Conducted over the course of a year in 2017-18, the All Kerala Tiger Monitoring Programme identified a total of 176 individuals, 75 of them within the confines of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) alone, based on camera-trap images. Kerala’s forest cover may be extremely fragmented and prone to recurrent human-animal …
The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is turning to ‘sun power’ in Thiruvananthapuram. On Monday,the state-run power company will begin construction on its first solar power project in the district which will feed power into the grid. Deputy Speaker Palode Ravi will inaugurate the construction of the 2 megawatt (MW) …
The Forest Department has resumed mass translocation of the simian population from various parts of Wayanad to remote forests in the wake of complaints of monkey menace. The project is being implemented in association with the Kalpetta Municipality and various residents’ associations. As part of it, Forest Department officials trapped …
As a new challenge to health scenario of Kerala, an outbreak of Kyasanur Forest Disease was reported from Wayanad and Malappuram districts of Kerala, India from January to March 2015. A study on tick vectors of Wayanad district confirmed the presence of larval and nymphal Haemaphysalis spinigera, the chief vector …
Restrictions on constructions in Wayanad district Environmental organisations have opposed the recent move of the State government to freeze the decision of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to enforce restrictions on the mushrooming of huge concrete constructions in the hill district, a biodiversity hot spot on the Western Ghats. …
KOZHIKODE: The Union government decision to ban multi-dose vials of painkiller drug diclofenac has sparked fresh hopes for the survival of three critically-endangered vulture species in the state, the combined population of which is currently below 50 inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS). Their breeding population at last count was …
Judgement of the National Green Tribunal (Southern Zonal Bench, Chennai) in the matter of K. Savad Vs Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change & Others dated 31/08/2015 regarding construction activities in Kodancheri and Nellipoyil Villages among others in Kozhikode District, Kerala which are within the purview of Ecologically Fragile …
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Living near the borders of forest areas is increasingly becoming more dangerous than ever before. There has been a 160% increase in compensation claims for loss of lives and crop damage due to wild animals that strayed into the buffer zones of the forest areas in the state in …
After imposing curbs on construction of highrises in the environmentally fragile hill district, the Wayanad district administration is moving ahead with its proactive conservation agenda. The authorities are finalizing steps to declare the Panamaram heronry, one of the most diverse heronries in the state and the largest heronry in Malabar, …
A district council meeting of the Kerala Forest Protective Staff Association (KFPSA) held here on Tuesday expressed concern over the increasing human-wildlife conflict in Wayanad district. The government was yet to take any positive measures to tackle the issue, the association said. As the voluntary relocation project being executed by …
KOZHIKODE: The fisheries department is planning a novel move to tackle the malnutrition problem ailing tribal colonies in Wayanad. The department plans to convert all water bodies near tribal colonies in the district into fish ponds with nutrient-rich fish varieties to help vulnerable households meet basic nutritional requirements. As many …
Paper questions the methodology used by govt to show 30% rise in tiger population The debate over the 30% rise in the number of India's tigers -as estimated in the latest national tiger census -has taken a new turn.Days after a research paper was published in an international scientific journal, …
A recent study conducted by an evaluation team to asses the implementation of a special livestock scheme (Vidharbha package) of the State government for the farmers of suicide-hit districts in the State revealed that the package could help to improve the social and economic status of the farming community. The …
While the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 is a progressive piece of legislation that recognises farmers' rights to seed, it demands payment of an annual maintenance fee by the farmers to protect the varieties which they have been cultivating and conserving for years, only because these …
KOZHIKODE: Amid raging debate among conservation scientists over the methodology adopted for the country's latest tiger count which some say could have resulted in 'inflated' numbers, the camera traps laid by the state forest department at a man-animal conflict site last month have captured five tigers and five leopards in …
Four new fish species have been found in Kerala, the college professor who made the discovery has said. The new new species have been named Puntius nelsoni, Puntius nigronotus, Systomus chryseus and Systomus rufus, said Mathews Plamoottil, a zoology professor at Kollam's Baby John Memorial Government College. "Detailed articles describing …
The forests in Wayanad, a district with the highest forest cover in the state, are inadvertently paying the price for the Malayali’s love for beef. Thousands of bovines are turned loose into the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) and other forests daily by the fast mushrooming commercial buffalo farms. The farms …
Malabar's legendary black pepper is becoming extinct in Wayanad, the very place from where shiploads were once exported across the world and for whose monopoly several European nations sunk fortunes building armadas. A government-sponsored study to find out the cause for near total devastation of the crop in Wayanad has …
Wild growth of invasive alien plants such as Senna spectabilis (calceolaria shower), Lantana , Eupatorium and Parthenium is posing a threat to wildlife and indigenous plants in the forest areas of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, including the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS), a major habitat of Asiatic elephants in the country. …
While tiger conservation efforts in the country have started giving encouraging results, tiger biologists fear a probable increase in human-wildlife conflict if prompt measures are not taken to deal with excessive population of tigers in some landscapes. Senior tiger biologist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Qamar Qureshi, who …
A unique fresh water fish species with special characteristics was identified in Kabani river of Wayanad. With scientific nomenclature `Pristolepis pentacantha', these fishes are palatable and known in Malayalam as ` Aattuchemballi'. The species was identified by Mathews Plamoottil, a native of Kollam and assistant professor of Zoology at Chavara …
