) has been sighted quite frequently (but not photographed) in the last fortnight, along with her 2 cubs. While her beau Kumbha (T-34) does pay her occasional visits, she remains wary of vehicles and seems to be raising her family very well indeed.

Sundari’s Male cubs (T-74 & T-75) : The brothers seem to be sticking together in the same area & it remains to be seen as to how long do the 2 males survive together. It is highly likely that the weaker one might perhaps move out in search of territory & mate in the near future while the dominant one stays put.

Stay tuned for more updates !

Pictured here is one of the cubs of Tigress Krishna (T-19), October 2014, Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve.


RE: Bigcats News - Pckts - 10-22-2014

3 Tigers (male, female and sub adult) collared in Pench
AM-T2 (the male) weighed an estimated 200-220kg but actually need a "2nd dose of tranq" so could of been more.
Here is the entire article
http://socpvs.org/journals/index.php/wbp/article/viewFile/230/265

Interesting read

 


RE: Bigcats News - Pckts - 10-22-2014

A couple of great write ups on Bengal tigers and Tigers in general

http://tigertribe.net/tigers-origin/bengal-or-indian-tiger/

http://tigertribe.net/tigers-origin/physical-characteristics-and-behaviour/

http://tigertribe.net/tigers-origin/perfect-killing-machine/