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Bigcats News
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 (11-15-2018, 12:10 AM)Pckts Wrote: Ravish JainHey @Pckts Mahaveer's cub was the good old MB2 right? So a healthy specimen who had a good life ahead of him is lost because of bunch of forest staff people who had no idea about translocation and what they really were in for in terms of efforts required.  
China patrols national park to enhance tiger and leopard protection
Authorities in northeast China have started to patrol a national park as China enhances protection of endangered tigers and leopards. The management bureau of Northeast Tiger Leopard National Park launched the campaign Tuesday in Hunchun of Jilin Province. The campaign will see local authorities patrol the park's mountains, and clear traps set by poachers. Patrolling stations will be established to stop potential poaching activity.  *This image is copyright of its original author Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-11...620073.htm  (11-21-2018, 09:59 AM)Kingtheropod Wrote: https://www-sciencealert-com.cdn.ampproj...-in-europe In most countries, circuses now have to make do without exotic animals. I agree they don't belong in the circus, but those involved in big cats, now out of a job, at times have no option but to sell their animals. Most of the time things will work out, but you never know. Money always is a factor. In the EU, opposing illegal trade in animals has no priority. One result was discovered in the Czech Republic, but there is a lot more that should result in more awareness. 
Avni's cubs lured by recorded calls, they looked healthy & may be left alone
Dark-greens are all tiger occupied areas, not TRs.  *This image is copyright of its original author The sound of a tigress calling her cubs, was played on a portable speaker every 2km near Vihirgaon dam by a team from Nagpur. They saw two pairs of eyes glowing in the dark from a distance of about 300m on Thursday night. The cubs look healthy and were camera-trapped 7.5km away from Vihirgaon, at Anji, the next morning. The cubs moving along the mother's trail don't seem to be hungry. On Monday morning, the two cubs have killed and eaten a pony that was kept for them leaving only it's head and neck. It was earlier planned that the two cubs would be shifted to an enclosure in Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra after capture, trained to hunt and later released into the wild. But latest developments suggest, the two 11-months-olds may not be tranquillized and shifted out of Maharashtra's Yavatmal forest, yet. The Maharashtra Govt. accused of being swayed by Industrialist lobby & the shooter A.A.Khan have been receiving a lot of heat. Khan has decided to write to the Forest department to adopt a wait and watch approach as the tiger cubs, as they are able to fend for themselves. FD themselves may have been trying to delay it enough for the media to forget & move on to the next hot topic. Let's see what happens... Sources: https://www.livemint.com/Politics/vVvHqnrklMXtQI8upJOBMO.html https://m.timesofindia.com/city/nagpur/t1s-cubs-lured-by-audio-of-tiger-moms-call/articleshow/66645479.cms http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2018/nov/20/slain-tigress-avnis-11-months-old-cubs-may-be-left-alone-1900471.html 
Dipa fright. In Dahod's Dhanpur taluka, Leopard ripped 2 children and 1 old woman. Sasane to tracker Tim. 150 people started searching for a leopard. 8 cages were taken to capture leopard. Dahod Forest Department urged Chief Minister to shoot the anthropomorphic leopard. If the Chief Minister gives permission to shoot Leopard, then the timer of the sharpshooter will be called. The Dahod Forest Department is telling about it. Is it necessary to kill the leopard? Can not train leopard and hold it?
https://www.facebook.com/100007509940501...712366706/
The debate over shifting two tigers to the Mukandra Hills, judgement soon
Dainik Bhaskar Nov 28, 2018, 03:50 PM  *This image is copyright of its original author JAIPUR | Hearing & debate on the matter of shifting of two female tigers from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve to the Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve, including arguments of the petitioner, the central and state governments, were concluded in the Rajasthan High Court were on Tuesday. A division bench of Judge Mohammad Rafiq and Govardhan Bardar gave this interim directive to the petitioner of Ajay Shankar Dubey on the state government's request letter. During this, the central government started that NTCA has approved the state government to shift the two tigresses to the Mukandra Hills. The State Government also pleaded that after the NTCA's approval, the petition be dismissed by lifting the ban on shifting the tigers. On behalf of the petitioner, he said that the NTCA approval should have been taken first. After all the parties were heard, the court has decided to pass a final judgement after further contemplation the matter. The applicant had filed a PIL challengeing the shifting of tiger T-91 from Ramgarh-Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary to Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve without prior approval of NTCA, that too in a different zone, from the one chosen for its release. During the hearing on the petition, the court had put on hold translocation of any tigers to Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve until further notice.
Good news on tiger numbers
*This image is copyright of its original author Aathira Perinchery December 01, 2018 18:22 IST Updated: December 03, 2018 12:57 IST *This image is copyright of its original author An increase from 62 to 287 tigers in eight sites in India over next 30 to 50 years is possible. | Photo Credit: K_R_DEEPAK https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/tiger-...642821.ece Significant increase likely in 8 habitats across India At a time when tiger deaths dominate national news, a new study offers hope for wild tiger populations across countries by showing that under optimal conditions, tiger numbers can triple in 18 sites across the world, including eight in India. These are Anamalai-Vazhachal (in Tamil Nadu-Kerala), Sathyamangalam (Tamil Nadu), Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh), Achanakmar (Chattisgarh), western Rajaji and Nandhaur (Uttarakhand), Manas (across Assam-Bhutan) and Valmiki (across Bihar-Nepal). Currently, these regions support an estimated 62 tigers which could rise to 287 over the next 30-50 years: an increase of more than four times in India alone. The study, published in PLOS ONE, was conducted by 49 conservationists of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) across 10 tiger-range countries. They compiled the best available information — including the occurrence and abundances of tigers and their prey from available scientific studies, the connectivity of the protected areas and availability of protected buffer forests nearby as well as human disturbances including fragmentation through the Human Footprint Index. These were used for developing site-specific and ecologically realistic targets and timelines for the recovery of tiger populations in 18 tiger global “recovery sites”. The results reveal that the eight recovery sites in India currently support 165 tigers, they could increase to 585 individuals. This rise could happen over 15-20 years in three sites including Uttarakhand's Western Rajaji where natural prey is adequate, and over 30-50 years in the other areas where prey numbers would need to first recover. While some tiger populations are already doing better (Manas, for instance, has over 30 tigers now), others such as western Rajaji are not, wrote lead author Abishek Harihar, a scientist with Panthera and NCF-India, in an email to The Hindu. This new assessment could guide planning for tiger recovery globally and help inform more effective, integrated approaches to tiger conservation, he said. Tackling growing incidents of human–tiger conflict in these areas would be crucial to aid this increase, according to the study. It also adds that the goal of doubling tiger numbers from about 3,200 to about 6,000 by 2022 may have been an “ambitious goal” that the signatories of the Global Tiger Recovery Program took on. “As we move towards the [TX2] goal, we must recognise that global efforts put into tiger recovery is aimed at the long-term survival of tigers in the wild, way beyond 2022,” said Joseph Vattakaven, coordinating author and tiger biologist from WWF, India. This study affirms the need for tiger-range governments to take a holistic, long-term view towards tiger recovery which must include plans for revival of prey animals and other wildlife at the site- level, said Dr. Rajesh Gopal, Secretary General of the Global Tiger Forum (an inter-governmental international body that works towards protecting tigers) in a press release. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/tiger-...642821.ece
Madhya Pradesh: Tiger found dead in Ratapani, paws severed
Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/66952804.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst&fbclid=IwAR3y4LHlt0GCRkant92nAyL4drsXxDWrjf8ElbeYRVR1Zj-JEOKVJ-RJZTw DNA EXCLUSIVE: Central Empowered Committee to visit Panna tiger reserve to inspect river linking project  *This image is copyright of its original author Panna Tiger Reserve Experts say the project may cause long-term damage to Panna tiger reserve Written By Nikhil M Ghanekar  *This image is copyright of its original author Updated: Dec 6, 2018, 10:23 AM IST The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) will make a visit to the site of the Ken Betwa river linking project (KBLP) in Madhya Pradesh. The CEC wants to assess the efficacy of mitigation measures National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has recommended while granting the project wildlife clearance. Mitigation measures have been recommended to offset the damage to forest and wildlife in Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR). During the site visit, the CEC would also see a presentation on the project by the Madhya Pradesh forest department. The project is based on diversion of Ken river’s water from PTR to Betwa river basin in Uttar Pradesh and the project dam will submerge 100 sq.km of forest in and around PTR. The submergence of the forest will also fragment the tiger habitat besides affecting vultures and gharials. The CEC is examining a plea that has sought quashing of the wildlife clearance granted for the project on grounds that it is in violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (WPA). On Monday, the CEC had called senior officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and wildlife division of union environment ministry to hear their response on the grounds for clearing the project inside a tiger reserve. The petitioner’s advocate pointed out to the CEC that the project was in contravention of Section 35(6) of the WPA. The said section under WPA prohibits diversion of water and exploitation of wildlife inside a national park unless the state government and NBWL are satisfied that it is necessary for the betterment of wildlife. The NTCA and wildlife division said that a site inspection was carried out before NBWL granted clearance and mitigation measures were recommended based on the site inspection report. NTCA and environment ministry officials said that as part of the mitigation measures three sanctuaries would be added to Panna landscape area. However, the CEC questioned the connectivity of the three sanctuaries with PTR and also sought to know their proximity with the tiger reserve. The committee also said they were not sure how the addition of area to PTR’s landscape and impounding of water for the river linking project would help wildlife. To compensate for the loss of nearly 50 sq.km of forest from Panna’s core, the NBWL recommended that Nauradehi, Rani Durgavati and Ranipur wildlife sanctuaries should be integrated with the tiger reserve. The Ken Betwa river linking project was granted wildlife clearance in the NBWL’s meeting on September 19, 2016, it received a nod for forest clearance and environmental clearance in 2017. The project though has been stuck due to lack of consensus between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on water sharing. Sources from Madhya Pradesh water resources department said that there was no consensus on UP’s demands for increasing its share for Rabi crop season. Wildlife conservationists and river ecologists have panned the river linking project on grounds that it will inflict long-term damage on the Ken River and wildlife in Panna Tiger Reserve. After losing all its tigers to poaching and management issues, Panna bounced back as a roaring success of tiger conservation and the current tiger population is 42.
Motichur Range of Rajaji Tiger Reserve to recieve 5 tigers
NEWS18 UTTARAKHAND | DECEMBER 1, 2018 SUNIL NAVPRABHAT  *This image is copyright of its original author Map of Rajaji indicating the western and eastern sectors, where 6 out of 9 ranges are currently free of human settlements.  *This image is copyright of its original author For years three has been two last surviving tigresses living in the western part of Rajaji Tiger Reserve cut off from rest of the Terai by the Ganges river & settlements, railay track, highway etc. along it. They are lonely and ageing away in absence of any mate or cubs. There were plans to relocate male tigers from the eastern part of Rajaji, that has almost 40 tigers now, to keep them company & stop their genes from getting lost forever. However due to some complications & a case of tiger pacing in the region those plans were postponed. Finally with the help of NTCA, work has started after about ₹3 Crore have been sanctioned to bring 5 tigers to the bountiful habitats of western Rajaji that have been lying empty due to corridor bottleneck. The animals will be bright to the Motichur Range that is devoid of any human settlements. In the first phase both tigresses are to be tranquilized & radio-collared. Western Rajaji had an ample preybase and low human disturbance.  *This image is copyright of its original author Photo for representation: An elusive and magnificent big cat – the leopard. (Photo Courtesy: Sumanto Chattopadhyay)by Rahul Nair 18H 06M AGO Leopards in Guj Turn Man-Eaters, Wildlife Dept Blames Habitat Loss All Gujarat Tourism advertisements played on TV and internet carry a few shots of the Asiatic lion growling in the forests of Gir. Yes, the Gir lions are the last of their species thriving in Gujarat and pulls in huge revenues through tourism. But lions are not the only large cats to call Gujarat home. 1,395 According to a census carried out in 2017, Gujarat is home to over 1,395 leopards as well. And these leopards are crossing paths with humans now. In November this year three persons were killed in Dahod district, including two children. On Tuesday, 4 December, a two-year-old boy was dragged out of his home by a leopard and killed. With much focus on conservation of lions, the leopards are getting little or no attention from the state administration, even though a leopard was caught inside the Gujarat Secretariat in Gandhinagar on 5 November this year. The state wildlife department claims that the population of leopards spiked thanks to conservation efforts. However, according to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, (PCCF) Gujarat, with habitat loss there is nothing much that can be done to avoid leopard and human interaction. Also Read : Leopard Sneaks Into Gujarat Sachivalaya, Captured After 12 hours  *This image is copyright of its original author Image used for representation.(Photo: PTI)Rampant Attacks on Humans On 20 November, 10-year-old Asmita Pasaya was mauled to death by a leopard in Dumka forest area in Dahod district of Gujarat when she had gone to the forest to collect firewood with some women. On the very next day, Jyotsna Parmar (11) from Khalta village was killed by the leopard. Similarly, last week on 26 November, a 64-year-old woman was killed by a leopard on the prowl in Vasiya Dungri forest range in Gujarat's Dahod district. Despite their efforts, the forest personnel could not capture the ‘man eater’ big cat, ten days after it killed two children and an elderly woman in different forest areas in the taluka. Quote:“Based on the pug marks, we suspect that the leopard has crossed into Madhya Pradesh. We have informed the forest staff there to stay alert as the leopard had killed three persons here (Dahod district),”Finally, on 4 December, a leopard attacked and dragged two-year-old Mehul from outside his hut at Sudavad village in Gujarat's Amreli district.  *This image is copyright of its original author Photo used for representation.(Photo: The Quint)Spike in Leopard Population The population of leopards in Gujarat has been on the rise along with the rest of the country. Quote:“There are over 16,000 leopards in the country. They are spread across the length and breadth of India except in Central India where there is a lot of Naxalite activity, and in the Northeast. In Gujarat over 20 percent of the population lives outside the forested areas.”Singh continued, “Gujarat has several pockets especially in Gir, Amreli, Dahod and other areas where the leopard population is significantly high. There is a concentration of 20-30 leopards per 100 sq kms in these areas.” Leopards Live on the Fringe of Forests and Villages Leopards are rarely found in dense forests because the prey base there caters to bigger cats such as tigers and lions, according to Singh. Quote:“Villages that dot the hilly forests form a perfect prey base for the leopards. The leopards eat poultry and goats, and dogs form a major part of their diet. They also feed on discarded carcasses. It will be safe to say that of the total population two-thirds sustain on such dietary habits. They thrive in sugarcane fields, tea gardens where the grass line is high and they cannot be spotted easily”However, when a leopard becomes a man-eater it results in the capture of leopards that don’t attack humans. Quote:“Sometime around 2006-07 a leopard had gone on a rampage in a taluka in Surat. As a result, around 24 leopards were captured by the forest department, but none of those caught were man-eaters. Similarly, in Veraval, a leopard had killed 2-3 children some years back and the forest department ended up capturing 11 leopards.”  *This image is copyright of its original author File photo of a leopard. (Photo: Reuters)The Good and Bad of Conservation According to PCCF, Gujarat, Akshay Saxena everything possible has been done to ensure that leopards don’t attack humans and vice-a-versa. He said, “Leopard population is growing across India and its not local to Gujarat. I wouldn’t say that we don’t have a leopard problem, however, these cats are sly and smart and prefer to live near human habitats as they find easy prey there.” According to Saxena the fact that leopard population has grown significantly reflects the success of conservation measures. However with success comes the negatives in the form of attacks on human habitats where little children and the elderly are targeted by leopards. Quote:“When things go out of hand the first reaction is to hunt the animal, which is quite natural. What would you do if your kin is mauled by the leopard, will you give a thought about its conservation? How many leopards are we to catch and release into the wild because there are close to 1,400 leopards living in Gujarat. Catching leopards and releasing them to the wild is not a solution; we are only addressing a crisis.”  *This image is copyright of its original author Photo for representation: Forest Department personnel rescue a leopard from a house in Mulund, Maharashtra.(Photo: IANS)Society Needs to Scrutinise its Own Development Saxena states that as a society we need to keep a check on our development as well because it is eating away the leopards’ habitat. According to him, unless we add more forest land, leopard and human interaction is unavoidable. He said “Conservation doesn’t ensure protection from habitat loss. You cannot control population, hunting is illegal, and habitat cannot be increased. These are wild animals that will not remain contained in one place, they will keep moving in search of better pastures.” Saxena vividly remembers the day when a leopard entered the Gujarat Secretariat, “A team of 200 personnel was called in that day to control the situation. Why? Because a poor leopard strayed into the complex and we got scared. We felt that it had entered our house.” “And on that very day all our conservation guidelines were questioned. They were afraid that the leopard could kill someone or damage property. However, if villagers living in the vicinity of leopards can pay the price, why can’t urban dwellers? With time this issue needs to be viewed under a new light, else leopard interaction with humans will continue to spike.” Akshay Saxena, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Gujarat https://www.thequint.com/news/india/leop...n-in-sight
India's tiger population rises, but shrinking forests raise chances of man-animal conflict manifold
India Nikita Doval Dec 07, 2018 15:50:37 IST Asghar Ali Khan was on edge; the adrenalin-fuelled amplification of the senses that happens in the presence of a tiger as described by the famed killer of man-eaters Jim Corbett. On 3 November, Khan was in an open-top Gypsy with staffers of the forest department, including one carrying a tranquiliser gun. He was armed with a .458 Winchester Magnum rifle, the WinMag that is the gold standard for taking down Africa’s ‘Big Three’— elephant, rhino and Cape buffalo. Twenty metres away, and blocking their path, stood T1 (popularly known as Avni), the tigress credited with 13 human kills in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district. Khan says the tranquiliser expert fired a dart at the tigress. “And then she charged.”  *This image is copyright of its original author A tiger at the Ranthambore reserve. Firstpost/Ankita Virmani In a blink, T1 had covered over half the distance to the bunch of puny humans in the car that she saw when Khan aimed his heavy rifle and fired, a chunk of lead travelling at well over 2,500 feet per second tearing into the tigress and killing her instantly. But Khan didn’t just kill a man-eating tiger. The lethal shot raised the central question about India’s tiger conservation efforts, and whether the country is faltering in the face of a raging man-animal conflict debate. In the past, the criticism was largely targeted at the dwindling tiger population, but the discourse has turned to a problem of plenty since 2014. Has Project Tiger hit a roadblock because of the animal’s soaring population? Statistics bear out a complex ecological challenge. In 2014, the National Tiger Conservation Authority released its report on Status of Tigers, pegging India’s tiger population at 2,226. The impressive figure called for celebrations as less than 10 years ago, in 2006, the count stood at a precarious 1,411, with tiger population wiped out in established reserves like Sariska in Rajasthan. It was a wake-up call, one which the government more than heeded to, putting in motion a raft of policy decisions that led to the population bulge. “Remarkable improvements were achieved because of milestone interventions. From amending the Wildlife Protection Act to making the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) a statutory body to bringing in more scientific methods of tracking the animal’s population, a lot of planning and execution went into the exercise,” says Rajesh Gopal, ex-member secretary, NTCA. Quote:Today, India is home to nearly 70 percent of the world’s tiger population. As the numbers go up, so are the challenges.In March, the minister of state for environment, Mahesh Sharma, told Lok Sabha that India lost 122 and 115 tigers in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The death of 23 percent of the animals was due to poaching, 55 percent because of natural causes and another 7 percent died of unnatural causes that can’t just be attributed to poaching. The death of T1 would fall in the last category. According to a 2018 report in Mint, 47 percent of the total tiger deaths last year occurred outside of tiger reserves, where almost 40 percent of India’s tiger population is believed to be living. “Dispersal is an ecological need of the species. Hence, the challenge is to maintain the population,” says K Ramesh, a scientist with the Wildlife Institute of India. Often, tigers move hundreds of kilometres in their bid to mark out territories, leading to an inevitable man-animal conflict as the animals stray into agricultural tracts of land and human habitation. The acute shortage of base prey is a serious cause for concern in India’s forests, which often prompts tigers to prey upon domestic animals. “For poor farmers, livestock being the key to their survival, many try to fend off attacks from tigers and sometimes lose their own lives in the process,” says Anish Andheria, president, of the Mumbai-based Wildlife Conservation Trust. And in some cases, though rare, attacks on humans can turn fatal, branding a tiger the dreaded “man-eater” as was with T1. According to an Indian Express report in October, 10 man-eating tigers have been killed in India since 2012, while five were successfully tranquilised and re-located as per NTCA guidelines. “We need to work closely with farmers and local population in a bid to ensure that such incidents can be avoided. Villagers’ support is paramount to save tigers that stray into human habitat,” says Andheria. Presently, most tiger corridors can at best be described as functional, or degraded, say wildlife experts. Quote:To make matters worse, the shrinking forest cover is devoid of base prey, making it imperative for the animals to stray into human habitat.In the majority of the 50 tiger reserves in India, villages in the buffer zone are the most vulnerable to the increasing man-animal conflict. Though the NTCA has a scheme, which funds the relocation of buffer zone villages, the success rate has been mixed. “In Maharashtra, the Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan Vikas Scheme is helping relocate villages, situated in tiger corridors, since 2015,” says Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation. The scheme aims to reduce the villagers’ over-dependence on forests for grazing of livestock, collecting firewood and relieving themselves on the lap of nature, which brings them in direct conflict with tigers. “So far, the scheme has only covered about 200 of the 1,000 villages located in the tiger corridor,” says Rithe, who gave up his cushy job as a lecturer in an engineering college to work full-time on wildlife conservation. Re-location schemes have their fair share of troubles because of the demarcation of tiger reserves that are split into core and buffer zones. Though the core area is meant to be free of any human habitation for easy movement of wild animals, the reality, often, is in stark contrast. In wildlife reserves across India — be it Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand or even Sariska — villagers have refused to budge an inch, despite re-location scheme’s generous incentive of Rs 10 lakh for each displaced family. “We shouldn’t touch these areas, but aspirations are often at odds with wildlife needs. Villagers want electricity and road connectivity, and poachers are cashing in on the locals’ demands by electrocuting tigers,” says Titu Joseph, programme coordinator, Wildlife Protection Society of India. But, perhaps, the biggest threat to India’s growing tiger population comes from the country’s aggressive economic agenda, where mega infrastructure projects are trumping conservation. “Typically, the core ‘inviolate’ areas in most tiger reserves is 300-400 kilometres at best, and even these reserves are heavily stressed, being fragmented and cleared by infrastructure projects like dams and highways,” says Prerna Singh Bindra, wildlife activist and author. Bindra, specifically, refers to the Ken-Betwa river interlinking project, a first-of-its-kind in India, which will submerge a large part of the Panna tiger reserve in northern Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, central India, one of the lushest habitats for tigers, is grappling with wanton highway construction and allied infrastructure push at the expense of further whittling down of the 700,000-odd square kilometres of forest cover. “Wildlife must find a pride of place in our development agenda. Tigers will move, and, if confined to a small area, they will go extinct sooner than expected. The biggest challenge to tiger conservation is encroachment upon their habitat,” says Bindra. In the past, political will has led to wildlife-friendly policies, including the drafting of a slew of effective laws, but now there appears to be a concerted bid to dilute these stringent norms in the name of economic development. Worse, a face-off between pro-industry and conservationist lobby is being increasingly spun around as a deterrent to economic growth. Gopal puts the raging debate in perspective as he believes the growing tiger population isn’t a drag on development. “A strategy needs to evolve, which can strike a happy balance,” he says. Quote:The Centre’s role, too, has increasingly come under the scanner for largely paying lip-service to conservation. If the 2016 Union Budget earmarked Rs 375 for Project Tiger, it saw a gradual decline to Rs 345 last year. And, this year, it went up incrementally to Rs 350 crore.Fortunately, India is one of the richest countries in the world as far as biodiversity is concerned. Though the country has only 2.4 percent of the world’s geographical area, it is home to 7.5 percent of its animals, who are living cheek-by-jowl with 17 percent of the global population. Minimising man-animal conflict and living up to lofty conservation goals is no easy task for a developing country like India. While the increase in tiger numbers is always a cause to celebrate, it cannot lead to complacency or a partial downgrading of our conservation priorities, otherwise, there will be yet another Khan getting ready to take an aim at another T1. T1’s death at the altar of development must herald a new dawn for India’s tiger conservation outreach. Updated Date: Dec 07, 2018 15:50 PM https://www.firstpost.com/india/indias-t...91201.html  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author 384 TIGERS KILLED BY POACHERS ACROSS INDIA IN LAST 10 YEARS ! 961 POACHERS ARRESTED ! A total of 384 tigers have been killed by poachers across the country in the last ten years, which translates to over three a month, a reply under the Right to Information has revealed. Between 2008 and 2018 (till November), 961 persons have also been arrested for allegedly poaching tigers, it said. The information was given by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau or WCCB in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by Noida-based advocate Ranjan Tomar. Tomar, also an RTI activist, had asked the WCCB the number of tigers killed by poachers in the last ten years and the people arrested and convicted for the same. "As per the data available in records of the Bureau based on the information received from the State Forest and Police authorities the total number of tigers killed by poachers in the last 10 years is 384 and 961 number of poachers arrested in the tiger cases," the reply stated. However, the bureau said that no information was available with it regarding conviction of the accused in these cases. "The data makes it clear that successive governments have not been able to check killing of tigers by poachers and therefore there is a need for a special initiative to conserve this wild species or make changes in current laws to make them more effective else," Tomar said. For conservation of the country's national animal, the government had launched 'Project Tiger' in 1973. As per a 2014 assessment, India has the highest number of tigers in the world at 2,226, according to the website of the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Climate Change. https://www.business-standard.com/articl...-ruIyYIczM 
Maharashtra tiger, which travelled 510km and killed two, captured in Madhya Pradesh
Vijay Pinjarkar| TNN | Updated: Dec 12, 2018, 13:36 IST  *This image is copyright of its original author 5
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 *This image is copyright of its original author The tiger was caught after it entered the Satpura Power Station in Sarni, Madhya Pradesh, leading to a scareNAGPUR: The four-month-long walkathon of the over 2-year-old tiger ended on Monday. It had started its dispersal journey around August 15 from the Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station. The younger tiger finally had to be caught after creating a scare on entering the Satpura Power Station in Sarni (Madhya Pradesh). In four months, it had travelled 510 kms making this, according to experts, the longest recorded (see box) dispersal of a tiger in the country. As reported by TOI, the tiger had almost reached Satpura Tiger Reserve in Hoshangabad district (MP) after travelling 470km on November 22. However, it did not enter the reserve and instead moved 40 kms towards Sarni. “The tiger was first seen near the fly ash pond and marshy area on December 1. Then, power station colony residents spotted it strolling on the road at night and moving close to human settlements. It caused a panic,” says Rakhi Nanda, divisional forest officer (DFO), Sarni. On its way in finding territory, the tiger had killed two farmers in Amravati district. The first attack took place in Mangrul Dastagir on October 19 in Dhamangaon Railway and second after four days in Anjansingi on October 22. “The tiger mostly preyed on cattle while moving close to human settlements. Hence, we decided to capture the carnivore,” said Nanda. Chandrapur forest officials are unaware of the capture. Chief conservator of forest (CCF) SV Ramarao said, “I’ve no communication whether the captured tiger is the same as the that grew up in Chandrapur power station.” However, Nanda said that the forest officials matched the stripe pattern of the tiger from South Betul division and also studied its behaviour from available data and pictures. “The tiger had spent 25 days in Betul. The one we have captured in Sarni is the same,” she said. It is learnt that the tiger was moving in an area passing through high tension power lines and ash pond. “Grass as tall as an elephant was predominant there. We started the operation with four elephants at 5am and could capture the tiger at 3pm near the ash pond,” said SK Singh, field director of Satpura Tiger Reserve. For 10 days after it was first sighted in the Sarni power plant, the forest department monitored the tiger’s movements. “We thought it would continue its walk but perhaps it found the habitat here conducive as it had grown up in another power plant,” Singh added. TOP COMMENT DO NOT KILL the tigerTvkon Satpura tiger reserve is spread over 2,100 sqkm including 1,500 sqkm core and 700 sqkm buffer. “There are 40 tigers in this undulating terrain which includes the popular Pachmarhi hills. There was ample scope for a new entrant tiger but it chose to stay put at the Sarni plant,” said Singh. MP chief wildlife warden Shahbaz Ahmad informed that the tiger has been shifted to an enclosure in Kanha. “The options to rehabilitate the tiger is always there. A decision will be taken after watching its behaviour,” he said. Read full story in Bengali |
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