The International Tiger Conservation Forum aims to double numbers

-  News Leave a Comment

Governments of the 13 countries where tigers still live aim to agree moves that could double numbers of the endangered big cats within 12 years.

The International Tiger Conservation Forum in St Petersburg will discuss proposals on protecting habitat, tackling poaching, and finance.

About 3,000 tigers live in the wild – a 40% decline in a decade. There are warnings that without major advances, some populations will disappear within the next 20 years.

Five prime ministers are due to attend … Read More

Translocated tiger found dead in Sariska

-  News Leave a Comment

A five-year-old male tiger, translocated from Ranthambore to Sariska in June 2008, on Monday was found dead within the Sariska Tiger Sanctuary by a team of Rajasthan forest officials on the trail of another four-year-old tiger “missing” since Friday.

The ambitious project to revive Sariska’s tiger population, which lost all its tigers by 2005, began in June 2008 when a tiger was translocated from Ranthambore National Park (RNP) to Sariska in a helicopter. Since then, five tigers have been translocated … Read More

Leopard Poachers Convicted to Six Years Imprisonment

-  News Leave a Comment

Katni, Madhya Pradesh: Shri A.A. Ansari, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Katni, today sentenced two poachers, Ittu Baiga, Bahilal Baiga to rigorous imprisonment of six years and a fine of Rs. 10,000 each under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. The third accused Iqbal (alias Atiq Ahmed), is still absconding and his trial is still pending.

On 25 June, 2009, the three poachers had poisoned a water-hole in the Dhimarkheda range of Katni division with an organo-phosphate pesticide (phosphamidan) which led to … Read More

Centre team aghast at Palamau Tiger Reserve neglect

-  News Leave a Comment

Ranchi, Oct. 22: A national team visiting the Palamau Tiger Reserve has castigated Jharkhand for not being serious about its upkeep, citing stark mismanagement and a severe staff crunch as among the many testimonials to the indifference of successive state governments.

While senior officials of the reserve, including director Paritosh Upadhyay, cited delays in sanctioning funds as the primary reason for all problems, the team, constituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority of India (NTCA), wasn’t impressed.

“Despite the problems … Read More

Black Magic Behind Illegal Owl Trade in India

-  Articles Leave a Comment

New Delhi, India, 2nd November 2010 — Use of owls in black magic and sorcery driven by superstition, totems and taboos is one of the prime drivers of the covert owl trade, finds a TRAFFIC India investigation into the illegal trade, trapping and utilization of owls in India. TRAFFIC India’s report entitled “Imperilled Custodians of the Night” was launched today by Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests at his office in New Delhi.

Hunting of and trade in … Read More

40 new mining leases granted near Sariska

-  News Leave a Comment

JAIPUR: The beauty of the Aravalli-flanked Sariska Reserve may soon be a thing of past with Rajasthan government granting 40 new mining leases in the eco-sensitive zone, something that’ll leave the area pock-marked with quarries and pose a threat to an ambitious tiger rehab project.

The government sanctioned the leases on Tuesday on a plea that Aravalli range, where stone mining had been sanctioned, had contours less than 100 feet, which is not considered as a hill as per state … Read More

Kaziranga National Park to be extended

-  News Leave a Comment

The Assam government is set to complete the legal process for extension of the Kaziranga National Park from the present 430 square kilometres to double the area. The State’s forest and tourism minister, Rockybul Hussain, said the government was expeditiously trying to settle the land acquisition process for the extension so that animals, including the prized one-horned rhinos, were better protected.

Although the park has already more than 800 sq. km. area, it was not legally sanctioned thus preventing the … Read More

The male tiger that intruded into the Keoladeo National Park no hurry to leave

-  News Leave a Comment

The male tiger that intruded into the Keoladeo National Park bird sanctuary near Bharatpur in Rajasthan this past Sunday is seemingly enjoying his stay and is in no hurry to leave. The animal, now confirmed as T-7 of Ranthambhore National Park, which announced his arrival in Keoladeo with the killing of a blue bull, has over the past two days hunted a wild boar and a calf of feral cattle and fed on the former ignoring the calf. Though the … Read More

International Efforts Save Dugongs, The World’s Last Remaining Mermaids

-  News Leave a Comment

UN Conference adopts a new conservation strategy to protect the sea cow

Bonn/Abu Dhabi, 7 October 2010 – Dugongs are believed to have been at the origin of mermaid legends when spotted swimming in the water from a distance. Now the remaining populations of this seemingly clumsy sea mammal, commonly known as a sea cow, are at serious risk of becoming extinct within the next 40 years.

At an international meeting this week on dugongs convened by the Convention on … Read More

Camera trapping reveals wildlife rarely seen in Pilibhit

-  News Leave a Comment

The Pilibhit Territorial Forest Division forests are spread over an area of 700 sq. km. They are a part of the Terai Arc landscape that stretches for over 800 km between the Rivers Yamuna in the west and Baghmati in the east (click image at bottom). Pilibhit’s forests are strategically located in the landscape and connect India’s Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and Nepal’s Suklaphanta National Park through the Lagga Bagga forests. This forest division is in the process of being declared … Read More

Growing Elephant Deaths in Orissa Raise Alarm

-  Articles Leave a Comment

BHUBANESWAR: In the last 19 years in Orissa, 231 elephants fell victim to poachers while 166 were killed in accidents and 173 more died from natural causes, says a wildlife NGO. While the government gives more conservative estimates, experts say there is enough cause for alarm.

Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of NGO Wildlife Society of Orissa , who gave IANS the figures, said at least 155 of the elephants died due to electrocution in over 10 years.

“Immediate measures are required … Read More

Three leopard skins seized in Himachal Pradesh

-  News Leave a Comment

With the assistance of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), the HP police succeeded in seizing three leopard hides, including one of a cub, from three accused with each possessing a leopard hide from tehsil Sangrah of district Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh.

One of the accused, Mahindra Singh from village Kajwan of the area, is a Government school headmaster.… Read More

Railways and West Bengal govt. to declare Railway stretch as ‘elephant corridor’

-  News Leave a Comment

The Railways and the Wildlife officials of both the West Bengal government and Centre today unanimously agreed to declare the entire 164-km stretch between Siliguri and Alipurdiar on the North East Frontier Railway as an “elephant corridor” and put a speed restriction of 45 kmph on all the trains – day and night.

Both the sides formulated and agreed on a number of other steps to prevent recurrence of such animal dashing by speeding trains, official sources said.

On Wednesday … Read More

Leonardo DiCaprio to help save India’s tigers

-  News Leave a Comment

NEW DELHI — Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio will put his fame to work to raise global awareness about India’s dwindling number of tigers, an official said Saturday.

DiCaprio and India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh met at a reception Friday in New York organised by the Coalition of Rainforest Nations, an inter-governmental organisation.

“The actor met the minister and has expressed his interest to play a crucial role in sensitising the global community to the cause of the Indian tiger,” a … Read More

Seven elephants die after speeding train hits herd

-  News Leave a Comment

Incident once again raises questions over movement of trains along the elephant corridor.

Seven elephants of a herd died after being hit by a goods train in the Banarhat area of Jalpaiguri district (West Bengal) on Wednesday night.

While four were killed on the spot, the rest died on Thursday. The dead include a sub-adult and two juvenile elephants, Divisional Forest Officer (Wild Life II) Sumita Ghatak told The Hindu over telephone.

The incident has once again raised questions over … Read More