New Delhi: The surge of poaching of rhinoceros in South Africa could lead to threats to the one-horned Indian rhino in Assam and West Bengal if the African country decides to go ahead and demand opening the international trade in rhino horns. Speaking at the first stock taking meeting of the World Bank-led Global Tiger Recovery Programme in Delhi, Keshav Varma, programme director of the Global Tiger Initiative, warned that South Africa, unable to contain poaching, was inclined towards opening the trade in rhino horns.

Project Tiger is not the great success story that the government would have you believe. India has lost 32 tigers in the last four months with two tigers having being killed last month in Tadoba Tiger Reserve by poachers using iron foot-traps.

Fourteen of these tigers have been lost to poachers till May 2012, minister for environment and forests Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters on the sidelines of the first stocktaking meeting to review the implementation of the Global Tiger Recovery Programme. “The remaining 18 tigers died natural deaths and we are constantly looking into reasons for this,” the minister said.

The third and final report on the death of a rhinoceros at the Delhi Zoo has confirmed that anthrax infection was not the cause of death. The National Centre of Disease Control report of tests conducted on blood samples of a male one-horned rhino that died on April 28 reached the Zoo authorities on Monday.

“The third report has come negative for anthrax. Everything has become normal again at the zoo and the barricades that restricted visitors’ entry to the rhino enclosure have been removed,” said R A Khan, curator of National Zoological Park, on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over recent tiger deaths in the country, Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said her ministry is constantly looking into the reasons for it. "We will have to take a look at the reasons. 17 are natural deaths, and we will look into the other deaths. We are constantly looking at the reasons. Well, poaching, you know, is an important reason which we are actively considering. The other reasons if it is a man- animal conflict we are already addressing those causes," Natarajan told media.

The tigers of the Tadoba reserve in Vidarbha region, have new owners. They are the tribals who live in the 79 villages just outside the reserve (known as the buffer zone), who have been given a direct economic stake in the well-being of the tigers. “Visitors who wish to see the tigers in the buffer zone have to pay a fee to the village,” said a senior forest official. “And, each party travelling in that area has to hire a guide, who must be a tribal, and pay him Rs200, up from the Rs100 earlier. This gives the tribals a sense of ownership in the wellbeing of the tigers.”

Oil companies engaged in drilling and exploration activities, power projects, coal and cement industries, besides developers of national highway in both public and private sectors have emerged as major environmental violators in the North-east. In a Question Hour discussion on Tuesday, Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jayanthi Natarajan allayed all apprehension over violation of environment norms in construction of dams in the North-east.

“The wild tiger continues to remain endangered the world over”

As many as 32 tigers have died this year, even as latest official data showed an increase in the population estimates of the big cats. Of these, 18 were natural deaths, Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said. Expressing concern over the endangered status of the tiger the world over, Ms. Natarajan on Tuesday said the Ministry was looking into the reasons for the deaths.

BERHAMPUR: Emu, the flightless bird from Australia, is gradually changing the trend of poultry farming in south Odisha. Considered to be the second largest bird in the world after ostrich, though these amazing birds weigh 50 kg and run at 40 miles per hour, emus are far from being intimidating. This is the prime reason why emus are proving to be a boon to farmers in the State.

“A forest research centre will be established at Vandalur Arignar Anna Zoological Park”

Sathyamangalam will be the State's fourth tiger reserve with the government promising to create a new reserve for the big cats spread over 1.40 lakh hectares from the present sanctuary limits. Replying to the discussion on the demands for grants for the Forest Department, Minister K.T. Pachamal said that the government notified 1,41,161 hectares of reserve forests in Sathyamangalam as a wildlife sanctuary in August 2011.

After scripting a success story in tiger conservation at home in the past few years, India is now planning to revive a two-year-old offer to help save the big cat in the world’s largest tiger reserve in Myanmar, which is suffering from dwindling tiger numbers. The political reform in the South Asian country during the past few months, giving democratic forces a chance, has made Indian officials optimistic that the offer for collaboration — practically locked in the cold storage by Myanmar in the past — can be refreshed through diplomatic channels.