Monday, September 28, 2009
Tigers facing survival threat in Naxal areas
Endangered tigers have been facing a bigger threat in Naxal areas in the absence of wildlife protection activities there, a leading NGO has said."While they (extremists) may not be intentionally targeting tigers, they are preventing conservation activities in the regions they control, which may be as much as 30 per cent of the India's tiger range," Geneva-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said.The leading global environment network, representing around 160 countries, points out in a report that India is facing increasing insurgency problems, especially as disaffected tribes have turned against the government and have been supporting groups such as Naxalites.The book titled "Conservation for a New Era", published on behalf of IUCN and released recently, outlines critical issues facing the world in the 21st century.Drawing attention of the global community to save the endangered striped cats, it said Naxalites are a threat to the recovery of tigers in the Asian sub-continent as they "control vast areas of remote forest in central and eastern India -- areas that serve as prime tiger habitat".The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), too, in its latest tiger census report had said that regions with heavy Naxalite presence and influence were the country's worst, and reasons for the fall in the number of tigers in these reserves can be anything -- from poaching to loss of habitat."The presence of insurgence in almost one-third of the country's wildlife areas or tiger habitat are causing disturbance in breeding tiger. It is also leading to poaching.Officials are unable to protect animals and the best example would be Palamu in Jharkhand where due to the Naxal presence the numbers of tiger is falling at drastic rate," says Belinda Wright of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI)."It also makes it impossible to monitor the tiger," she adds.A recently released book "Conservation for a New Era" by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) points out that extremists may not be intentionally targeting tigers but they are preventing conservation activities in the regions they control, which may be as much as 30 per cent of the India's tiger range."India is facing increasing insurgency problems, especially as disaffected tribes have turned against the government and have been supporting groups such as the Maoist guerrillas known as Naxalites," it says.Conservation of big cats remains a priority for the government which has doubled the budgetary allocation for the Tiger Project to Rs 184 crore in 2009-10 from Rs 72 crore in 2008-09."Government is doing its bit. But Naxals are present in seven out of 38 tiger reserves, which means no official tiger census has been conducted for a very long time," says P K Sen, a retired forest official who heads a tiger conservation programme in New Delhi.While adding that the elimination of the extremists is key for tiger conservation, he says, "For the last 9-10 years, not even a single forest official have visited these areas, thereby limiting forest management and development works for conservation."Though the government maintains that at least 52 tigers have died so far this year across the country, the NGOs estimate the toll to be 66 and have attributed the deaths to shrinking habitats, poaching and man-animal conflicts."In the last few months, Uttrakhand in the north and Karnataka in the south have recorded particularly high numbers of tiger deaths," says Wright.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
TIGER ATTACK ON RISE IN SUNDHARBHANS AFTER CYCLONE
A rise in tiger attacks in the Sundarbans mangrove forests of India indicates that the big cats are crossing over from Bangladesh where Cyclone Sidr destroyed much of their habitat, say wildlife activists in West Bengal.
"A large number of tigers and crocodiles have entered into India's side of the Sundarbans after being flushed out by Cyclonic Sidr that ravaged Bangladesh in November last year," Debasis Chakraborty, wildlife crusader and People for Animals (PFA) managing trustee, said.
"A vast area of mangrove forests was affected by that natural disaster leading to a serious displacement of wild animals."
He said a fisherman, Putul Naskar, was dragged away by a tiger at Benipheli forest in the Sundarbans on Sunday morning when he was busy catching crabs from the river.
"This was the ninth tiger attack in the Sundarbans since December last year and the sixth in the monsoon season. The tigers from Bangladesh side crossed the water channel and entered the Sundarbans in West Bengal through the Jhilla point in search of food.
"These tigers are not familiar with the human habitation and are attacking people very frequently," Chakraborty said.
The Sundarbans has a vast area covering 4,262 sq km, including a mangrove cover of 2,125 sq km, in India alone. A larger portion lies in Bangladesh.
Cyclone Sidr in the Bay of Bengal left behind a trail of devastation last year killing over 3,000 people and uprooting a large area of the mangrove forests in Bangladesh.
West Bengal Sundarbans Affairs Minister Kanti Ganguly said: "A good number of tigers might have come to this (India) side in search of food. They are also attacking people living in the deltaic region."
Chakraborty said: "We request all villagers of the Sundarbans not to go out for fishing and collect forest products inside the core area during monsoon, though it's regarded as off-season for tiger attacks.
"This is their (tigers') mating season and they prefer to stay inside the dense forest area. But because of big cat infiltration from Bangladesh the tiger concentration has increased in the Sundarbans bio-sphere," Chakraborty said.
According to reports, an 18-year-old fisherman, Narayan Das, was mauled to death at Kultali in the Sunderbans a few weeks ago.
In another incident, a tiger attacked 45-year-old Jangal Pramanik in Kultali when he was out with a fishing team in the Surjyamoni canal. A tiger suddenly pounced on Pramanik and injured him severely. When other fishermen raised an alarm, the tiger ran away.
A 45-year-old woman was killed in a crocodile attack while catching crabs in a river last week.
A tiger had sneaked into a farmer's kitchen in the Sunderbans, triggering fear among the villagers.
"This kind of behaviour is not common among the Sundarbans tiger. It is very familiar with human habitation and hardly comes to the densely populated areas during monsoon.
"Sundarbans tigers are also experts in catching their prey. But the behaviour of tigers from the Bangladesh side, which were uprooted from their original territory due to Cyclone Sidr, is very unpredictable."
Sunderbans is perhaps the only place in the world where man is not on top of the food chain. The tiger's predatory instincts clash with human nature constantly in the Sundarbans, leading to a deadly battle for survival between the two.
Minister Ganguly said the state government was also planning pig and buffalo farming along the riverbanks in West Bengal's Sundarbans.
"The project would be undertaken to provide food to the tigers and check the rising number of attacks."
"A large number of tigers and crocodiles have entered into India's side of the Sundarbans after being flushed out by Cyclonic Sidr that ravaged Bangladesh in November last year," Debasis Chakraborty, wildlife crusader and People for Animals (PFA) managing trustee, said.
"A vast area of mangrove forests was affected by that natural disaster leading to a serious displacement of wild animals."
He said a fisherman, Putul Naskar, was dragged away by a tiger at Benipheli forest in the Sundarbans on Sunday morning when he was busy catching crabs from the river.
"This was the ninth tiger attack in the Sundarbans since December last year and the sixth in the monsoon season. The tigers from Bangladesh side crossed the water channel and entered the Sundarbans in West Bengal through the Jhilla point in search of food.
"These tigers are not familiar with the human habitation and are attacking people very frequently," Chakraborty said.
The Sundarbans has a vast area covering 4,262 sq km, including a mangrove cover of 2,125 sq km, in India alone. A larger portion lies in Bangladesh.
Cyclone Sidr in the Bay of Bengal left behind a trail of devastation last year killing over 3,000 people and uprooting a large area of the mangrove forests in Bangladesh.
West Bengal Sundarbans Affairs Minister Kanti Ganguly said: "A good number of tigers might have come to this (India) side in search of food. They are also attacking people living in the deltaic region."
Chakraborty said: "We request all villagers of the Sundarbans not to go out for fishing and collect forest products inside the core area during monsoon, though it's regarded as off-season for tiger attacks.
"This is their (tigers') mating season and they prefer to stay inside the dense forest area. But because of big cat infiltration from Bangladesh the tiger concentration has increased in the Sundarbans bio-sphere," Chakraborty said.
According to reports, an 18-year-old fisherman, Narayan Das, was mauled to death at Kultali in the Sunderbans a few weeks ago.
In another incident, a tiger attacked 45-year-old Jangal Pramanik in Kultali when he was out with a fishing team in the Surjyamoni canal. A tiger suddenly pounced on Pramanik and injured him severely. When other fishermen raised an alarm, the tiger ran away.
A 45-year-old woman was killed in a crocodile attack while catching crabs in a river last week.
A tiger had sneaked into a farmer's kitchen in the Sunderbans, triggering fear among the villagers.
"This kind of behaviour is not common among the Sundarbans tiger. It is very familiar with human habitation and hardly comes to the densely populated areas during monsoon.
"Sundarbans tigers are also experts in catching their prey. But the behaviour of tigers from the Bangladesh side, which were uprooted from their original territory due to Cyclone Sidr, is very unpredictable."
Sunderbans is perhaps the only place in the world where man is not on top of the food chain. The tiger's predatory instincts clash with human nature constantly in the Sundarbans, leading to a deadly battle for survival between the two.
Minister Ganguly said the state government was also planning pig and buffalo farming along the riverbanks in West Bengal's Sundarbans.
"The project would be undertaken to provide food to the tigers and check the rising number of attacks."
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
TIGER CENSUS 2009
31 March 2009 - The wildlife census report “Status of Tigers, Co-predators, and Prey in India 2008” submitted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) estimated 1,411 tigers in India’s Protected Areas (PAs), with a maximum 1,657 or a minimum of 1,165 tigers. The report is a scientific estimate of tigers, their prey base and habitat.
WII was commissioned by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Government of India to estimate tiger numbers after the debate surrounding the total number of tigers killed in Sariska Tiger Reserve. "The exaggeration of tiger numbers over the years - the fudging of figures - has meant that the government has been able to avoid reacting to all the other warnings - such as organised wildlife crime and the poaching threat, the loss of all the tigers in Sariska and the Tibet expose," says Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.
Machali, the tigress with her cubs in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve: habitat protection is the key to sustenance of the gene pool. Inviolate spaces offer ideal breeding conditions for the tiger. Pic: Rajasthan Forest Department.
While the report has been critically acclaimed, it is significant more for its thorough and precise documentation of habitat loss for the tiger, than in the enumeration of tigers itself. Equally critically, the report finally buries the older pugmark method of census, which was an alibi for foresters to inflate tiger numbers, given the challenge of prosecuting poachers. “The pugmark method suffers from reliance on experts to identify individual tigers from the characteristics of the pugmarks,” says Dr Y V Jhala, senior faculty and Carnivore Biologist of the Wildlife Institute of India. “The plaster casts of the right rear foot look different on sandy loamy soil like on river beds, from that cast on clayey soil in other landscapes… that is the dilemma of park managers” says Dr Rajesh Gopal, Member Secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. (NTCA)
Jhala led the team of 50 field biologists for the conduct of the largest wildlife census ever undertaken. 88,000 forest staff assisted, according to Jhala. Two levels of data – one at the ground level in tiger beats and other through remote sensing – were combined. The analysis showed that tigers occupy areas where human impacts are minimum; also high tiger densities are achieved only in areas with low human disturbances. “When there is good food there is a higher population of tigers. Night lights signify places that have electricity - centres of urbanisation - it is a very reliable index of the ‘human footprint’ on the planet… Where humans are plentiful wildlife does not survive!” says Jhala.
Substantiating the claim that the tiger is at the head of the faunal spectrum, the report counts atleast 57,419 leopards, 1,34,833 wild dogs, 49,090 Sloth Bears, among carnivores and 69,026 Spotted Deer/Chital 78,861 Sambar (stags/Indian antelopes) and 25,808 Nilgais or (Blue Bulls) among herbivores. These numbers appear to be in line with the prey base theory propounded by renowned wildlife biologist Bangalore-based Ullas Karanth, who is affiliated to the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York.
But Karanth, who had for long criticised the hitherto official pugmark census, remains skeptical. "WII scientists have not produced any scientific publication in which their method is fully described. Only some glossy reports are available at this stage. So at this point I cannot comment further," he says.
The census has counted at least:
1,165 tigers57,419 leopards 1,34,833 wild dogs 49,090 sloth bears 69,026 spotted Deer/Chital 78,861 Sambar (stags/Indian antelopes) 25,808 Nilgais or (Blue Bulls)
In another peer review, Dr John Seidensticker, Conservation Biologist of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Dr Ramona Maraj, Conservation Biologist Canadian Department of Environment, Yukon, have criticised the report. “A substantive deficiency we noted in the Framework for Monitoring Tiger Population trends in India is the absence of tiger mortality monitoring,” they say. High feline mortality especially of cubs has been discounted and not computed in this census.
4 healthy tiger landscapes in India
The WII report says that there are only 4 healthy tiger landscapes in India, which, with ‘inter connectivity and inviolate’ corridors’ can offer long term sustenance of the tiger”. These are:
NE Hills
“The landscapes in the NE Hills and the Brahmaputra plains currently report tiger occupancy in 4230 km2 of forests, supporting 200 tigers; forests though fragmented, are connected through the forests of Bhutan. Gopal says “20 - 25 corridor linkages for the 4 identified tiger landscapes have been drawn up based on the conservation recommendations.”
However, this leaves atleast one NGO in Assam a bit skeptical: “Nothing on the ground has happened. It could be just another report for the state government,” says a bit disappointed Dr Bibhab Thalukdar, the Secretary General of Aranyak, wildlife NGO in Kaziranga Tiger Reserve. Most wildlife activists’ refrain is that camera traps were laid only in places where tiger presence was a certainty. Hence it is not entirely accurate they aver.
Nagarhole-Madumalai-Bandipur-Waynad corridor
This is the region that boasts of the best tiger landscape for long term conservation of the tiger gene pool. “The single largest population of tigers in India is within this landscape comprising the landscape of Nagarhole-Madumalai-Bandipur-Waynad” says the census report, thus consolidation of habitat in this corridor is absolutely critical. It hosts 280 tigers across 10,800 square kms.
It serves as a fine example of managing inter-state tiger reserves for establishing populations that have a good chance of long term persistence and provides a source to repopulate neighbouring forests,” says the report. “The voluntary resettlement of people from Nagarhole with positive collaboration between government and non government agencies in the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve must continue to permanently resolve the human wildlife conflict through a win-win solution” says Praveen Bharghav of Wildlife First in Nagarhole.
“We are now focusing attention about where to deploy the Tiger Protection Force, and we have identified the vulnerable source populations of tigers, after the tiger census report,” says Gopal.
The relocation of tribals from the Mudumulai Tiger Reserve commenced a few months ago, amidst noisy protests. The forest department has the responsibility to facilitate resettlement; with the new tiger conservation guidelines being issued, each adult is entitled to a package Rs.10,00,000 or material resources worth the same amount - including land for relocation and title deeds for housing outside the tiger reserves. Whether all these provisions have been made was the focus of the protests against relocation here.
The Central Indian landscape
The Central Indian landscape has vast stretches of tiger habitat and if connected with the Eastern Ghat landscape it will sustain the tiger gene pool remarkably, rendering wildlife management in the hands of mother nature itself. There is the prospect of seamless contiguity of habitat in: Kanha, Bandhavgarh Pench (47 tigers) and Panna (24 tigers) in Madhya Pradesh, Ranthambore Kuno Palpur on the Rajasthan-MP border (24 tigers), Sariska Tiger Reserve, Palamau Tiger Reserve (contiguous from Bandhavgarh in NE MP to Palamau in Jharkhand), Indravati Tiger Reserve in Chattisgarh (contiguous to Kanha in the NW in MP) to Simlipal in Orissa (20 tigers).
By connecting large PAs in Eastern Ghats with the Central Indian PAs, a very big tiger landscape could emerge; the WII report has overlooked habitat connectivity in the Eastern Ghats landscape," says Asif Siddique of Hyticos, wildlife NGO in Srisailam.
Dr Y V Jhala who led the census team seen tranquilising a tiger in the Kanha Tiger Reserve. Science stepped in where conservation failed to deliver the required results. Pic: Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
Northern Andhra Pradesh has some very thick forests which could possibly be notified as linkages (or corridors) for the Srisailam Nagarjunsagar Tiger Reserve in AP with the Tadoba Andheri Tiger Reserve in Maharastra, which in turn can be connected through corridor notification to Pench Indravati and Simlipal Tiger Reserves.
But Maoist insurgency in most parts of the Central Indian landscape plagues conservation … impeding completion of the census in the Indravati Tiger Reserve. "Advisories have been issued by the NTCA to the state forest departments to link up corridors and a roadmap has emerged; and a time-line has been issued by the NTCA to the state forest departments to deliver the tiger conservation plan," says Gopal.
The Eastern Ghat landscape
The report says that the Eastern Ghat complex is constituted by the Srisailam-Nagarjunsagar Tiger Reserve Andhra Pradesh and supports an estimated population size of 53 in a single contiguous forest block that spread across 15,000 square kms. "Insurgency, biotic pressures, and subsistence level poaching of tiger prey," plague conservation, it points out. The dense forests of this tiger reserve on the Eastern Ghats offers pristine habitat for the entire faunal spectrum of the Royal Bengal tiger. In addition, the tiger in effect protects the unquantified resources hidden in the treasure trove of the biodiversity reserves.
Despite very, very thick forests including crocodile sanctuary, mangrove ecosystems, 4 tiger reserves and impenetrable moist deciduous forests, lack of interconnectivity plagues sustenance of genetic diversity of tigers. The bamboo lobby here is all too powerful defying declaration of reserved forests as buffer zones for the tiger reserves. Inter connectivity offers vast undisturbed habitat. Political will for conservation offers the only hope for the harried Royal Bengal Tiger in its last refuge in India.
An opportunity for redemption, since the Sariska debacle
Since submission of the census report to the Government of India, all tiger reserves have been declared in the financial year 2008-09 as critical tiger habitat, to facilitate speedy relocation of people. 8 new tiger reserves are being notified. In some cases notification have been issued, in some others, demarcation is going on, in some, field directors are yet to be appointed, in some the funding has just been granted -- the new reserves are in various stages of birth pangs. Biodiversity committees have been entrusted with identifying flora and fauna to document peoples' interdependence on forest ecosystems in conformance to the Forest Rights Act.
For the four landscapes mentioned above, “It is upto the state governments now to draw action plans based on the conservation recommendations” says P R Sinha, the director of the Wildlife Institute of India. Consolidation of these 4 landscapes can offer genetic diversity for the highly endangered tiger as it protects tigers and faunal spectrum in inviolate corridors. The tiger and its faunal spectrum need political will in the states, urgently. “We have for the first time a high resolution spatial data set on where India’s tigers are, individual populations, tiger numbers and connectivity with other populations,” says Jhala
WII was commissioned by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Government of India to estimate tiger numbers after the debate surrounding the total number of tigers killed in Sariska Tiger Reserve. "The exaggeration of tiger numbers over the years - the fudging of figures - has meant that the government has been able to avoid reacting to all the other warnings - such as organised wildlife crime and the poaching threat, the loss of all the tigers in Sariska and the Tibet expose," says Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.
Machali, the tigress with her cubs in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve: habitat protection is the key to sustenance of the gene pool. Inviolate spaces offer ideal breeding conditions for the tiger. Pic: Rajasthan Forest Department.
While the report has been critically acclaimed, it is significant more for its thorough and precise documentation of habitat loss for the tiger, than in the enumeration of tigers itself. Equally critically, the report finally buries the older pugmark method of census, which was an alibi for foresters to inflate tiger numbers, given the challenge of prosecuting poachers. “The pugmark method suffers from reliance on experts to identify individual tigers from the characteristics of the pugmarks,” says Dr Y V Jhala, senior faculty and Carnivore Biologist of the Wildlife Institute of India. “The plaster casts of the right rear foot look different on sandy loamy soil like on river beds, from that cast on clayey soil in other landscapes… that is the dilemma of park managers” says Dr Rajesh Gopal, Member Secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. (NTCA)
Jhala led the team of 50 field biologists for the conduct of the largest wildlife census ever undertaken. 88,000 forest staff assisted, according to Jhala. Two levels of data – one at the ground level in tiger beats and other through remote sensing – were combined. The analysis showed that tigers occupy areas where human impacts are minimum; also high tiger densities are achieved only in areas with low human disturbances. “When there is good food there is a higher population of tigers. Night lights signify places that have electricity - centres of urbanisation - it is a very reliable index of the ‘human footprint’ on the planet… Where humans are plentiful wildlife does not survive!” says Jhala.
Substantiating the claim that the tiger is at the head of the faunal spectrum, the report counts atleast 57,419 leopards, 1,34,833 wild dogs, 49,090 Sloth Bears, among carnivores and 69,026 Spotted Deer/Chital 78,861 Sambar (stags/Indian antelopes) and 25,808 Nilgais or (Blue Bulls) among herbivores. These numbers appear to be in line with the prey base theory propounded by renowned wildlife biologist Bangalore-based Ullas Karanth, who is affiliated to the Wildlife Conservation Society of New York.
But Karanth, who had for long criticised the hitherto official pugmark census, remains skeptical. "WII scientists have not produced any scientific publication in which their method is fully described. Only some glossy reports are available at this stage. So at this point I cannot comment further," he says.
The census has counted at least:
1,165 tigers57,419 leopards 1,34,833 wild dogs 49,090 sloth bears 69,026 spotted Deer/Chital 78,861 Sambar (stags/Indian antelopes) 25,808 Nilgais or (Blue Bulls)
In another peer review, Dr John Seidensticker, Conservation Biologist of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Dr Ramona Maraj, Conservation Biologist Canadian Department of Environment, Yukon, have criticised the report. “A substantive deficiency we noted in the Framework for Monitoring Tiger Population trends in India is the absence of tiger mortality monitoring,” they say. High feline mortality especially of cubs has been discounted and not computed in this census.
4 healthy tiger landscapes in India
The WII report says that there are only 4 healthy tiger landscapes in India, which, with ‘inter connectivity and inviolate’ corridors’ can offer long term sustenance of the tiger”. These are:
NE Hills
“The landscapes in the NE Hills and the Brahmaputra plains currently report tiger occupancy in 4230 km2 of forests, supporting 200 tigers; forests though fragmented, are connected through the forests of Bhutan. Gopal says “20 - 25 corridor linkages for the 4 identified tiger landscapes have been drawn up based on the conservation recommendations.”
However, this leaves atleast one NGO in Assam a bit skeptical: “Nothing on the ground has happened. It could be just another report for the state government,” says a bit disappointed Dr Bibhab Thalukdar, the Secretary General of Aranyak, wildlife NGO in Kaziranga Tiger Reserve. Most wildlife activists’ refrain is that camera traps were laid only in places where tiger presence was a certainty. Hence it is not entirely accurate they aver.
Nagarhole-Madumalai-Bandipur-Waynad corridor
This is the region that boasts of the best tiger landscape for long term conservation of the tiger gene pool. “The single largest population of tigers in India is within this landscape comprising the landscape of Nagarhole-Madumalai-Bandipur-Waynad” says the census report, thus consolidation of habitat in this corridor is absolutely critical. It hosts 280 tigers across 10,800 square kms.
It serves as a fine example of managing inter-state tiger reserves for establishing populations that have a good chance of long term persistence and provides a source to repopulate neighbouring forests,” says the report. “The voluntary resettlement of people from Nagarhole with positive collaboration between government and non government agencies in the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve must continue to permanently resolve the human wildlife conflict through a win-win solution” says Praveen Bharghav of Wildlife First in Nagarhole.
“We are now focusing attention about where to deploy the Tiger Protection Force, and we have identified the vulnerable source populations of tigers, after the tiger census report,” says Gopal.
The relocation of tribals from the Mudumulai Tiger Reserve commenced a few months ago, amidst noisy protests. The forest department has the responsibility to facilitate resettlement; with the new tiger conservation guidelines being issued, each adult is entitled to a package Rs.10,00,000 or material resources worth the same amount - including land for relocation and title deeds for housing outside the tiger reserves. Whether all these provisions have been made was the focus of the protests against relocation here.
The Central Indian landscape
The Central Indian landscape has vast stretches of tiger habitat and if connected with the Eastern Ghat landscape it will sustain the tiger gene pool remarkably, rendering wildlife management in the hands of mother nature itself. There is the prospect of seamless contiguity of habitat in: Kanha, Bandhavgarh Pench (47 tigers) and Panna (24 tigers) in Madhya Pradesh, Ranthambore Kuno Palpur on the Rajasthan-MP border (24 tigers), Sariska Tiger Reserve, Palamau Tiger Reserve (contiguous from Bandhavgarh in NE MP to Palamau in Jharkhand), Indravati Tiger Reserve in Chattisgarh (contiguous to Kanha in the NW in MP) to Simlipal in Orissa (20 tigers).
By connecting large PAs in Eastern Ghats with the Central Indian PAs, a very big tiger landscape could emerge; the WII report has overlooked habitat connectivity in the Eastern Ghats landscape," says Asif Siddique of Hyticos, wildlife NGO in Srisailam.
Dr Y V Jhala who led the census team seen tranquilising a tiger in the Kanha Tiger Reserve. Science stepped in where conservation failed to deliver the required results. Pic: Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
Northern Andhra Pradesh has some very thick forests which could possibly be notified as linkages (or corridors) for the Srisailam Nagarjunsagar Tiger Reserve in AP with the Tadoba Andheri Tiger Reserve in Maharastra, which in turn can be connected through corridor notification to Pench Indravati and Simlipal Tiger Reserves.
But Maoist insurgency in most parts of the Central Indian landscape plagues conservation … impeding completion of the census in the Indravati Tiger Reserve. "Advisories have been issued by the NTCA to the state forest departments to link up corridors and a roadmap has emerged; and a time-line has been issued by the NTCA to the state forest departments to deliver the tiger conservation plan," says Gopal.
The Eastern Ghat landscape
The report says that the Eastern Ghat complex is constituted by the Srisailam-Nagarjunsagar Tiger Reserve Andhra Pradesh and supports an estimated population size of 53 in a single contiguous forest block that spread across 15,000 square kms. "Insurgency, biotic pressures, and subsistence level poaching of tiger prey," plague conservation, it points out. The dense forests of this tiger reserve on the Eastern Ghats offers pristine habitat for the entire faunal spectrum of the Royal Bengal tiger. In addition, the tiger in effect protects the unquantified resources hidden in the treasure trove of the biodiversity reserves.
Despite very, very thick forests including crocodile sanctuary, mangrove ecosystems, 4 tiger reserves and impenetrable moist deciduous forests, lack of interconnectivity plagues sustenance of genetic diversity of tigers. The bamboo lobby here is all too powerful defying declaration of reserved forests as buffer zones for the tiger reserves. Inter connectivity offers vast undisturbed habitat. Political will for conservation offers the only hope for the harried Royal Bengal Tiger in its last refuge in India.
An opportunity for redemption, since the Sariska debacle
Since submission of the census report to the Government of India, all tiger reserves have been declared in the financial year 2008-09 as critical tiger habitat, to facilitate speedy relocation of people. 8 new tiger reserves are being notified. In some cases notification have been issued, in some others, demarcation is going on, in some, field directors are yet to be appointed, in some the funding has just been granted -- the new reserves are in various stages of birth pangs. Biodiversity committees have been entrusted with identifying flora and fauna to document peoples' interdependence on forest ecosystems in conformance to the Forest Rights Act.
For the four landscapes mentioned above, “It is upto the state governments now to draw action plans based on the conservation recommendations” says P R Sinha, the director of the Wildlife Institute of India. Consolidation of these 4 landscapes can offer genetic diversity for the highly endangered tiger as it protects tigers and faunal spectrum in inviolate corridors. The tiger and its faunal spectrum need political will in the states, urgently. “We have for the first time a high resolution spatial data set on where India’s tigers are, individual populations, tiger numbers and connectivity with other populations,” says Jhala
Monday, August 10, 2009
TIGER NUMBERS IN SHARP DECLINE
India's population of wild tigers, which wildlife experts have long warned is on the decline, is dramatically lower than previously believed, according to initial results from an exhaustive study of tiger habitats released Wednesday.
The initial results of the study, conducted over the past two years by the government-run Wildlife Institute of India, found that the tiger population in some states may be nearly 65 percent less than experts had thought.
Results were only available for some regions, and a total overall figure is not expected until late this year. But conservationists said the early results indicated the last tiger census — which found about 3,500 tigers — was far too optimistic.
"The results are depressing," said Belinda Wright, director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India and one of the foremost big cat conservationists in the country. "But it's a major step forward that a government study has finally come to terms with this disastrous decrease in tiger numbers."
The initial results of the study, conducted over the past two years by the government-run Wildlife Institute of India, found that the tiger population in some states may be nearly 65 percent less than experts had thought.
Results were only available for some regions, and a total overall figure is not expected until late this year. But conservationists said the early results indicated the last tiger census — which found about 3,500 tigers — was far too optimistic.
"The results are depressing," said Belinda Wright, director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India and one of the foremost big cat conservationists in the country. "But it's a major step forward that a government study has finally come to terms with this disastrous decrease in tiger numbers."
Poaching and encroachment on tiger habitat have savaged India's tiger population, which a century ago was believed to number in the tens of thousands.
The key to protecting the cats now, according to experts who have reviewed the results, is in ensuring tigers are able to hunt, mate and travel between the country's protected reserves, ensuring enough prey for the cats and keeping inbreeding to a minimum.
The key to protecting the cats now, according to experts who have reviewed the results, is in ensuring tigers are able to hunt, mate and travel between the country's protected reserves, ensuring enough prey for the cats and keeping inbreeding to a minimum.
"Our biggest challenge is to conserve these linkages between protected areas," said Rajesh Gopal, secretary-general of the government's Tiger Conservation Authority of India, which also took part in the survey. "Only then can we save the tiger."
The last major tiger census, performed in 2001 and 2002, relied on estimating the cat population by examining footprints. The current study is far more extensive, using cameras "traps" triggered by passing animals, as well as hundreds of wildlife officers tracking the animals through droppings and footprints.
In Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian state thought to be home to a large percentage of the country's tigers, the new results estimated that anywhere from 210 to 340 tigers currently live in and around the state's wildlife preserves — far lower than the 710 estimated in the previous survey.The figures are quite different from what we've seen earlier.
The last major tiger census, performed in 2001 and 2002, relied on estimating the cat population by examining footprints. The current study is far more extensive, using cameras "traps" triggered by passing animals, as well as hundreds of wildlife officers tracking the animals through droppings and footprints.
In Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian state thought to be home to a large percentage of the country's tigers, the new results estimated that anywhere from 210 to 340 tigers currently live in and around the state's wildlife preserves — far lower than the 710 estimated in the previous survey.The figures are quite different from what we've seen earlier.
In 2001, the U.S. National Geographic Society estimated that 5,000 to 7,000 Bengal — or Indian — tigers existed in the wild, about half in India.
However, conservationists believe official estimates of tigers in the wild are grossly exaggerated and the true figure may be closer to 2,000 — or as little as several hundred. The current study, when complete, will shed light on the actual number.
However, conservationists believe official estimates of tigers in the wild are grossly exaggerated and the true figure may be closer to 2,000 — or as little as several hundred. The current study, when complete, will shed light on the actual number.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
COUNTRY SIDE...
Have you ever thought of living out in the country side? Rolling hills with woods all around, a lake by your home and meadows of green grass as far as the eye can see. Would you like to live in a place like that? Can you imagine what fun it will be, just you and your family and an abundance of nature?
Have you read Heidi and the life she led in similar surroundings, tending to goats, eating freash cheese and drinking milk and sleeping on a bed of hay? It can be alot of fun, away from the traffic and pollution of the city, and away from your office,school and all the tensions.
When you live in a log cabin near a lake, take time to notice the trees turn a flaming red orange in autumn. A beautiful sight indeed! Such clean and pristine surroundings attract a number of birds. The morning dew, the chirping birds, the gentle breeze, the shaking leaves-all so poetic, and calming....
We must live in a place like this atleast for a few days and learn to admire nature. Nature has given us so much. Take time to stop by, and admire the trees and the meadows and the lakes and you are sure to return to your school, college or office happier and full of energy to continue with all the activities.
So do plan a trip to the countryside and feel the difference.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
THE TIGER CATCHER-Ziaur Rehman
"वोह किस्से और होंगे जिन्हें सुनकर नींद आती है,
कलेजा थाम लोगे जब सुनोगे दास्ताँ हमारी"
What do say about a man who runs after a man -eater tiger with nothing but a blanket in hand and captures it too? Courage incarnate,a hero or simply crazy?
I have no words to describe him. If you ever visit ASSAM STATE ZOO and walk down to have a look at the splendid looking animal-THE ROYAL BENGAL TIGER, the introductory note outside the cage would inevitably have one line-'Captured by Ziaur Rehman".Soon, the initial admiration for the beast would shift towards the captor and remain stupefied there. How a man can achieve such an impossible task, not once or twice but over and over again?
Rehman was often hailed as the jim Corbett of Assam but the comparison is not correct. Unlike the British hunter and environmentalist, Rehman preferred to capture tigers, rather than kill or maim them. In fact, he never considered an animal a man-eater. It was circumstances that forced a tiger to relish human flesh.
Statistics have it that he caught about 65 man-eaters, both tigers and leopards, with minimum paraphernalia. The last time he caught such an animal was in 2002 with just a blanket.
Of course, in his fifty years career as a hunter he is believed to have gunned down 40 man-eaters. The killing happened under extreme provocation, only when nature left him with no other option.
After all, for somebody who caught his first tiger at the age of 14 by offering himself as a bait to save his village folk and cattle from being devoured by a royal bengal tiger, he was in sync with his surroundings, the nature he grew up in.
Alas, unlike Jim Corbett, he could not wield his pen as mightly as he did with his proverbial 'sword'. Now that the hero is no more with us(he passed away on April 27 at the age of 67), his amazing hunting stories will remain with us like folk tales.
Friday, July 24, 2009
YOU MUST READ IT
Some Intresting Facts About Zebra:-
* Did you know that zebra can't see the colour orange.
*they are also called "Africa's pianted ponies".The early greeks called them horse tigers.
*zebra can turn there ears in alomost every direction.
*A zebra's ears reflects its mood.When it is frightened its ears are pushed forward.When angry its ears are pulled back.When surveying area for predators,zebra will stand in an alert position with their ears erect.
*Zebra in herd might all look alike,but their strip patterns are as distinctive as human fingure prints.
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