Apart from poaching and habitat loss, climate change-induced droughts have been threatening the rhino population in Africa, pointed out a new report. On the other hand, climate disruptions in Asia can lead to the deaths of rhinos. Increased precipitation, longer monsoons and seasonal floods are already resulting in stranding, drowning …
The largest of all cats, tigers, are gradually dying due to a loss of habitat, diminishing stocks of prey and poaching. About 100,000 tigers lived in the Asian wilderness at the beginning of this century. Only about 5,000 or about five per cent are believed to remain today. Poaching is …
The wild elephants that once roamed freely over southern China, retreated long ago to the dense tropical rain forests which cover the mountains near the nation's borders with Myanmar (previously Burma) and Laos. The dwindling elephant population that now survives has been further ravaged in recent years by poachers eager …
the Union minister for environment and forests, Saifuddin Soz, has sought support from developed countries and non-governmental organisations for strengthening the on-going conservation efforts in the country. Speaking at the Third General Assembly of the Asian Conservation Alliance, he cautioned that human greed can always devise ingenious methods for poaching …
A photograph of a dead elephant, with its tusks and toenails ripped out, recently jolted Bangladesh out of its indifference towards poaching of these near-extinct wild Asian elephants. Worse still, the tusker belonged to the Eidgadlife sanctuary, one of the country's few remaining elephant "refuges'. An investigation has been initiated …
This paper argues that tiger conservation is, ultimately, an issue of incentives. Command-and-control prescriptions for saving the tiger have largely failed because the people who actually determine the destiny of wild tigers have few incentives to save them. If environmentalists are to succeed in saving the wild tiger from extinction, …
There have been hundreds of statements made about the future of the tiger over the last few years in India and around the world. Millions of dollars have been spent on conferences, expert meetings and the bureaucracies that support them. Presidents, Prime Ministers and politicians in many parts of the …
bird-trappers have evolved new methods to hunt migratory birds that have started arriving at the Chilika lagoon in the state of Orissa, the largest salt water lagoon in Asia. The latest tactic is the use of oral tranquillisers mixed in foodstuff to eliminate or capture the birds in an unconscious …
At a time when alarms have been sounded over the slaughter of elephants and rhinos by poachers and killing of male lions by hunters, the wildlife in Botswana is facing a serious threat. An expanding cattle industry and hundreds of miles of new veterinary cordon fences have led to massive …
an elephant poacher-turned-sandalwood smuggler, Veerappan has used his intimate knowledge of the territory and his influence and terror among the locals to avoid capture. Over the years he has extracted a heavy price from the state of Karnataka. Crores of rupees have been spent, and 32 police personnel and 10 …
there seems to be more than meets the eye in the case. Veerappan appears to be, despite his notoriety as a law unto himself, the tip of the iceberg, an epiphenomenon. For one, political involvement in sandalwood smuggling is common. Apart from Veerappan, other gangs are known to deal in …
Veerappan, if he knew how to put it, could claim to be a refugee in the war that short-sighted development unleashed on the environment. His grandfather, Muniya Gounder, was a Mettur Dam oustee from Oothanagere village, and moved to Gopinatham village in the 1930s. On his death, his two sons, …
Why did you contact Veerappan? As a journalist, I saw this as a challenge. The man seemed impossible to trace. Then there were rumours that the villagers were suffering on account of police atrocities. We had been informed that the man had killed 2,000 elephants and looted sandalwood worth over …
Attempts to ferret Veerappan out of his lair have not been without some surprising moves on the part of the two state governments. Almost from the time he attained notoriety, there has been talk about the man's political connections. In December 1992, after Veerappa Moily came to power at Karnataka, …
when eight Karnataka forest department personnel held hostage by Veerappan were released in end-August after 45 days in captivity, the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu state governments
following a petition filed by World Wide Fund for Nature-India ( wwf-i ), the Supreme Court ( sc ) has directed state governments to provide better arms, wireless communication systems, and uniforms to forest guards to effectively check the menace of poaching in national parks and sanctuaries of the country. …
poaching of spiders, reptiles and other rare insects has spurted into national parks of the southwestern us , as these species attract high value in the overseas markets. traffic , a division of the World Wide Fund for Nature ( wwf ) that tracks the impact of poaching around the …
Officials in Nepal and India have expressed concern over the trans-boun-dary migration of wild animals. They say the movement of animals is posing a serious threat to the life and property of the people living in the adjoining villages. Wild elephants around the Bardia National Park, bordering India in western …
