B2 and Other Great Tiger Pics from India

[Pckts]

Here is the article on his collaring
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/....cmsNagpur: Two days after scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, radio-collared a tigress at Jamni in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) at Chandrapur on Saturday, a male tiger 'Gabbar' was also tagged with a radio-collar on Sunday.

On Friday, WII experts Dr Parag Nigam and Dr Bilal Habib had tranquillized the Jamni tigress to fit a radio-collar. Similar operation was carried out on Sunday for a male tiger in the presence of TATR field director and chief conservator of forests (CCF) GP Garad and other park officials.

This is the first experiment in the state to study tigers by placing satellite radio collars. Earlier, in November 2012, a tigress named Kala from Tass forest in Bhiwapur was radio-collared after rescue and released in the wild. "However, for study purpose, collaring tigers in Tadoba is being done for the first time," said VK Sinha, APCCF for ecotourism & wildlife administration.

"The WII scientists are monitoring the signals. Both the carnivores have recovered well and are behaving normally. The collars are satellite based and will give signals about their behaviour and movement," said Garad.

The radio collaring of tigers is part of a research titled 'Long-term monitoring of tigers, co-predators and prey species in TATR and adjoining landscapes'. Maharashtra government had last year cleared the Rs1.64 crore project to be implemented by WII on 70:30 cost-sharing basis between state government and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

"The project is aimed at studying population density apart from abundance and demographic structure of tigers. The study is being conducted in two phases and also includes capacity building of local staff for managing man-animal conflict," Sinha said.

TATR landscape is one of the most important landscapes in Central India and is crucial for long-term conservation of tigers in the region. The area has witnessed highest number of conflict cases in the recent past. The study would investigate dynamics of tigers, co-predators and their prey.

Garad said in all five tigers will be radio-collared. In the second phase, three more tigers will be collared in March-April 2015. After extensive survey and selection of target animals in core area of the reserve during last few days, the exercise was held in the morning hours.

Pench firing accused caught

Pench tiger reserve forest officials on Sunday arrested main accused Anantrao Kumre, who had shot at STPF guard Satish Shendre on October 13 while he was a patrolling duty. On Saturday, the officials had arrested Anantrao's son Rajkumar from his house at Amdi in adjoining West Pench on MP border. The officials have seized monitor lizard skin from the main accused. On Saturday, they had seized eight trophies, pangolin scales, and an old skin of chinkara.
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