Bigcats News

[Apollo]

Bihar developing India's biggest grassland for tigers

*This image is copyright of its original author

Bihar is developing India's biggest grassland of over 800 acres in its only tiger reserve in the state's northeast to provide a wildlife friendly environment for the big cats whose numbers have doubled in the last three years."We have decided to turn 800 hectares of forest in the tiger reserve into the biggest grassland in the country. The work has already begun to clean the bushes of unwanted species like mikenia, eupatorium and phoenix – which are the main cause of fires – to convert it into a grassland," Santosh Tiwari, director-cum-conservator of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in West Champaran district that borders Nepal, told IANS, in an inteview.Tiwari said there is no place in the country with such a large grassland."We have estimated we will spend Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million)," he said, adding that lack of funds had delayed the project. One other major problem is that residents of bordering villages of Uttar Pradesh used the core forest area of the reserve for grazing their cattle."We will have to fence and develop grassland to check the grazing of cattle," Tiwari said.He said that after the grassland was fully developed, it will become a safe zone for tigers as well as deer in the reserve. More grassland will support more prey animals, which will in turn support more tigers.According to him, the Madanpur forest range in the tiger reserve is home to many herbivores because the rich alluvial soil enriched by the river Gandak has favoured the growth of grasses. The grasses in the reserve include imperata cylindrica, saccharum spontaneum and saccharum munja.Samir Kumar Sinha of the Wildlife Trust of India, which is helping the forest department to develop the grassland, said the tiger reserve had more grassland in the past; this gradually turned into woodland due to lack of management. People also turned them into agricultural land.Thanks to the improvement in the condition of the grassland, the number of tigers in the reserve has more than doubled in the last three years. Mixed forest vegetation is crucial for the herbivores as they are important sources of food. The availability of quality food boosts their chances of breeding."We have counted 22 tigers in the reserve at present on the basis of camera trap census," Tiwari said. The number of tigers was only 10 till 2010."In last three years, the population of tigers has jumped like never before in the 899 sq km reserve. Besides, intensive patrolling by local youth played a major role in checking the entry of poachers and others in the reserve," Tiwari noted.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-bih...rs-1971772

 

---

Leopards: Zoo facing problem of plenty

The Assam State Zoo is having a problem of plenty, with more and more leopards captured from different parts of the city being added to the zoo in the past few years. 

Today, another leopard which was captured at Birubari, Kalapahar, late last night, was sent to the zoo, taking the total number of captured leopards (from the city) to an incredible 18. To tide over the crisis, the zoo authorities are now planning to exchange some of the leopards with different zoo animals in other States. 

“The zoo has already exceeded its leopard-carrying capacity and this has become a headache for us. Maintaining 18 leopards under the existing arrangements is tough, and to overcome the problem, we are in touch with other zoo authorities for exchange of a few leopards with different wildlife,” Zoo DFO Chandan Bora told The Assam Tribune. 

Bora revealed that the first exchange programme was likely to involve wildlife from the Manipur State Zoo. Relocation is another probability that the zoo authorities are mulling but that would be a long-drawn affair, requiring proper appraisal of habitat, assessment of presence of other major predators such as tiger and other territorial leopards, presence of prey base, etc. 

According to conservationists, it is risky to relocate leopards in forests away from its original habitat without making a critical assessment of the factors mentioned above. Any miscalculation can result in the death of the relocated animal in infighting with other territorial males. Besides, leopards avoid tigers as the latter would invariably kill a leopard in the event of a chance meeting. 

​Meanwhile, the leopard captured today at Birubari in the city joined its mate in the zoo which was caught in the same area only a few days back. “It’s an adult female, and its partner was captured just a few days ago from the same forest. We have, however, found no presence of any cub or sub-adult leopard in the area,” Bora said.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/deta...114/city07
 

  Reply