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 …
As if the destruction of habitats and its impact on the normal behaviour of various species wasn't enough, there are now suggestions encouraging amputation of animal parts attractive to poachers (IUCN Bulletin, 1993, No 1). It is a shocking proposition that wildlife managers should cut the tusks from elephants and …
ZIMBABWE has been dehorning rhinos for almost a year in a desperate attempt to save them from poachers. The country's rhinoceros population has declined from 2,000 a year ago to less than 500 today. The animal is sought for its horn, which is coveted as an aphrodisiac in the Far …
Despite its highly protected status, the Great Indian Bustard may soon become extinct. The bustard has been fast losing its grasslands habitat -- spread over about 250 sq km -- and is also facing threat from poachers, particularly in Rajasthan. According to grassland ecologist Asad Rahmani of the Centre of …
CAVIAR, the ultimate synonym for luxurious living and a major Russian export, is facing a triple threat of poaching, pollution and petroleum. Female sturgeon swim down the Volga river to the Caspian sea with their bodies heavy with the eggs that are pickled to form caviar. But with poachers flourishing, …
ZIMBABWE'S magnificent game parks are a big tourist draw, but until recently, the people of the surrounding areas did not feel they had a stake in the parks' success. Poaching, too, had become a major problem. Now, wildlife conservation in the country is being made to work differently - by …
A RISE in poaching has threatened one-horned rhinoceroses in the Royal Chitwan National Park and the Royal Bardiya Wildlife Reserve along the Indian border. International groups are increasingly using traps and poisons to gather the rhinoceros horn, which fetches $25,000 per kg, according to a Panos report. Tirtha Man Maskey, …
THE TIGER census has been used for long as a convenient official yardstick to measure the success of national park management. But a dispute on the exact tiger population has set a census under way in Ranthambore national park that has the authorities on edge. Since Project Tiger was launched …
HUGE PROFITS are the main reason for the recent spurt in tiger poaching. A Royal Bengal tiger is a walking goldmine because its skin and bones are worth Rs 4.5 lakh. And, there is money to be made at every stage in the illegal tiger trade. Tiger skins have traditionally …
Why has park protection become so difficult? The government has banned villagers from entering the forest but without giving them an alternative. When they force their way in, claiming it is their right, we are authorised to stop them. But how effective are such powers without weapons? We can arrest …
AFTER a successful swoop on a dusty April afternoon on some poachers in the Keladevi forests near Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR), a posse of nine forest guards in a Jeep found their way blocked by a log. They got out to clear the road and were ambushed by armed members …
The number of one-horned rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park has risen to 1,160 from 1,129 in 1991, Assam state wildlife officials say. But Assam's principal conservator of forests (wildlife) in Assam, K K Baruah, concedes the number of rhinos killed by poachers in Kaziranga has increased greatly in recent …
Controversy continues to dog the helicopter crash in Corbett National Park last year, with the Indian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) filing a case recently in Delhi High Court, for unauthorised flying in the Project Tiger park. The helicopter's occupants, from the Thapar group of industries, …
When Garhchiroli district collector Subrath Rathod seized a truck illegally transporting teak in Maharashtra last September, an enquiry was held and it showed that illegal timber-felling in eastern Maharashtra, particularly his district and neighbouring Bhandara, is widespread and involves forest, revenue and railway officials. The two districts contain more than …
HELPLESS against the degradation of forests, the Assam forest departwent is enlisting "people's cooperation" against encroachers, poachers and political extremists. The department has set up joint forest management committees that will involve local people. The committees will take on plantation work as well as protect the forests and receive a …
TWENTY years and crores of rupees after it was begun, the Project Tiger success story is crumbling. Indiscriminate poaching, the disappearance of tigers individually identified by experts and the seizure of tiger bones and skins in metropolitan cities have resulted in this situation. Add to this the resentment of the …
The one-man inquiry commission appointed to investigate reports of poaching in the Ranthambhore tiger reserve has turned out to be a sham, say conservationists. The report has indicted the park's management for poaching, but has stopped short of actually pinning blame and recommending action. The report has generally criticised the …
UNTIL recently, indiscriminate hunting and poaching had threatened the survival of elephants in Africa. But the international ban on ivory trade and increased vigilance against poachers have reduced elephant-killing to an extent that their population is increasing annually by 5 per cent in many African countries. As a result, elephants …
RANTHAMBHOR National Park in Rajasthan is in the news, thanks to rampant poaching in the tiger reserve. This year's tiger census in the park shows their number has fallen from 46 to 18 in just one year. But even this is a rough estimate as only 13 tigers were physically …
THE RIVER dolphin (Platanista gangetica), once teeming in the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi and Karnaphuli rivers, has had its numbers reduced drastically because of river diversion for irrigation, dam construction, river traffic, increased fishing, poaching and pollution. As a result, the river dolphin is not to be found now in the …
The Delhi high court has rejected a petition asking for the ban on ivory trade to be lifted. With this order there is now a total ban on selling and carving in ivory and all stocks of the precious 'white gold' can be confiscated. The petition was filed by the …
