Field Reports

Killer tiger resurfaces in Kodagu

2012-01-09T23:39:00.000-05:00

TNN Jan 10, 2012, 01.56AM IST

MADIKERI: The tiger, which attacked and injured three buffaloes on Friday, killed a cow on Saturday night at Netkundh near Birunani in South Kodagu. Chottangada Rohith found the half-eaten carcass of his cow near its shed.

People in South Kodagu are fearful because the tiger, which claimed several livestock in October and November last year, has resurfaced. A forest department team had kept cages to capture it. These men were relieved when the tiger's pugmark was seen about 500 metres from the Kallalla forest touching Nagarahole on Nov. 9. No incidents were reported after that in Kanoor, Shrimangala, T Shettigeri and Hudikeri villages.

The trouble spot is on the Birunani Kodagu - Kerala border. Shrinivas Naik, the Shrimangala wildlife range forest officer, told TOI a leopard may have attacked the cattle. The incidents happened at Birunani near Brahmagiri wildlife forest range and the animal probably arrived from this forest he said, adding, "We are trying our best to chase the animal back to the forest by bursting crackers in the bushes and trees," Naik said. The animal can be identified only after veterinarians survey these area, he added.

KA Manu of Birunani villager and Kanoor villager S.P.Mahadevappa told TOI villagers are afraid to move about freely on work and students are tense on their way to school and back. After class, students reach home by about 7pm and they tremble with fear on their way back. Virajpet taluk in-charge deputy conservator of forests Anand said cages would be kept in certain points to capture the animal. He said forest guards in groups will try and capture the tiger.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Killer-tiger-resurfaces-in-Kodagu/articleshow/11429631.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

India's first anti-poaching tiger force begins work

2012-01-05T01:03:00.000-05:00

By Habib Beary
Bangalore
4 January 2012
Last updated at 07:04 ET

India's first forest ranger unit charged specifically with preventing tiger poaching has gone into action.

The 54-member force will patrol tiger reserves in national parks straddling the borders of Karnataka, Tamil Nado and Kerala states in the south.

The Special Tiger Protection Force has received training in jungle survival and weapons use.

Tiger numbers have shrunk alarmingly in recent decades. A census last year counted about 1,700 tigers in the wild.

A century ago there were estimated to be 100,000 tigers in India.

Numbers up

"The force is operational," Karnataka conservation official BK Singh told the BBC. "They will deal with poachers and hunters."

The Special Tiger Protection Force was formed by the forest and environment ministry on the recommendation of the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Karnataka authorities.

With their special training course completed, the unit has moved into Bandipur and Nagarahole national parks, south of Bangalore.

The forested region has the highest number of tigers in India, according to a census released in March 2011 by the forest and environment ministry.

India's tiger numbers have shrunk from 100,000 to 1,700 in a little over 100 years Karnataka state, which has six tiger reserves, has about 300 tigers, followed by Madhya Pradesh in the north with 257.

The census indicated that tiger numbers had increased to 1,706 from 1,411 at the last count in 2007.

Officials say conservation efforts by the government and wildlife organisations have helped tiger and elephant populations increase.

But poaching remains a threat, with some 25 tigers killed in Karnataka alone since 2006.

A second tiger force will be set up in the eastern state of Orissa.

Senior National Tiger Conservation Authority official Rajesh Gopal said 13 tiger reserves in seven states across the country had been identified for special measures to protect the big cats.

Tiger expert Ullas Karanth said the new force would go a long way toward saving tigers from poachers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16410137

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Tiger count in south states this month

2012-01-02T23:25:00.001-05:00

Sreenivas Janyala
Posted: Tue Jan 03 2012, 00:03 hrs
Hyderabad:

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) will start conducting its annual estimation of tigers in Kawal and Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam tiger reserve (NSTR) along with other tiger reserves in southern states later this month.

For Kawal tiger reserve where at least four to six tigers are known to exist, it is the moment of truth. Tribals, who are opposed to the new tiger reserve because they may be asked to relocate, claim that there are no tigers there, and are protesting and creating hurdles for the tiger reserve. Forest officials say that they will pay special attention to Kawal during the exercise to prove that it is home for a few tigers.

Camera traps and unofficial estimation in the NSTR indicated the presence of new tigers last October. The total tiger population in the reserve is estimated to be 70 to 90, including several cubs.

A two-day training camp for field officers and forest officials of southern states starts at Bandipur on January 4. Known as Phase IV of All India Tiger Estimation, the decision to monitor tiger populations annually, instead of once every four years, was taken in May last year. Phase IV of the All India Tiger Estimation is an exercise in intensive, annual monitoring of source tiger populations in 41 reserves. Hundreds of cameras will be placed for 45 to 60 days at a gap of 1 km to identify and record tigers.

Field officers will also use traditional methods like tracking pugmarks. The latest models of camera traps and estimation methods have been developed by Dr K Ullas Karanth of Wild Conservation Society (India).

Chief Conservator of Forests (Project Tiger) A K Naik says the estimation of tigers will now be conducted specifically in reserves every year. “The practice of census conducted in all wildlife sanctuaries and national parks will be conducted every four years as usual but in tiger zones, estimation will be conducted annually from now,” Naik said. Besides tigers, the condition and health of the habitat and ecosystem, and availability of prey base and prey population will also be taken into account.

The NTCA is providing necessary equipment and has allotted Rs 35 lakh grant this year to conduct the exercise. Besides forest officers, external experts who will monitor the estimation exercise are also being appointed. Imran Siddiqui of Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society has been appointed as outside expert for Andhra Pradesh.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Tiger-count-in-south-states-this-month/894956/

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Two Florida panthers

2011-12-03T13:00:00.001-05:00

Saranda springs tiger surprise

2011-10-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

Saturday, 15 October 2011 23:40 Sayantanee Choudhury

If the inhabitants of the Asia’s biggest Sal forest, Saranda, and initial evidence are to be believed, then its good news in the offing for wildlife lovers. Contrary to the general perception that big cats never existed in Saranda, there are hints for the first time of a tigress and a couple of cubs living there.

A team of wildlife experts has been rushed to the spot to examine tiger pugmarks found recently in the dense forest cover of Jharkhand. The team will also collect excreta and shed fur samples.

According to Saranda divisional forest officer KK Tiwari, locals spotted few unfamiliar pugmarks and informed the forest officials. “People even claimed to have seen one tigress and two cubs in the forest,” he added. However, the sighting is yet to be verified.

Jharkhand wildlife warden AK Gupta said, “A team of six members — including local wildlife officers and members from Ranchi — have been sent to Saranda to collect samples.”

He added that a large numbers of leopards and hyena inhabited Saranda earlier and that the forests often give conflicting signals on the presence of big cats.

Saranda is considered an unspoilt world, where nature rules supreme. It is the home of the endangered flying lizard. It is famous for its Sal forests and majestic elephants. However, news of tigers in the area then would definitely be good.

“The samples will be sent for forensic examination and results will be available within 10 days. Since there were no evidences of existence big of cats earlier, so we want to get a confirmed report from the forensic laboratory,” Gupta said.

The Singhbhum Elephant Reserve is the only elephant reserve which exists in this forest, with traditional routes taken by the pachyderms. “We are also trying to trace the routes of the tigers, if they are in the forest. No big cats have shown their existence even in neighbhouring Dalma forests either. It is possible that the tiger family has migrated from Odisha or Andhra Pradesh,” said the wildlife warden.

Gupta added, “Of late, tigers are probably trying out new routes. Few of them might have been isolated towards the Saranda forest and are trying to re-establish themselves here.”

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/ranchi/13586-saranda-springs-tiger-surprise.html

http://www.bigcatresue.org/

Environmentalists and investors draw claws over plan

2011-10-16T22:32:00.001-05:00

Next generation ... $30 million has been ploughed into helping secure the future of the endangered South China tiger. Photo: courtesy Li Quan

Ben Cubby
October 17, 2011.

A BOLD plan to shield the South China tiger from extinction has become a battleground between environment groups and so-called ''angel investors'', who have plunged $30 million in cash into the big cats' future.

Li Quan, a former executive at fashion label Gucci, and her financier husband Stuart Bray, have been working for 13 years to rebuild a sustainable tiger population. Perhaps fewer than 20 South China tigers are thought to still inhabit remote and mountainous regions of China's south. They are likely to be extinct in the wild within a decade.

The couple have sunk a fortune into a breeding program for cubs in South Africa, and are now ready to start sending them to China for release.

The Save China's Tigers program has just been recognised as a charity in Australia. But it has been criticised by some environment groups, including the international arm of WWF. The battle highlights the critical choices behind many conservation decisions

In a letter seen by the Herald, WWF said the program is misguided, and the $30 million in funding would be more wisely deployed elsewhere. Others have publicly described the plan as a ''vanity project''.

''Yes of course I have heard this term 'vanity project','' Ms Quan said. ''The criticisms have been coming for many years now, but we are doing the right thing for the animals, we are sure of that.''

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/environmentalists-and-investors-draw-claws-over-plan-20111016-1lrlj.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Fisherman killed by tiger in Sunderbans

2011-10-16T22:29:00.000-05:00

Ananya Dutta
KOLKATA, October 17, 2011

A fisherman was killed by a tiger deep inside the forests of the Sunderban Biosphere Reserve on Sunday.

Satyabrata Jana of Kultuli had gone fishing with four others in the Gazikhali forest area within the Sajnekhali wildlife sanctuary. They had spread their nets in the waters and were sitting on the land when a tiger attacked the group, Subrat Mukherjee, field director of Sunderban Tiger Reserve, told The Hindu over telephone.

“We have received reports of one person being killed by a tiger. They had gone fishing in the restricted area of the forest and did not have a permit for fishing,” Mr. Mukherjee said.

Since Mr. Jana was killed in the restricted areas of the forest, his family will not be eligible for the compensation that is given to victims of tiger attacks.

Illegal fishing in the restricted areas of the forest is a perennial problem that plagues the region and results in several incidents of man-animal conflict.

“The fishermen try their best to dodge the guards of the Forest Department and enter the restricted areas. Since they are flouting the rules they are not entitled to any compensation if any such incidents occur,” said Sarba Mondal, a resident of the Sunderban islands.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2543424.ece

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

3 Bor tigers can be rehabilitated: WII team

2011-10-16T22:15:00.001-05:00

Vijay PinjarkarVijay Pinjarkar, TNN Oct 17, 2011, 05.29AM IST

NAGPUR: Amid debate over proposed release of three rescued tigers in Bor wildlife sanctuary, 60km from Nagpur, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, has submitted a positive report about their release.

After assessing the three tigers - two female and one male - a two-member WII team, consisting of scientist K Ramesh Kumar and veterinarian Dr Parag Nigam, said that the Bor tigers are good candidates for rehabilitation in the wild. The team had visited Bor on October 4. The team submitted the report to A K Saxena, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF), East, Nagpur, four days ago.

The WII team was accompanied by A Ashraf, chief conservator of forests (CCF) & field director, Pench. The members, who were in Bor for over two hours, said that the tigers were in good condition, even better than those released in Panna.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had sent the team only after principal secretary (forest), Maharashtra, Praveen Pardeshi continuously took up the matter before the authorities. This comes after the respective chief wildlife wardens and officials had written a series of letters to the NTCA but failed to elicit any response. This bureaucratic red tapism led to unwarranted delay in deciding the fate of these cubs, which were rescued from Dhaba forest range in Gondpipri in Chandrapur district in September 2009.

"Our first priority is to shift the Bor tigers to a bigger enclosure in Pench. Funds for this have already been sanctioned. Releasing the cubs into the wild doesn't come in our domain. The final decision in this regard will be taken only after consulting NTCA. Entire protocol will be followed," Saxena told TOI.

Wild life experts had claimed that the cubs were 14-months-old when found and hence, are over three years of age now. They look quite grown up. However, the WII team have fixed the age of the cubs at around two-and-half-years.

Initially, the tigers were kept in small cages for treatment in Chandrapur before being shifted to Bor on November 9, 2009, with an aim to rehabilitate them. It has been two years since, but neither serious efforts nor right steps were taken to see that the tigers were relocated successfully. The team also stressed the need for giving live feed to the tigers, which is not being made available.

NTCA joint director S P Yadav told TOI that the matter is under consideration and a committee has been constituted to examine the issues related to orphaned cubs in India, which will decide the fate of such cubs.

Pardeshi said, "WII and NTCA have been asked to give permission for the rehabilitation and only under their guidance, we will release the tigers into the wild."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/3-Bor-tigers-can-be-rehabilitated-WII-team/articleshow/10383247.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Film on R'bore tiger wins 3 awards in US

2011-10-11T14:23:00.000-05:00

Anindo DeyAnindo Dey, TNN Oct 11, 2011, 02.28AM IST

JAIPUR: In a rare laurel for Ranthambore National Park, a documentary film on a tiger at the park has recently won three awards including that of the 'best film award' at a film festival in Jackson Hole, US. The film christened 'Broken Tail' is the true story of a tiger in the park which had disappeared but survived in an unprotected hinterland for several months and eventually died after a train hit him. The film won three awards in separate categories for the best overall film, best conservation film and best presenter at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival (JHWFF).

Internationally renowned as the largest and most prestigious biennial competition of the nature genre, this year's festival that concluded on October 8 included 510 films from more than 30 countries in 800 categories. According to conservationist Aditya Singh of Ranthambore Bagh, who was part of the production crew in India, "Broken Tail was one of the two male cubs of Machali, Ranthambore's best know tigress. In the summer of 2000, sometime in April, Machali mated with a large male tiger called "Bamboo Ram" and three-and-a-half months later, she gave birth to her first litter of two male cubs called Broken Tail (because his tail was broken) and Slant Ear. By the end of December 2001, both these cubs separated from Machali and we never saw Slant Ear again," says Singh. The production team also included conservationist Dharmendra Khandal.

"For about a year-and-a-half, Broken Tail stayed in a small territory at the edge of Ranthambore National Park, not really a great neighbourhood for tigers. Somewhere in the summer of 2003, Broken Tail decided to leave Ranthambore and in August 2003, a passenger train ran over him, in Darrah sanctuary, nearly 100 miles away from Ranthambore. It took the forest department and everyone else, including us, over a year to realize that the tiger that was run down by the train was Broken Tail," he said. Directed by John Murray and Colin Stafford-Johnson, who spent about 600 days filming the documentary. Broken Tail had posed for the camera in his initial days, but one day it suddenly disappeared, abandoning the sanctuary.

Barely three-years-old then, Broken Tail had made an unprecedented 200 km trek across densely populated countryside while wildlife cameraman Stafford Johnson retraces the steps of the tiger. "Colin had come down to Ranthambore in 2005 to shoot a film for Tokyo Broadcasting Service and that is when he thought of doing a film on Broken Tail's journey. For the next four years, Colin, Salim Ali, one of Ranthambore's best guides, and I researched the film. This included tracking down the path that Broken Tail would have taken from Ranthambore to Darrah.

We did this by inputs from villagers, who had either seen him or whose cattle Broken Tail had killed, forest guards who had seen him or his pugmarks. We interviewed over 200 people including the train driver whose train ran the tiger down in a tunnel in Darrah. The actual filming started in 2009 and was over in 2010. However a lot of the footage was actually shot from 2001 onwards, when Broken Tail was a cub," he adds.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Film-on-Rbore-tiger-wins-3-awards-in-US/articleshow/10307317.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Russian and US veterinarians collaborate to solve mysterious wild tiger deaths

2011-10-03T01:35:00.000-05:00

A camera trap image of a Siberian (Amur) tiger in the Russian Far East. A team of health experts from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society and several Russian organizations have confirmed the presence of distemper in wild tiger populations, a finding that will enable conservationists to formulate measures to mitigate this recent threat. Credit: Image courtesy of WCS Russia

September 30, 2011

A' team of Russian veterinary colleagues and health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo are collaborating to understand how distemper -- a virus afflicting domestic dogs and many wildlife species -- may be a growing threat to Siberian (Amur) tigers.

The team presented its results at the first-ever Russian symposium on wildlife diseases held this week in the Russian Far East city of Ussurisk. The symposium underscores the growing recognition of the importance of the health sciences to successful wildlife conservation efforts.

Working at WCS's Wildlife Health Center at the Bronx Zoo, Russian health experts and WCS pathologists used histology along with PCR and DNA sequencing to confirm and characterize the infection in two wild Siberian tigers from the Russian Far East. This diagnosis provides long-awaited genetic confirmation of the fact that distemper is impacting wild tigers, which WCS and Russian colleagues first documented in 2003.

The collaboration will enable conservationists to formulate health measures to counter this latest threat to the world's largest cat.

The participants in the partnership included: Drs. Irina Korotkova and Galina Ivanchuk from the Primorskaya State Agricultural Academy; Elena Lyubchenko, county veterinarian for Ussuriski County, Drs. Anastasia Vysokikh and Mikhail Alshinetskiy from the Moscow Zoo; and Drs. Denise McAloose and Tracie Seimon from WCS.

Last year a tigress "Galia" -- studied by WCS researchers for eight years in Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve in the Russian Far East -- walked into the village of Terney. Galia displayed abnormal neurologic signs, seemingly unfazed by the new surrounding, appeared gaunt, and was searching for dogs as an easy meal. The tiger was shot by local police after several capture attempts failed. In November 2003, a similar event occurred when an otherwise healthy looking wild tigress walked into the village of Pokrovka in Khabarovski Krai. WCS staff working in the area immobilized the animal and worked with local Russian veterinarian Evgeny Slabe in treating the tiger, which later died in captivity. Samples for the diagnosis of distemper were collected only from these two animals.

Several other examples of tigers entering villages or stalling traffic on major roadways -- behavior possibly indicative of distemper -- have been reported in recent years.

"This exchange provides a foundation for elucidating potential disease threats to tigers in the Russian Far East," said Irina Korotkova of the Primorskaya Agricultural Academy. "Understanding the role of distemper in our wild Amur tiger population is vitally important."

Distemper is found worldwide in domestic dogs and has caused infection and death in wild species such as lynx and bobcats in Canada, Baikal seals in Russia, lions in the Serengeti ecosystem in Africa, and raccoons and the endangered black footed ferret in the United States.

"With all the threats facing Siberian tigers from poaching and habitat loss, relatively little research has been done on diseases that may afflict tigers," said Dale Miquelle, WCS Director of Russia Programs. "There are no records of tigers entering villages and behaving so abnormally before 2000, so this appears to be a new development and new threat. Understanding whether disease is a major source of mortality for Siberian tigers is crucial for future conservation efforts."

Anatoly Astafiev, Director of Sikhote-Alin Reserve, said, "We have seen a fall in tiger numbers within our reserve, so it is very important to know that at least one of the causes is a recognizable disease, something we may be able to address and potentially prevent."

Canine distemper is controlled in domestic dogs through vaccination. In Africa, massive vaccination campaigns of dogs in villages surrounding the Serengeti appear to have been effective in reducing the disease's impact on lions.

Dr. Denise McAloose, WCS's Chief Pathologist and leader of the investigation, said, "This is a great example of what international collaboration can achieve. Without our Russian associates there on the spot, knowing what samples to collect and how to preserve these specimens, samples would never have made it to our lab, and the cause of death would remain unknown. It's great that we're all here together to work on this issue as a team."

WCS is working with staff from the Primorskaya Agriculture Academy and other partners to establish a wildlife lab in Ussurisk to facilitate local diagnostic testing, although it will take several years until the lab is adequately funded and fully functional.

McAloose added: "Until then, there's still much to do including identifying the source of the disease."

It is still uncertain how tigers may have contracted the disease and whether it originated in another wild animal species or domestic dogs, both of which can act as reservoirs for the infection.

Latest reports suggest that fewer than 3,500 tigers remain in the wild; 1,000 are breeding females.

Provided by Wildlife Conservation Society

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-russian-veterinarians-collaborate-mysterious-wild.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Poor genetic diversity a threat to tigers, says study

2011-10-03T00:57:00.000-05:00

Krishnendu MukherjeeKrishnendu Mukherjee, TNN Oct 3, 2011, 03.59AM IST

KOLKATA: On her last legs, Machli - often called Ranthambore's matriarch for presiding over a majestic legacy of over a decade - can still make a tiger-lover crave for her glimpse. But her offsprings in the 400-500 sq km tiger abode in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district face a genetic threat that could hit the population hard in the long run.

While Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR) was in news for a sudden population crash in 1992 and 2003, it assumes more significance in the light of a recent study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) that says tiger population in the park has shown a loss of genetic diversity over the years. "RTR tiger population is showing loss of many alleles, which may be due to an isolated population without any genetic exchange," said WII's Dr S P Goyal, the investigator of the report - 'Tiger Genome: Implications In Wildlife Forensics'. Alleles are a group of genes that decide an animal's hair colour and immunity, among other characteristics.

The park's tiger population had crashed to 12 in 1992 and 13 in 2003. It bounced back to 31 in 2010 but Dharmendra Khandal, a conservation biologist, feels lower genetic diversity would prove to be a new threat.

"Urbanisation and fragmentation in tiger corridors are the reasons. Ranthambore tigers used to take the Chambal river route to reach Madhya Pradesh's Kuno. But flattening of the river banks stopped tiger dispersal between Ranthambore and MP, resulting in no gene flow between the two tiger populations," he said.

"Since Sariska has lost all its tigers, now the nearest tiger reserve from Ranthambore is over 800 km away, be it Bandhavgarh, Corbett or Satpura," Khandal said. According to tiger expert Valmik Thapar, a growing human population is leading to encroachment of large landscapes making the survival of many species difficult.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Poor-genetic-diversity-a-threat-to-tigers-says-study/articleshow/10213128.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tourists throng tiger reserves on first day of season

2011-10-02T21:24:00.000-05:00

TNN Oct 2, 2011, 10.22AM IST

JAIPUR/ALWAR: Living up to expectations, the Ranthambore tiger reserve saw a huge turnout of tourists, after a three month hiatus, on the first day of the season. Tourism also increased at the Sariska tiger reserve with 55 persons, including eight foreigners, making their way into it.

According to forest department officials, "The mood was upbeat at Ranthambore right from the morning. Around 20 Gypsies and nine canters made their way into the park and it included the conservationist Valmik Thappar. The tourists in the morning session spotted a sloth bear and a tiger in the Lakarda zone."

The evening session saw 22 Gypsies and 14 canters making their way into the park. Some tourists on a Gypsy spotted a tigress in the evening session.

"It was a great day at the Ranthambore reserve. As every year on the first day of the season we welcome tourists with a tilak as they enter the park and it happened this year too. The system of checking identity card was enforced and no fake booking was detected. They even managed to spot a tiger, T-16, in the morning session," said UM Sahai, chief wildlife warden, Rajasthan.

In Sariska some confusion prevailed when officials stopped Gypsies from going into the park saying only canters will be allowed inside. The Gypsy owners potested and even sent a protest letter to the Union minister of state for home Jeetendra Singh.

Accordind to Puranmal, a Gypsy owner, "In 2009, we were called by the then DFO Sudershan Sharma and were lured into buying Gypsies as he felt that the localites must get the benefit from the reserve. We had then bought our Gypsies and were even promised that we would be allowed to ply our vehicles for a long time. But this change in directives has been a blow to us. We will not allow the canters to ply under any condition."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Tourists-throng-tiger-reserves-on-first-day-of-season/articleshow/10204250.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Mahabaleshwar farmers oppose tiger reserve

2011-10-02T21:18:00.000-05:00

TNN Oct 3, 2011, 02.05AM IST

PUNE: Thousands of farmers in Mahabaleshwar gathered on Sunday afternoon to oppose the Sahyadri Tiger Project, which was initiated last year by combining the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary and Chandoli National Park in Satara as they fear it would hamper developmental activities. The meeting was held at Taldeo village, about 15 kms from Mahabaleshwar.

Balasaheb Bhilare, member of the Satara Zilla Parishad, said, "The tiger reserve project is most likely to affect people of Patan, Javali and Mahabaleshwar. For us, the only source of income is farming and tourism. If our lands are marked under the reserve, farming activities will stop and the affected families will have to find new sources of income."

The villagers also posed the question of security before the guardian minister. Bhilare said, "What security would villagers around the reserve get? They will be most exposed to the reserve and if animals walk into the village, it will pose a danger to them."

The conservation plan, which was declared by the state government last year, will come up in an area of 740.5 sq km spread across the districts of Satara, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur and Sangli. The tiger reserve will focus on conservation of habitat, breeding of tigers and ensure food and water availability for tigers.

Pramod Shelar, president of the Mahabaleshwar Taluka Sarpanch Sanghtna, said, "When farmers and villagers need to construct a house, there are several restrictions imposed. At the same time, the government is giving space for animals when human populations are multiplying every year. The government has still not relocated villagers displaced by the Koyna dam. The same situation will prevail with the tiger project as well."

The land for the reserve is divided into buffer and core areas. The core area will not have human habitation, while in the buffer areas animals and humans can coexist. The reserve includes 83 villages in both the sanctuaries that cover four districts - Satara, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur and Sangli. Many villagers have already been shifted and the remaining will be relocated soon.

Meanwhile, Nimbalkar has assured villagers that the issues will be taken up and discussed with the government and a solution will be arrived at after a proper study.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Mahabaleshwar-farmers-oppose-tiger-reserve/articleshow/10212375.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

6 tiger cubs are Melghat's new guests

2011-10-02T21:08:00.003-05:00

Vijay PinjarkarVijay Pinjarkar Oct 3, 2011, 03.58AM IST

NAGPUR: While recent lynching of Navegaon National Park tigress in Bhakru Tola in Chhattisgarh by a furious mob came as a rude shock, there is a good news from Melghat - sighting of six new cubs has thrilled wildlife buffs and officials.

"In the past couple of months, tigresses with two cubs (around 6-8 months) each have been recorded in camera traps by the field staff in Sonala range in Ambabarwa wildlife sanctuary, part of Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), Dhakna and Raipur ranges," revealed an overjoyed AK Mishra, field director and chief conservator of forests (CCF), MTR.

He adds, two months ago, driver of a forest vehicle sighted a tiger with a kill in Semadoh tourism zone. He also recorded the movements on his mobile. However, several such claims are not considered unless authenticated.

Tigers have always remain elusive in MTR, fondly called as the 'Kipling Country' and known for its mystifying landscape with high hills and deep valleys. Sighting of cubs in three places at a time makes big news in Melghat. Till now, such reports in the region could be heard only from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur district which has a distinction of producing 12-15 tiger cubs every year.

Melghat, where sighting of tigers is like cracking jokes, has made a major turnaround over the last two years. The last such record of tiger sighting was in February 2009 from Narnala where a tigress with three cubs was sighted. "With the new additions, we expect tiger numbers to go up to 50-55," Mishra says. However, the NTCA-WII estimation of 2010 puts the tiger count in Melghat at 39.

About the success, Mishra says strengthening protection and group patrolling, awareness among villagers by distributing pamphlets and educating them and imposing curbs on grazing have led to improving the situation.

"Controlling forest fires is our big successes. From 7.5% with 401 cases, the number of incidents has been brought down to 3.2% with 177 cases," said Mishra.

"In the past two years, we seized around 500 cattle and filed cases in the court against illicit grazers. Such measures are yielding results," Mishra says. The field director said relocation of three villages - Barukheda, Amona and Nagartas in Wan sanctuary and partial relocation of Vairat and Churni villages in Melghat sanctuary has also helped in reducing grazing pressure of 4,500 cattle.

In 2006, MTR in Amravati was rated as 'poor'. However, in 2011, it has bounced back and has been graded as 'good' by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The result of 2011 management effective evaluation (MEE) puts MTR in line with high-profile reserves like Corbett, Dudhwa, Ranthambore and Manas.

Even tiger conservationist Kishore Rithe, who works in Melghat, admits protection mechanism has been revamped and is very systematic despite shortage of trained and good staff. "Villages in core are willing to resettle. If MTR hands over tourism management to communities, it will help improve livelihoods and thus increase public support for tigers," he adds.

Melghat's sweet success

* Better protection measures, foot patrolling monitoring mechanism

* Resettlement of 3 villages done in 2001-02 and 5 (two partially) in 2010

* Getting young forest guards posted in sensitive areas

* Concentrating on threats like overgrazing, encroachments and forest fires

The area

MTR 1,676.93 sq km

Gugamal NP 361.28 sq km

Melghat WS 788.75 sq km

Wan WS 211 sq km

Ambabarwa 127.11 sq km

Narnala WS 12.35 sq km

Buffer Zone & MUA 1,268 sq km

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/6-tiger-cubs-are-Melghats-new-guests/articleshow/10213121.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tigress killing condemned; NTCA to send fact-finding team

2011-09-26T22:44:00.000-05:00

Vijay PinjarkarVijay Pinjarkar, TNN Sep 26, 2011, 03.58AM IST

NAGPUR: Even as the brutal killing of the Maharashtra tigress by a furious mob in Bhakru Tola near Bamni on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border is being widely condemned, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) will send a fact-finding team to ascertain the truth.

The full-grown tigress (around 4 years) was beaten to death right in front of the Rajnandgaon DFO and other field staff by a mob of over 5,000 villagers on Saturday.

"We've taken a serious note and are considering sending a fact-finding team to look into all aspects of the incident," SP Yadav, joint director of NTCA told TOI on Sunday.

When asked whether the NTCA nod was sought before releasing the tigress in the Navegaon National Park, Yadav said, he will have to check up. NTCA member-secretary Rajesh Gopal did not respond to the calls made to him.

State officials deny or are not ready to confirm whether it is the same tigress that was released in Navegaon. However, there are indications from the field staff that it is the same tigress that was spotted in the South Deori range. A forest official even confirmed that the pugmarks of the dead tigress matched with the ones recorded by them.

The brutal killing of tigress has come in for sharp criticism. Kishor Rithe, member, National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), condemned the act of the villagers. "People should feel ashamed for killing the vehicle of 'Durga' especially ahead of Navratri," he said.

When B Majumdar was PCCF (wildlife), he had started the practice of fitting transmitter chips below the tail of problem leopards trapped in Chandrapur. However, the practice seems to have been discontinued. Both the Katlabodi and the Navegaon tigress were not fitted with chips nor were they radio-collared.

Rithe said that such gears are good tools to monitor animals post their release into the wild. "The practice should not be stopped. If it is the Navegaon tigress, it supports the claim that there is a strong connectivity between Nagzira-Navegaon to the Chhattisgarh forest and tigers still disperse through the corridor which needs to be protected," Rithe said.

On the release of problem tigress in Navegaon, Rithe said every tigress which is released is only after permission from the NTCA. "If it is a fit case for release, then only NTCA gives it nod," he added.

Nitin Desai, director of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), Central India, says the incident proves that people don't have sympathy towards wildlife.

"It is still a source of cheap meat and tigers continue to be considered as perpetual nuisance. The department needs to wake up now," Desai stressed.

"Why was the tigress made a villain?" asks Prafulla Bhamburkar, manager of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). The tigress moved to Chhattisgarh from the Maharashtra side and it was the Chhattisgarh forest officials' duty to protect it.

This also indicates lack of coordination and monitoring from both states. It would have been better had the tigress been released in its original habitat in Brahmapuri.

"The Katlabodi tigress near Nagpur settled down after it was rescued and released back in the same habitat in January 2011," Bhamburkar said.

It is learnt that villagers armed with lathis were on the hunt for the tigress for the past eight days, especially after it killed a woman from Murmadi. This indicates that forest officials had no clue and hence police help was not taken.

Honorary wildlife warden of Gadchiroli MS Chouhan says the tigress gave enough indications by attacking scores of cows near Navegaon and South Deori.

Although difficult, officials should have tranquillised the beast after continuous monitoring. Once released, there was hardly any serious monitoring of the animal.

"It's really sad that the forest department has a separate publicity wing but no steps are taken to spread awareness among villagers about tiger dynamics. It happens only when such incidents take place," Chouhan added.

Meanwhile, People for Animals (PFA) termed the incident as one of the worst episodes of the 'save tiger' campaign. "Crores of rupees spent to save wild cats look a sham after the Bamni incident. Officials should not forget that it is because of tigers that they have their jobs. God will not forgive those responsible for the mess," remarked Karishma Galani, city PFA chief.

Will the killing hit Bor tigers' release?

The basic principle of re-introduction of tigers should be within the tigers' former natural habitat and range and should require minimal long-term management. This may be one of the reasons behind the killing of the Navegaon tigress in Bhakru Tola in Chhattisgarh. However, the tragic incident is likely to cast its shadow on the release of three tigers - two females and a male - back into the wild.

The wildlife wing is planning to shift the three tigers in a big enclosure of around 4-6 hectares to the Pench National Park. Subsequently, they will be released into the wild. However, after the Navegaon tigress mess, sources said that officials are in a quandary whether to release the Bor tigers in the wild or keep them in a big enclosure forever.

Wildlife experts say that animals kept in a cage for long periods of time make them unfit for 'translocation'. The three tigers in Bor have been in a small enclosure for two years.

The Navegaon tigress was in captivity for more than two months. Its release ended in disaster. Noted tiger experts, including Valmik Thapar and K Ullas Karanth have already sounded a note of caution. They said release of such tigers is full of problems. Unable to find their own source of food, they can turn into cattle lifters or man eaters.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Tigress-killing-condemned-NTCA-to-send-fact-finding-team/articleshow/10120954.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Chhattisgarh villagers pound Maharashtra tigress to death

2011-09-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

Vijay Pinjarkar & Supriya Sharma, TNN Sep 25, 2011, 08.19am IST

NAGPUR/RAIPUR: In perhaps the first case of revenge killing of its kind, a tigress around 4-5 years old was beaten to death with stones and sticks on Saturday afternoon by a mob of over 5,000 people in Bhakru Tola near Bamni in Chhattisgarh.

The spot is about 6km from the Maharashtra border. There are possibilities that it is the same problem tigress which was captured from Umargunda talao in Brahmapuri (Chandrapur district) range on April 3 and released in Navegaon National Park on June 12 after treatment. Navegaon falls in Gondia district of Maharashtra and shares the border with Chhattisgarh.

Forest officials are issuing very guarded statements now. AK Saxena, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF), Nagpur (East), said: "Unless we ascertain the facts, it is difficult to tell if it is the same." "The only fact that can be confirmed is that the killed animal is a tigress," said SV Ramarao, deputy conservator of forests, Gondia division very matter-of-factly. After six hours of being pounded by stones, when the bloodied tigress finally collapsed in a heap, a delirious cry broke out in the village. The villagers even took out a victory procession to celebrate the killing and refused to hand over the carcass to forest officials. The spot falls in Naxal-infested Churia forest range under Rajnandgaon division. TOI got to hear two versions of the incident. Some villagers spotted the tigress in a nullah at 6am on Saturday.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-25/nagpur/30200222_1_tigress-umargunda-forest-officials

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tiger's Day celebrated in Russia

2011-09-26T21:24:00.000-05:00

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:37a.m.

Vladivostok and several other cities in Russia's Primorsky Krai celebrated "Tiger's Day" over the weekend.

Tiger's Day is an annual festival celebrated in Russia to promote the protection of the Siberian Tiger, a mammal also known as the Amur or Manchurian Tiger.

In several Russian cities, orange became the most popular colour to wear, as locals and visitors alike celebrated the event. In Vladivostok, many children dressed up as tigers, and a number of young adults wore tiger stripes. On this particular Sunday, people around the city sported these tiger looks in promote the protection of tigers.

"(The Siberian Tiger) is gradually disappearing from Earth, and only very few are left. It's among the world's most endangered species," said one local youth.

Tiger's Day is an important festival recognised both by the government and local residents of Vladivostok. People paraded through the city all united under the common cause of raising awareness regarding one of the county's endangered animals. The city square also created an attraction for children to express their will to protect tigers by creating drawings.

According the activity's planners, more and more young people and organisations are being drawn to the festival. Nearly 50,000 people joined in this year's celebration, including many Chinese students currently studying in Russia. These exchange students are also very passionate about the cause.

"China also has few tigers, so we have to protect them, starting with any way we can help," a Chinese student said. Another student emphasized that, cracking down on illegal trading of tiger skin and tiger teeth is a very important part of the effort.

Since 2000, "Tiger's Day" has been celebrated on the last Sunday of every September in Vladivostok. The festival hopes to attract international attention in its effort to help the Siberian tigers and endangered species.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Tigers-Day-celebrated-in-Russia/tabid/1160/articleID/227433/Default.aspx

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

IFAW Launches 'Will Only Words Remain?' Campaign During Tiger Day Celebrations in Russia

2011-09-23T22:51:00.000-05:00

Press Release Sept. 23, 2011, 10:32 a.m. EDT

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- As thousands of Russians prepare to celebrate annual Tiger Day festivities this weekend from Moscow to Vladivostok, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW - www.ifaw.org ) is launching a public awareness campaign, Will Only Words Remain?, to promote tiger conservation throughout the Russian Far East, home to the last few hundred Siberian (Amur) tigers.

"Tiger Day provides an opportunity for the Russian people to celebrate tigers and better understand their plight," said Masha Vorontsova, Director of IFAW Russia. "This is also a good time to remind the Russian government that they must stay focused on their commitment to tiger conservation, or only words, not tigers, will remain."

The world's wild tiger population has plummeted by 97% over the past century; as few as 3,000 survive in small pockets of scattered habitat in 13 Asian countries.

Just 10 months ago, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin brought together the leaders of tiger range countries in St. Petersburg to forge a new global plan with specific commitments and time-lines to save these critically-endangered animals. However, Russia has not yet joined the Global Tiger Forum, which is the world's only intergovernmental organization dedicated to tiger conservation.

"Tigers are in dire trouble. No single government or organization can save this critically-endangered species on its own," said Vorontsova. "It's time for Russia to join the Global Tiger Forum and continue the momentum of the St. Petersburg summit by working with all tiger range countries to conserve critical habitat, stop poaching and end all trade in tiger body parts and products."

During Tiger Day celebrations at the Moscow Zoo on September 24 and in Vladivostok on September 25, IFAW is partnering with the US Embassy to present a new U.S. postage stamp featuring an image of an Amur tiger cub. The special stamp, which was first unveiled in the United States on 20 September, will cost 11 cents more than regular U.S. stamps. The extra money generated will go toward an international conservation fund for some of the most threatened animal species around the globe: elephants, rhinoceros, great apes, marine turtles, as well as tigers.

For more than 10 years, Russia's Tiger Day has been organized annually on the last Sunday in September by regional and municipal governments in partnership with IFAW, Phoenix Foundation, the Amur branch of WWF, AMUR Fund, and corporate sponsors. Officials, celebrities, musicians and thousands of local people take part in Tiger Day parades, festivals, education programs and concerts throughout the country.

IFAW works on the front lines of tiger protection in Russia by supporting and equipping ranger teams that have been instrumental in reducing poaching of tigers and their prey in protected reserves of the Russian Far East. IFAW has also trained and equipped more than a third of India's anti-poaching force.

To promote cross-border cooperation among wildlife enforcement teams, IFAW conducts bilateral trainings and visits between Russian and Indian rangers to share best practices about tiger conservation.

"These 'Tiger Watch' exchanges are especially meaningful for Russian rangers," said Vorontsova. "Wild tigers are so rare in Russia that most of our anti-poaching rangers have never seen one alive."

At Tiger Day in Vladivostok this Sunday, IFAW will announce the names of the two Russian rangers from the region who have earned a spot on the next Tiger Watch exchange with India in February 2012.

About IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare)Founded in 1969, IFAW saves animals in crisis around the world. With projects in more than 40 countries, IFAW rescues individual animals, works to prevent cruelty to animals and advocates for the protection of wildlife and habitats. For more information, visit www.ifaw.org

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ifaw-launches-will-only-words-remain-campaign-during-tiger-day-celebrations-in-russia-2011-09-23

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

New Tiger Cub Stamps Aim to Help Save Endangered Species

2011-09-21T23:41:00.000-05:00

Credit: Wildlife Conservation Society

Sep 21, 2011 10:36 AM ET
By OurAmazingPlanet Staff

A new U.S. postage stamp, the Save Vanishing Species stamp, was issued today (Sept. 20, 2011) by the U.S. Postal Service. The stamp, featuring an illustration of a tiger cub, supports efforts to save species like elephants, tigers, and great apes.

Vanishing Species stamps are now available at Post Office locations nationwide and online at shop.usps.com or tigerstamp.com. They will sell for 11 cents greater than a First Class Mail stamp — 55 cents — and $11 for a sheet of 20. Also available is a special commemorative notecard set featuring the stamp’s image.

“The new wildlife stamp is a tremendous opportunity to help save wildlife around the world in a financially responsible way,” said John Calvelli, Wildlife Conservation Society’s Executive Vice President of Public Affairs. “The stamp is the culmination of a decades-long effort among conservation organizations, federal agencies and Congressional champions, making it a true collaborative victory for threatened wildlife. This gives every one of us the chance to make a difference by simply buying a stamp.”

The Save Vanishing Species stamps will contribute funding for projects supported by the Multinational Species Conservation Funds (MSCF), which are administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve tigers, rhinos, great apes, marine turtles, African elephants and Asian elephants. The stamp was created through federal legislation which was signed into law in September 2010. Passage of the law was spearheaded by the Wildlife Conservation Society and World Wildlife Fund and was supported by the 33 organizations of the Multinational Species Coalition.

Today, only 3,200 tigers populate 42 source sites across thirteen countries in Asia that are now the last hope and greatest priority for the conservation and recovery of the world’s largest cat. Source sites contain the majority of the world’s remaining breeding females – approximately 1,000 individuals – and have the potential to seed the recovery of tigers across wider landscapes. Multinational Species Conservation Funds, soon to be supplemented by proceeds from the stamp, provide critical support to programs that protect these last remaining tiger habitats.

“This stamp marks the fourth semipostal issued by the Postal Service. These types of stamps provide an extremely convenient way for the American public to contribute to help protect threatened and vanishing species,” said Deputy Postmaster General Ron Stroman. “We look forward to working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Multinational Species Coalition to make this stamp a resounding success.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s MSCF program supports the conservation of many of the world’s most charismatic species. Despite the modest size of this program, its support is very broad‐based, including more than 20 million members of the Multinational Species Coalition. This program also stimulates public‐private partnerships and has leveraged more than three times as much in matching funds from conservation groups, corporations and other governments.

“The stamp provides a unique opportunity for the American public to work with the federal government to contribute to saving some of our most beloved threatened species,” said Herb Raffaele, Chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of International Conservation. “A commitment to the stamp will demonstrate that Americans really care about wildlife conservation abroad.”

http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/new-tiger-cub-stamps-aim-to-help-save-endangered-species-2031/

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Bengkulu farmer killed in tiger attack

2011-09-11T21:41:00.000-05:00

The Jakarta Post Mon, 09/12/2011 8:00 AM

Jakarta: The body of Milyan, an 18 year-old resident of Pino Baru village in South Bengkulu Regent, Bengkulu, was found dead after apparently being mauled by a tiger, his family reported.

“He was attacked when he was alone in the coffee plantation,” Milyan’s aunt Surainah said Sunday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

She said that other farmers had found Milyan’s body on Thursday night near his farm.

As a result of the incident, many local farmers decided to remain in their villages until the tiger was captured by the Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA).

The agency said that they would set traps to capture the tiger after receiving permission from the Directorate General of Nature Conservation and Forest Protection.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/09/12/bengkulu-farmer-killed-tiger-attack.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

With 200 tigers, Corbett turns a proud 75

2011-09-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

A majestic Royal Bengal Tiger in the Corbett National Park, which completes 75 years this year.

IANS Sep 11, 2011, 01.48PM IST

One of the nurseries of India's tiger conservation movement and Asia's first endeavour to have a national park, the Corbett National Park turns 75 this year, marking a string of successes despite a few incidents of man-animal conflict.

Some 200-plus tigers, or almost one in every eight of the big cats surviving in India, live in Corbett landscape, which is almost 2,000 square kilometres of grasslands and Sal forest covering the reserve and adjoining jungles in Uttarakhand's Shivalik foothills.

The tigers are not the only attractions; the resort hosts a wide gamut of animals, including leopards, elephants, sloth bears and various deer species including spotted deer, sambar, nilgai, hog deer, and barking deer.

The reptiles include the Indian marsh crocodile, gharials (alligators), the king cobra, common krait, cobra, Russels viper, python and monitor lizards, while more than 600 species and subspecies of birds are found.

Founded in 1936, the preserve was named after famous hunter and conservationist Jim Corbett, who was also one of its founding members.

To mark its platinum anniversary, the management has planned a range of activities which will continue till December. A series of activities have already been held, while many more are on the anvil.

"We are planning to release reports on conservation, and an archival film on Corbett tigers is also being made," park warden U.C. Tiwari said in an interview.

"Our Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has also announced plans to invite Indian cricket captain (and the park's honorary warden) M.S. Dhoni in November," said Tiwari, adding special safaris for school students is also being organised.

Considered one of the best-managed parks in India, the park has withstood many challenges: from the onslaught of poaching to changes in the ecosystem and now man-animal conflict.

The Corbett Park was brought under Project Tiger when this flagship programme to save the big cats was launched by India in 1973. The Corbett Tiger Reserve today spreads over 1,280 sq km, also covering the 520 sq km Corbett Park.

However, with the expansion of the reserve over time, giving wild animals more roaming space has led to an increase in man-animal conflict in recent years since it brought them closer to human settlements.

Last year at least six people were mauled to death by tigers in the Sunderkhal area, adjoining the reserve, which is an important corridor that helps wild animals to move between the reserve and the adjoining forests.

Over 400 families live in this corridor. The government has been mulling to shift them to safer places but nothing concrete has been decided yet.

In addition, developmental activities too have taken a toll and threatened to damage the park's sensitive ecosystem.

"There has been a spurt of tourism activities, which is a big challenge. We need to have some regulatory measures to tackle it," says C.K. Kavidayal, deputy director of the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

"Besides this, there is always a threat of poaching with the increasing number of tigers. We track all these factors, and the credit goes to our staff," he said.

"People who venture into the forest for fodder and fuel wood become vulnerable to predator attacks, now more so when the tiger numbers have increased. But incidents like last year's have never happened around Corbett before," Kavidayal said.

"There are two major corridors connecting the reserve with the adjoining forests. Our task is to recover them so that wild animals could move between these forests," Tiwari said.

One of the corridors connects the reserve with the Ramnagar forest division and the other connects the Rajaji National Park, also in Uttarakhand, through the Lansdowne forest division.

These corridors are vital for the survival of wild animals that roam these forests in search of food.

According to the latest tiger census report released by the government in March, Indian tigers in the wild are around 1,500. A similar report in 2008 showed India had about 1,400 tigers.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/travel/With-200-tigers-Corbett-turns-a-proud-75/articleshow/9944144.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

SKIP the bobcat

2011-07-22T07:05:00.001-05:00

Skip the bobcat was hit by a car on December 28th, 2010. After successful surgery to repair his shattered pelvis and 3 months of rehab at Big Cat Rescue he was unable to be released back into the wild...

Watch full episodes of the "Skipcam" camera trap videos here....

Episode 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErxBYXvT4-E

Episode 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjkhbAF9vM

Tips to boost tiger numbers ignored, says ecologist

2011-07-21T17:23:00.000-05:00

Panaji, July 19 (IANS) Key recommendations of a task force appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to boost tiger numbers have not been implemented, environmentalist Madhav Gadgil, a former member of the panel, said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a workshop in Panaji, Gadgil said the crucial recommendations made by the five-member task force, led by environmentalist Sunita Narain, were ignored by the central government.

"The task force made recommendations that the management of tiger reserves should be made much more participatory and people-friendly," said Gadgil.

"But the recommendations of the task force are not at all being implemented. I am not happy with the rigid regulatory approach of the forest department," said the Padma Bhushan awardee.

The tiger task force was set up by the prime minister in 2005, following the shocking revelations that tigers had disappeared from the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.

It was asked to recommend long-term actions to boost the numbers of tigers in the country and improve their natural habitat.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=108963

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Tiger Poacher, Via Phone, is Witness for His Own Prosecution

2011-07-17T21:51:00.001-05:00

July 14, 2011, 4:41 pm
By ANDREW C. REVKIN

When a wildlife conservation patrol in Thailand’s Western Forest Province surprised some poachers, a pile of abandoned gear, particularly a cell phone, provided evidence of their crime:

The short slide show tells the story. In a statement, Joe Walston, who directs programs in Asia for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is working with the Thai government on tiger conservation projects, noted that the push against poachers has come at a significant cost.

“The individuals apprehended by Thailand officials are suspected to have killed as many as 10 tigers in the region,” Walston said. “They are also involved in an organized crime ring that W.C.S. and other partners have been tracking in this region for the past year. However, such work comes with great risk to the park rangers working on the front lines of enforcement. One officer was shot in a nearby community on Friday in what is believed to be retaliation for the recent poaching arrests. The ranger remains in serious condition in the hospital. Nevertheless, the arrests are a great victory for the government of Thailand.”

I agree that Thailand should be credited for its multi-pronged crackdown on the trade in tigers and tiger parts. It was particularly heartening last year when a security officer screening baggage in the Bangkok airport disrupted a smuggling effort by noticing a live tiger cub in a bag filled with stuffed tiger toys. Here’s the image of that intercepted cub:

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/tiger-poacher-via-phone-is-witness-for-his-own-prosecution/

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Tiger poachers caught on camera — their own

2011-07-17T21:11:00.001-05:00

This tiger, its image captured by a hidden camera in 2010, was identified as one killed by poachers recently in Thailand.

This image was among those retrieved from a cell phone camera left behind by tiger poachers in Thailand.

Two suspects arrested in Thailand after park rangers recovered images on cell phone

msnbc.com Updated 7/14/2011 1:14:17 PM ET 2011-07-14T17:14:17

Two men suspected of killing endangered tigers in Thailand have been arrested, a U.S. conservation group said Thursday, and the key evidence turned out to be cell phone images of them with their prizes.

A phone with the images was seized after a gun battle between Thai park rangers and suspected poachers in a protected area, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement.

"The rangers also found other evidence of poaching, including animal body parts and insecticides that are sometimes used to poison tigers," the group stated.

The images led to three men, one of whom escaped and two who were arrested. The group is thought to have killed up to 10 tigers in the region — a significant number given that only 2,500 breeding adult tigers are left in the wild globally.

"When confronted with 'trophy' images of themselves posing over a dead tiger, the suspects claimed the big cat was poached in Myanmar in 2003," WCS said. "According to WCS Thailand staff, however, the tiger (identified by its unique stripe patterns) was a well-known male tiger that researchers had tracked with camera traps in Thailand for at least three years between 2008-2011."

The society said it believes the men are part of "an organized crime ring that WCS and other partners have been tracking in this region for the past year."

The cell phone also contained images of elephant tusks, suggesting the men had illegally hunted elephants as well.

The Wildlife Conservation Society, based in New York, has helped Thailand and other governments with funding and training for beefed up patrols to protect wildlife.

"Such work comes with great risk to the park rangers working on the frontlines of enforcement," WCS noted. "One officer was shot in a nearby community on Friday in what is believed to be retaliation for the recent poaching arrests. The ranger remains in serious condition in the hospital."

Tigers have lost ninety percent of their historic range — which spread across Asia from Turkey to eastern Russia — according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring group funded by the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Tigers are poached mainly for their pelts and bones, which are used in traditional Asian medicines.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43756746/ns/world_news-world_environment/

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

'Propose Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as tiger reserve'

2011-07-17T20:49:00.001-05:00

TNN Jul 17, 2011, 12.40am IST

PANAJI: The state government should heed the central government's advice and propose that the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary be declared a tiger reserve after a proper study, the Pilerne citizens' forum (PCF) said on Saturday.

The demand has been made in a representation to governor S S Sidhu, chief minister Digambar Kamat and Union minister of state for forests and environment Jayanti Natarajan.

The representation has been signed by PCF secretary Aaron Paul Fernandes.

The PCF also slammed health minister Vishwajit Rane for his comments to a local television channel allegedly objecting to the proposed declaration of Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve.

The PCF explained that the central government has advised Goa to propose the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve because of evidence of the presence of tigers there not merely as transit animals but as residents. The centre has urged Goa to seriously consider the proposal as Mhadei, situated in Sattari taluka, is a 'contiguous tiger landscape' to Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka to its southeast and to Anshi Dandeli tiger reserve to its south which has around 35 tigers.

PCF spokesperson Yatish Naik told the media that the forum and the people of Goa were shocked that even before the proposal of the Union ministry of forests and environment and even before the proposal was made public, a cabinet minister had opposed the proposal.

The representation read, "Declaration of Mhadei sanctuary as a tiger reserve should undoubtedly be made only after studying all aspects related thereto and most importantly considering the fast dwindling numbers of our national animal."

The PCF said "it is a matter of great concern" that the health minister has "shot down the proposal even before his own government has studied the same".

The PCF has called upon the chief minister to instruct his ministers not to indulge in making "non-meritorious and detrimental statements in a premature fashion without studying the concerned subject".

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Propose-Mhadei-wildlife-sanctuary-as-tiger-reserve/articleshow/9251669.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

BIG CAT RAP!!

2011-07-09T15:15:00.001-05:00

Listen to Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Cougars and Ocelots BIG CAT RAP!! For FREE Big Cat Rescue ringtones visit: http://www.myxer.com/artist/513436/

Easy, tiger! Incredible moment huge animal is released back into the wild after being rescued from a poacher's snare

2011-07-03T21:21:00.000-05:00

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 4:15 PM on 3rd July 2011

This is the incredible moment an angry and fearsome tiger makes a bid for freedom - after being rescued from a poacher's snare.

The hulking beast, named Victor, was nursed back to health by experts for a week after being caught in a brutal snare set by ruthless hunters.

The nine-year-old Amur tiger, who was spotted by students in a remote Russian forest who heard him roaring in pain after being trapped in a cable snare.

The bleeding beast, who would have been worth up to $10,000 on the black market for its bones and skin alone, was finally released to safety in the frozen wastes of eastern Russia after being treated for cuts to his skin.

Roaring to go: Victor lets out a growl as he is finally released back into the wild

Freedom: The Amur tiger bursts from his cage and leaps through the snow

The dramatic moment where he burst out of his cage was caught on camera for BBC Wildlife Magazine and shows the powerful animal leaping through the snow to freedom as the team of conservationists stood well back.

One of them John Goodrich, 45, who has spent 16 years working with the tigers in Russia, said: 'We chose a place with enough open space so that we could sit in our vehicles and watch as Victor left his cage to freedom.

'We had cameras ready as my colleague raised the door to the cage.

'Victor glared at us and roared, making a great cloud of steam in the cold air. But he stayed put.

'Then, letting out another roar, he turned toward us again and burst out of the cage. He hit the snow and, with one great leap, disappeared into the forest.

'The power and speed with which he leapt from the truck and disappeared into the forest was awesome and would have been terrifying had I not been sitting in the safety of my vehicle.'
When Victor was found, the kindhearted students drove 50 miles to the nearest telephone to raise the alarm, and alerted the Inspection Tiger Department to their find.

The organisation then contacted the Wildlife Conservation Society, which sent a specialist to anaesthetise the stricken tiger and transport it to safety.

He was examined by experts, who found him to be 'unusually fat and healthy', weighing 385 pounds, and stretching an incredible 10 feet long.

They kept him under observation for days, ensuring there were no internal injuries, before fitting him with a radio collar and driving him eight hours back into the wilderness.

John said: 'Watching him burst from his steel cage to freedom was incredibly satisfying; there was no doubt in our minds that we had made a difference.

'His beauty and power as he leaped from the cage into the forest was stunning and something I will never forget.

'This story is immensely encouraging.

'For the one or two poachers who set the snare to catch a tiger, there were several dedicated people willing, ready, and able to get the tiger out of the snare, against all odds.'

For more information about tiger conservation, see http://www.wcs.org/ .

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2010761/Tiger-races-wild-rescued-poachers-snare.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Slot for N-E in tiger body

2011-07-03T20:51:00.000-05:00

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Guwahati, July 3: The Northeast has finally got a voice in the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the apex body of tiger conservation in the country.

Firoz Ahmed, a wildlife biologist with Aaranyak who has carried out camera trapping in wildlife parks of Assam, has been inducted as a member of the NTCA.

Ahmed’s term is for one year and it will end in September next year. The notification for his appointment was issued in the last week of June.

“I will try to highlight the issues of the Northeast in the tiger conservation policies of the Centre,” he told The Telegraph today.

Ahmed was the team leader of the Kaziranga camera trapping exercise, which put the park on top of the world after it was found that the park had a tiger density of 32 per 100 sq km. Ahmed said though tiger reserves in the region have resources, rigorous planning was required at the management level to use the resources to their best.

He is also developing individual profile of tigers in Kaziranga, Orang, Manas and Nameri under the Tiger Informatics through Geospatial and Ecological Research (TIGER) project.

“This will assist the managers and other stakeholders with updated information on tigers of the region and create awareness among the masses,” Ahmed said.

He had recently carried out an appraisal of Dampa tiger reserve in Mizoram, one of the important landscapes in the Indo-Bangladesh border with contiguous forests in both the countries.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110704/jsp/northeast/story_14192136.jsp

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Feeding 100+ Tigers, Lions, Leopards...

2011-07-03T02:37:00.001-05:00

What's the favorite time of day for BIG CATS? - - - - DINNER TIME! This is what the residents at Big Cat Rescue enjoy more than anything else, food, food, food! The cats definitely love to eat and we love to provide them with the best diet we possibly can, so if you would like to help us feed the cats please visit this site and donate what you can: http://www.razoo.com/story/Modglin THANK YOU!

Sariska to get 3 more tigresses

2011-06-27T01:11:00.001-05:00

ALWAR: The Sariska tiger reserve will soon host atleast three more tigeress from Ranthambore. Currently, the reserve has two tigers and three tigeress.

This was stated by Union forest minister Jairam Ramesh during his visit to the reserve. The minister spotted a tiger at the reserve for the first time in his life. "I have been visiting reserves in the country since 1984 but this is for the first time that I have spotted a tiger," the minister said.

Sources revealed that the minister spotted the tiger ST-6. This is the same tiger that had attacked ranger Daulat Singh Shaktawat and had fled to Bharatpur from where it was eventually brought to Sariska.

"In the next two or three months, we will be shifting three more females from Ranthambore," he said. However, Ramesh made it clear that the next male to set foot in the reserve would be from Madhya Pradesh. The minister was worried as no cubs were being born in Sariska for the past four years since the first tiger was relocated.

"It is just not Sariska but there are 13 tigresses out of a total 20 females in Ranthambore which, too, have not littered since the past five to six years. We are worried and have sent scat samples of these tigresses and from some in Sariska to Hyderabad for a hormonal test," he said. .

The ministry has recently sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the purchase of ten 35-seater buses for ferrying passengers from the gates of the sanctuary to Pandupole. A research centre, Kailash Sankhla research centre, would also be set up. The Centre will give various information on wildlife and will serve as a museum too.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Sariska-to-get-3-more-tigresses/articleshow/9006923.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Kawal in Adilabad to be new tiger reserve

2011-06-27T00:40:00.001-05:00

Vijay PinjarkarVijay Pinjarkar, TNN Jun 27, 2011, 12.52am IST

NAGPUR: The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has in-principle agreed to recognise Kawal wildlife sanctuary near Jannaram in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh as the new tiger reserve.

The 892 sq km Kawal forest is located in northern Andhra Pradesh adjoining Chandrapur and Gadchiroli forest areas in Maharashtra. This would become the second tiger reserve in Andhra Pradesh after Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam.

The area was first surveyed jointly by a team comprising Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation, Ashish Fernandez of Sanctuary Asia and Imran and Asif Siddiqui of Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society (HYTICOS), Hyderabad in 2003.

The corridor mapping was done from Maharashtra to Andhra Pradesh along with documentation of the wildlife and tiger potential of the area.

HYTICOS, with the help of Nallamalai Foundation, later spent more time on wildlife corridors along the northern boundaries of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The HYTICOS team travelled 1,800 km from Yavatmal to Adilabad, touching Chandrapur border and completed its search at Gadhchiroli border. The Satpuda and Sanctuary teams focused on Maharashtra corridors with Andhra Pradesh.

The proposal was under consideration of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) since then. The sanctuary was under threat from illegal encroachments after Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 came into force. In May 2011, environment minister Jairam Ramesh and a team too had visited Kawal.

If Kawal formally becomes a tiger reserve, one more reserve will be added to the existing reserves in 300 km vicinity from tiger capital Nagpur. It will include Kanha, Tadoba-Andhari, Pench (MP), Pench, Indravati, Melghat and Satpura-Bori. The MoEF has already agreed to declare Bor and Nagzira-Navegaon as tiger reserves.

"Kawal will help reduce man-animal conflict in Chandrapur-Gadchiroli districts as our spill-over tiger population will find place in Kawal," stated Kishor Rithe, president of Satpuda Foundation and member of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Kawal-in-Adilabad-to-be-new-tiger-reserve/articleshow/9006099.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Meet Canyon the SAND CAT!

2011-06-24T02:31:00.001-05:00

IS THIS THE WORLD'S CUTEST CAT???

Canyon the Sand Cat is one of the smallest residents at Big Cat Rescue, he's often mistaken for a domestic cat or kitten by tour guests! Listen to our junior volunteers as they introduce viewers to the cutest cat at BCR!?

BIG CAT SUMMER!

2011-06-19T08:31:00.001-05:00

It's Summer time at Big Cat Rescue, check out all the cool enrichment we hand out to the tigers, lions, leopards and more!

Liger Physical

2011-06-13T05:48:00.001-05:00

Freckles is an 18 year old liger we rescued in 2008. She was in bad shape when she came to Big Cat Rescue, listen to what we have done to make her more comfortable while living at the sanctuary...

Vote Big Cat Rescue in Toyota's 100 Cars for Good

2011-06-04T13:21:00.001-05:00

Big Cat Rescue has been selected as one of 500 finalists in Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program, which will award vehicles to 100 nonprofit organizations based on votes from the public. Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program will showcase five non-profit organizations each day for 100 days on Toyota’s Facebook page http://apps.facebook.com/carsforgood/

Sleepy Tigers....

2011-06-04T00:00:00.001-05:00

TIGERS SNORE TOO!! Check out our Tigers, Lions, Leopards and more doing what cats do best.....SLEEP! Big Cat Rescue is thankful to all our donors and supporters than enable us to rescue these cats and provide them with sanctuary so they can sleep in peace for the rest of their lives.

Thai Police Arrest Suspected Tiger Trafficker

2011-05-30T02:54:00.000-05:00

A 15-month-old female Bengal tiger looks out from its cage during a police news conference in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, May 22, 2011. Police in Thailand have arrested a man suspected of being a key player in one of the country's largest tiger trafficking rings, police and a wildlife conservation group said Sunday. (Apichart Weerawong/AP Photo)

By TODD PITMAN Associated Press
BANGKOK May 22, 2011 (AP)

Police have arrested a man suspected of being a key player in one of Thailand's largest tiger trafficking rings, police and a wildlife conservation group said Sunday.

Authorities had been searching for the 49-year-old Thai man since last year, when they issued a warrant for his arrest after seizing a Bengal tiger cub during a separate operation, police said in a statement.

Police believe the network is buying tigers and selling them to purchasers mainly in China via land routes in neighboring Laos and Vietnam, said Chanadda Thanikulap of the FREELAND Foundation, an anti-trafficking group based in Thailand.

The suspect was arrested Saturday in northeastern Thailand and is being held in Bangkok, police said.

Chanadda said the animal was being held by the national park service and appeared to have been habituated to human contact, leading authorities to believe it had been bred in captivity.

Wildlife experts say the number of tigers in Asia has plummeted over the years due mainly to habitat loss and poachers who sell their skins and body parts to booming medicinal and souvenir markets, mostly in China. Conservationists say the government needs to do more to eliminate trafficking networks.

Thailand is a hub for illegal wildlife trafficking. Last year, authorities at Bangkok's international airport found a tiger cub that had been drugged and hidden alongside a stuffed toy tiger in the suitcase of a Thai woman flying to Iran.

Earlier this month, undercover anti-trafficking officers at the airport apprehended a 36-year-old man from the United Arab Emirates who was bound for Dubai with suitcases filled with drugged baby leopards, panthers, a bear and monkeys.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=13658375

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Assam tiger expected to boost gene pool at Bhopal zoo

2011-05-29T02:10:00.000-05:00

New Delhi, May 29 (PTI) A four-year-old orphan tiger, shifted recently from a rehabilitation centre in Assam to Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal, seems to have brought cheers to the officials as they hope it will add to the gene pool of the wild cats in the breeding centre.

The tiger, named Vivek, reached Van Vihar on Friday evening after a five-day journey covering 2012km on road from the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga in Assam.

"With the arrival of Vivek, the count of Royal Bengal tigers at Van Vihar has reached 10 and breeding among the big cats is likely to get a boost," said A K Khare, Assistant Director of the Central Zoo Authority-recognised modern zoo.

"Being a wild tiger, Vivek is expected to benefit the gene pool of tigers at Van Vihar," Khare told PTI.

The tiger was rescued from Methoni tea estate near Kaziranga National Park in 2007 when it was barely six months old.

The cub was found poisoned and in a critical condition when rescued by a team of forest officials and International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) veterinarians. The carcass of another cub was found nearby and their mother was not located.

Since then, Vivek was hand-raised at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga, jointly run by IFAW-WTI and the state forest department.

According to WTI chief veterinarian Dr N V K Ashraf, they decided to shift the tiger to another place as CWRC was just a rehabilitation centre and could not afford to keep adult animals for a longer period.

"CWRC''s priority is to release rescued animals in the wild, but since protocol for rehabilitation of hand-raised tigers has not been formalised, Vivek had to be shifted to a zoo," said Dr Ashraf.

"We decided to shift the animal to Van Vihar as it is one of the biggest zoological park and CZA-recognised breeding centre having near natural environment," he added.

Van Vihar National Park is a notified protected area and a modern zoo hosting animals in near natural conditions.

Spread over an area of 445 hectares, the national park boasts of the largest mammal enclosures.

Speaking about the tiger''s behaviour at Van Vihar, Khare said, "Vivek has not shown any sign of stress or discomfort since its arrival at Van Vihar. He has been very friendly and seems to be happy with the new location."

"We have provided him a 1,000-sq metre-enclosure with two chambers fitted with coolers to help him beat the summer heat. There is also a water hole inside the enclosure," he said, adding that the animal was being fed with 8kg of buffalo meat every day.

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5181952

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Top 10 Tiger Facts

2011-05-24T16:47:00.001-05:00

“If we can’t save the tiger from extinction, we can’t save anything!” was repeated in a myriad of ways over the past week in Washington, DC by conservation experts from around the world at The most important conservation initiative undertaken in the history of the world to conserve wild tigers.

*BIG Cat Toys!

2011-05-21T09:23:00.001-05:00

TIGER TOYS! Watch tigers, leopards & cougars playing with their oversized toys... THANK YOU to all our supporters and volunteers who enable us to provide these grr-eat enrichment items for the cats to play with!

Special thanks to: http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/for providing us with the music in this video.

For more info about BIG CAT RESCUE visit: http://www.bigcatrescue.org

BIG CATS need a BIG TRUCK!

2011-05-13T12:01:00.001-05:00

Help Big Cat Rescue with their mission! Vote for Big Cat Rescue on June 3rd in the Toyota 100 Cars For Good program and we could win a new rescue vehicle!

Vote here on June 3rd: http://apps.facebook.com/carsforgood/

Liger ROAR!

2011-05-10T16:33:00.001-05:00

Freckles the LIGER at Big Cat Rescue, Freckles was rescued along with two tigers from Mississippi in December 2008, read the full story here: http://bigcatrescuer.blogspot.com/2009/01/big-cat-bailout.html

Big Cat Rescue strives to make sure all of our cats are as comfortable as possible while living at the sanctuary, however we have to inspect and clean the enclosures daily whether the cats like it or not and this video clip is a good example of why these cats do not belong in backyards!

Two tiger cubs spotted at Ranthambore National Park

2011-04-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Jaipur, April 25 (IANS) Two new tiger cubs have been spotted at the Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district, taking the total number of cubs in the park to 12, and bringing cheer to wildlife enthusiasts.

The cubs of tigress named T-8 were spotted Saturday in Zone Number 8 of Chidikheda area in Phalodi Range of Ranthambore National Park.

"The tiger cubs were spotted in the morning shift of tiger safari. They were roaming around with their mother T-8," Nature Guides Association president Atiq Mohammad said Monday.

The sight enthralled the tourists who frantically took pictures of the cubs and their mother.

"The cubs strayed in the forest area, but the mother continued to hang around," Atiq added.

The guides, who had taken the tourists into the park, immediately informed the authorities. "We have set up 3-4 trap cameras in the area and increased tracking," said a senior park officer.

According to forest officials, the park houses 31 adult tigers. Other wild animals found there include leopards, wild pigs, deer species and monkeys.

Ranthambore National Park is spread over an area of around 400 sq km. If the adjoining Sawai Man Singh sanctuary, over 175 km from Jaipur, is taken into consideration, the total area is around 500 sq km.

The park was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1957, and gained the protection of the central government's Project Tiger scheme in 1974. It was designated a national park in 1981.

The latest tiger census puts the total number of tigers in India at 1,706, marking an increase of 295 over the last census in 2006.

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=234698

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Forest union threatens to shut tiger reserves

2011-04-25T20:48:00.001-05:00

TNN Apr 26, 2011, 03.07am IST

NAGPUR: The Maharashtra Forest Guards, Forest Employees and Forest Workers' Sanghatana has threatened to close down Pench, Tadoba-Andhari and Melghat tiger reserves if wages of van majoors are not paid immediately.

Working president of the Sanghatana, Siraj Patel, informed that over 1,500 forest workers (van majoors) in the three tiger reserves had not been paid wages for the past four months. These workers were last paid in December. Patel's threat comes a day before Union minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh is visiting Nagpur for opening the first regional office of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Van majoors are backbone of any protected area as mostly they man the protection huts deep inside tiger reserves and conduct patrolling. "It has become a chronic problem but forest officials have failed to address it. NTCA has released the money but why is wildlife wing not paying the workers," Patel asked.

"We will not allow tourists to enter these three reserves, if wages are not paid in eight days," warned Patel. Wildlife wing officials, who did not wish to be quoted, said: "This year tiger reserves did not receive the second instalment under the centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) and hence the problem."

They said NTCA released Rs 41.39 lakh for TATR; Rs 13 lakh for Pench and Rs 61.35 lakh for Melghat towards second instalment on March 31, the last day of financial year. "We could not spend the money in one day. Now, unless Centre revalidates the payment, the funds will be kept in abeyance," official sources informed.

Patel said big talk was being made to save the tigers in the name of tiger capital but both NTCA and state government had failed to address the core issue of releasing wages to workers on time.

State government apathy was worse. The financial year begins from April 1 and MoEF releases its share under CSS in September. Shockingly, state finance department releases a separate GR, usually in January, to release this money.

"It's a vicious circle. As first instalment is delayed, utilisation certificates (UCs) are not submitted in time. Unless UCs for first instalment are submitted, MoEF doesn't release second instalment," officials stated.

Patel alleged at a time when tiger numbers had gone up in the state, no steps were being taken to create space for additional tigers. "There is no capacity building, no proper postings and time-bound promotions. How can you expect the field staff to be motivated and protect the tigers," the veteran union leader asked.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Forest-union-threatens-to-shut-tiger-reserves/articleshow/8084487.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Tiger Easter!

2011-04-23T02:58:00.001-05:00

TIGERS & LIONS LIKE EASTER TREATS TOO! Watch Zabu the white tiger destroy her easter egg filled with catnip and leave the mess for Cameron the lion to investigate!

Big Cat Scares! :)

2011-04-03T06:32:00.001-05:00

Big cats can be very scary, but so can Big Cat Rescue volunteers!Sorry interns! If you would like to take part in our intern program please visit: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/how-you-can-help/volunteer-intern

Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom *Big Cats!!

2011-03-31T13:08:00.001-05:00

Feeding over 100 tigers, lions and leopards each day requires lots of food, watch the cats enjoy their dinner in this fun video!

Tiger reserve in Jharkhand ravaged by forest fire

2011-03-27T04:13:00.001-05:00

2011-03-25 11:40:00

The Palamu Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand has been ravaged by fire for several weeks now and forest officials are desperately trying to douse the fire, day and night.

The officials state that the main cause of the fire was burning cigarettes thrown by passers- by into the forest.

Forest Ranger Ashok Kumar Singh said: " We are trying to bring the fire under control for several days. Our staff works all night and as per the latest report, we have almost controlled it. You will not find any new fire breaking out."

He also said that the fire may not harm big animals, but reptiles like snakes, lizards, etc. could be killed.

No one has been reported injured in the fire that has devastated about 72 square kilometers of the forest area.

Trackers and firefighters from the forest department are facing a lot of difficulty to carry out operations to douse the fire during the night due to low visibility and the complex nature of the terrain. (ANI)

http://www.sify.com/news/tiger-reserve-in-jharkhand-ravaged-by-forest-fire-news-national-ldzlEcebchf.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

LYNX gets a haircut!

2011-03-27T03:46:00.001-05:00

Dances With Wolves had been bottle raised and sold to someone who expected her to bond with him. His cats do commercials and ads and she was not inclined to do either. Living on Easy Street now, she can do what comes natural to her. Big Cat Rescue's resident Canadian Lynx gets rid of her bad hairdo!

Vietnam zoo owner jailed for tiger sales

2011-03-27T02:50:00.005-05:00

A tiger inside a private zoo at Thanh Canh Tourism Park

(AFP) – 03.26.2011

HANOI — The owner of a private zoo in Vietnam has been jailed for three years for selling the endangered tigers that he was supposed to protect, a conservation group and officials said Friday.

Huynh Van Hai, of Thanh Canh Tourism Park in Binh Duong province, near Ho Chi Minh City, was sentenced on March 10, Education for Nature -- Vietnam (ENV) said in a statement.

Fourteen other people linked to his operation, including his son, received sentences ranging from probation to 30 months' jail, it said.

An official at Thuan An district court of Binh Duong province confirmed the sentence.

"We feel that Binh Duong authorities have taken a vital first step in ending illegal farming and trade of tigers in Vietnam," ENV founder Vu Thi Quyen said in the statement.

ENV said it conducted its own investigation last year into the alleged illegal trade of tigers born at Thanh Canh park. The probe indicated at least two other major tiger farmers were also involved in the illegal trade, it said.

ENV added that tigers have essentially disappeared from the wild in Vietnam but 100 are known to be in captivity, mostly on eight private farms.

Older Vietnamese people believe that the bones of tigers, boiled down to make glue, can help treat arthritis, the group said.

In 2007, the communist government allowed some private tiger farms in southern Vietnam to keep dozens of the endangered animals as they were better equipped than state zoos.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iKk0LjJxXoEVg3x2j9_hFsHJ5tvA?docId=CNG.cf2168ef633c0557172d1154979356d7.71

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

A hub for tourism

2011-03-27T02:40:00.002-05:00

Vaibhav Ganjapure, TNN Mar 27, 2011, 06.04am IST

Located in the heart of India, Nagpur offers the best location to take off to the forests of Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh. No wonder tourists usually pass through the city.

Chartered accountant Indranil Dani believes that declaring Nagpur as a tiger capital is the need of the hour. "Every year, the number of tourists is doubling in the region and their only attraction is tiger. Even for going to world famous resorts like Kanha and Bandhavgarh, tourist take the Nagpur route," he said.

Vinit Arora, a wildlife photographer and activist, feels that the government must do something for conservation of tigers which are dwindling at a fast pace. "Giving the status of a tiger capital would certainly boost the tourism but huge infrastructure needs to be created to make it a reality. Mere announcements are not enough," he said.

Citing the incident of Katlabodi tigress which fell into an open well, he pointed out that there is no rescue centre for the animals and birds. "The forest department and the government must make provision of a rescue centre and sanction a land for it," said Arora.

Travel agency operator Padma Gupta says she is are getting more bookings for Pench than Kanha and Bandhavgarh. "The trend is shifting since the last one year with more sightings being reported in Pench. Even the foreign bookings we get is for Pench and Tadoba. When we asked tourists the reason, they say they want a change and feel that Pench jungle is more dense and beautiful than those in Madhya Pradesh," she says.

For Amit Naseri, a wildlife enthusiast working with an international travel agency, other animals which are rare but hardly sighted are also equally important. "Making the city as tiger capital is OK but other animals like leopard, jackals and wild dogs are also important. In fact, you would be lucky if you get to sight them as they are too sensitive and don't come out in open. Importantly, the people need to enjoy the jungles and its pleasant atmosphere."

A regular tourist to wildlife places Raja Abhyankar believes that the government should also step up efforts to educate the children about protecting environment including trees and animals. "They need to make aware that very survival of human beings depends on environment," he says, adding that wildlife offers huge potential to the region in terms of revenue.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/CCIS-2603-A-HUB-FOR-TOURISM/articleshow/7796188.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Tiger population: Headache for wildlifers

2011-03-26T19:02:00.000-05:00

Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, March 26, 2011

The government on Monday will announce that India’s tiger population has increased but it may not be a reason for cheer with inviolate space for the big cat decreasing. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh will announce an increase of over 100 tigers as first reported by HT on February 19 in major tig er landscapes at a three-day international conference of experts on tigers.

According to ministry sources, more number of tigers have been spotted in Ranthambore in Rajasthan, Corbett in Uttaranchal, Kaziranga in Assam, Bandipur in Karnataka, Periyar in Kerala, Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, Andheri-Todaba and Melghat in Maharashtra.

The tiger estimation has not shown comparatively good results in Arunchal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, sources said.

The good news will be coming from Central and Western Indian landscape, where tiger population had dwindled the most in the last estimation in 2008. "A tiger from Ranthambore took a historical route to Kuno in Madhya Pradesh. That shows tigers are doing well," a ministry official said.

"Where is the habitat to keep so many tigers safe?" asked Vivek Menon, Chief Executive Officer of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). "Constant habitat destruction and illegal mining is causing the wildlife stress," Dharmendra Kandhal, a Ranthambore based wildlife biologist said.

As per the government's own study tiger reserves in India cannot hold more than 1,000 to 1,200 tigers and forest have witnessed a degradation in the last two decades. The core tiger area has shrunk to 31,207 sq kilometers in from over one lakh sq kms in 1970s, when Project Tiger was launched. Ramesh has admitted that India cannot increase its forest cover.

Other experts such as Belinda Wright of Wildlife Protection Society of India poaching treat and fall in prey population in tiger habitats is a reason for concern. "If the population has really increased we can witness more tiger deaths because of their conflict with their own community for space and people living around tiger areas," said a Wildlife Institute of India scientist, who was not willing to be quoted.

The Wildlife Institute of India, which is conducting the estimation, has captured pictures of 12 tigresses with cubs in Dudwa tiger reserve in Uttar Pradesh, where a tiger killed two persons. In Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve in Maharashtra, where six people had died in conflict, two tigresses with cubs have been spotted in the buffer area.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Tiger-population-Headache-for-wildlifers/Article1-677961.aspx

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Rare Sumatran tiger killed by electric fence

2011-03-26T16:41:00.000-05:00

Sunday, March 27, 2011

An endangered Sumatran tiger has died after brushing against an electric fence set up by Indonesian farmers, in the second such incident this year, an official said Friday.

There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild and environmental activists say the animals are increasing coming into contact with people as a result of their natural habitat being lost due to deforestation.

The two-metre (six foot) male tiger was electrocuted on Monday in Jambi province in the centre of Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island, a provincial conservation agency chief, Trisiswo, told AFP.

He said it was the second time this year a tiger had died as a result of the electric fences installed by locals to protect palm oil plantations.

“The tiger’s body was partly charred but unlike the first incident, the body was still intact,” he said. Locals had sold some of the body parts of the tiger that was killed last month.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C03%5C27%5Cstory_27-3-2011_pg9_5

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

India’s tiger population on the rise

2011-03-26T16:16:00.000-05:00

March 26 2011 at 01:55pm

New Dehli - India's tiger population has increased for the first time in decades, a newspaper said on Saturday, citing a national tiger census report slated to be released next week.

According to the 2009-10 tiger census report, the number roaming India has jumped to 1,510-1,550 from 1,411 in 2004-05, The Indian Express newspaper said.

The newspaper report came ahead of an international tiger conservation conference due to open on Monday in the Indian capital New Delhi.

India is home to more than half of the world's rapidly dwindling wild tiger population, but its conservation programme, said by the government to be the world's most comprehensive, has been struggling to halt the big cat's decline.

Tiger conservationists welcomed the news and said that the population increase was due to the authorities surveying more areas to conduct the census and creating more tiger reserves.

Tito Joseph, programme director at the Wildlife Protection Society of India, said “the latest census included some of the areas they left out last time because of problems accessing the terrain, like the Sunderbans” which is home to hundreds of tigers.

The Sunderbans mangrove forest straddles the borders of India's West Bengal state and Bangladesh and lies on the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta.

“They have also set up more tiger reserves. In 2004 there were only 28-33 tiger reserves, now there are 39 reserves, so that's obviously helped,” Joseph told AFP.

“It's a good strategy, because tigers need space above all, and if you can create inviolate space their numbers will naturally go up,” he said.

The current tiger population still remains a long way off the numbers registered in 2002 when some 3,700 tigers were estimated to be alive in the country.

There were estimated to be around 40,000 tigers in India at the time of independence from Britain in 1947.

Authorities across Asia are waging a major battle against poachers and other man-made problems such as destruction of the tigers' habitat due to industrial expansion.

A major poacher trafficking route begins in India and ends in China where tiger parts are highly prized as purported cures for a range of ailments and as aphrodisiacs.

“Tiger skins fetch anywhere around 11,000-21,000 US dollars and bones are sold for about 1,000 US dollars in China,” said Rajesh Gopal, chairman of National Tiger Conservation Authority in New Delhi.

http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/india-s-tiger-population-on-the-rise-1.1047609

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Quick relief for tiger attack victims now

2011-03-21T21:19:00.001-05:00

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN, Mar 19, 2011, 04.26am IST

NAGPUR: At a time when man-animal conflict is at its peak, the state government has come out with relief to tiger attack victims by providing compensation without waiting for funds.

A GR issued by the state government recently states that legal heir of victims who die in attack by wild animals will get immediate relief. Even those injured in such attacks will get quick compensation

The GR states that even if funds are not available and the balance sheet is in minus, victim will get immediate aid. There are many complaints that kin of victims don't get financial relief in time.

The demand was made by chief wildlife warden DC Pant during a meeting with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar during the assembly session in Nagpur. Pant pursued the matter.

"There have been compensation cases pending for years. This not only puts forest department in bad light but the field staff too has to face the ire of villagers. It also leads to locals turning against tigers," a senior official said.

The government pays Rs 2 lakh to the kin of victims who die in wild animal attack or suffer permanent disability. Besides, Rs 50,000 is paid to those injured. The government also bears the medical expenses of the injured.

During the last four years (2006-10), the man-conflict has increased in Vidarbha from 30% to 70%. At least 69 persons have been killed by tigers and leopards in Chandrapur district alone in the past six years from January 2005. In many cases compensation has still not been paid. However, the situation is expected to change in the current financial year.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-19/nagpur/29146053_1_tiger-attack-victims-compensation-tigers-and-leopards

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Tiger kills man in Nagbhid tehsil

2011-03-21T21:15:00.000-05:00

TNN, Mar 20, 2011, 12.35am IST

CHANDRAPUR: A tiger killed a person and partially ate his body in the fields near Menha Kirmiti village in Nagbhid tehsil during midnight hours of Friday. Body of Shriram Atram (55) was recovered later in the same night by the villagers, but the reason of his visit to the remote area away from the village could not be ascertained.

Sources in forest department informed that Atram left his house at around 11pm and went into the fields around a kilometre away from the village. As he reached the nullah near the farm, a tiger lurking there pounced on him. The beast later dragged the body to some distance and devoured it before going back into the jungle.

"Later the villagers found his mutilated body lying near the nullah. The tiger had eaten some part of the body. Why he went to a distant farm (not owned by him) that too late in the night is still not clear," said DCF, Bhrahmapuri division, Sanjay Thawre.

Thawre informed that the family members of Atram have confirmed that he was in home till late night watching television, but later he went out without informing any one.

Thawre confirmed that it was the act of a tiger. "The place is close to the jungle. The tiger might have come there to drink water in the nullah. As Atram reached there at the same time, the beast attacked and killed him. We have recovered pugmarks of a tiger near the kill," said Thawre.

He informed that forest officials reached the spot on Saturday morning and sent the body for post mortem. An ex-gratia of Rs 10,000 has been paid to the kin for funeral formalities and the compensation of Rs 2 lakh against the death would paid later after the completion of documental formalities. Notably it is second instance when tiger had made human kill in the district this year. As many as 12 people were killed in tiger attacks in the district last year.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-20/nagpur/29148342_1_tiger-nagbhid-tehsil-sanjay-thawre

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Rajaji tiger count tops 32, no thanks to Van Gujjars

2011-03-21T21:03:00.000-05:00

March 22, 2011 7:35:07
Paritosh Kimothi Dehradun

The number of tigers in Rajaji National Park (RNP) has risen to over 32 but biotic pressure, especially from the population of Van Gujjars living in the national park, is damaging environment in the protected area, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wild-Life Warden Shrikant Chandola said here on Monday.

Speaking at a meeting on the occasion of World Forestry Day, Chandola said 32 tigers had been counted in the park though their population is believed to be around 40. The national park has one of the richest sambhar populations in India, which is favourable for tigers.

But Van Gujjars living in the park are disturbing peace in the area, Chandola said.

Eight tiger deaths have been recorded in the State since April 1, 2010, of which one tiger was shot after being marked a ‘man-eater’. The other deaths were due to natural causes. However, referring to the man killed by a tiger in Corbett National Park on March 11, the CWLW said it was not a man-eater and that the death, though unfortunate, occurred because “the man was in the tiger’s area and hence an easy prey”.

Since Van Gujjars occupy the best lands and utilise water inside Rajaji, it has a negative impact on wildlife, Chandola said. He added that though the Van Gujjars in the past were sensitive towards environment and wildlife, their presence in the park was now associated with the rise in poaching.

Grazing by domestic animals has also led to the spread of lantana throughout the park and, for ensuring the success of conservation efforts, it is essential to relocate humans outside the national park, Chandola said. Moreover, developing the forests of Lansdowne division as a dedicated wildlife corridor is vital for ensuring genetic diversity and allowing free movement of animals between Corbett and Rajaji.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/325977/Rajaji-tiger-count-tops-32-no-thanks-to-Van-Gujjars.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Custody of tiger skin accused extended

2011-03-21T18:43:00.005-05:00

TNN Mar 22, 2011, 01.02am IST

NAGPUR: The forest custody remand (FCR) of two youths attempting to sell 53-year-old licensed tiger skin online has been extended till March 23.

Devesh Raut (29) and Kapil Devke (31) from Daryapur near Amravati were arrested on March 16 by the crime branch for attempting to sell a licensed tiger skin for Rs 50 lakh. Their initial FCR was until March 20.

Devesh and Kapil were on Monday taken to their hometown Daryapur by assistant conservator of forest ( ACF) and investigating officer Avinash Anjikar.

"We did not find any additional animal trophies or tiger skins during the search of house of the accused persons. The website launched by the culprits to sell tiger skin mentioned that they dealt in seven wildlife products but this fact, too, could not be established," Anjikar said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Custody-of-tiger-skin-accused-extended/articleshow/7758204.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Local College of Chinese Medicine Celebrates Partnership to Save Tigers, Other Wildlife

2011-03-21T18:17:00.000-05:00

The Bay Area’s American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM), in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is working to save the world’s endangered wild tigers and promote the sustainable use of medicinal species in traditional Chinese medicine.

San Francisco, CA (Vocus/PRWEB) March 21, 2011

For nearly half a century the conservation efforts of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have been represented by a panda, also one of the best-known symbols of Chinese culture. As the organization approaches its 50th birthday, a Bay Area institution is also celebrating a partnership with WWF that aims to preserve both endangered species and the traditions of China.

San Francisco's American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) has worked with WWF for 14 years to protect endagered species in China and other Asia countries. While herbal remedies may be gentler on the human body than Western pharmaceuticals, they can have an environmental impact; some ancient Chinese remedies formerly incorporated ingredients taken from rhinoceroses, tigers, and other animals that are under threat in the fragile ecosystems of today.

While tigers have been officially banned from use in Chinese Medicine since The China Tiger Trade Ban since 1993, some commercial interests and tiger farms seek to re-open tiger trade using the excuse that tiger parts are necessary ingredients for Chinese medicine. ACTCM's collaboration with WWF has sent a strong message to the world that the established Chinese medicine community - in China and abroad - want to uphold the Tiger Trade Ban, and that they do not need this gravely endangered species to save lives.

ACTCM's partnership with WWF has developed a public outreach initiative on endangered species used in traditional Chinese medicine, and represents an important conservation milestone. No other college of Chinese medicine has worked so diligently on both the national and international levels to facilitate dialog and collaboration between the conservation and Chinese medical communities.

The partnership began in 1998, when the college first collaborated with WWF to foster communication between the conservation community and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. ACTCM’s efforts have also involved the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Fund, the World Bank, and the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (CCAOM). Just last year ACTCM played a key role in CCAOM’s passage of a resolution calling for the end of the use of tiger parts in any remedies, as well as a commitment to finding ways to insure greater sustainability of Chinese herbal medicine.

Even more impressive, though, has been ACTCM's efforts to promote the cause of saving tigers in China itself. In 2009 the institution organized an international gathering in Beijing to draw attention to the threat to endangered species. Then in January of this year, ACTCM hosted a delegation from China that is developing a conservation curriculum that will eventually be implemented in eight universities in Southern China. The delegation consisted of representatives from WWF China, the State Forestry Administration of China and Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who have been working collaboratively on the project.

In 2010, the Year of the Tiger, ACTCM joined major international conservation efforts to protect wild tigers. In conjunction with the World Bank, international organizations such as WWF and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Save the Tiger Fund are mobilizing scientists, government officials and policymakers in tiger range countries to take action to protect wild tigers. ACTCM has been the lead representative from traditional Chinese medicine collaborating with these groups, making strides in the environmental responsibility of Chinese medicine.

ACTCM also promotes balance and harmony with nature through its academic curricula and clinical training every day.

For more information about ACTCM’s dedication to saving endangered wildlife, or for information about the school and its community clinics, call (415) 202-5713 or visit their website at http://www.actcm.edu/.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebChinese-medicine/Bay-Area/prweb8220961.htm

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Backyard Tigers of America...

2011-03-19T00:45:00.001-05:00

Did you know that it is 100% LEGAL to own tigers, lions and other exotic big cats as "pets" in the United States? There are literally thousand of big cats existing in horrible conditions in backyards across America...

Q: Do TIGERS hate CINNAMON??

2011-03-06T08:53:00.001-05:00

Do tigers hate cinnamon? We have 13 tigers at Big Cat Rescue so we decided to put cinnamon to the test and find out..... We also gave cinnamon to a few of our lions to see what they thought to the baking spice!

Tigers were his life's mission

2011-03-05T21:33:00.000-05:00

Daily Telegraph March 5, 2011

Fateh Singh Rathore, who died on Tuesday at age 72, fought a valiant battle to save India's dwindling tiger population, becoming in the process one of India's most revered "tiger wallahs."

In 1973, Rathore created a tiger sanctuary at Ranthambhore, about 700 kilometres southeast of New Delhi, in the state of Rajasthan. Once a private hunting ground for maharajas, the forest enclave became India's most famous and visited tiger preserve -and a key battleground in a desperate fight to save the country's national symbol from extinction.

When Rathore arrived at Ranthambhore, there were thought to be just three or four of the animals left. In 1976 he negotiated the resettlement of 13 villages containing 10,000 families from inside the reserve to a new village outside and, four years later, secured bans on baiting the tigers and on night-time driving. Before long, the numbers of tigers began to recover. In 1980, Ranthambhore sanctuary was declared a national park and in 1982 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi presented Rathore with the Project Tiger conservation award.

A striking figure with a large handlebar moustache, Rathore was never seen without an olive-coloured safari hat and tiger-print silk cravat. He knew all the tigers in his reserve by their stripes, their pug marks and their habits, naming them after Mughal emperors and empresses and Hindu gods.

"If you mixed my tigers in with 10,000 other tigers, I could still pick them out," he claimed.

But Rathore's efforts were not popular. In 1981 he was ambushed, beaten unconscious and left for dead by villagers illegally grazing cattle in the reserve. In 1983 he was awarded an International Valour Award for bravery in the field. But by the late 1980s a new threat to the tigers had emerged in the form of poaching, fuelled by demand, mainly from China.

In the early 1990s Rathore informed the Delhi authorities that 20 out of the 45 tigers on the reserve had vanished. But by then nobody seemed to be listening. He had been sacked as warden in 1988 and transferred to an office job.

After retiring from official duties in 1996, Rathore founded Tiger Watch -an internationally-funded group dedicated to offering local people alternative sources of income to poaching, and facilities such as hospitals and schools. "I thought, instead of making villains out of the poachers, let's talk to them and try and reform them," Rathore explained.

But poaching remained a severe problem. In its first five years, Tiger Watch helped police arrest 47 alleged poachers, many in possession of tiger skins and other body parts, guns and traps. By their own admission, the poachers had killed more than 20 tigers. Yet in the same period, park authorities did not record a single case of poaching.

Not long after Rathore revealed that poaching had reduced tiger numbers in Ranthambhore to just 18 in 2004, officials turned up at his office and demolished it. His daughter's shop and their restaurant were also flattened.

Fateh Singh Rathore was born in 1938 in Rajasthan. His father was a police officer. After taking a degree from Rajputana University in 1960 Rathore joined the Rajasthan Forest Service. One of his first jobs was organizing tiger hunts during a visit by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1961: "I was not in love with the tiger at the time. We were very happy that we succeeded," he recalled. India would eventually ban tiger hunting in 1970.

Last month he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Rathore is survived by a son and two daughters.

http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Tigers+were+life+mission/4389831/story.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Place of worship hits tiger conservation

2011-03-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

TNN Mar 5, 2011, 11.25pm IST

DALTONGANJ: A huge place of worship right in the middle of Palamu tiger reserve has hindered progress of conserving the big cats.

The pucca building at Labher on way from Betla to Garu has become a troubled zone also as a ranger had been beaten up by local villagers some years back.

National Tiger Conservation Authority member of east and northeast effective management evaluation Srivastava said the ranger had objected to the construction of the place of worship at Labher.

The Supreme Court has asked the state governments to ensure a relocation of all places of worship, which are in a way causing inconvenience to public.

Palamu Project Tiger field director Paritosh Upadhaya said: "First of all, this place of worship has not come up during the period I have been here but has drawn devotees over the last 50 years."

The Palamu directorate of Project Tiger has clearly and strictly asked the people of this place of worship not to raise, construct or expand any more.

He agreed that the issue is "sensitive" while corroborating manhandling of the then field ranger over the coming up of this pucca place of worship at Labher.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/TNN05tigerdocclearedSP/-193Place-of-worship-hits/articleshow/7636697.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

CIRCUS

2011-03-01T20:53:00.001-05:00

The CIRCUS is NO FUN for the animals...

Big Cat Rescue does something called Operant Conditioning to teach our cats to do things we need them to do for medical reasons, such as lean against the fence to get their shots or open their mouth so we can look at their teeth. We do this with rewards and the cats have fun because they are smart and bored and love the attention. We never punish or withhold food to make them do something, and the cats only do it when they want to -- not on our schedule.

But because tigers and lions in circus acts must perform specific acts at precise times and "the show must go on," positive reinforcement is not the only method used by circus trainers or night club magicians. Often the cats are beaten, starved and confined for long periods of time in order to get them to cooperate with what the trainers want. And life on the road means that most of a cat's life is spent in a circus wagon in the back of a semi-truck or in a crowded, stinking box car on a train or barge.

The messages the public gets from circus acts couldn't be worse. These acts either show man dominating one of nature's most magnificent creatures, which would never happen on an even playing field, or worse are promoted as illustrations of the "special bond" the trainer has with his captive. The latter just fuels the trade in big cats as pets and that never ends well for the cat.

18 Servals, 1 Sanctuary...

2011-02-21T11:18:00.001-05:00

Many of our servals are former "pets", wild cat species NEVER make suitable "pets" and are often abandoned once the owners realise this. Big Cat Rescue is a non-profit educational sanctuary home to over 100 unwanted, abandoned and abused exotic big cats.

Malaysia tiger mauling stopped by wife with soup ladle

2011-02-14T21:43:00.001-05:00

14 February 2011 Last updated at 04:52 ET

A man has been rescued from a near-fatal attack by a tiger in northern Malaysia by his wife.

She entered the fray wielding a wooden soup ladle at the tiger - which fled.

Tambun Gediu, now badly lacerated and recovering in hospital, had tried hitting the tiger away in vain and says his wife saved his life.

Wildlife rangers plan to track the tiger and send it further into dense, unpopulated jungle in the the northern state of Perak.

"I was trailing a squirrel and crouched to shoot it with my blowpipe when I saw the tiger.

"That's when I realised that I was being trailed," Mr Gediu said after surgery.

The tiger pounced not far from the Gediu home in a jungle settlement of the Jahai tribe.

Mr Gediu had tried climbing a tree to escape the animal, but was dragged down by the tiger.

His wife, 55-year old Han Besau, rushed out of the kitchen on hearing his screams and used the kitchen implement to good effect.

"I was terrified and I used all my strength to punch the animal in the face, but it would not budge," the New Straits Times newspaper quoted him as saying.

"I had to wrestle with it to keep its jaws away from me, and it would have clawed me to death if my wife had not arrived."

It was the first time anyone in the village had been attacked by a tiger.

The director of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in the state, Shabrina Mohd Shariff, estimated that there were about 200 tigers in the jungles of Perak.

She added that five had been spotted near the major East-West Highway in the region.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12446232

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

♥ Big Cat Love ♥

2011-02-11T12:39:00.001-05:00

The love is in the air at Big Cat Rescue. Lions, Tigers, Leopards and more are enjoying the company of loving feline companions and special Valentine's Day enrichment to play with! :)

Another buffalo killed by tiger in Charavane

2011-02-07T01:30:00.000-05:00

Rajendra P Kerkar, TNN, Feb 7, 2011, 01.19am IST

KERI: For Mano Phale a Dhangar-Gouly from Charavane of Chorla ghat, the presence of a big cat within the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in Sattari has proved costly. Three buffaloes have been devoured by the feline from 2009 to 2011. Two of them very recently.

Mano Phale, 67, living with his family of four in the jungle of Charavane says, "My family and I have been living amid tigers for several decades. While they have never disturbed us, one tiger killed one of my buffaloes on February 4, 2009, while two more buffaloes were killed on February 3 and 5, this year."

In a bid to avert danger to Phale's family and his livestock, forest officials have instructed him to leave his settlement in Charavane as they may soon become victims of the repeated tiger attacks.

Range forest officer of the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary Vishwas Chodankar, who visited the spot along with RFO of the Keri range Deepak Betkikar, says, "We are aware of the movement of tigers within the sanctuary's area and have already started monitoring them. The two buffaloes killed recently are within the sanctuary's limit and as per law it is difficult to provide any compensation to Phale's family."

On February 3, a pregnant buffalo was attacked by the tiger. The big cat was stopped from dragging the body away by the rest of the buffalo herd. Phale's family buried the corpse of the dead buffalo.

Then on February 5, the tiger attacked one more buffalo, this one at dawn.

Sayitri Phale says, "While searching for the missing buffalo, I was told that a tiger had been sighted by a person working in Chorla ghat. When we reached the waterhole near Kudalachemol we saw the dead buffalo with deep marks on its neck."

Volunteer with Vivekanand Environment Awareness Brigade, Keri, Dasharath Morajkar, says, "We compensated Sai Pingale with a hybrid cow, when she lost her cow to a tiger on September 27, 2009 in Ponsuli. We are hoping to compensate Mano Phale. There is urgent need to help the family on humanitarian grounds."

Amrut Singh of Animal Rescue Squad, Bicholim, while speaking to TOI at Charavane, says, "Tigers in the forest of Mhadei are struggling for survival.

"Availability of prey is also not easy. Disturbances are increasing as the Panaji-Belgaum road that passes through Chorla ghat is over burdened with transportation of trucks."

He added, "Forest department should be cautious to see that the tiger killings are not repeated. The tiger's habitat is badly threatened. We have to save the last few tigers roaming about in the region."

Meanwhile, VEAB members Subodh Naik and Deepak Gawas noticed tiger pugmarks in the reservoir area of Anjunem Irrigation Project.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Another-buffalo-killed-by-tiger-in-Charavane/articleshow/7439629.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Minister’s photo eye saves a tiger family

2011-02-06T17:04:00.000-05:00

TIMELY HELP: The tigress of the Ranthambhore National Park, which was saved by Rajasthan Tourism Minister Bina Kak. Photo: Special Arrangement

Sunny Sebastian JAIPUR, February 6, 2011

The Rajasthan Tourism Minister's new love for photography saved a family of tigers in Ranthambhore National Park this week. The observant Minister, who spotted blood in the hind portion of a tigress in the photographs she took during a visit to the park, got the animal operated upon for cleaning a wound infested with maggots. The Minister, Bina Kak, is now being lauded by the conservation community not for saving one tiger but a whole family of three.

The family of T-5, referred to as “Kachida female” in the tiger conservation circles, was saved as Ms. Kak, after watching the tigress in the Ranthambhore woods this past Wednesday, felt something was amiss with the animal. “In the photographs and the video I noticed a red patch on the rump of the tigress. After seeing the pictures I went back to the spot where it was squatting and found blood stains on the ground,” said Ms. Kak, who was Forest Minister in the previous Gehlot government here, to The Hindu.

The Minister summoned Divisional Forest Officer R.P. Gupta and explained the situation. The services of two veterinarians — one from Jaipur and the other from Sawai Madhopur — was requisitioned for an early operation. “I spoke to the PCCF and briefed him on the urgency. It was a sensitive issue and the officers understandably were scared about tranquillising the tigress and carrying out an operation,” Ms. Kak said.

The Minister, who was to start for Jaipur at 6 a.m. on Thursday, stayed back to oversee the operation as the vets, Rajiv Garg and Arvind Mathur, tranquillised the tigress with darts and carried out the “clean-up” job in 20 minutes. “There were hundreds of maggots in the wound and the animal would have died eventually if the clinical intervention was not carried out,” Ms. Kak said.

The tigress got up and walked away four hours after the operation near the Anantpur chowki in Berda. “I was told that she finished a portion of her kill the next day and is now normal,” said a jubilant Ms. Kak.

“It was surely a laudable act in many ways. The Minister deserves kudos for her initiative while the team of vets has proved that now Rajasthan medics have the capacity to do such operations,” said Rajasthan Board for Wildlife member Rajpal Singh.

“Such operations involving wild tigers are rare as risks are involved though in the case of zoo animals it may appear normal,” he noted.

Ms. Kak got her reward for the good work — more photos of the tigress! Even if one does not have to believe her claim — that the tigress looked at her with grateful eyes as it walked away — the animal, as the photographs show, appears more reassured. And the latest information is that T-5 has resumed suckling her two-month-old cubs.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article1159860.ece

http://www.bigcatreacue.org/

Tiger, tiger burning bright in Goa's forests

2011-02-06T16:51:00.000-05:00

2011-02-06 11:40:00

Panaji, Feb 6 (IANS) English poet William Blake's 'tyger' might continue to burn bright if a spark lit by young poets and artists at a poetry camp in Goa - with the animal as its theme - catches on, even as the wilds are threatened by illegal mining.

More than two centuries after Blake immortalised India's alpha carnivore in his celebrated poem 'The Tyger', these young artists of the Vasudha Creative group are trying to breathe fire into a campaign for endorsing the forests of Goa as a tiger reserve.

'The poetry festival is dedicated to the tiger and the environment of Goa. There have been attempts made to wipe out the tracks of tigers from Goa's forests,' Kishor Naik Gaonkar, one of the organisers, told IANS.

'With the help of poets and artists, we are trying to put the tiger on Goa's map again,' he added.

The two-day festival that ends Sunday is being held in the precincts of the Shantadurga temple in Dhargal, 40 km from here, in one of those pastoral pockets of Goa, which go unnoticed and unreported.

Pandurang Gaonkar, a young poet known in Goa for his acerbic wit and acidic poetry, said that a unique exercise conducted in tandem by poets and artists would set the poetry festival apart.

'As poets recite poem after poem on various themes related to tigers, we will have a set of artists who are going to sketch the animal on canvas on the spot,' he said.

'Whatever the forest department says under the pressure of the mining lobby, the tiger exists in Goa's forests,' said Gaonkar, who has himself penned a satire in Marathi for the tandem.

'And that tiger will roar at the poetry festival and beyond it,' he added.

There are only 1,400 tigers left in India.

Two opening lines of a poem read: 'Tumhi 114 karod, aamhi 1,400. Amhi roj marto, ani tumche roj barse.' (We are a mere 1,400 and you are 114 crore. We die each day, while every day you baptise many more.)

According to Gaonkar, a recent tiger poaching incident in Goa best reflected the government's callous attitude towards environment and tiger conservation.

The state forest department first outright denied tiger poaching in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary, after noted wildlife activist Rajendra Kerkar exposed tiger killing in April.

Top forest officials, including the chief conservator of forests Shashi Kumar, then accused Kerkar of abetting the poaching, for not revealing the source of the photograph of the dead tiger which was published in a leading national daily.

The case was finally registered, but according to Ramesh Gauns, a leading green activist from Goa, the role of the forest department in keeping the presence of the tiger under wraps in Goan forests was exposed.

'One of the reasons why the forest department is not interested in pursuing the tiger poaching case is because if the Sattari area is declared a tiger reserve, mining companies will have to bid goodbye to the 81 mining leases there,' Gauns said.

Kerkar, who is incidentally one of the chief guests at the poetry festival, says mining is the real reason why the tiger has never been officially allowed to surface in Goa's forests.

'It is beyond doubt that these forests are a home for tigers. However, if the state's handful of sanctuaries are notified as tiger reserves, mining - illegal and legal - around these, carried out with the blessings of the politicians and state administration, will have to cease,' he said.

More than 40 poets, both veterans and budding youngsters, will participate at the two-day poetry festival, in which green poems in Marathi, Hindi, Konkani and English will be recited.

http://www.sify.com/news/tiger-tiger-burning-bright-in-goa-s-forests-news-national-lcglEfdjcff.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

Tiger found dead near Jim Corbett National Park

2011-02-06T16:49:00.000-05:00

2011-02-06 19:50:00

A tiger was found dead in the western Terrai forest divisions bordering the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand on Sunday.

Though tiger deaths always bring questions about poaching with them, this one is being seen by the forest officials as a natural death.

"It is a male tiger and there is no sign of outer injury or marks on its body. It is an old tiger. We will conduct the postmortem today and then we will tell what really happened," said Nishant Verma, a forest official.

The cause of death here may be old age, if the forest officials are to be believed.

"The first instance here is that its paws are all torn and there are cracks in it. Also his claws are not sharp and are very blunt. It seems to be an old tiger and so there is the possibility of a natural death," Verma pointed out.

For the time being, the postmortem report of the tiger is awaited to know the real reason of death. (ANI)

http://www.sify.com/news/tiger-found-dead-near-jim-corbett-national-park-news-national-lcgtOcjbice.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Bobcat Kittens + 2011 Rehab UPDATE

2011-02-06T01:31:00.001-05:00

The Big Cat Rescue - Bobcat Rehabilitation Program. We currently have three individual bobcats that we are rehabilitating, Midnight the bobcat kitten that was orphaned by a hunter in Alabama and Bellona and Skip two Florida bobcats that were struck by cars.
Listen to BCR President Jamie Veronica update viewers on the progress of the bobcats and their expected dates of release back into the wild where they belong!

Tiger reserve tag for BRT Wildlife Sanctuary stirs up a hornet's nest

2011-01-31T00:19:00.000-05:00

Monday, Jan 31, 2011
Muralidhara Khajane

MYSORE: The declaration of the Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary as a “tiger reserve” by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on January 24 has stirred up a hornet's nest.

Sources in the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary said that the official communication was received on January 27, and the total area of the tiger reserve will be 574.82 sq km. The area will be free of human habitation in view of protecting the endangered cat and funds will be released by the Centre.

The tiger reserve, according to conservationists, will help in protecting the estimated 35 tigers that inhabit the sanctuary, but the new status to the sanctuary has become a cause of concern for the 16,204 Soliga tribal people whose lives have for centuries been inextricably linked to this forest.

Thousands of Soligas were allegedly evicted forcibly when the area was declared as BRT Wildlife Sanctuary in 1974.Now, over 1,500 Soliga tribal people will be forced to make way for the tiger reserve.

According to sources, a 373-sq km zone in the heart of the forest has been declared a critical tiger habitat and eight ‘podus' (tribal hamlets) that fall within this radius will be relocated to a village outside the forest. Upset with the development, the tribal community is all set to launch an agitation.

They have planned to launch an indefinite strike in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner in Chamarajanagar from February 15 and fight till the Minister for Forests promises that they will not be evacuated from “their land”. Speaking to The Hindu, secretary of the Zilla Budakattu Abhivruddhi Sangha, C. Made Gowda said that regardless of their objection, the NTCA had declared BRT Wildlife Sanctuary a tiger reserve and nothing had been clarified on the future of the 1,500 Soliga tribal people, who according to forest officials, had to make way for the reserve.

“Forest officials who earlier assured us of not evacuating us from our podus are now saying that podus that fall within the tiger reserve will be relocated outside the forest. This is nothing but hoodwinking the tribal people,” he noted.

He regretted that though environmentalists, non-governmental organisations and rights groups in a petition to Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) proposed to manage BRT Wildlife Sanctuary as a “Community Based Tiger Conservation Area”, the Ministry was not prepared to accept the proposal.

http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/31/stories/2011013163900100.htm

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Indonesian Conservation Group Launches Initiative to Save Endangered Sumatran Tigers

2011-01-30T20:47:00.000-05:00

BusinessWire JAKARTA, Indonesia

With the support the of Asia Pulp & Paper, Sumatran Tiger Preservation Foundation (YPHS) is launching one of its largest operations to date, the relocation of up to six Sumatran Tigers to a vast, protected area where they can flourish. Following a detailed relocation analysis, the tigers will likely be moved to the 178,000-hectare Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu (GSK-BB) Biosphere Reserve in Riau province.

The operation is being fully funded by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), the leading corporate supporter of YPHS. The initiative is designed to ensure that the Sumatran tiger remains part of the Indonesian landscape.

The tigers in question have been sighted by villagers in Riau province of Sumatra. While tiger-human conflict has existed in Indonesia for thousands of years, the YPHS initiative is designed to protect both villagers and tigers by relocating the tigers to less populous areas that offer conditions where the animals can thrive.

“I hope Giam Siak Kecil will be a suitable home for at least some of the tigers,” said YPHS veteran tiger conservationist Bastoni (Indonesians often use a single name). “The signs are certainly encouraging so far. It will take at least three months for the assessment to be completed. In the meantime, we will work closely with communities in Riau to ensure that human-tiger conflict is avoided.”

The 178,000-hectare GSK-BB Biosphere Reserve in Riau province promises to be an ideal natural habitat for the animals, with an abundance of fresh water and food sources. Approved by the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere project, the reserve has also become one of the last remaining natural habitats for the tigers to be studied by universities, researchers and environmental groups. The Biosphere is supported by APP and its pulpwood suppliers.

For centuries, tiger encroachments into populated areas have largely been stopped by killing or hunting down the animals. Bastoni and YPHS are part of the Tiger Working Group (TWG), which acts as an intermediary when villagers come into conflict with tiger populations. The organization has developed programs to enhance tiger survival, including education and monitoring efforts to combat illegal logging and encroachment, tiger surveillance and research using radio collars and camera traps, and programs to reduce the risk of conflict by posting signs and erecting fences to separate tigers and humans.

APP and its suppliers also support the TWG.

Once the assessments are completed and found the area suitable for tiger habitat, and the tigers have been safely captured, YPHS intends to tag each tiger with a GPS-enabled device that will allow YPHS to track their movements and determine where the tigers live. The GPS enabled devices will help ensure that they can live sustainably in their new habitat.

Notes for Editor:

AboutGSK-BB

In 2009, APP and Sinarmas Forestry (SMF) proposed Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve (GSK-BB) in Riau, Indonesia. It is the first biosphere reserve initiated by a private company to be approved by the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere project.

Located in the Bengkalis and Siak Districts of Riau Province, Indonesia, the GSK-BB is described on the UNESCO MAB website as “a peatland area in Sumatra featuring sustainable timber production and two wildlife reserves, which are home to the Sumatran tiger, elephant, tapir, and sun bear.”

The site also has potential to serve as a testing ground for carbon dioxide sequestration in the context of international carbon trade mechanisms. The area is managed jointly by local government, NGOs, industry, the scientific community and environmental experts.

SMF, APP’s exclusive pulpwood supplier, is an active member of the working group currently managing the area and APP has contributed significantly to the development of GSK-BB as a Biosphere Reserve and provided operating and management funds. The GSK-BB area will be used for conservation, research activities and sustainable economic development.

The GSK-BB Biosphere Reserve area consists of:

A Core Area of 178,722 hectares. 70,271 hectares were conservation area set aside by APP’s pulpwood supplier, 108,451 hectares are National Reserves.

A Buffer Zone of 222,425 hectares comprising APP’s pulpwood supplier’s plantations.

A Transition Area of 304,123 hectares, that incorporates plantations, agriculture, fishing, farming and community settlements.

About YPHS

Yayasan Pelestarian Harimau Sumatera (Sumatran Tiger Conservation Foundation/YPHS) is a national non-profit organization dedicated to protect and conserve the population of the Sumatran Tiger. The vision of YPHS is the sustainable conservation of the Sumatran Tiger and achieving a community that can live peacefully with wildlife for conservation purposes.

YPHS’s main programs are identifying the habitat of the Sumatran Tiger, managing human-tiger conflict, treating and relocating conflict tiger back to its habitat, building community’s awareness of the importance of protecting the Sumatran Tiger and explaining ways and ideas to raise the population of the Sumatran Tiger.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Indonesian+Conservation+Group+Launches+Initiative+Save+Endangered/4193765/story.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tiger census initial reports show an upward trend in Uttar Pradesh

2011-01-29T23:08:00.000-05:00

Published: Sunday, Jan 30, 2011, 11:38 IST
Place: Lucknow Agency: PTI

There could be a good news for the wildlife lovers as the preliminary analysis of the ongoing census of tigers in the forests of Uttar Pradesh indicates that their numbers might have increased.

The tiger census, which is presently going on through the camera-trap-method has shown an upward trend, though the complete results will be available in March only, chief conservator of forests, Uttar Pradesh BK Patnaik said.

The census work in Dudhwa national park and Pilibhit is complete, while it was underway in Katariyaghat and Kishunpur and as per the reports available, the number of the wild cats appears to be on the rise, he said.

As per the 2007 census, there were 110 tigers and 208 leopards in the state forests, while the number of tigers in the country stood at 1,400.

The tiger density in Uttar Pradesh is one tiger per 25 sq kms, as against around 10 to 11 sq kms in Uttarakhand, sources said, attributing this difference mainly to better forest cover ensuring easy availability of herbivores.

Sources in the state forest department said that the camera trap method is likely to give a more accurate number of tigers present in the forests.

Cameras are installed at strategic points, like water bodies in the forest area, where the tigers go for water, in their respective territories and a computer analysis is carried out to ascertain their presence.

Though there has been concern over the rise in the cases of man-animal conflict in Uttar Pradesh forest areas, with at least three cases reported this year itself from around the Katarniyaghat wildlife sanctuary, efforts are on to take the help of people living on the fringes of forests, besides NGOs to create awareness.

As many as 16 human lives have lost in these conflicts since the beginning of 2010.

Because of rising incidents of man-animal conflict, the department is also working on constant monitoring, grassland development management and means to minimise human/ cattle presence in the forest areas by providing alternate sources of energy and livelihood to the people residing on the fringes of forests, he said.

The 70 kms long railway track running through Dudhwa and Katarniyaghat forests has brought in more trouble to the tigers. Several cases of the wild cats being run over by trains have been reported in the past years, though the speed limit has been fixed at 30 KMPH.

The department has been writing to the Railways to find out a permanent solution for it but to little avail till now, sources added.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_tiger-census-initial-reports-show-an-upward-trend-in-uttar-pradesh_1500819

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Ramesh orders inquiry into Uttarakhand tiger killing

2011-01-29T22:52:00.000-05:00

Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 29, 2011

Uttarakhand government is in dock for pumping over 25 bullets in a tiger at Corbett national park with environment minister Jairam Ramesh seeking a report and BJP MP from the state Tarun Vijay expressing "displeasure". A tiger, declared as man-eater, was killed near Sunder Khat village on January 27, in a second encounter after being shot about 16 days ago. In between, no effort was made to track down the elderly tiger and tranquilize him, as required under the National Tiger Conservation Authority guidelines.

"I have sought a report on the incident," Ramesh told HT, when asked about the concern expressed by wildlife experts over the barbaric manner in which the tiger was killed.

P K Sen, a NCTA member and former director of Project Tiger said, no effort was made to understand why the animal had turned man-eater and tranquilize him. A tiger in Pilibhit range, who had killed eight people in 2010, had stopped attacking humans after returning to his natural habitat. The World Wide Fund for nature had tracked the entire journey on 20 cameras put in the range.

"The drastic act Corbett was under political and local pressure," Sen said, which was confirmed to some extent by S Chondolia, Chief Wildlife Warden of the state. "The victims were from poor families and disadvantaged. We could not have allowed it to continue," Chondolia told HT.

But, BJP Rajya Sabha member Tarun Vijay had branded these 342 families as encroachers on land for tigers, which the state government had failed to vacate. "The Corbett was not about man-animal conflict but human selfishness and greed in conflict with peace-loving and solitude-seeking tigers," he said on Friday.

Tiger experts also pointed out that the killing took place with the help of experts and the animal was left in pain for over 15 days. "The first bullet on January 11 had damaged the testicles of the animal but no effort was made to end the agony fast," said Brijendra Singh, an NCTA member. No specialized hunters were called and forest department guards shot the tiger.

Ramesh has asked NCTA member secretary Rajesh Gopal to conduct an inquiry and submit a report after experts said that the authorities protocol was not followed while killing the animal.

"Section 11 of the Wildlife Protection Act gives power to the Chief Wildlife Warden to declare an animal a beast and destroy it," Chandolia said, claiming that the NCTA guidelines for fully followed.

Man-animal conflict is in rise in Uttarakhand where tiger population is believed to have increased by about 15% since the last census in 2007 and their habitat shrunk. "Our maps show that corridors which helped tigers to move from one habitat to another and their buffer areas have either been destroyed or encroached," said a ministry official.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Ramesh-orders-inquiry-into-Uttarakhand-tiger-killing/Article1-656120.aspx

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Lion eats whole rabbit - WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

2011-01-29T09:28:00.001-05:00

Watch Joseph the lion eat a whole rabbit in around 9 minutes (Time Lapse)
Whole prey is an important part the diet we feed our cats, as you can see they eat everything including the bones, stomach contents and fur. This provides great nutrition and a nice change of diet for the cats at their favorite time of day....DINNER TIME!

BJP MP laments killing of tiger in Corbett

2011-01-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

29/01/2011

New Delhi, Jan 28 (PTI) BJP MP Tarun Vijay today lamented the killing of a tiger by forest officials in Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and suggested the state government to create a "buffer zone" to facilitate the free movement of big cats.

Vijay also asked the BJP-ruled state to relocate the encroachers outside the sanctuary.

Forest officials had killed a "man-eater" tiger yesterday after a half-eaten human body was recovered in the national park. Earlier this month, a tigress, suspected of killing four women in two weeks, was shot at by the hunters but managed to escape.

Vijay, who represents Uttarakhand in the Rajya Sabha, said in a statement that the encroachments in Corbett make the movement of tigers uncomfortable on their land and they find the encroachers as easy prey.

He demanded "immediate creation of a buffer zone in this area and also relocation of the encroachers to safer areas".

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4857347

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tiger kills elephant in Corbett Reserve

2011-01-28T21:49:00.000-05:00

News » States » Other States
Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), January 29, 2011
PTI

A 20-year-old female elephant has been killed by a tiger in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), a forest official said.

The half-eaten body of the pachyderm was found by a forest patrolling team on Friday morning, Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola said.

‘Rare incident'

“The killing of elephant calves by a tiger is a common incident in jungles, but this is a very rare incident when the tiger has attacked and killed an adolescent elephant,” he added.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article1134163.ece

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Human exposure made man-eater fearless

2011-01-28T21:36:00.001-05:00

TNN, Jan 29, 2011, 04.42am IST

LUCKNOW: The man-eater in the Corbett national park had lost the fear for humans. According to officials, it was over-exposure to human population, which had probably made the tiger fearless.

This was evident from the ever reducing time gap between the killings. On November 12, Nanda Devi was attacked in daylight in Corbett, when she was returning to Sundarkhal village with two other women. The villagers recovered her partially eaten body later.

The second killing was made in Ramnagar forest division after more than a month on December 29. The woman Kalpha Mehra was mauled to death at Chukam village near the eastern boundary of the Corbett national park, when she had gone to collect fodder from the forest. The body was partially eaten by the tiger. The third killing came less than a week after the second one.

In all, there has been six killings in Corbett and Ramnagar forest division. Four of them took place in January alone. Uttrakhand forest department claimed that it had shot down the man-eater on Thursday. The big cat was striking in Sunderkhal, Garjia and Dhikuli ranges of Corbett and Ramnagar. The people killed by the tiger had gone inside forest area. Officials claimed that biotic pressure on forest is increasing. "Sunderkhal has at least 342 families living," said one of the officers.

The officers also said that the tiger was perhaps not ill or suffering from deformity that could have made it a man-eater. There were evidences that the big cat was also killing its natural prey. "Though we can not say, if it was still killing wild animals after being shot at on January 11," said an officer. The officers had shot at it, when it came back to its prey in the late evening. "It was the sound of cracking bones and rupturing flesh that made us realise that the tiger was eating its prey," said an officer. Since it was dark, and though officers fired at the feline, it escaped. But the blood stains found at the place made officers believe that the big cat was injured.

The officers also shared that the tiger had gone elusive, the known trait of a man-eater. It had also grown clever and knew how to avoid being trapped. There had been occasions, when it had come close to a cage set up at the place, but was never caught.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Human-exposure-made-man-eater-fearless/articleshow/7382264.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Was the wrong tiger killed in Kumaon?

2011-01-28T21:28:00.001-05:00

Neha Shukla, TNN, Jan 29, 2011, 07.22am IST

LUCKNOW: A day after Uttarakhand forest officials shot a tiger claiming it had killed six people in and around Kumaon's Corbett Reserve, doubts are being raised if the big cat felled on Thursday was a man-eater.

The Corbett authorities who had earlier claimed that the man-eater was a tigress, on Friday said the feline shot by Ramnagar forest officials was a "rare specimen with female characterstics". With deformity in both its hind claws, the pug marks of the tiger made them look like that of a tigress. "Whatever doubts have arisen, could be because of this assumption of ours," said Corbett park warden U C Tiwari on Friday adding, "it was a tiger with female characteristics."

The contention was outrightly rejected by wildlife experts. "The pug mark impressions are very distinct and are impressions of paws and not claws," said former director of Dudhwa G C Mishra. He added that this leaves little chance of a goof up. "We are yet to come across a tiger with "female characteristics," he said.

"If they have killed a wrong tiger and a man-eater is still at large, killings (of men) will take place in some 15-20 days," he warned.

Former director, Project Tiger, R L Singh said: "I agree that pug marks are misleading evidence, but I have never ever come across a tiger with any of its claws like that of a female. Though the cubs can have their claws look like that of a female, the Corbett tiger was an old one."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Was-the-wrong-tiger-killed-in-Kumaon/articleshow/7383171.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

A tiger with female traits

2011-01-28T21:11:00.000-05:00

Neha Shukla, TNN, Jan 29, 2011, 04.42am IST

LUCKNOW: The man-eater tiger at the Corbett National Park, which was shot down on Thursday was a rare specimen. It was a tiger with 'female characteristics'.

The big cat had deformity in both its hind claws. The pugmark impressions made the claws look like that of a tigress. No wonder, forest officers maintained that it was a tigress, which had been killing and eating men in the vicinity of the national park since November. "Whatever controversy has risen could be because of this assumption of us," said UC Tiwari, warden of Corbett National Park.

The tiger killed by Uttarakhand forest department on Thursday was old, slightly more than 9-years of age. The postmortem of the carcass on Friday found human flesh in its stomach. Ramnagar forest officers had shot down a tiger after the mutilated remains of 27-year old Puran Chand were recovered from Sunderkhal area of Ramnagar. The man was the sixth victim of a tiger in the area in last three months. But, barely a day after the tiger was killed, voices from certain quarters allege that forest officers had shot down the wrong feline.

When asked if forest department has erred, RK Mishra, director, Corbett national park said, "I don't think so. We did not confirm ever that it was a tigress behind the killings." The officer said that the department has the biggest evidence to prove that it has shot down the right tiger. "The tiger was shot down, while it was close to its prey," said Mishra. On the night of January 11, when officers had shot at the big cat, then too it had returned to its prey (killed in the morning) and was eating it. Secondly, man-eaters get elusive and this one was behaving in the exact manner. Sunderkhal area has three other pairs of big cat.

"All the human killings have taken place within a distance of one kilometre, which shows that it was the same tiger, which struck on Wednesday and before," said the director. The first killing took place in Corbett on November 12. "We got the first pugmarks then. But the area has at least 200 people roaming around it all the time and it is not possible to get clear pugmarks," he said.

Explaining the `established protocol of wildlife', Corbett officers said that there are two ways to differentiate between a male and a female tiger. "We differentiate on the basis of genitals and if we have not seen the big cat, it is on the basis of pugmarks," said Tiwari. The pugmark identification is an indirect evidence. "In this case, the big cat was not spotted ever and hence indirect evidence was used," he said.

In case of tigers, pugmarks of only the hind legs are obtained. "This tiger had pointed nails in its hind claws," said Mishra. Also when lines are drawn around the pugmark impression of females, lines form a rectangular shape whereas in case of males, lines form a square shape. "For this tiger we got a pugmark impression of 13x10 cms for hind claws, looking like a pugmark impression of a female," said the park warden. The female's toes are slender and elongated while that of males are oval.

The tiger was shot down at least 15 to 20 metres away from where it had killed the man on Wednesday. It did not leave the area and was guarding the prey. "The big cat was otherwise healthy," said Tiwari. Even its deformity was not of the order that could have disturbed its normal life or made it a man-eater.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/A-tiger-with-female-traits/articleshow/7382262.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Aggressive humans force big cat killing in Corbett

2011-01-28T01:42:00.000-05:00

January 28, 2011 12:21:11 PM
Paritosh Kimothi Dehradun

A tiger was shot on Thursday in the Garjia area of Corbett National Park over the remains of a fifth human allegedly killed in an encounter with a wild animal.

Though park authorities claim that the slain big cat is the one responsible for human deaths in the national park during the past two-and-a-half months, questions are being raised about this theory. So far, authorities had been claiming that a tigress was responsible.

After discovery of the human remains near Garjia, a Forest Department team headed by the Ramnagar Divisional Forest Officer Ravindra Juyal was combing the area when a male tiger was sighted.

After the tiger was found near the human remains, villagers cordoned off the area to trap it and put pressure on authorities to shoot the feline. The Sanyukt Sangarsh Samiti blocked traffic on National Highway 121 from 8 am to 2:30 pm in protest.

The departmental team and police personnel fired up to 12 rounds, killing the big cat.

However, samiti president Munish Kumar said the villagers would continue the protest till the tigress believed to be responsible for the deaths of four women was killed. He said the last human killed was eaten by a pair of tigers so killing one tiger did not resolve the conflict in the area.

Park director Ranjan Kumar Mishra confirmed that a tiger had been shot by forest department personnel on Thursday. Wildlife activists, on the other hand, believe that the tiger has been killed unnecessarily due to public pressure, without the man-animal conflict being resolved in the area.

The remains of the fifth human allegedly killed by a tiger in Corbett National Park were discovered on Thursday morning in the Garjia area.

So far, authorities had been claiming that a tigress was responsible for the human deaths and that it had been shot by department personnel on January 11. However, this tigress was believed to have recovered from the single bullet wound and killed a fifth human, according to former honorary wildlife warden of the national park and member of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) Brijendra Singh.

Mishra said a crowd of hundreds of villagers had prevented a post-mortem of the feline on Thursday. As veterinarians have said that the examination should not be conducted in the dark, the post-mortem will now be conducted on the morning of January 28, he added.

According to official sources, two men on a scooter stopped briefly on a jungle path on January 26 while one of them went to the woods to relieve himself. This man, identified as 25-year-old Puran, was visiting his relatives in the Sunderkhal area and was missing since then. Only his legs were discovered in the Garjia area on the morning of January 27.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/313710/Aggressive-humans-force-big-cat-killing-in-Corbett.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tiger killed in Corbett

2011-01-28T01:30:00.000-05:00

Nihi Sharma Sahani, Hindustan Times
Dehradun, January 27, 2011

A male tiger was shot dead on Thursday afternoon in Ramnagar forest division, post protest from villagers of Sunderkhal adjoining Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR).

A man-eating big cat reportedly killed a 27-year-old young man late on Wednesday evening. As a result, Sunderkhal villagers not only blocked National Highway 121 (Ramnagar-Ranikhet) on Thursday morning but also pelted stones at forest officials.

Facing huge pressure, forest staff immediately undertook combing on elephants to trace the man-eating tiger. Within few hours combing staff found a tiger near the spot where body parts of victim were recovered. Giving no second thought, they shot the animal dead.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Ravindra Juyal division forest officer (DFO) Ramnagar informed, "The tiger was found in Devijaudkhatta where victim's body parts were recovered. We immediately shot the animal dead before it could take more lives."

Wild Life Experts have expressed shock over the way tiger was killed on Thursday.

"The tiger was about 7 years old and was shot 25-30 times. It is barbaric," noted Brijendra Singh member National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Notably, a fortnight ago forest authorities gave orders to kill a man-eating tigress that killed a woman of Sunderkhal village. The decision was taken when agitated villagers staged protest and demanded immediate eviction of the animal.

In great hurry, forest department then shot a tigress but couldn't recover its body. It was assumed that the animal must have been injured, though not dead. However, the fresh killing of tiger has raised several questions on forest department.

When the orders to kill man-eating tigress were given by forest authorities, how can they shoot a tiger dead on the basis of same notification? Why has the department failed to recover the body of the injured tigress?

It is learnt that within a period of two months, the fifth human death was reported on Wednesday due to tiger attack.

"No fresh orders were given to kill the man-eating tiger. We carried forward earlier orders of killing," Ravindra Juyal added.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Tiger-killed-in-Corbett/Article1-655325.aspx

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tiger kills another man in Corbett

2011-01-27T17:55:00.000-05:00

TNN, Jan 27, 2011, 03.20pm IST

LUCKNOW: A man was killed by a tiger in Ramnagar forest division. This is the fifth human killing in Corbett by a big cat. The forest officers have reached the spot, said a forest staff at Ramnagar forest division.

The man was killed on Wednesday evening, said the staff. The officers, on the other hand, said they could share more about the incident once the primary investigation gets over.

The big cat killing humans in Corbett is an adult tigress. The tigress is a man-eater. It has killed three humans since November in Sarpduli range under Garjia forest area of Corbett national park.

The officers, however, were not sure whether the fourth human, whose body was found about 5-6 kms away from Garjia forest was also killed by the tigress.

The tigress was shot at on January 11 by forest officers. The feline was injured in the operation. The officers said that blood stains at the spot made them believe that the tigress was injured.

The Sarpduli range of Garjia forest area has considerable human interference. The presence of Garjia temple near Corbett national park also makes it a busy place.

The locals have already risen in resentment against the park authorities after the killings.

On the other hand, tigress has completely lost the fear for humans. That is evident from the time period which kept on reducing between the killings. The second killing came more than a month after the first one. The third killing was made after a gap of just a week.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Tiger-kills-another-man-in-Corbett/articleshow/7371811.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org

LION TACOS!! - - - $8.75 each!!

2011-01-24T01:23:00.001-05:00

First there were LION BURGERS, know we have LION TACOS, this abuse as to stop!

An Arizona restaurant known for serving tacos made from exotic meats is taking advanced orders for a particularly rare delicacy - LION MEAT !!

Boca Tacos y Tequila, a Tucson Tex-Mex restaurant plans to put lion on its menu for one night only February 16th, provided enough diners express interest in chowing down on the big cat.

WAYS TO HELP STOP THIS...

Please send an email or call the FDA to let them know that regulations should be passed prohibiting "threatened" species from being served as food products.

FDA email: consumer@fda.gov

FDA phone: (949) 608-3530 Arizona Consumer Complaint Coordinator

SIGN THE PETITION HERE: http://animals.change.org/blog/view/lion_tacos_on_the_menu_in_arizona

Tiger spotted in Sahyadri reserve

2011-01-21T23:09:00.000-05:00

The tiger in Sahyadri sanctuary, captured by the forest dept’s trap camera, recently.

Posted On Friday, January 21, 2011 at 06:31:52 AM

For decades, the presence of tigers in the Sahyadri wildlife sanctuary had remained, at best, only speculation. No more, though. A report from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad has confirmed the presence of a tiger, proof finally that tigers exist in Sahyadri sanctuary.

What was merely a belief so far has finally been confirmed. The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad has verified the presence of a tiger in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, located in the Chandoli-Koyna forests, spread across Satara and Kolhapur districts in western Maharashtra.

Speaking to Pune Mirror on Thursday, M K Rao, conservator of forests (Kolhapur Range), said, “We had sent seven samples of wild animal faeces to the CCMB for analysis. While six samples were found to be of leopards, one was confirmed to be that of a tiger.”

Pune Mirror is in possession of a rare, hitherto unpublished photo of a tiger captured through a “pilot” camera installed by the forest department inside the 741 sq km reserve, three months ago. This was confirmed by the forest authorities, though they refused to disclose the exact location where it was captured in the interest of tiger preservation.

“The picture is from the reserve landscape, but I cannot confirm the location,” Rao told Mirror.Rao said that the forest department is now preparing to conduct a census using infrared cameras to ascertain the exact number of tigers in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve-the first tiger reserve in Western Maharashtra, created in January 2010.

The State Wildlife Department, along with National Wildlife Research Institute (NWRI) Dehradun is chalking out a plan to install 20 cameras at various locations in the reserve area that will serve as trapping cameras.

“A waterhole census was held last year, but it is not foolproof, hence the trapping method with infrared cameras will be implemented now. We have even finalized the 20 locations for the purpose,” Rao added.

The cameras are expected to help the authorities take a headcount of tigers and their prey, besides record details of their movements. Though it was believed that the region had a tiger presence, there has been no official information on the exact number of tigers in the Chandoli and Koyna region till date. The belief was based entirely on the rare sighting of a tiger by locals in the past few years.

Rao said there was a need for following a foolproof method before confirming a tiger presence and their exact numbers. “After the waterhole census last year, we collected the faeces samples using the Line Transect Method for ecological sampling as it is more accurate. The samples sent to Hyderabad were collected through this method,” he said.

Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary and neighbouring Chandoli National Park, together form the Sahyadri Tiger Project. According to data collected from the latest census conducted in 2006, the reserve is home to eight tigers and
66 leopards.

Rohan Bhate, an environmental activist and wild life photographer from Karad, said he was sure there were more tigers in the region than the forest authorities would like to confirm. “There have been pug marks, faeces, and nail marks on trees, which confirm there are tigers out there.”

The area covered by the tiger project includes 423 sq km in Koyna, which was declared a sanctuary in 1985, and 317 sq km in Chandoli, a national park. Besides the tiger and leopards, other birds and wild animals, and even a unique species of Koyna Toad (Toad-Bufo Koyanansis) lives in the biodiversity-rich forest of Koyna.

Tigers have rarely been spotted in these two wildlife sanctuaries in recent decades. In fact, when the area was declared a tiger reserve, its opponents ridiculed it saying there were no tigers there.

Sahyadri Tiger Reserve

• First reserve in western Maharashtra and fourth in the state after Melghat, Tadoba-Andhari and Pench

• The Chandoli National Park was formed in 2004 while Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary was formed in 1985.

• According to the 2007 census, the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve is estimated to have eight tigers and 66 leopards

• Centrally Sponsored Plan Scheme ‘Project Tiger’ approved in August 2010

Sahyadri has Tigers!

For the first time in decades, a full-grown tiger in all its feral splendour was sighted in Sahyadri sanctuary. Pune Mirror brings you an exclusive report on the sighting by forest officials

http://www.punemirror.in/article/2/2011012120110121063152830621dd67b/Tiger-spotted-in-Sahyadri-reserve.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Study says India most vulnerable to tiger skin, parts trade

2011-01-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN, Jan 21, 2011, 07.03am IST

NAGPUR: From 40,000 tigers hundred years ago, today India is down to just 1,411. No wonder. Latest study by Traffic International, the wildlife trade network in 11 of the 13 tiger range countries, reveals that India is most vulnerable when it comes to tiger skin and body parts trade.

The study 'Reduced to skin and bones', an analysis of tiger seizures from 11 tiger range countries in a decade (2000-2010), reveals that in addition to habitat loss and degradation, human encroachment, excessive poaching of key prey species and illegal trade in tiger parts were greatly contributing to the rapid decline of tigers in the wild.

"The study included all seizure information available from January 2000 to April 30, 2010. No data were recorded from Cambodia and Bhutan and hence these countries were omitted," said Samir Sinha, head, Traffic India. A total of 481 seizures were analysed, suggesting a minimum of 1,069 (annual average 104.2) and maximum of 1,220 (annual average 118.9) tigers killed for their parts and derivatives. The vast majority of these seizures took place in India (276), followed by China (40), Nepal (39), Indonesia (36) and Vietnam (28).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Study-says-India-most-vulnerable-to-tiger-skin-parts-trade/articleshow/7331229.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

2 Tigers vs RHINO !?

2011-01-21T05:34:00.001-05:00

!! WATCH 2 TIGERS ATTACK A RHINO !?- Shere Khan our 750lb Siberian/bengal Tiger and China Doll have fun destroying our model Rhino.

Two arrested in tiger''s killing at Sariska

2011-01-17T14:41:00.001-05:00

PTI 10:01 PM,Jan 17,2011

Alwar, Jan 17 (PTI) Two more persons were today arrested by a forest deapartment team in Sariska for their alleged involvment in the killing of a translocated tiger in the national park last year. "Bhagwanya and Kailash Gujjar were involved in the killing of ST-1 in November last year. They were caught from near Tehla village," an official said, adding the duo were being interrrogated. ST-1, one of the five tigers translocated to the reserve, was poisoned to death and the carcass of the big cat was found on the night on Novermber 14 in Sariska. The forest officials had earlier arrested the main accused, Parsadi Gujjar, last month.

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/two-arrested-in-tigers-killing-at-sariska/536367.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Man attacked by tiger, escapes

2011-01-17T14:35:00.001-05:00

TNN, Jan 17, 2011, 10.16pm IST

CHAMARAJNAGAR: Even as locals and tribals are demanding that Biligiri Ranganathswamy Hills be declared a tiger reserve, one person sustained injuries in an attack by the big cat.

G Vasantharaju, a resident of a tribal hamlet, was travelling downhill on his two-wheeler, when the tiger attacked him. But he escaped with minor injuries and is admitted to hospital at Yelandur. This is first time that a human has come under attack by the big cat at the forested area, once dominated by slain brigand Veerappan. Some one year ago, a tiger had killed a person at Gopalswamy hills near Bandipur national park.

But wildlife activists said there is no need to worry about tiger attacks, terming Vasantharaju's incident an isolated case. There is no history of humans being attacked by tigers at B R Hills, said H P Ashwin, a wildlife activist working on a tiger project in the forest area. Tribals are in the forested area but there are no instances of any attack, he pointed out, adding that they do not face any threat.

They said tigers generally don't become man hunters unless they are too infirm and can't hunt.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysore/Man-attacked-by-tiger-escapes/articleshow/7306663.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

How to Flea Treat 100+ BIG CATS !!

2011-01-16T03:53:00.001-05:00

Tigers, Lions, Leopards, all cat species can catch fleas, so at Big Cat Rescue we have to treat all of our 100+ residents with flea prevention just like your domestic cat at home every single month!

Another man killed by tiger in eastern UP

2011-01-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

TNN, Jan 9, 2011, 03.29am IST

LUCKNOW: A second killing in as many days inside the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, near Bahraich on the Nepal border, has set alarm bells ringing in the state forest department. The latest victim is a 55-year-old man, who was killed in a village situated inside the sanctuary on Friday.

Jagmal's partially eaten body was recovered from a dense forest on Saturday. The incident took place in Jamunia village, situated inside the sanctuary and is almost adjacent to the core area, an ideal tiger habitat.

Earlier, on Thursday, another villager Saligram, 60, was reportedly killed by the tiger when he had gone to work in his sugarcane field. The forest area from where Jagmal's body was recovered is about 12 km from the place where Saligram's body was found. ''The pugmarks found around Saligram's body were that of a tigress," said Katarniaghat range officer M K Shukla.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Another-man-killed-by-tiger-in-eastern-UP/articleshow/7244880.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tigress mauls one to death

2011-01-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

TNN, Jan 8, 2011, 05.46am IST

LUCKNOW: The man-animal conflict has once again raised its ugly head. A 60-year-old man is the latest casualty to the big cat.

According to officials, the incident took place in Katarniaghat on Thursday morning. The fact that the body was intact and not consumed by the big cat gives some sense of respite to forest officers in the area.

"This is not a case of man-eating," said MK Shukla, Range Officer, Katarniaghat. 60-year-old Saligram, resident of Belahanpura village, was killed at around 10:30 on Thursday morning, when he had gone to work in his sugarcane field. The man had gone alone to the field.

The pugmarks found around the body appear to be of a tigress. In all possibilities, the tigress was already present in the dense sugarcane field, when the man reached the spot and was attacked by the tigress in retaliation.

The man had injury marks on his neck and died of excessive bleeding. A compensation of Rs 10,000 was released immediately to his family. Another Rs 1 lakh as compensation will be given by the state government once the formalities are done. The incident took place in compartment 4 of Sadar beat near Girijapuri barrage. The incident of this nature has not occurred in the area in recent past.

But the villagers have been alerted to follow precautions while venturing into sugarcane fields, especially when alone. When men move in groups, they mostly alert the tiger of their presence and in that case the big cat will avoid coming close to them.

Katarniaghat has a sizable population of big cats, both tigers and leopards. The tigers being present in sugarcane field is a common phenomenon in terai belt. Mostly, tigress with cubs are present in the fields. The killings taking place during the day are mostly the ones where tigers charge in retaliation when they are consciously or unconsciously disturbed.

In most of the incidents, where tigers have killed men in the recent past, big cats have not ventured out of the forest area. On the contrary, men have entered forests and got killed.

The officers said that since tigers live in the core area of the forests, they do not venture out of forest unless they turn into compulsive maneaters.

The forest department has increased the vigil in the area in order to avoid even the remotest chance of a similar incident happening again. The area has some villages in its vicinity.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Tigress-mauls-one-to-death/articleshow/7238694.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Open core areas of wildlife parks to tourists: Khurshid

2011-01-07T21:46:00.000-05:00

2011-01-07 19:30:00

Lucknow, Jan 7 (IANS) Union Minister for Corporate and Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid Friday expressed the need for opening core areas in wildlife parks to tourists.

Speaking at the 'Billy Arjan Singh Memorial Convention', organised by NGO Tiger and Terrain on the noted wildlife enthusiast's first death anniversary here, Khurshid said that opening of core areas to tourists would go a long way in curbing poaching.

He, however, noted that 'entry to core areas must be strictly regulated and some criterion need to be laid down to allow such entry'.

Wildlife enthusiasts at the convention earlier sought to draw the minister's attention to the fact that the core areas of wildlife parks and sanctuaries had turned into the safe haven for poachers.

'Since there were not enough functionaries and those too inadequately equipped, core areas remained unfrequented even by the staff, with the result that poacher gangs could easily slip in and carry out their nefarious activities,' Tiger and Terrain secretary Kaushlendra Singh said.

His views found favour with the minister, who is himself a wildlife enthusiast.

Ranjit Bhargava, who has been honoured with Padmashri for his wildlife conservation work, stressed on the need for diversion of a rail track and a highway from a 25 km stretch of Uttar Pradesh's Dudhwa National Park, the second largest wildlife reserve after the world famous Corbett Park in Uttarakhand in north India.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief conservator of forests Gian Chand Misra expressed deep concern over the dwindling numbers of deer, which is the favoured food of tigers.

Most speakers felt that the official tiger count was 'highly inflated'. However, Misra was of the view that fudging of tiger figures would come to an end once the modern counting system based on DNA match is introduced in all the parks.

http://www.sify.com/news/open-core-areas-of-wildlife-parks-to-tourists-khurshid-news-national-lbht4pidfij.html

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Tiger & Terrain Trust holds meeting

2011-01-07T21:45:00.001-05:00

TNN, Jan 8, 2011, 05.40am IST

LUCKNOW: Tiger and Terrain Trust held its meeting on Friday to discuss the recommendations of Billy Arjan Singh Memorial Convention held recently. The meeting discussed issues related to protection and conservation of tigers.

The main speakers who participated in the meeting included D Ranjit Bhargava, former president of the trust; G C Misra, president of the trust; Mini Narain, founder member of the trust, and Raghvendra Singh.

The main issues discussed in the meeting were related to diversion of railway tracks from Dudhwa National Park, restriction on the movement of heavy vehicles on state highway passing through Dudhwa, effective management of Suheli barrage, early implementation of work plan for Dudhwa National Park, putting solar fencing along the external border of the wildlife areas etc.

Union minister of state for corporate and minority affairs (independent charge) Salman Khurshid, who was the chief guest at the meeting, said that he would discuss these issues with Union minister for forests and wildlife Jairam Ramesh and request him to meet the members of Tiger and Terrain Trust so that steps could be taken for the early implementation of the suggestions of Billy Arjan Singh Memorial Convention.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Tiger-Terrain-Trust-holds-meeting/articleshow/7238683.cms

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/

Cougar Rescue

2011-01-06T11:23:00.001-05:00

Meet Big Cat Rescue's newest residents, Freddy and Sassyfrass. They were rescued from Illinois in November 2010, listen to their story and watch the rescue!

Living in the Lion's Den for 30 Days James Jablon

2011-01-05T09:05:00.001-05:00

Why is it so bad for James Jablon of Wildlife Rehab of Hernando Florida to be living in the lions' den with two white lion cubs?

How about 10 reasons, just for starters:

Tiger kills wood collector

2011-01-01T23:38:00.000-05:00

Sat, Jan 1st, 2011 11:21 pm BdST

Khulna, Jan (bdnews24.com) – A wood and honey collector has been killed by a Royal Bengal Tiger in the Sundarbans at Koira Upazila in Khulna, forest department officials said.

The victim was identified as Mohammad Asadul, 32, of Bagali village under the Upazila.

Forest department's Kalabogi station officer Mohammad Jahidul Islam said a group of 7-8 wood and honey collectors, locally known as Bawali, went to Sormukho canal area of the forest to collect Golpata, leaves of a kind of small trees, with a valid pass a week back.

A Royal Bengal Tiger attacked and took away Asadul while he was cutting Golpata on Friday night, Jahidul told bdnews24.com.

On information, the forest department employees went into the forest and retrieved his mutilated body on Saturday morning.

http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=183227&cid=2

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/