Illegal Wildlife Hunting and Trade in Tamenglong, Manipur

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Located in the northeastern state of Manipur, Tamenglong is home to several species of endangered wildlife like Hoolock Gibbons, Serows, Chinese Pangolins and Clouded Leopards, among others. Rampant illegal hunting in the region’s villages have led to a rapid decline of biodiversity. Birds and animals (including freshwater turtles) are mercilessly hunted down for trade. This includes outright sale of bushmeat (birds, pangolin, civet, porcupine, squirrel, python, deer, turtle) in local markets for human consumption. Also, Tamenglong seems to be a … Read More

Electro-fishing, Loktak Lake, Manipur

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Electro-fishing (passing electricity through water to catch fish) is a popular method to stun fish and study them. When performed correctly, it usually does not kill the fish or cause any long-term damage to them. However, local fishermen use a crude version of this method to kill fish in lakes and streams in many regions of India. Often, diesel run generators, or worse, illegal use of overhead electric lines of the power grid is used to kill fish.

This image … Read More

Chinese Pangolin, Tamenglong Market, Manipur

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We are passionate conservationists from Tamenglong, Manipur. We would like to report the rampant trapping, hunting and sale of wildlife in Tamenglong and its neighbouring villages. We have seen monkeys, pythons, Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla — featured here) , great barbets, civets, leopard cats, Asian forest tortoises and many other species of wildlife for sale in these markets. Many of these species are on the endangered list.

The concerned authorities are turning a blind eye towards this very critical … Read More

The Manipur Brow-antlered Deer in the World’s Only Floating National Park

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Thanks to a content sharing agreement with Livemint, we are able to bring some interesting conservation articles authored by Ananda Banerjee.

The dugout canoe glided through a narrow water channel, surrounded by tall reeds. We were a small group of birders, perched precariously on the canoe as the boatman negotiated the bends and the reeds. Bird calls filled the air, though we couldn’t see any through the thick sea of grass. It wasn’t just birds that we were there to … Read More

Another Amur Falcon Migratory Season Begins

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The first Amur Falcons have started arriving in the Northeast, and in Nagaland. The local communities in various parts of the state have been eagerly awaiting the birds in the last couple of years — to welcome them as honoured guests, and to provide them with safe passage.

For the last two years, the Amur Falcon conservation efforts in Pangti and Sungro villages in Wokha district of Nagaland have passed off successfully in a remarkable conservation turnaround. In 2013 and … Read More

Rare Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant Rescued In Manipur And Handed Over To Zoo

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Residents of Pumlen, a part of Loktak lake in Bishnupur district, Manipur have caught a male nongin (Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant). A local MLA has paid Rs 1000 for the bird and handed it over to the Manipur zoological gardens. The nongin is the state bird of Manipur, and its discovery for the first time in the valley has brought cheers from wildlife officials. The forest department has so far collected 14 nongins by encouraging locals not to kill the birds. … Read More

The Manipuri Brow-antlered Deer (Sangai) Habitat Facing Degradation

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The Manipuri Brow-antlered Deer or ‘sangai‘ or ‘dancing deer’, a critically endangered species of deer, which lives in a unique floating habitat is facing a threat of extinction as the floating biomass (or ‘phumdis’) on which it walks has been steadily decreasing in buoyancy and thickness over the last few years. As a result, Sangai face death from drowning as the phumdis may not be able to support its weight. This has also restricted the mobility … Read More

Leopard skin, skulls and other animal parts seized at military checkpost in Chandel, Manipur

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Personnel of the Assam Rifles intercepted a taxi trying to dodge a military checkpost at Chandel in Manipur and found 301 kg of Pangolin Shells, a skin and skulls of leopards and 19 kg of bones of other rare animals. The driver of the vehicle was a resident of Moreh, a border town in Chandel, which is infamous for being a corridor for animal organ smuggling to South East Asia. The Assam Rifles also found 2,32,000 pills that were being … Read More