When Aasha gave birth to three cubs in one of the enclosures of Kuno national park - there was good news and bad news. The good news is that this is the second litter of cheetah on Indian soil after Siyaya, another Namibia cheetah, gave birth to four cubs in March 2023 and that the animal seems to have acclimatized further in India conditions. Birth in captivity will also enhance their chances of survival. The three newborns from Aasha have also increased the number of cheetahs in India. The bad news is that like Siyaya's cubs, they too are born within the confines of a boma and would not get the environmental conditions required to survive in the wild. They would also be reared up by Aasha in the enclosure -safe from predators like leopards. But what does this mean? Kuno Awaits Cheetah Birth in Open Forest Cheetahs were translocated to India with a purpose. The Cheetah action plan envisages saving, conserving and developing India's grasslands .The reason for choosing cheet
Mystery shrouds the death of a radio –collared breeding
tigress in Panna national park. Tracked and monitored 24X7 through the radio
collar around her neck, the tigress, code named P213, was recovered three days
after the death on June 28. Decomposed carcass was found lying in the forest
patch of the core area of the tiger reserve where the feline was born about a
decade ago. Known as the queen of the Panna, P213 was progeny of T2, the
tigress rehabilitated from Kanha National park as a part of the reintroduction
of the big cats in this national park, known for wonderful wildlife.
On June 28, when P213 strong stench of the tigress carcass drew
the attention of the park authorities, the body had already decomposed.
With their faces wrapped by cloth, the park employees placed the body of the
‘queen' over a piece of plastic. The accompanying veterinarians found the
internal organs were eaten by the wild animals. There was hardly any body part
left to be sent for further analysis to ascertain the reasons behind the death.
Still, a piece of the carcass was sent for forensic analysis. The whole
episode had put a big question mark over the wildlife conservation in the park.
Poaching? No, says park authorities.
However, it is feared that “nothing much is going to be revealed
“ by the forensic analysis . Even otherwise, the hands of lab technicians are
full of work because of various corona virus related works going on in the lab,
park authorities said. They believe there was no foul play in the death of
P213. “Fight with a male tiger seems to be the cause behind the death”, park
authorities believe wildlife protection work is headed in the right direction
in the park . They said they found some telltale signs of
“animal conflict” on the jungle patch between Talgaon and Mahuamod inside
the core area. They also found that the body was “dragged”. There was no
case of poaching as there were no marks of injury or bullet , they said
.But the million dollar question was how the staff monitoring the tiger by its
collar missed all the signals. Is proper monitoring of the tigers taking place
in the forest or 24X7 monitoring is a farce .Wildlife lovers are apprehensive
because of the poaching cases of tigers in the park before 2008 leading to
death of all the big cats. This was followed by the tiger reintroduction
programme and P213 was born. After six litters in the last one decade, a
large number of tigers are believed to be the descendants of this tigress.
Mockery of Monitoring?
A radio collared tiger is monitored round the clock in three
shifts, 8 hour each. The process of tracking a tiger by radio
collar is also monitored by the field director among other officials
managing the park. Every signal emanating by the collar has a meaning.
But authorities said that of late some radio collars have been emanating false
mortality signals. “ When there is no movement in the collar for six
hours- generally the collar continues to shake as the tiger
walks , runs or even when it rests and there is movement of the
neck- it means it is a mortality signal”, they explain. But recently
when such signals are received and the staff rush to the spot , they find
the tiger alive and kicking, a collar tracking team member said. “ It has
happened several times leading to confusion”, they said. They also
said that even when a dead tiger is dragged, the motion of the dead body leads
to shaking of the collar giving the impression that the tiger is
alive. However, many experts “ rubbishes” this theory. “This is
nonsense”, they said. They said that the whole issue needs a thorough probe and
the entire tiger monitoring of Panna tiger reserve should be
put under scanner. Raising doubts over the sincerity of
monitoring, they also want to know whether the tiger collars used
in Panna are “ VHF or those Satellite collars.”
Highest tiger deaths in 12 years in MP
In the last 8 years between 2012 to 2019, Madhya Pradesh
reported highest number of 173 deaths of tigers, 38 of them were cases of
poaching, 94 cases were put under the category of natural deaths, 19
still investigated and under scrutiny, six due to the unnatural causes
and 16 seizures- where a tiger is presumed dead on the basis of body
parts seized by authorities. Madhya Pradesh also has the highest number of 526
tigers in the country.
IN all there were as many as 750 tigers have died in the country
in the 8 year period between 2012 and 2019, poaching was one
of the causes. The highest casualties of 173 were reported from Madhya
Pradesh alone. According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority
(NTCA) “natural causes “ were the reason behind 369 tiger
deaths, 168 due to poaching, 70 deaths were under scrutiny and 42 due to
unnatural reasons and this include accidents or conflicts events. There
was also seizure of 101 big cats (during the eight year period between 2012 and
2019 by different authorities across the country. Environment, Forest and
Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar had in December said that tiger
population in the country had increased by 750 in the last four years from
2,226 to 2,976. "Now the tiger count is 2,976. We must be proud of our
whole ecological system. Tigers have increased by 750 in the last four
years," Javadekar had informed the Rajya Sabha.
Mystery behind the death of Panna queen should be uncovered
The tiger mortality data revealed by the NTCA also suggests
that a large number of tiger deaths continued to be “ under
scrutiny” for a long period. In the past one year or so, two big
cats- one each a tiger and a leopard – have died. However, the reasons behind
their deaths are still unknown. But Panna’s queen should get justice and the
monitoring of radio collars should be strengthened.
Nice article...
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