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Showing posts from October, 2022

Cheetahs In Kuno National Park : Future Tense !

Now a team of international scientists and biologists have questioned the “incomplete” cheetah action plan with an unscientific approach relying on “ decade-old flawed projections from Namibia”. Making a scathing attack on the translocation project of the iconic species in Kuno National Park , 8 scientists and conservationists write in an international journal that this may lead to “human –cheetah conflict. They “advised” to “prepare a revised science based” action plan. The Great Cheetah Divide The Cheetah Introduction Action Plan developed by the Wildlife Institute of India ( WII ) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority ( NTCA ) and of the Union ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFC&C). Many experts from Namibia and South Africa have supported the plan. As controversy followed the cheetah translocation in Kuno national park, 8 cheetahs were released by the prime minister of India Na...

Urban Tigers In Bhopal Residential Areas, A wake-Up Call To Govt

A new tiger is likely to fill-up the space created by the tiger captured in sprawling campus of Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in the state capital of Bhopal located in the Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Presence of the big cat in the regional engineering college created panic among the students who were asked to vacate the hostels and return only after October 30. Though everybody should have been relieved after the big cat was caught, the forest department realized that not one but two tigers were prowling the campus. One of them is still roaming around somewhere near and may return soon. Catching the tiger is not the solution as the source population lives in nearby Ratapani sanctuary waiting for upgradation of its status to a tiger reserve for the last 14 years. Just do it, tigers of this sanctuary seems to be telling the government. Urban Tigers Creating Territory In Concrete Jungle A full...

Why Cheetahs in Kuno National Park Are Linked with International Ivory Trade ?

Controversy on India’s alleged compromise on its stand against the ivory trade to facilitate cheetah translocation refuses to die . It started long before Namibian cheetahs landed in India and released in Kuno National Park on September 17. After the recent media reports on the issue, the Union environment ministry issued a denial. It said “a news report on Namibia seeking India's support for lifting a UN ban on trade of ivory as part of the cheetah deal "largely relies on speculation, hearsay and not on facts". But knowledgeable sources stood to the "compromise" theory. Let’s find out why the cheetah translocation issue is linked with elephant poaching and internaional ivory trade. Why Ivory Trade was Banned Huge quantity of Ivory is stockpiled in Namibia along with some other African nations. The ivory was confiscated after poaching of elephants in several African countries. The number of wild elephants dropped dramatically acro...

Shooting In Valmiki Tiger Reserve: Why More Tigers are Turning Into "Pests"

Shooting of a tiger in Bihar's only national park, Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR), shocked the nation earlier this month. It was also a cause of concern for the conservationists. This was another case of increasing man- tiger conflict as more tigers turned “pests” necessitating their elimination . In the last three years, 125 people have died in the conflict with the cats. If I put this into perspective in the backdrop of increasing tiger population but decreasing forest cover and prey base outside the protected areas,the situation is alarming. Huge Human Population Pressure on VTR In the VTR, where the young tiger of about 3 year of age was shot dead by special task force of Bihar police in a marathon hunting operation involving about 400 personnel, the number of tigers has gone up from 10 in 2006 to over50 in 2022. In the same period, anthropogenic or human pressure has also gone up manifold around the park and its buffer. A recent study - ...

Controversies Chase Cheetahs In Kuno National Park

Controversies involving cheetah translocation in Kuno national park refuse to die down. Amidst government denial of cheetah pregnancy reports in a section of media, experts have raised questions over “alleged negligence on the part of Cheetah Conservation Foundation (CCF) for its failure to detect the pregnancy”. But Dr Laurie Marker of the CCF has been quoted by Indian media that,” This is true (the pregnancy) , she may be pregnant. We cannot say for sure, but it is believed so, and this would be her first litter”. “This amounts to utter negligence”, says experts and India researchers. “How could CCF put an animal at risk? If the cheetah named Aasha, was pregnant, why did they put the pregnant animal at risk by putting her under stress first by tranquilizing a number of times, a long journey from Namibia to India under sedation and then release in new environs”.Eight cheetahs ...

Urban Tigers On The Prowl in Bhopal

Two sub- adult tigers, now more than 24 months’ of age, seem to have started exploring the city of Bhopal. On October 3 night, one of them explored the sprawling campus of a regional engineering college located on a hillock in Bhopal. The tiger sighting led to panic. In the adjoining hostels, students were advised to stay indoors. For the last over a year or so, these tigers have already been accompanying their mother as the trio roam the city outskirts. Termed as urban tigers by the state forest department, there are as many as six resident tigers of Bhopal. In all there are 18 tigers moving about in a forest corridor near Bhopal and one third of them are now city residents – born and brought up in the jungles near Bhopal. There seems to be no action plan with the government which apparently awaits some major man-animal conflict in the tiger movement area. Exploring New Territory Now the forest department has placed a cage to trap the tiger in...

Cheetah Revives Hopes Of Wolf Howling

What is common between a tiger and wolf? Their population in India is almost similar and so is their level of threat –endangered. Despite the highest level of protection and a project to save tiger, their number was 2967 in the last census in 2018. There are about 3100 wolves left in India. Experts believe that if they are not protected, the Indian wolves may vanish like their grassland cohabitant cheetahs in the past. But now the introduction of cheetahs in Kuno national park of Madhya Pradesh has revived the hopes for the protection of their habitat – savannahs of India. However, there are questions and concerns how protecting the habitat in Kuno would protect other grass and shrub lands of the country. And there seems to be no answers. Poor Wolf, Doesn’t Howl - Whines Over the years, a mythical wolf silhouette howling at the full moon created a dark and dangerous image of the carnivore now struggling for survival. But why does a wolf howl? “...