India recorded its highest leopard mortality over the past four years in 2018. As many as 460 leopard deaths were recorded across the country this year, according to the Delhi-based Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). A bulk of them – 155 (34%) – were poached while 74 (16%) died in train or road accidents. … Read more Leopard deaths in India at five-year high, over a third poached
A study by Association of Indian Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians (AIZWV), which has been compiling a database on wild mammalian species with reference to morbidity and mortality, stated that in most cases of tiger deaths reported from 2009 to 2016, the specific reason could not be ascertained. According to the association, of the 28 tiger … Read more What kills most tigers? Even experts are clueless
India is on track to meet most of its national biodiversity targets but the list of animal species from the country under the international ‘red list’ in the critically endangered, endangered and threatened categories has been increasing over the years, according to the sixth national report (NR6) submitted to the United Nations Convention on Biological … Read more Number of Indian species in endangered list going up
International golfer Jyoti Randhawa (full name Jyotinder Singh Randhawa) of India was arrested on 26 December 2018 on charges of poaching inside the globally famous Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (area 1,284.3 sq km or 495.9 sq mi)), a protected area in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. A telescope-mounted .22 rifle fitted with silencer, 80 cartridges, a range finder, carcass … Read more International golfer Jyoti Randhawa arrested for poaching
Nine institutions and individuals from across Asia have been recognized by the United Nations, USAID, Interpol, and the Freeland Foundation for outstanding work in preventing trans-boundary environmental crime in an annual award ceremony in Bangkok. From India, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has been awarded under the Innovation category for combating trans-boundary environmental crime. WCCB has … Read more Wildlife Crime Control Bureau of India gets Asia Environmental Enforcement Award
In a significant development for conservationists in India, a three-year survey in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dibang Valley Wildlife Sanctuary has found photographic evidence of tigers residing 3630 metres above sea level in snow-clad peaks of the Eastern Himalayas, according to The Times of India. From 2015 to 2017, researchers at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) … Read more Tiger Spotted at 3630m in Arunachal Valley
China appeared to backtrack on a controversial decision to lift a ban on trading tiger bones and rhinoceros horns, saying it has been postponed, state media reported on 12 November 2018. The State Council, China’s cabinet, unexpectedly announced last month that it would allow the sale of rhino and tiger products under “special circumstances”, a move … Read more China postpones lifting tiger and rhino parts ban
Unbridled consumption has decimated global wildlife, triggered a mass extinction and exhausted Earth’s capacity to accommodate humanity’s expanding appetites, conservation group WWF warned on 30 October 2018. From 1970 to 2014, a total of 60 per cent of all animals with a backbone – fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals – were wiped out by … Read more Nature pushed to the brink by runaway consumption: WWF
As the controversial killing of tigress Avni (code named T1) in the Indian state of Maharashtra kicked up a row, Women and Child Development Minister of India, Maneka Gandhi on 4 November 2018 accused Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar of ordering the “ghastly murder” of a tiger and vowed legal action after the man-eating animal … Read more Maneka Gandhi slams Maharashtra minister over tiger killing
Their enthusiasm to volunteer is spurred by lion-hearted pride; they are dogged in their devotion to Gujarat’s big cats and humbled by their responsibility to conserve the species. They are the common people of the state, members of communities whose work is vital for the survival of Asiatic lions in Gir. It is mainly their … Read more The warriors who helped save the Asiatic lions of Gir
In Assam’s Manas National Park smaller carnivores, mainly belonging to cat and civet family, have adapted to hunt in dark nights to avoid predation by larger carnivores, says an ongoing study of Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute if India (WII). The research that will conclude next year outlines how moon illumination influences mammal activity in the protected … Read more To avoid large predators smaller carnivores adapt to hunt in moonless nights
Four months after tigress ST-14 was spotted with two cubs, there is more good news from Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) in Alwar (Rajasthan, India). Tigress ST-12 was spotted with three cubs on 31 August 2018 – a first for Sariska after it was repopulated with tigers from Ranthambore, said reserve officials. STR chief conservator of … Read more Tigress with three cubs spotted in Sariska, population reaches 17
The Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) will soon be under complete drone camera surveillance, DTR field director Ramesh Pandey told PTI. Work for the surveillance programme, which is being called e-bird project, has already begun. A pilot operation was conducted on International Tiger Day, July 29, where drone cameras were used to monitor rhinos in the … Read more Dudhwa Tiger Reserve to be under drone camera surveillance
The government of India informed the Lok Sabha on 10 August 2018 that as many as 237 tigers died in the country in the last two years (2016-2017). It also said while 23 per cent of deaths from 2012 to 2017 were due to poaching, 55 per cent of the total deaths recorded were due … Read more 237 tigers died in India in last two years, Lok Sabha informed
The Uttarakhand forest department will soon come up with guidelines for elephant safaris in buffer areas of tiger reserves, according to chief wildlife warden DVS Khati. In the absence of guidelines, the Corbett Tiger Reserve, which was allowing elephant safaris stopped them in 2017 after a wild tusker attacked two elephants of the forest department. … Read more Soon, guidelines for elephant safaris in tiger reserves in Uttarakhand
The Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in India has called for an intensive search for black panthers after one was recorded by a Belgian diplomat and his family at Shivanzari in Kolsa range of the reserve on Tuesday (22 May 2018). “It is something unique as black panthers are melanistic and are generally found in evergreen forests … Read more Rare black panther spotted in Maharashtra’s tiger reserve
India has the 10th largest mangrove cover in the world and according to a recent study, less than one percent of it was deforested between 2000 and 2015. “We found that less than 1% of the Indian mangrove forests were deforested between 2000 and 2015 (4,000 ha). This rate of loss is only half the … Read more Less than 1% of India’s mangrove cover deforested in 15 years: Global study
Good news continues to trickle out from Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar. Forest officials have reported spotting two more tiger cubs of tigress ST-10 on Friday. With these cubs, the total strength of tigers in Sariska now touched 13. Two cubs, around 3-4 months old, of tigress ST-2, were spotted in Sariska on July 20 … Read more Two more tiger cubs spotted in Sariska
Keeping in mind the frail intelligence network in the state on wildlife-related crimes, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has decided to train forest officers as ‘master trainers’ on intelligence gathering and these officers will further train other staff in their respective states. The bureau will also train defense personnel deployed at base camps on … Read more Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to train officers in intelligence gathering
The beating up of a leopard cub to death in Bajpur has once again raised the issue of crowd management in such situations. The leopard had attacked an old man working in the fields, which enraged the local people and they attacked the leopard with sticks and weapons. The animal succumbed to the injuries. Last … Read more Leopard cub’s killing in Bajpur puts focus on mob frenzy
Hundreds of snow leopards are being killed every year across the mountains of central Asia, threatening the already endangered cat, according to a new report. There are as few as 4,000 of the solitary and elusive cat remaining and numbers have fallen by a fifth in the last 16 years. But between 220 and 450 … Read more Hundreds of snow leopards being killed every year : TRAFFIC
In an attempt to save its endangered state animal, the wildlife wing of the Himachal Pradesh (HP) forest department has said it will restart the project of breeding elusive snow leopard at Himalayan Nature Park at Kufri, 18km from state’s capital Shimla. The state government recently shot off a proposal to the Central Zoo Authority … Read more Snow leopard breeding program to restart in Himachal Pradesh
About two months after tigress ST-5 went missing from the Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) in Rajasthan (India) and intensive combing operations were taken up to search the big cat, the forest department on Saturday said that the tigress is likely to be dead and an FIR will be filed soon. “For investigation purposes we are … Read more Tigress (ST-5) may be dead, says Forest dept
A team of investigators is using forensic science and behavioural analysis to identify which of two leopards, now locked up at Van Vihar national park, killed three children in the latter half of March 2018 just beyond the outskirts of Bhopal, the state capital of Indian state of Madhya Pradesh (MP). Samples of excreta and … Read more Death in the wild: On trail of a spotted killer
One hundred and seven years after a tiger’s presence was last recorded in Jungalmahal (West Bengal, India), a big cat has strayed into the area. For a fortnight now, an army of Forest Department and police officials have been scouring the dense forest, armed with tranquiliser guns, cages with live baits, binoculars, search lights and … Read more Tiger seen in Junglemahal after a century