Survival of tigers is dependent on conservation and management efforts. To gauge the success of conservation efforts as well as to guide management inputs, it is important to assess the effectiveness of management of Tiger Reserves. This publication aims at compiling management issues and key recommendations evolved from different cycles …
WHEN Joseph Niepce invented photography in 1816, little did he realise that among the millions of uses his technology would be put to, counting tigers would be one of them! That is precisely what Ullas Karanth has begun to do at Nagarhole National Park near Mysore in Karnataka. (Biological Conservation, …
Film director Ashish Chandol was in Bandhavgarh with his camera to capture the natural history of the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh. What he found difficult to ignore were the tigers, As a result, his new film is entitled Tigers Next Door. But this is not a pure wildlife film …
ALARMED by the increased rate of tiger poaching in 23 tiger reserves through-out India, a proposal to create a Special Strike Source for tackling the menace by the Project Tiger Steering committee, headed by the Union minister for environment and forests, Kamal Nath, has finally been green signalled by the …
IN a welcome move, Madhya Pradesh (mp) has been proclaimed a 'Tiger state' to give more thrust to its tiger protection programme. Declaring this on June 25, the state minister for forests, B R Yadav, remarked that the decision, which would go a long way in providing protection not only …
PROMISCUOUSLY cohabiting gene pools were on the verge of ensuring that tigers would never be the same again; what saved the day was the Central Zoo Authority's (CZA) new scientific action plan for breeding them in captivity. From now on, DNA mappings will be used to trace the genetic details …
WHILE plans are being drawn up across the world to protect endangered tiger species, the Madhya Pradesh government's decision to lift the ban on the collection of tendu leaves from 44 protected forests of the state has kicked up a storm: but 3 national parks have been excluded from the …
TIGER census will now be done by shoot- ing the cats - with a camera, of course! Earlier, pug marks counting was the only method. "Camera trapping", as ,he new method is known, lalls for the installation of etectronically operated ,ameras in select forest areas. The study will be -ndertaken …
India and China have signed a protocol in the first week of March in Beijing to cooperate in stopping the poaching of tigers, and curbing the smuggling and illegal use of tiger bones and other parts. The partly mythical values attached to tiger products, like its bones, claws, teeth and …
Tension is brewing in 10 villages in Lahiripur area of the Sunderbans in West Bengal following an increasing number of close encounters with tigers and the alleged inaction by the forest authorities. Says Khagen Mondal, the sarpanch of one of the affected villages, "You cannot find a single household in …
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh's instruction earlier this year to ban 'tiger-shows' at the Kanha and the Bandhavgarh national parks has been the source of considerable simmering dissent in the state's wildlife establishment. The discontent has burst into the open with wildlife authorities blaming that decision as the direct …
Two months ago, customs and wildlife authorities had announced one of the largest hauls of poached tiger bones -- 162 kg -- in India when they arrested Pema Thinley in Delhi. Recent information leaked from the Union home ministry suggests that Thinley may have been an agent for the national …
A FEW months ago, mornings at the Kanha national park began with mahouts loping off to scout the area around park headquarters for tiger spoor. After a tiger was spotted and made to settle in one spot, tourists would be brought in, 4 at a time, for a "dekho" at …
Experts from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have proved to be as lax as other bureaucrats. At the 32nd meeting of Project Tiger's steering committee, held on August 26, members pointed out that the experts detailed to carry out a review of Project Tiger areas were to have completed the task by …
IT IS unfortunate that the tiger has lost its most forceful defender at a time when new threats of extinction loom large over its horizon. The death of Kailash Sankhala(69), the first director of Project Tiger, on August 15 this year brings the curtain down on a remarkable career in …
The steering committee of Project Tiger is scheduled to meet this month to decide on creating 2 more tiger reserves: in Dampha in Mizoram and Panna in Madhya Pradesh. "Tigers outside the Project Tiger reserves are not getting sufficient protection," says S P Singh, deputy director of Project Tiger, "so …
WHEN undercover agents from the Indian branch of Trade Record Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC) captured 475 kg of tiger bone and 13 pelts in 1993, they exposed more than an international poaching operation. There, for the entire world to see, lay the shattered truth about Project …
IN A victory for conservationists, South Korea has decided to ban domestic trade in tiger bones and rhino horns from 1995. Although a ban on their imports have been in force -- Siberian tiger bones since 1993 and rhino horns since 1984 -- the goods continue to be smuggled in. …
THE MINISTRY of environment and forests (MEF) has decided to launch a target-based action plan to stop the dwindling tiger population in the country. Measures proposed include hiking fores staff salaries by Rs 100-400, creating new tiger reserves, setting up special anti-poaching teams and forming a Global Tiger Forum. The …
Canine distemper virus (CDV) infection occurred in captive leopards (Panthera pardus), tigers (Panthera tigris), lions (Panthera leo), and a jaguar (Panthera onca) in 1991 and 1992. An epizootic affected all 4 types of cats at the Wildlife Waystation, San Fernando, California, with 17 mortalities. CDV-infected raccoons were thought to be …
