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Bigcats News
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Tiger spotted in Gujarat after 3 decades, govt confirms presence
Posted at: Feb 12, 2019, 5:24 PM; last updated: Feb 12, 2019, 5:24 PM (IST)  *This image is copyright of its original author Photo for representation only. Ahmedabad, February 12 : The Gujarat Government has confirmed the presence of a tiger in the state, days after a man claimed he saw the big cat crossing a road in Mahisagar district. State Forest Minister Ganpatsinh Vasava said on Tuesday that the carnivore was caught on cameras set up by the forest department in that area. Quote:“It has now been "OFFICIALLY" confirmed. A tiger in the age-group of 7 to 8 years has been seen in Mahisagar district,” Vasava told reporters in Gandhinagar. The striped animal was last seen in Gujarat in 1989. Subsequent surveys carried out every four years by the Central Government showed no presence of tiger in the state, he said. A local government school teacher had last week claimed that he saw a tiger crossing a road near Boriya village in Mahisagar, around 120 km from here, on February 6. The teacher clicked the animal’s picture on his mobile phone and shared it with friends on social media platforms. The photo soon went viral and based on the teacher’s claim, the forest department set up several camera traps in that area. Quote:Vasava said the tiger might have come to Gujarat from any of the neighbouring states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh or Maharashtra, where the striped animals are found. “The Madhya Pradesh Government has said that a tiger has gone missing from Ujjain. It is possible that the tiger seen here can be from any of these neighbouring states which have tigers,” the minister stated. He said the state government will now contact the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which has the data of tigers across the country, to ascertain where the feline came from. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will also be involved to carry out a survey in the area to find out if this region is conducive for tigers, he said. “We now agree that there is a tiger in Gujarat. We will study if the area could be developed for tigers. We are also seeking NTCA’s guidance,” he said. Quote:Vasava said it was yet to be ascertained how long and where the lone tiger had been roaming in Gujarat. “We are yet to ascertain if that area was the tiger’s permanent residence or whether it migrated from neighbouring states. It is certain that Gujarat is also a part of tiger’s natural corridor,” he said. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Akshay Saxena said evidences like pug marks and scats, as well as hair and scratch marks on a tree had to some extent confirmed the tiger’s presence in the region. “Later, camera traps were set up and we have now got visual evidence of a tiger in the area. It is not necessary that we will find the tiger in the same area, so we will continue to keep a watch,” he said. — PTI https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation...27895.html  (02-12-2019, 07:54 PM)Sanju Wrote: Tiger spotted in Gujarat after 3 decades, govt confirms presenceGood to hear that tiger made it's way to the closest point to the asian lions in recent times! i believe the dangs forest of the western ghats was the last recorded and the closest rangeof tigers. One thing to mention is that,i don't think it is fair to see wildlife within a state/province.as the forests, mountains,corridors lies mostly on interstate/political borders, which separated every states. animals frequently moves along the political borders.so it'd be better to look on which bioregion they resides Or how closely influence different species.so they have to keep free from any political mind at least for wildlife. As it is not a belongings of any states especially in the case of asiatic lions. 
Ultra-rare black leopard is photographed for the first time in 100 YEARS in Africa
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/trave...frica.html  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Now focus on tiger prey base, habitat: Experts
Himanshu Kaushik | TNN | Feb 13, 2019, 05:44 IST  *This image is copyright of its original author Picture for representational purpose only. AHMEDABAD: If Gujarat wants to be the only state in India (apparently in the whole world for now before MP) that is home to three big cats — lions, tigers, and leopards — it will have to ensure adequate prey base in Central Gujarat and Dang and will have to prepare a plan to rehabilitate people. Quote:“If Gujarat wants to conserve tigers, it will have to create a National Park or a Sanctuary for a tiger reserve spanning at least 500-800 sq km, which can house a sizeable population of tigers,” said Y V Jhala, an expert on big cats who is associated with the National Tiger Conservation Authority(NTCA). “Lions can live close to people, but tigers need isolated spaces.” Jhala said to create a sanctuary, the Gujarat forest department will have to relocate people from Dang by offering a compensation package that will persuade them to move voluntarily. He said that once the sanctuary is free of people, the department will have to ensure that the population of chital and sambhar is increased in the area.  *This image is copyright of its original author Quote:Jhala said one or two tigers cannot create a stable population. “We need a sizeable population so that Gujarat becomes one more state needing tiger conservation,” he said. A lone tiger will not survive for long, he said. (So hence, they have to make exchange with MP by offering Lion as the tiger most probably came from MP's Ujjain all the way in the search of a mate) A K Saxena, the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), said: “Even if a wandering tiger visits the state, the state will have to create habitat for it.” Saxena said the state will have to preserve the tiger corridor through which it enters the state. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...967179.cms Tiger may have hiked from Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat  *This image is copyright of its original author Tiger A comparison of the stripes of the tiger spotted in Gujarat and MP - Nikhil GhanekarUpdated: Feb 13, 2019, 05:45 AM IST The confirmation of a tiger's presence in Gujarat's Lunawada in Mahisagar district has come as a glimmer of hope for a possible comeback of the striped cat in a state where the last tiger was sighted over three decades ago in Dangs. Now, it has come to light that in all likelihood, the tiger traversed nearly 350 km and reached Gujarat from a forest division in Dewas forest range, Madhya Pradesh. Senior officials from MP forest department said that a tiger had settled in the Dewas forest range between March 2016 and June 2018 and was tracked up to the MP-Gujarat border. Preliminary comparison of camera trap photos of the tiger, clicked in MP as well as in Gujarat recently, show matching stripe patterns, suggesting that it is the same tiger, Chief Conservator of Forest, Ujjain, said. Wildlife biologists collaborating with the MP forest department to track the tiger also confirmed that the tiger spotted in Gujarat indeed had stripe patterns similar to the one that had settled in the Dewas range. Gujarat forest department officials could not be reached for comment. "Based on preliminary photos, we can say that it is the same tiger. Our team had tracked the tiger up to the MP-Gujarat border near Petlawad in Jhabua. After June 2018, it disappeared. We did not even see pug marks or other signs. It survived in Dewas and surrounding areas on Nilgai in the scrub forests," said BS Annagiri. As per Annagiri and his team, the tiger may have reached Lunawada via Dahod after crossing into Gujarat. During the time it was in MP, it also moved towards Indore and Ujjain from Dewas and there were times when it was not seen for weeks. The development comes even as MP has been awaiting translocation of lions from Gujarat to Kuno-Palpur sanctuary, as per Supreme Court orders. Tigers traversing long distances using corridors is not unusual and there have been cases where tigers have covered a 500 km expanse between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, using forested corridors outside tiger reserves and national parks. "This dispersal highlights the need for conserving corridors. If corridors exist, wild animals will naturally recolonise areas were they have gone extinct," said Milind Pariwakam, wildlife biologist, Wildlife Conservation Trust and member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, connectivity and conservation specialist group. The Kheoni wildlife sanctuary is the closest protected area to Dewas, situated around 130 km away, which in turn is also connected through corridors with the Ratapani wildlife sanctuary which lies to the east of Kheoni. https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-ti...at-2719391
Camera trap proves Gujarat now has tiger
By Rajat Ghai Last Updated: Tuesday 12 February 2019  *This image is copyright of its original author Gujarat now has the unique distinction of being home to both the Asiatic Lion as well as the Bengal Tiger after a camera-trap photographed a tiger in the Mahisagar district, in the north-eastern part of the state. Quote:Will the presence of the tiger puncture the state’s stance against sending lions to Kuno? Tigers were frequently seen along the hilly and forested, tribal-dominated eastern border areas of Gujarat, known as ‘Poorvi Patti’ (the eastern belt). But the last one was sighted in 1992. On February 6, 2019, a tiger was photographed on a mobile phone, crossing a road in Lunawada taluka of Mahisagar by a school teacher, Mahesh Mahera. In the days since, it has been caught on camera traps set by wildlife officials in the area. And while the lion and tiger in Gujarat are separated by the Gulf of Khambhat as well as the Central Gujarat plain and the expanse of Saurashtra, the discovery of the Lunawada tiger raises the question of whether the two cats can co-habit in one place together, a point raised by the Gujarat government most famously in its refusal to send Asiatic Lions to Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, given that there were tigers there. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wild...iger-63216
300km epic tiger trip, & not a human touched
P Naveen | TNN | Feb 13, 2019, 08:38 IST https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...969193.cms  *This image is copyright of its original author Pugmark of a tiger (Representative image) As Gujarat seeks to claim the unique distinction of being home to both the Asiatic Lion and tigers — or at least one tiger — wildlife officers and environmentalists in Madhya Pradesh are stunned at how the big cat crossed densely populated regions without any conflict with humans, unlike the tiger that walked in here from Maharashtra, killing two people on the way. Initially, it was thought that the tiger that has been seen in Gujarat had moved from Melghat tiger reserve in Maharashtra. But MP forest officials confirmed it was from Ratapani sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, barely 50km from Bhopal.  *This image is copyright of its original author Quote:“This is our tiger. We have matched the images,” said Ujjain CCF B S Annigiri. “We were tracking it till it was in our jurisdiction. Now that it has reached Gujarat, they will take care of it. After all, animals have no borders," said the officer. Camera trap images confirm that this is the same tiger that was spotted close to Nagda hills of Dewas in January 2017. It was believed to have moved from Ratapani via the forested tracts of Bagli and Udaynagar. In November the same year, the tiger was seen in Manglia (Indore) and then Barnagar in Ujjain district. There were further sightings at Petlawad (Jhabua), close to the Gujarat border after which it wasn’t detected for a long time — until the recent sighting in Boriya in Gujarat. Throughout its journey, tiger avoided people Throughout its 300km journey, the tiger lived and moved very close to human habitations and while its presence created some panic among villagers, it avoided people and might have survived on livestock and wild animals like wild pigs and nilgai, said officials. Conservation professional Vaibhav Chaturvedi said, “This long-distance dispersal has revived hope for tigers in Vindhyachal landscape.” The Vindhyachal mountain range that runs for 1000km from Gujarat and across MP into Kaimur range in the East, has historically been a stronghold of tigers. Quote:“With focussed conservation efforts and better protection, tigers are reclaiming their lost territory across Vindhyas. There is a need to keep these forest tracts intact and monitor tiger populations and their recovery,” said Chaturvedi. The big cat was spotted in Gir National Park and Sanctuary (What!!?? lol). Camera traps installed in the Lunwad-Santrampur forest in the state’s northern district of Mahisagar caught the tiger moving around on Monday night, said district deputy range forest officer R M Parmar. The Gir National Park and Sanctuary, home to Asiatic lions, is located around 500 kms from Lunawad-Santrampur forest where tiger was spotted. “We had installed five cameras around a waterbody where the teacher had reported the sighting,” Parmar said, adding that the forest department had earlier found pugmarks and hair of the tiger in the area. “The images now have put all the doubts to rest”. The Gujarat government is likely to start tiger safaris soon with a tag line, “One state in India to have both tigers and lions”. The Centre has accepted proposal to start safaris at Kevadiya, Dangs and Surat, a forest department official said. Feb 13, 2019 07:01 IST https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-new...A0axJ.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 The big cat was captured on Tuesday morning in night vision cameras mounted by the Gujarat forest department It's official: Tiger has entered lions' kingdom "Our cameras spotted the tiger in forest area 2 km away from Santrampur in Panchmahal district. The tiger is an adult, aged 5-7 years with pug-marks of 15-17cm diameter," said RM Parmar, deputy conservator forest of Mahisagar district, who was in-charge of the search mission to locate the tiger. Forest minister Ganpat Vasava said that Gujarat welcomes the tiger's presence and may develop a tiger corridor. "The state forest department has sought expert assistance from the Centre. Saxena said the state will now have to include tiger in its wildlife plan. "We will be mandated to ensure an adequate prey base in the area and preserve the corridor from where it enters the state," the PCCF said. https://m.timesofindia.com/india/its-off...967818.cms 
Just a thought about all this talk ,about india not having enough space for lions and tigers. Perhaps Pakistan and India could possibly work on a plan to reintroduce them there?
I am aware of the how ludicrous sounds. (02-13-2019, 05:10 PM)Lycaon Wrote: india not having enough space for lions and tigers.there is. (02-13-2019, 05:10 PM)Lycaon Wrote: Perhaps Pakistan and India could possibly work on a plan to reintroduce them there?   even if the solar system collapse, they don't even think of it. it didn't even worked with one of our country's friendly nation i.e.., iran. forget with pak.
This is the specialty of the tiger camera, which can capture the movement from 40 to 50 feet
Quote:First time Chinese camera used for capture tiger.  *This image is copyright of its original author The first time a Chinese camera clicked the tiger, wildlife photographer to find Tiger Vadodara: The presence of tigers in the forest of Mahishagar FD first followed the find the target location of tigers and fixed cameras. Then night vision cameras captured the tiger. Manoj Thakur, the Wildlife Photographer of Vadodara Wildlife Sanctuary, was also invited to organize this night vision camera. He was a member of the night vision camera organizing team. Manoj Thakre said in a conversation with Divya Bhaskar that 'The camera was from the Chinese company. It can capture movements of 40 to 50 feet. But the clear image only can be clicked within the distance up to 30 feet ranage. This image is only black and white. The camera costs around Rs 15,000. ' The night vision camera was set up 1.5 feet high from the ground. He used to lay stones around to fit his place. The team believed that the tiger was about 20 to 22 feet away from the camera. Earlier these cameras were also set up in the forests for the study of leopard and bear. RM Patel, the head of the camera team, said: "The first day (Tuesday), when we went to take a clip of the camera, after about 15 minutes, everyone was happy to see the tigers. ' How the camera works This camera keeps infrared rays continuously. When an object or a creature goes dark in the dark, the system of clicking the image of the camera in the camera becomes functional and the photo of the object and creature is taken away. https://www.divyabhaskar.co.in/news/MGUJ...=fbo&seq=1
Officials in the northwest Indian province confirmed on Wednesday the presence of the adult prime tiger about 7 years age in a forest in Panchmahal district. Days earlier, a teacher on his way to work sparked excitement when he photographed the animal crossing a road.
Dr AK Saxena, Gujarat’s chief of forest conservation told The Independent locals had reported seeing a tiger over the past few months, but until now its presence had remained unconfirmed. Dr Saxena said despite the three big cats’ presence in the state, there was “no chance” of tigers coming into contact with the native lion population, which is now restricted to the Gir National Park. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...77346.html The national park, in the state’s west, is also home to most of Gujarat’s leopards, whereas Panchmahal is hundreds of miles to the east. “The two are separated by a huge distance and by many many barriers … so there is no chance (of them meeting) unless they decide to fly,” Dr Saxena said. If the authorities are able to confirm the existence of more tigers in the state, a scenario Dr Saxena would not rule out, a “new chapter in wildlife management will emerge”. Fewer than 4,000 tigers are thought to remain in the wild in India. That is far more, however, than the 500 or so last Asiatic lions, according to the latest figures.
Gujarat had inputs about tigers for past few years
 *This image is copyright of its original author WII claiming that tigers are moving up to the borders of the state The presence of a tiger with photographic evidence has finally established that the tiger has returned to Gujarat, vindicating regular inputs sent over the past years by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) claiming that tigers are moving up to the borders of the state. Sources in WII said the agency had evidence that tigers from Nasik in Maharashtra and even Madhya Pradesh had reached Gujarat border. The WII has on several occasions written to the Gujarat government to be on alert and had expressed the possibility that tigers could enter the state any time. “We had got DNA evidence that tigers had come upto Gujarat border and hence WII had written to the state government two years ago informing them that the state has to be ready as tigers were approaching the state,” said Y V Jhala, an expert on the big cats. Jhala said that the WII had also collected scat of tiger from the border of Gujarat. The analysis had proved the presence of tigers near Gujarat border. “We had been getting reports of tigers coming to Gujarat for the last two years from the Nasik side,” said Jhala. “If Gujarat wants to conserve tigers, it will have to create a national park or a sanctuary spanning at least 500-800 sq km, which can house a sizeable population of tigers,” said Jhala, who is associated with the National Tiger Conservation Authority. “Lions can live close to people, but tigers need isolated spaces,” he said. Quote:Another senior officer from WII said that the Gujarat government has not made any serious efforts to re-establish tigers in the state. “Had the state begun taking action it could have developed a new habitat for tigers in Gujarat and in the next three years that is by 2022 the state would have been able to house a sizeable population,” said the officer. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...000349.cms 
Carcass of Royal Bengal Tiger found in Kaziranga National Park (infighting)
KAZIRANGA: Forest guards in Kaziranga National Park on Tuesday found the carcass of a Royal Bengal Tiger in the Bagori range. “The carcass of a Royal Bengal Tiger was found on Wednesday near Roumari forest camp under Bagori range of KNP. It was an adult male tiger. As per preliminary assessment by the State Veterinary Officer, the cause of death of the tiger was infighting,” said Rohini Ballav Saikia, DFO.  *This image is copyright of its original author at first i thought i was looking at a baby rhino carcass, what a giant male. I wonder how the rival male is doing. It must have been quite the fight. RIP 
One of the biggest Indian tigers I saw in all respects. The skull is enormous.
I'm preparing a series on large Amur and Indian tigers. Could you move a copy of the video to the tiger thread? |
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