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Showing posts with the label wildlife management

Ultimate Test When Cheetahs Face Leopards in Kuno National Park

Cheetahs in Kuno National Park are going to be released in the 748 sq km open forest of the park sometime early in the new year. To begin with the two males- Fredie and Elton -may be released in the first phase followed by others .And as this date approaches, members of the team of international experts monitoring these cheetahs are apprehensive spending anxious moments. So far, Kuno cheetahs are immune from leopards. For the first time, these imported spotted cats will have a faceoff with the local leopards, the top predator of Kuno and also the carnivores like hyenas .You may be knowing that cheetahs brought from Namibia on September 17 have been living in protective 5 sq km enclosures in Kuno with plenty of prey- like spotted deer - and trained people to take care of their well being- mainly health -and the issues related with their adaptation. Cheetah is Smaller Than Leopard In Africa, the home to most of the cheetahs in the worl...

Balloon Safari In Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve Creates Controversy

After four months of monsoon break when Bandhavgarh national park was thrown open for tourists again on October 1, a hot air balloon flying low over core area of the tiger reserve erupted controversy. A member of National Tiger Conservation Authority member Satyendra Tiwari blew the whistle leading to questions whether hot air balloons should be allowed to fly over such a low height. Can Hot Balloon Fly over Core Area ? Some tourists on a tiger safari on gypsies also spotted the balloon. But Tiwari, an NTCA member clicked a picture of the balloon ...

Fate of Lion project unknown midst Cheetah translocation in Kuno

Nobody is talking about this issue. What would be the fate of the much awaited Lion project in Kuno Palpur national park where preparations are in full swing to welcome cheetahs, the fastest animal on the earth. The MP government is tightlipped over the issue and so are the IFS ( Indian Forest Service) community of the state . Eight cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa are expected to be airlifted to Kuno , nestled in Sheopur district about 390 kms away from Bhopal ,in November this year. Five male cheetahs and three females will be donated by Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) of South Africa. Work on to Welcome Cheetah There is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm in the state eversince the Supreme Court approved the project in January 2020.A three-member committee comprising former director Wildlife of India Ranjit Singh, DG of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dhananjay Mohan and DIG, Wildlife, Union ministry of Environment and Forests to guide the ...

Return of ‘Bagheera’ in the Mowgli land of Pench

In the Mowgli land of Central India’s Pench tiger reserve , ‘ Bagheera’ has returned. And this black leopard is attracting the attention of a large number of wildlife tourists. So far only a few lucky people got a chance to have some glimpses of this elusive big cat, mostly wandering around the buffer zone of the jungle and also often visiting the core area. Despite the presence of the star big -cats like Collarwalli, Patdev or L-Mark, there is a lot of buzz in the park about ‘ Bagheera‘ too. Kipling Immortalises Black Panther Rudyard Kipling immortalized the black panther –Bagheera. As a child Kipling lived in India and most of his stories are set in the country, though it is not entirely clear in exactly which part of the country. The jungles that claim to be associated with Kipling stories include Pench National Park located near the district of Seoni. Also read : Like Her Mother in Pench, Patdev Tigress delivers 5 cubs The park is also popularly k...

Like Her Mother in Pench, Patdev Tigress delivers 5 cubs

Pench tiger reserve is celebrating the birth of five cubs thesedays. And this has happened after a long gap of almost 11 years. Wildlife lover were enthralled when they first spotted T4 nicknamed Patdev moving around with her cubs,delivered some time in November last year. The majestic feline seems to be following the path of her mother, the celebrated tigress- Collarwalli . The mom, still the most popular tigress of Pench, has so far delivered 29 cubs in her 17 years’ of life, a record of sorts. With her fourth litter of 5 cubs, T4 has till now delivered 16 cubs. Will she be as fertile as Collarwalli ? Wildlife experts answer in affirmative. She can as she is just 11- year of age. The Crown Princess of Pench Patdev was born in 2010 to Rayakassa male and Collarwalli from her third litter with 5 cubs. After marking her area , T4 settled down in the northeastern side of Kalapahad . But she also started dominating in about a 30 sq km area...

Lonely Panna Tiger Misses Mate While Rearing Four Cubs

Besides playing an exceptional father, this Panna tiger also seems to be showing great emotions for his mate. The tiger is spending long hours at the spot where the tigress was cremated. Just after an hour of cremation of his beloved, the tiger was spotted on the same site- sitting quietly as if missing the mate. In another instance he was again found sitting, for a considerable amount of time, this time at the location where the tigress had died .These are the moments when the tiger tracking team could actually notice it. They feel the tiger is usually moving around the same spots, the place of cremation and the jungle patch where the tigress died on May 15, the culmination of almost two years’ of companionship between the male tiger P243 and the female P213-32. Caring Father, Teaching Life Lessons The exceptional fatherly act by P243 not only caught the attention of the tiger enthusiast all around the globe but also is proving to be fr...

Tiger Checks in a Bandhavgarh Hotel

A luxury resort in Bandhavgarh tiger reserve is hosting an uninvited yet highly sought after guest for the past few days. The guest occupied the sprawling property all alone on May 5 and refused to move out. Elephants were deployed to vacate the hotel but in vain. Devours Buffalo and Quenches Thirst from Pool For the past three days, a 9 year old tiger code named T37 is occupying the hotel. The tiger is seen moving around in the hotel corridors. T-37 peeped into the cottages locked in the absence of tourists and decided to take rest in a veranda. Located near Dhamokhar range of the national park, it is one of the costliest properties of Bandhavgarh where who’s who of India stay during their visit to the park. After the second wave of coronavirus, the tourism activities are stopped in the park. Some time on May 4 or 5, T-37 killed a buffalo and dragged it to the open area of the resort. The tiger was taking his time while consuming the kil...

Jailed in Jungle: Why Wild Tigress Languishes in Enclosure, Needs to Be Probed

Two years ago, two wild tigers were relocated from Madhya Pradesh to Odisha under India’s maiden interstate -tiger translocation programme which failed miserably. The two big cats were shifted to Satkosia tiger reserve in Odisha after its tiger population plummeted from 11 in 2004 to 2 in 2014. One of the big cats Mahavir sent from MP was reportedly killed by poachers while Sundari, the tigress, accused of killing two persons, landed behind barbed wires in a small enclosure raising questions over the wildlife management in the country. Many wildlife experts in India feel that the Satkosia fiasco should be probed and the people responsible for the plight of the national animal should be held accountable. Condemned to Captivity Before Sundari was condemned to captivity in Ghorela enclosure in Mukki range of of Kanha National park, the tigress had already spent an agonizing period of 28 months in cap...

Wire Snares in Maharashtra Jungles Sound Alert

After the death of three tigers in Maharashtra in the third week of March, the government of the Western Indian state is on an alert mode to check the wildlife crime especially the menace of wire snares which are laid to trap the wild animals including the big cats. Two of the three deaths looked suspected cases of poaching where claws of the tigers were also missing. With these three deaths, the tiger mortality count since January 1st this year has gone up to 14.This included two cubs which were killed by tiger named Surya in Umred-Paoni-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Nitin Kakodkar issued directives to the field staff of the forests department to step- up patrolling in view of the Holi celebrations, during which a lot of herbivore poaching is done by deploying wire snares. One of the World Wildlife Fund(WWF) studies reported that these snares are insidious and have become a major contributor to the extintction of anim...

Lesser Florican: MP Banishes the Bird Popular for mid- air Romance

There seems to be no place in Madhya Pradesh for Lesser Florican or Kharmore (Sypheotides) ,one of the most romantic but endangered birds of the planet . The shy bird, popular for it's mid-air courtship gestures ,has been rendered almost homeless by the state government. The State wildlife Board - headed by the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh- recommended last month de-notification of 348.12 sq km area of Sardarpur Kharmoresanctuary in Dhar district, home to Kharmore during its breeding period of monsoon till October. The sanctuary will now be shrunk only to about 16 sq km area. As the bird was being banished, ‘esteemed’ members of the Board looked as helpless as the threatened Florican before the powerful politicians. Though the State Wildlife Boards have the primary task to manage the conservation and protection of wildlife at the State Level, it seems to have worked contradictory to its mandate . There was hardly any voice of dissent from i...

UNESCO's "Hope for the Planet" Cry doesn't Gel with Ken Betwa Project

When Panna was included as the 12th Biosphere Reserve (BR), it was yet another recognition to its critical tiger reserve facing threat from a river linking project and Bunelkhand’s unique ecosystem. “UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme today (October 29) included Panna in India and Fuvahmulah and Addu Atoll (both islands) in the Maldives, to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves'', the UNESCO website said. Sustainability: Hope for the Planets If we can make sustainability work at a local level, and scientifically document how it works, perhaps there is hope for the planet. That is the task UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) was given by its Member States 49 years ago, ’the website quoted ,Guy Broucke, head of Natural Sciences, UNESCO New Delhi. Introducing Panna as the new BR, the UNESCO said “Located in the centre of India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Panna is characterized by forests and marshy vegetation,...

Protect This Wildlife Corridor To Save The Ganges

A simmering man- animal conflict zone- a wildlife corridor spread over almost 1 lakh hectares of forest area - is waiting to explode. The corridor connects two beautiful tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh- the Bandhavgarh tiger reserve (BTR) in Umaria district and the Sanjay -Dubri tiger reserve in Sidhi.As many as 30 tigers jostle for space with over 5 lakh people in the highly fragmented jungle corridor seeking immediate attention of the government and execution of a concrete wildlife management plan. The wildlife corridor : Victim of government apathy The glib -talk –saga of tiger conservation continues and solid conservation works are missing. Protecting tigers in this corridor assumes greater environmental significance. When wildlife conservation works start, human intervention is restricted which leads to various precious environmental benefits. And no price tag can be attached to them . Here, the catchment of two big rivers – Son and Banas-...