Story/place-Orissa.
Place: Bhubaneswar:
Officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) have asked the Orissa Wildlife Department to inquire whether a local TV reporter incited villagers to chase and kill a male leopard that had accidentally strayed into a forest plantation near Bhubaneswar early in the morning on Thursday.
A one-and-a-half-year-old male leopard had strayed into a Forest Department plantation, located on a high sandbar on Kuakhia riverbed when it was spotted by people of Marichia village under Bhubaneswar panchayat samiti. Acting on the complaint of a member of National Board for Wildlife, Biswajit Mohanty, NTCA officials asked the state government to inquire into the incident.
Wildlife officials said the animal was trying to escape when the villagers stoned it to death. “The leopard was scared when some villagers spotted it. Though the local people informed the wildlife officials in Nandankanan zoological park, the animal was stoned to death by villagers just about the time when Nandankanan people reached the spot. The animal was hiding behind the tree plantation,” said Jayanta Kumar Das, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Bhubaneswar city division.
source-indianexpress.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
Friday, January 28, 2011
Six booked for killing leopard
Story/place-Bhubaneswar.
TNN, Jan 14, 2011,
BHUBANESWAR: A day after a mob killed a leopard on the outskirts of the city, forest officials on Friday registered cases against six persons for killing a Scheduled I' animal. They were booked under different sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Preliminary investigation revealed that six persons took part in the killing. "A detailed probe is currently on," DFO Jayant Dash said. "Cases, if necessary, will be registered against others found involved in the crime," he said.
The DFO could not, however, throw any light on the area from where the animal came and how it strayed into the riverbed, which is located not far from the village. "The male adult leopard did not enter the village. It hid in the bushes in the river bank. The animal got irritated only after some villagers shouted and threw stones at it, forcing it to run for its life. In the process, the leopard came face to face with the villagers who barred its flight and were wounded. The villagers finally overpowered it and beat it to death," the DFO said.
Dash said there had been no reports of leopard attacks in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar till date. "From the circumstances it indicates that the leopard was not a man-eater. It turned hostile only after it was disturbed by all that noise and the crowd of angry villagers," he said.
The residents of Gandarpur village, however, maintained that it was the animal that attacked villagers and that the killing was only in self-defence. "It was only after we heard the screams that we rushed to the spot. On reaching the location, I found my son and another persons, both badly wounded, trying to fight the animal in self-defence. Had we not reached there in time, the animal would have mauled them. My son, Chitrasen, was bleeding heavily," said Ganesh Padhiary. "We are not animal killers. When we heard the leopard attacking people, we rushed in to save them," he added. "Those alleging that we killed the animal on purpose are not aware of what happened on location. We had no option but to kill the animal," he added.
According to the post mortem report by the OUAT, the animal died of brain haemorrhage. "The animal suffered severe head injuries, leading to profuse bleeding from its mouth and nose. Its lungs were also damaged due to heavy blows to its rear limbs," the report stated.
source-timesofindia.indiatimes.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
TNN, Jan 14, 2011,
BHUBANESWAR: A day after a mob killed a leopard on the outskirts of the city, forest officials on Friday registered cases against six persons for killing a Scheduled I' animal. They were booked under different sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Preliminary investigation revealed that six persons took part in the killing. "A detailed probe is currently on," DFO Jayant Dash said. "Cases, if necessary, will be registered against others found involved in the crime," he said.
The DFO could not, however, throw any light on the area from where the animal came and how it strayed into the riverbed, which is located not far from the village. "The male adult leopard did not enter the village. It hid in the bushes in the river bank. The animal got irritated only after some villagers shouted and threw stones at it, forcing it to run for its life. In the process, the leopard came face to face with the villagers who barred its flight and were wounded. The villagers finally overpowered it and beat it to death," the DFO said.
Dash said there had been no reports of leopard attacks in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar till date. "From the circumstances it indicates that the leopard was not a man-eater. It turned hostile only after it was disturbed by all that noise and the crowd of angry villagers," he said.
The residents of Gandarpur village, however, maintained that it was the animal that attacked villagers and that the killing was only in self-defence. "It was only after we heard the screams that we rushed to the spot. On reaching the location, I found my son and another persons, both badly wounded, trying to fight the animal in self-defence. Had we not reached there in time, the animal would have mauled them. My son, Chitrasen, was bleeding heavily," said Ganesh Padhiary. "We are not animal killers. When we heard the leopard attacking people, we rushed in to save them," he added. "Those alleging that we killed the animal on purpose are not aware of what happened on location. We had no option but to kill the animal," he added.
According to the post mortem report by the OUAT, the animal died of brain haemorrhage. "The animal suffered severe head injuries, leading to profuse bleeding from its mouth and nose. Its lungs were also damaged due to heavy blows to its rear limbs," the report stated.
source-timesofindia.indiatimes.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
Solar fencing to contain rampaging wild boars
Story/place-Orissa
Friday, January 14, 2011,
Kendrapara (Orissa), Jan 14 (PTI) To prevent theincreasing wild boar menace at villages surrounding theBhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and subsequent retaliation byvillagers, the Forest department here has decided to ring thesanctuary with solar-powered fencing.
Buzz up!
There has been, of late, a spate of killing of wild boarswho invade the villages to feed on crops and vegetable plantsresulting in a man-animal conflict.
The animals also in their turn chase and assaultvillagers whenever they see them in their vicinity. Over adozen persons are reported to have been attacked by theanimals recently.
"It is sort of a war of attrition," a Forest Departmentofficial observed.
The villagers had even taken some Forest Departmentpersonnel hostage to register their protest, alleging that thedepartment was lax in preventing the boars from straying intohuman habitations.
Forest Department sources said the shock-inducing fenceshave already come up in some forest corridors and habitats tokeep elephants at bay, but for the first time this will beused to hold off wild boars.
The mangrove forest cover within the sanctuary is home tothousands of wild boars - plant eating herbivorous animals.
But in the recent years, a sharp rise in their population hasemerged as a major worry for wildlife officials. (MORE) PTICORR SKN MDNIK
Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, Divisional Forest Officer of Rajnagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Forest Division, said, "For astart, solar-powered fencing will be erected along a five-kmforest stretch across the Talchua-Dangmal area".
As the forest in this area had maximum concentration ofboar population, the fencing would create a buffer, he said.
With a pulsating flow of current the solar fence wouldact as a deterrent for the wild boars by giving them a mildshock, the DFO said and allayed fears that the shock wouldcause physical injury or harm to the animals.
Besides keeping wild boars at bay, this would alsoprevent straying of spotted dear into the forest-side villagesas both the species love eating ripe grains.
"Our lives and annual crop yield are in danger as boarsare on rampage at villages. The people were forced to take lawinto hands to kill wild boars in self-defence," a group ofvillagers rued.
The DFO said that there was no provision for compensationfor injury due to boar attack and crop loss under the law, butstill the department has taken up the matter with higherauthorities so that affected farmers could receive crop losscompensation.
souce-news.oneindia.in
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
Friday, January 14, 2011,
Kendrapara (Orissa), Jan 14 (PTI) To prevent theincreasing wild boar menace at villages surrounding theBhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and subsequent retaliation byvillagers, the Forest department here has decided to ring thesanctuary with solar-powered fencing.
Buzz up!
There has been, of late, a spate of killing of wild boarswho invade the villages to feed on crops and vegetable plantsresulting in a man-animal conflict.
The animals also in their turn chase and assaultvillagers whenever they see them in their vicinity. Over adozen persons are reported to have been attacked by theanimals recently.
"It is sort of a war of attrition," a Forest Departmentofficial observed.
The villagers had even taken some Forest Departmentpersonnel hostage to register their protest, alleging that thedepartment was lax in preventing the boars from straying intohuman habitations.
Forest Department sources said the shock-inducing fenceshave already come up in some forest corridors and habitats tokeep elephants at bay, but for the first time this will beused to hold off wild boars.
The mangrove forest cover within the sanctuary is home tothousands of wild boars - plant eating herbivorous animals.
But in the recent years, a sharp rise in their population hasemerged as a major worry for wildlife officials. (MORE) PTICORR SKN MDNIK
Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, Divisional Forest Officer of Rajnagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Forest Division, said, "For astart, solar-powered fencing will be erected along a five-kmforest stretch across the Talchua-Dangmal area".
As the forest in this area had maximum concentration ofboar population, the fencing would create a buffer, he said.
With a pulsating flow of current the solar fence wouldact as a deterrent for the wild boars by giving them a mildshock, the DFO said and allayed fears that the shock wouldcause physical injury or harm to the animals.
Besides keeping wild boars at bay, this would alsoprevent straying of spotted dear into the forest-side villagesas both the species love eating ripe grains.
"Our lives and annual crop yield are in danger as boarsare on rampage at villages. The people were forced to take lawinto hands to kill wild boars in self-defence," a group ofvillagers rued.
The DFO said that there was no provision for compensationfor injury due to boar attack and crop loss under the law, butstill the department has taken up the matter with higherauthorities so that affected farmers could receive crop losscompensation.
souce-news.oneindia.in
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
16 killed by tigers in Uttar Pradesh in 10 months
Story/place-Lucknow.
Lucknow, January 13, 2011
The increasing human-animal conflict due to shrinking habitat for wildlife has led to killing of 16 people by tigers over the past 10 months in Uttar Pradesh, wildlife officials said on Thursday. Attributing the deaths to "unabated human infiltration in the core wildlife areas", chief wildlife
conservator B K Patnaik said: "Increase in the human population and their enhanced penetration into forests is largely responsible for the rise in this conflict that had also left 22 people wounded over the same period."
"The situation has become alarming in Katarniaghat wildlife park, where three killings had occurred over the past one week alone," he said.
With as many as 36 villages in and around Katarniaghat core forest area, human conflict had been on the rise there, Patnaik added. Katarniaghat is in Bahraich district, 130 km from Lucknow.
Ruling out the presence of any man-eater, Patnaik said: "What was worse that each of the three killings appeared to have been done by three different tigers, which speaks volumes about the rising menace."
However, other than setting up four special teams to monitor movement of the state's 110 tigers and 208 leopards in the state's three core tiger areas - Dudhwa National Park, Katarniaghat and Pilibhit Forest Reserve - there was precious little that the government was able to do so far.
"In addition to these four teams that were keeping a watch in each of the tiger areas, a special tranquilising team was also camping here to get into action wherever the need arises", Patnaik said.
"But let me tell you, this is much more than what we were able to do until three years back, when we were terribly short of resources as well as trained manpower," he added.
Patnaik was however of the view that much was still needed to counter the menace.
"Firstly there is need to expand the grasslands in the core forest areas so that we could enhance the availability of food for the herbivorous animals, which in turn form prey for the wild cats and secondly there is need to provide alternative sources of fuel as well as avenues of employment to tribals and other living in villages in and around the core wildlife areas," he stressed.
Claiming that measures taken by the wildlife department had brought down the incidence of poaching, Patnaik emphasised the need for better cooperation by other government departments, "who were totally indifferent to the cause of preservation of wildlife in the state".
He cited the case of the railways that had not paid any heed to repeated demand of the wildlife department for diverting some 70 km of railway track that was passing through core forest areas of the state.
"We have been writing to the rail authorities for the past 30 years but to no avail," the chief wildlife conservator lamented.
source-.hindustantimes.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
Lucknow, January 13, 2011
The increasing human-animal conflict due to shrinking habitat for wildlife has led to killing of 16 people by tigers over the past 10 months in Uttar Pradesh, wildlife officials said on Thursday. Attributing the deaths to "unabated human infiltration in the core wildlife areas", chief wildlife
conservator B K Patnaik said: "Increase in the human population and their enhanced penetration into forests is largely responsible for the rise in this conflict that had also left 22 people wounded over the same period."
"The situation has become alarming in Katarniaghat wildlife park, where three killings had occurred over the past one week alone," he said.
With as many as 36 villages in and around Katarniaghat core forest area, human conflict had been on the rise there, Patnaik added. Katarniaghat is in Bahraich district, 130 km from Lucknow.
Ruling out the presence of any man-eater, Patnaik said: "What was worse that each of the three killings appeared to have been done by three different tigers, which speaks volumes about the rising menace."
However, other than setting up four special teams to monitor movement of the state's 110 tigers and 208 leopards in the state's three core tiger areas - Dudhwa National Park, Katarniaghat and Pilibhit Forest Reserve - there was precious little that the government was able to do so far.
"In addition to these four teams that were keeping a watch in each of the tiger areas, a special tranquilising team was also camping here to get into action wherever the need arises", Patnaik said.
"But let me tell you, this is much more than what we were able to do until three years back, when we were terribly short of resources as well as trained manpower," he added.
Patnaik was however of the view that much was still needed to counter the menace.
"Firstly there is need to expand the grasslands in the core forest areas so that we could enhance the availability of food for the herbivorous animals, which in turn form prey for the wild cats and secondly there is need to provide alternative sources of fuel as well as avenues of employment to tribals and other living in villages in and around the core wildlife areas," he stressed.
Claiming that measures taken by the wildlife department had brought down the incidence of poaching, Patnaik emphasised the need for better cooperation by other government departments, "who were totally indifferent to the cause of preservation of wildlife in the state".
He cited the case of the railways that had not paid any heed to repeated demand of the wildlife department for diverting some 70 km of railway track that was passing through core forest areas of the state.
"We have been writing to the rail authorities for the past 30 years but to no avail," the chief wildlife conservator lamented.
source-.hindustantimes.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Snake show at school irks wildlife activists
Story/place-Chandrapur.
TNN, Jan 11, 2011, 05.15am IST
Tags:Wildlife Activists|Vidya Mandir High School|Indian Rock Python
CHANDRAPUR: A show of snakes by a bunch of sarpa mitras or friends of snakes at Vidya Mandir High School in Urjanagar on Friday has irked wildlife activists. The show was called off mid way after a verbal complaint was lodged with the forest authorities by the joint secretary of Green Planet Society, Prof Sachin Wazalar. Though no offence was registered under the violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, the offenders were let off with a stern warning.
Before the forest officials and wild activists arrived, one of the accused removed all the snakes from the venue. Later, the accused were taken to the range forest office for questioning, but no snakes were seized.
"An Indian Rock python and two Russell vipers were on display during the show. The weak and unhealthy reptiles were handled with sticks," alleged Wazalwar, adding that the python is an endangered schedule-I animal. "Mishandling and endangering it is similar to endangering the tiger," said Wazalwar.
"Those involved in the snake show are associated with the Snake Friends Organisation. Since they are newly trained, they are causing injuries to the rare species. After rescuing snakes, they keep them in a closed plastic container instead of releasing them in the forests. Captivity makes snakes weak. They become incompatible to the natural habitat," added Wazalwar.
He lamented the fact that no action was taken against offenders and that they were let off with just a mild warning. Acting RFO, Rajiv Pawar, told TOI that the snake friends were warned and allowed to go as there was no complaint lodged against them.
"If wildlife activists give us written complaints with concrete evidence, we are ready to take stringent action against the offenders," Pawar said.
source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
TNN, Jan 11, 2011, 05.15am IST
Tags:Wildlife Activists|Vidya Mandir High School|Indian Rock Python
CHANDRAPUR: A show of snakes by a bunch of sarpa mitras or friends of snakes at Vidya Mandir High School in Urjanagar on Friday has irked wildlife activists. The show was called off mid way after a verbal complaint was lodged with the forest authorities by the joint secretary of Green Planet Society, Prof Sachin Wazalar. Though no offence was registered under the violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, the offenders were let off with a stern warning.
Before the forest officials and wild activists arrived, one of the accused removed all the snakes from the venue. Later, the accused were taken to the range forest office for questioning, but no snakes were seized.
"An Indian Rock python and two Russell vipers were on display during the show. The weak and unhealthy reptiles were handled with sticks," alleged Wazalwar, adding that the python is an endangered schedule-I animal. "Mishandling and endangering it is similar to endangering the tiger," said Wazalwar.
"Those involved in the snake show are associated with the Snake Friends Organisation. Since they are newly trained, they are causing injuries to the rare species. After rescuing snakes, they keep them in a closed plastic container instead of releasing them in the forests. Captivity makes snakes weak. They become incompatible to the natural habitat," added Wazalwar.
He lamented the fact that no action was taken against offenders and that they were let off with just a mild warning. Acting RFO, Rajiv Pawar, told TOI that the snake friends were warned and allowed to go as there was no complaint lodged against them.
"If wildlife activists give us written complaints with concrete evidence, we are ready to take stringent action against the offenders," Pawar said.
source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
Two poachers held with over 40 tortoises
Story/place-Luchnow.
2011-01-10 11:10:00
Lucknow, Jan 10 (IANS) Two poachers were arrested with over 40 tortoises in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, police said Monday.
Mohammad Qayam and Ramesh Chandra, around 35 years, were nabbed Sunday from Jairara area.
'Acting on a tip-off, we intercepted a Tata Sumo car in which the two were travelling. They were arrested after two sacks containing tortoises were recovered from their car,' police inspector D.K. Dubey told reporters in Hathras, some 300 km from Lucknow.
'Though we are yet to establish where from the tortoises were brought, preliminary investigations indicate that the two were supposed to hand over the tortoises to their gang members in south India,' he said.
According to police, some of the tortoises seized from the duo's possession were alive and handed over to the forest officials.
'The two are jointly being interrogated by police and forest officials. They have admitted that they have been into the illegal wildlife trade for the last five years. Both of them are natives of Uttar Pradesh,' said Dubey.
A case under Section 9 (prohibition of hunting) and Section 49B (prohibition of animal trading) of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) has been registered against the two men.
India banned the trade of tortoises under the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, but the huge premium and lax laws are increasingly luring poachers to the trade.
Tortoises are killed for their meat and for their use in preparation of some medicines, officials said.
source-sify.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
2011-01-10 11:10:00
Lucknow, Jan 10 (IANS) Two poachers were arrested with over 40 tortoises in Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, police said Monday.
Mohammad Qayam and Ramesh Chandra, around 35 years, were nabbed Sunday from Jairara area.
'Acting on a tip-off, we intercepted a Tata Sumo car in which the two were travelling. They were arrested after two sacks containing tortoises were recovered from their car,' police inspector D.K. Dubey told reporters in Hathras, some 300 km from Lucknow.
'Though we are yet to establish where from the tortoises were brought, preliminary investigations indicate that the two were supposed to hand over the tortoises to their gang members in south India,' he said.
According to police, some of the tortoises seized from the duo's possession were alive and handed over to the forest officials.
'The two are jointly being interrogated by police and forest officials. They have admitted that they have been into the illegal wildlife trade for the last five years. Both of them are natives of Uttar Pradesh,' said Dubey.
A case under Section 9 (prohibition of hunting) and Section 49B (prohibition of animal trading) of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) has been registered against the two men.
India banned the trade of tortoises under the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, but the huge premium and lax laws are increasingly luring poachers to the trade.
Tortoises are killed for their meat and for their use in preparation of some medicines, officials said.
source-sify.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
Focus on wildlife conservation
Stoey/place-Karnataka.
TNN, Jan 9, 2011, 09.28pm IST
MYSORE: Depleting natural resources calls for instant conservation measures. Realising the need to create awareness among students, the Mysore zoo conducted a 26-week training in wildlife management and conservation of nature. This annual event of the Mysore Zoo Youth Club concluded here on Sunday.
The student-members from 29 institutions were given an opportunity to monitor behaviour of animals and were educated about saving wildlife.
BJ Hosmath, chief conservator of forest and member secretary, Zoo Authority of Karnataka, said, "Every natural resource on earth is drying up. Every person must at least plant a sapling in front of their houses. The depleting ground water level is a great threat."
Wildlife photographers Krupakar and Senani, who recently won Wildlife Oscar, called upon youths to protect nature.
source-timesofindia.indiatimes.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
TNN, Jan 9, 2011, 09.28pm IST
MYSORE: Depleting natural resources calls for instant conservation measures. Realising the need to create awareness among students, the Mysore zoo conducted a 26-week training in wildlife management and conservation of nature. This annual event of the Mysore Zoo Youth Club concluded here on Sunday.
The student-members from 29 institutions were given an opportunity to monitor behaviour of animals and were educated about saving wildlife.
BJ Hosmath, chief conservator of forest and member secretary, Zoo Authority of Karnataka, said, "Every natural resource on earth is drying up. Every person must at least plant a sapling in front of their houses. The depleting ground water level is a great threat."
Wildlife photographers Krupakar and Senani, who recently won Wildlife Oscar, called upon youths to protect nature.
source-timesofindia.indiatimes.com
sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com
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