Login

Pckts · 11-08-2014, 03:18 AM

(11-08-2014, 12:54 AM)'tigerluver' Wrote: The collaring of tourist zone tigers is a bit suspect to me. They're always in view. If anything, collaring tigers in non-tourism zones or in Indonesia would have more scientific value, as they are difficult to track, and thus, there dispersal behavior isn't well understood.

Extremely suspect, while I see some benefits of collaring tigers in less treked areas, I don't think those benefits out weigh the tigers health. We don't need collars to tell us that tigers need unmolested forrest areas to be protected. Its a simply matter of location, we know where tigers exist, if we fence their areas, destroy their habitat and invade beyond our means, conflict will exist.

GuateGojira · 11-08-2014, 10:14 AM

There is no issue on the tiger health, the risks are minimum now and the modern methods to work with the sedate specimens are safer than in past days (remember the Curve of learning).

You are ignoring the fact that the knowledge about the need of tigers in habitat matters came from radiocollaring studies. In fact, tigers don’t need unmolested areas as much as we think. Corbett, Dr Sunquist and Dr Karanth had found several cases of tigers living very near human settlements without conflict, showing that despite human presence (which is inevitable in the present), tigers manage to have normal lives. Conflict arises, of course, but as long as tiger prey is at good level and human retreat from forest areas, tigers will not attack cattle and by extension, humans. Of course, this don't include the destruction (in a industrial way) of the habitat, which is a completely different issue.

Finally, we don’t know where tigers exist by sure. We can infer trough signals and habitat quality, but often, this doesn’t show the full detail. Check for example the huge forests of Cambodia, we can say that there are tigers in the area, but at the end, we have no evidence and most of scientists believe that the population in that area is now at the brink of extinction.

In this case, we need the use of camera traps to corroborate the presence of tigers and this is the correct use of this tool. After we can corroborate that there are tigers in the place, the next step is to radiocollar a few specimens in order to monitor they social life and ecological needs. This is the logic way and the normal patter in Science.

Pckts · 11-10-2014, 11:07 PM

(11-08-2014, 10:14 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: There is no issue on the tiger health, the risks are minimum now and the modern methods to work with the sedate specimens are safer than in past days (remember the Curve of learning).

You are ignoring the fact that the knowledge about the need of tigers in habitat matters came from radiocollaring studies. In fact, tigers don’t need unmolested areas as much as we think. Corbett, Dr Sunquist and Dr Karanth had found several cases of tigers living very near human settlements without conflict, showing that despite human presence (which is inevitable in the present), tigers manage to have normal lives. Conflict arises, of course, but as long as tiger prey is at good level and human retreat from forest areas, tigers will not attack cattle and by extension, humans. Of course, this don't include the destruction (in a industrial way) of the habitat, which is a completely different issue.

Finally, we don’t know where tigers exist by sure. We can infer trough signals and habitat quality, but often, this doesn’t show the full detail. Check for example the huge forests of Cambodia, we can say that there are tigers in the area, but at the end, we have no evidence and most of scientists believe that the population in that area is now at the brink of extinction.

In this case, we need the use of camera traps to corroborate the presence of tigers and this is the correct use of this tool. After we can corroborate that there are tigers in the place, the next step is to radiocollar a few specimens in order to monitor they social life and ecological needs. This is the logic way and the normal patter in Science.

You are ignoring the FACT that tigers have died due directly to being collared.
So there is absolutely a issue of health from it.

Now you think that tigers don't need unmolested forrests to survive?
Look where the highest densisty of tigers exist, Kaziranga. A place that is extremely hard to find a tiger to view, same with corbett, and Kaziranga also is the last place to see the Indian Rhino, do you think that is coincidence?
Compare it to Sumatra, a place completely over ran by humans, forrest are destroyed and tigers have become man killers while being the smallest tigers in exist.
Just because tigers are hardy and smart and are capable of surviving in humans area's doesn't mean thats right. It means they have no choice.
BTW tigers in habitat areas comes from camera traps, not collaring. Hence Bhutan....

Pckts · 11-18-2014, 12:52 AM

Sanctuary Asia 8 hours ago · EditedExtract from Sanctuary's forthcoming, coffee table book titled THE TADOBA INHERITANCE:

"Roheet Karoo, Honorary Wildlife Warden, Nagpur, who lives in Umred contacted forest officials with startling news. Jai, he claimed, had been seen in the Umred-Karhandla forest, some 150 km. away from Nagzira and just 40 km. from the boundary of Tadoba. Doubts were expressed, but when camera trap images were compared, the identification was confirmed. This massive tiger had travelled at night, used shallow stream beds around the Ghosikhurd reservoir to reach a forest that was still off the world’s radar. Why? The herbivore population of Nagzira was high and the obstacles in his path, rail lines, highways, canals and semi-urban dwellings, were anything but conducive to tigers. Yet Jai had walked a dangerous path to arrive at a thinly tiger-populated forest.The reason became apparent when it was discovered that Tadoba’s young, fertile females had dispersed to Umred. Tiger biology was at work and all we needed to do was pay attention and remove obstacles in their path. Jai was lucky. But many other major carnivores meet their end while traversing linear forest intrusions such as canals, highways and railway tracks. The tiger landscape that connects Jai’s Nagzira family to the Pandharpauni females suffers multiple fragmentations."

Image of Jai taken in Umred Karhandla by Mayank Mishra

*This image is copyright of its original author

Edited for image: Sanjay

Example of being able to monitor tiger traveling via Camera traps.

Roflcopters · 11-18-2014, 08:07 PM

wait, I wanna see this picture bad.. Is there any way you can upload it again on http://www.tinypic.com

Pckts · 11-18-2014, 10:35 PM

Thanks for editing Sanjay, can you see it @Roflcopters?

Gotta love Jai and his big bear shaped head.

Pckts · 11-25-2014, 11:11 PM

Credit To Roflcopters

"Nagarhole becomes the first Tiger Reserve in India to be 100% covered by Camera trap, previously the number stood at 75%. "

http://www.siliconcitynews.com/?p=16497

Another source

http://internetsamachar.com/2014/11/21/c...servation/

Pckts · 12-02-2014, 05:32 AM

Success Seen for Tigers in Transboundary LandscapeNepal and India share in amazing results in new tiger report

*This image is copyright of its original author

Tiger conservation efforts are paying off at the landscape level, even where national borders are present across tiger habitats. This good news comes from a report shared by the governments of India and Nepal together with WWF. The announcement came at a meeting of tiger range governments working together and tracking progress towards the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022, also known as TX2.The report “Tigers of the Trans-boundary Terai Arc Landscape” details the status of wild tigers and their prey in the transboundary portion of the Terai Arc Landscape, stretching across the borders of India and Nepal. In a survey from November 2012 through June 2013, camera traps tracked 239 individual adult tigers across an area of more than 2,000 square miles.The camera trap images confirmed that wild tigers use three forested wildlife corridors that provide vital links between key protected areas across both sides of the international border. Moreover, images of individual tigers were matched from Nepal’s Chitwan National Park and the adjacent Valmiki Tiger Reserve in India, as well as Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal and the adjacent Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in India. Tigers don’t recognize lines across a map and this is why WWF’s field work is based on landscape level conservation.The study was conducted by the governments of both countries in partnership with its conservation and development partners, including WWF India, WWF Nepal, the National Trust for Nature Conservation and local communities.“We could not have asked for a better forum to share the results of this transboundary landscape effort because it shows that we must think and act beyond just islands of protected areas for tigers to truly thrive and have the space to double in number,” said Dr. Barney Long, director, WWF’s Species Conservation Program. “The Terai Arc is perhaps the best example we have that bold, landscape level conservation can result in dramatic recoveries for wild tigers. And WWF remains absolutely committed to helping governments reach Tx2.”The 2nd Stocktaking Conference of The Global Tiger Recovery Program was hosted by Bangladesh and brought together 140 tiger experts from over 20 countries. Its resulting Dhaka Recommendations set the priorities for the next two years with a focus on professionalizing and investing in frontline staff, national tiger monitoring and assessment in all tiger habitats by 2016, improved transboundary collaboration and expanded capacity to tackle human-tiger conflict.

*This image is copyright of its original author

http://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/suc...-landscape

Pckts · 12-02-2014, 05:35 AM

WWF: Tiger Numbers Could Triple if Large-Scale Landscapes are Protected - Protecting Core Breeding Sites and Developing Forest Corridors can Ensure Tiger SurvivalThe tiger reserves of Asia could support more than 10,000 wild tigers – three times the current number – if they are managed as large-scale landscapes that allow for connectivity between core breeding sites, a new paper from some of the world’s leading conservation scientists finds. Washington, DC (Vocus/PRWEB) January 25, 2011The tiger reserves of Asia could support more than 10,000 wild tigers – three times the current number – if they are managed as large-scale landscapes that allow for connectivity between core breeding sites, a new paper from some of the world’s leading conservation scientists finds. The paper is the first assessment of the political commitment made by all 13 tiger range countries at November’s historic tiger summit to double the tiger population across Asia by 2022.“A Landscape-Based Conservation Strategy to Double the Wild Tiger Population” in the current issue of Conservation Letters finds that the commitment to double tiger numbers is not only possible, but can be exceeded. However, it will take a global effort to ensure that core breeding reserves are maintained and connected via habitat corridors.“In the midst of a crisis, it’s tempting to circle the wagons and only protect a limited number of core protected areas, but we can and should do better,” said World Wildlife Fund(WWF) Chief Scientist Dr. Eric Dinerstein, a co-author of the study. “We absolutely need to stop the bleeding -- the poaching of tigers and their prey in core breeding areas -- but we need to go much further and secure larger tiger landscapes before it is too late.”Wild tiger numbers have declined from about 100,000 in the early 1900s to as few as 3,200 today due to poaching of tigers and their prey, habitat destruction and human/tiger conflict. Most of the remaining tigers are scattered in small, isolated pockets across their range in 13 Asian countries.“Tiger conservation is the face of biodiversity conservation and competent sustainable land-use management at the landscape level,” said study co-author Dr. John Seidensticker of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. “By saving the tiger we save all the plants and animals that live under the tiger’s umbrella.”The authors found that the 20 priority tiger conservation landscapes with the highest probability of long-term tiger survival could support more than 10,500 tigers, including about 3,400 breeding females. They also looked at historical examples to prove that a doubling or tripling is possible using large landscapes:

In the jungles of lowland Nepal, tiger numbers crashed during civil conflict from 2002 to 2006. However, tigers did not disappear because Nepal and India’s tiger reserves are linked by forest corridors, which likely allowed for replenishment from India;
In the Russian Far East tigers, almost disappeared in the 1940s but the region was re-populated by tigers moving in from northeastern China. Recently designated habitat corridors across the Sino-Russia border are helping tigers re-establish themselves in China’s Changbaishan mountains, where they had disappeared in the 1990s.
In India’s Nagarahole National Park, tiger numbers are “healthy and resilient” because the park is connected to other reserves in the region. Tigers number almost 300 in this large landscape of connected parks and reserves.

In contrast, the authors point to two of India’s premier tiger reserves to show how lack of connectivity can preclude tiger population recovery. Tigers disappeared from Sariska and Panna tiger reserves in 2005 and 2009 due to poaching and were not able to re-colonize because these reserves are not connected to other reserves through habitat corridors. Consequently, wild tigers had to be translocated into these reserves to attempt to re-establish populations. Besides poaching and habitat loss, the $7.5 trillion in infrastructure projects like roads, dams and mines that will be invested in Asia over the next decade threatens tiger landscapes. A focus only on core sites and protected areas like reserves, instead of larger landscapes, could be seen by developers and politicians as a green light to move forward with harmful infrastructure projects outside of core sites.“Without strong countervailing pressures, short-term economic gains will inevitably trump protection of the critical ecosystems necessary for sustainable development,” said Keshav Varma, Program Director of the Global Tiger Initiative at the World Bank.The authors insist that conservationists and governments must be involved in helping design infrastructure projects to mitigate their impacts on tigers both inside core sites and in current and potential forest corridors. A recently built oil depot in India’s Terai Arc, for example, severed a vital elephant and tiger corridor. Conservationists are now in litigation to remove the depot. Early intervention could have avoided this."Following the St. Petersburg Declaration, Nepal has committed to the goal of doubling wild tiger numbers across our country by 2022,” said Deepak Bohara, Nepal’s Minister for Forests and Soil Conservation. “This analysis shows that it can be done, not just in Nepal, but, if done right with careful study and planning, across the entire tiger range. It is also worth noting that tiger conservation provides carbon credits, protects water resources, and complements community development efforts. Thus, it is important to promote regional cooperation to maintain a healthy tiger corridor between different reserves.”For a copy of the full paper, b-roll, photos or graphics, contact Lee Poston at 202-299-6442 or lee(dot)poston(at)wwfus(dot)org# # #
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/1/prweb8088139.htm

GuateGojira · 12-02-2014, 08:51 AM

Interesting articles and great pictures, BUT none of them is relevant here, because:

1. None of them show that radiocollaring tigers is good/bad.
2. None of them show that camera traps serve to other purpose apart from estimate tiger density in order to create core areas to conserve them.

All these articles belong to the topic "Big Cat News", but surely not here.

GuateGojira · 12-02-2014, 09:18 AM

(11-10-2014, 11:07 PM)'Pckts' Wrote:
(11-08-2014, 10:14 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: There is no issue on the tiger health, the risks are minimum now and the modern methods to work with the sedate specimens are safer than in past days (remember the Curve of learning).

You are ignoring the fact that the knowledge about the need of tigers in habitat matters came from radiocollaring studies. In fact, tigers don’t need unmolested areas as much as we think. Corbett, Dr Sunquist and Dr Karanth had found several cases of tigers living very near human settlements without conflict, showing that despite human presence (which is inevitable in the present), tigers manage to have normal lives. Conflict arises, of course, but as long as tiger prey is at good level and human retreat from forest areas, tigers will not attack cattle and by extension, humans. Of course, this don't include the destruction (in a industrial way) of the habitat, which is a completely different issue.

Finally, we don’t know where tigers exist by sure. We can infer trough signals and habitat quality, but often, this doesn’t show the full detail. Check for example the huge forests of Cambodia, we can say that there are tigers in the area, but at the end, we have no evidence and most of scientists believe that the population in that area is now at the brink of extinction.

In this case, we need the use of camera traps to corroborate the presence of tigers and this is the correct use of this tool. After we can corroborate that there are tigers in the place, the next step is to radiocollar a few specimens in order to monitor they social life and ecological needs. This is the logic way and the normal patter in Science.

You are ignoring the FACT that tigers have died due directly to being collared.
So there is absolutely a issue of health from it.

Now you think that tigers don't need unmolested forrests to survive?
Look where the highest densisty of tigers exist, Kaziranga. A place that is extremely hard to find a tiger to view, same with corbett, and Kaziranga also is the last place to see the Indian Rhino, do you think that is coincidence?
Compare it to Sumatra, a place completely over ran by humans, forrest are destroyed and tigers have become man killers while being the smallest tigers in exist.
Just because tigers are hardy and smart and are capable of surviving in humans area's doesn't mean thats right. It means they have no choice.
BTW tigers in habitat areas comes from camera traps, not collaring. Hence Bhutan....

Obviously you are ignoring, again, relevant parts of my post.

1. You insist in mentioning that "tigers have died due directly to being collared", but you too ignore the FACT that only FOUR tigers have died in Scientific and supervised studies, which is less than 4% of captured tigers (named Chitwan, Nagarahole, Panna, Sariska and Sundarbans, which has been supervised by international teams and NGO organizations). I don't know the statistics, but it first sight, it seems that is more safe to radiocollar a tiger that have a heart surgery!

*This image is copyright of its original author

Dr Sunquist and others have proved that the tigers are very resilient species and have manage to live with people and survived. Of course, this is not the best option, but for the moment, is the best that we can do, specially in Southern Asia, an area with large people densities and high poverty index.

Places like Kaziranga and Corbett are not free from this. Ward (1997) in his outstanding article "More space for the tigers" in NatGeo magazine clearly states that Kaziranga is a place at war, litteraly. He describe that Kaziranga is a small area with NO buffer zone and the communities with they productions of rice reach the edges of the park. At the other side of the Brahmaputra river are the full fields of pour refugees from Bangladesh, and some of them will be very happy to pass poacher to the park for a few money. Here are the scans of the article about Kaziranga (sorry, is only in Spanish, I will translate it latter):

*This image is copyright of its original author

As you can see, Kaziranga is by any means the "paradise" that you think and this situation is the same at 2014. In fact, there is no such thing as a tiger paradise in ANY part of the world, and you most take in count this before make assumptions that tigers "can and most" live without people. That, at 2014, can't be done, holistic solutions are necessary, programs are been created and should be taken in count. According with Valmik Thapar, India should look to Kenya and Tanzania and learn how to conserve its tigers, but that will take time and great efforts.

The example of Sumatra is incorrect here Pckts, because I clearly mentioned in my previous post (quoted in this post yet) that the destruction in Sumatra is no longer at the same level than that of India. In Sumatra, all is at an Industrial level, in India, it is not at that level yet, and let's hope that the Indian Government finally take a stand, just like Russia, and make clear laws to protect its tigers.

Finally, nobody denies that camera traps are useful to found tigers in "new" habitats, the problem is that this tool have a particular function, and is not that of the radiocollars. Both tools most be used, then you will have good "Tiger science".

Pckts · 12-03-2014, 12:25 AM

(12-02-2014, 08:51 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: Interesting articles and great pictures, BUT none of them is relevant here, because:

1. None of them show that radio collaring tigers is good/bad.
2. None of them show that camera traps serve to other purpose apart from estimate tiger density in order to create core areas to conserve them.

All these articles belong to the topic "Big Cat News", but surely not here.

They are absolutely relevant as they prove that we are able to monitor corridors, tiger individuals, families, tiger density etc. With just camera traps.

I never said Radio Collaring was good or bad, it serves a purpose, but that purpose doesn't outweigh the stress caused on the tigers. There still is nothing I have seen that can benefit a tiger through radio collaring that they can't receive through camera traps.

Collars offer no protection to a tiger, they don't prevent poachers, they don't show us a tigers movements more than a camera trap, they don't show prey or tiger density, they only give us a recent location of a individual tiger, and for what?
So human beings can go investigate it? Has nothing to do with conservation.

GuateGojira · 12-03-2014, 09:40 AM

Radio-collar tigers outside Tadoba too
Vijay Pinjarkar [size=9px]|[/size] Oct 23, 2014, 03.39AM IST

Nagpur: Even as the maiden experiment by the state forest department to radio-collar two tigers in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) has been hailed by experts in the field, it is high time such research is carried out outside protected areas (PAs) where wildcats are becoming victims of man-animal conflict.

After TOI report on October 20, a section of readers claimed that looking into the death of a tigress T4 due to radio collar infection in Panna tiger reserve in MP on September 18, it is a waste of money to place satellite collars on tigers. However, wildlife experts dubbed these comments as immature.

Conservationist Prafulla Bhamburkar says such research is needed more outside Tadoba landscape where 17 villagers have been mauled to death by big carnivores this year. 'Pombhurna tiger, which was shot dead, could have been saved had it been radio-collared," he added.

PCCF (wildlife) Sarjan Bhagat admits that tigers outside PAs need better protection but says as of now there is no proposal to collar them. "We will moot a separate proposal," he said.

Radio collar is one of the best tools to understand tiger behaviour, predation, population and ecology. Not a single tiger died of radio-collaring, because it is just 1% body weight of that species, say experts. If we want to save a species at its population level, we need to understand its ecology using reliable tools.

Panna field director RS Murthy denied that T4 died of collar infection. "The tigress died naturally due to some internal health problem. It will be known once we get clinical reports from respective agencies," Murthy said.

"Radio collars are the best help managers with least invasive observations of any mega carnivore. We are doing it for last five years," Murthy added.

In 2009, a wildlife intelligence report had blamed tiger deaths in Panna on their 'radio collaring', raising questions over the projects to conserve the animal throughout the country.

However, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) director Asad Rahmani says it all depends on who did it and for what purpose? Studying animal movement and ecology by radio-collaring/satellite tracking are well-known methods used all over the world.

"New tracking technology is giving us remarkable results about animal behaviour and movement. So, it is wrong to say that radio-collaring per se is bad. If there is a purpose and clear objective, there is nothing wrong in radio-collaring," said Rahmani.

"It is wrong to say that Panna tigress died due to radio-collaring. If this is the reason, why other animals do not die? Every major operation on human being has some risk. So, should we stop life-saving operations due to the small risk involved?" said Rahmani.

In November 2012, the state wildlife wing had for the first time placed a radio collar on a rescued tigress which was released post treatment at Tass near Bhiwapur. "The collar gave valuable insights into the secretive world of big cats in the wild. Radio-tracking actually helps curb menace of poaching since tiger movement is constantly monitored and the ones which stray or are killed are immediately noticed," says wildlife biologist Vidya Athreya, who placed the collar on the Tass tigress.

Athreya says there will always be accidents but with more and more such scientific activities happening, it will also allow us to improve our skills. "It is likely that the Panna tigress had a wound on her neck which the collar did not allow for healing," Athreya says.

Athreya adds that in a place like Africa, where visibility is good and there are not as many people as in India, you can drive up to the animal, see it clearly and then intervene if the animal has a problem with the collar etc.

"But if you ask me about the scene 10 years back and now, things with respect to understanding, management and the use of new tools have really improved in Maharashtra. I think this is a very good thing," Athreya said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/...912773.cms

GuateGojira · 12-03-2014, 09:48 AM

(12-03-2014, 12:25 AM)'Pckts' Wrote: They are absolutely relevant as they prove that we are able to monitor corridors, tiger individuals, families, tiger density etc. With just camera traps.

I never said Radio Collaring was good or bad, it serves a purpose, but that purpose doesn't outweigh the stress caused on the tigers. There still is nothing I have seen that can benefit a tiger through radio collaring that they can't receive through camera traps.

Collars offer no protection to a tiger, they don't prevent poachers, they don't show us a tigers movements more than a camera trap, they don't show prey or tiger density, they only give us a recent location of a individual tiger, and for what?
So human beings can go investigate it? Has nothing to do with conservation.

No, they are not relevant. None of these articles say nothing about tiger individuals or families. It only states tiger density and corridors, nothing more.

The purpose of radiocollaring tigers is one of the greatest in "tiger science", sadly, for unknown reasons, you are still unable to understand it. The stress issue is practically irrelevant, if the procedure is taken correctly. The animals even returned to they baits to eat and have reproduced normally (Sunquist, 1981).

So much hate against such an important tool is irrational and irrelevant for the scientific community. The opinion of a group of "hippies" are just immature comments, according with experts. Real scientists are those that have uncovered the real life of tigers, not a group of photographs with no idea about what is a scientific study or how to get quantitative data based in statistical analysis. Dr Karanth, Dr Sunquist, Dr Chundawatt and now new scientists like Dr Barlow, Dr Athreya and others agree with this.

Pckts · 12-06-2014, 12:45 AM

Already read that cover up story. The tigeress was found to have maggots infesting its infected wounds on her neck fromt he radio collar.

" The opinion of a group of "hippies" are just immature comments"
This statement ^^^ is absurd.
hahaha

Just keep enjoying all the benefits of camera traps while giving it no credit. Its fine Gaute, I am more convinced than ever the need for camera traps and the absolute rubbish of Radio Collars and the deaths caused by them, the tranq's, the stress put on the animals etc. Hence why there are tons of different types of animals that have all died due to being Tranq'd, or radio collared. Its a joke that humans continue to encroach for the sake of sight seeing.

Login
Email:
Password: Lost Password?
Remember?