Indian Wildlife Club Forum

Sariska tiger sanctuary, had lost its entire tiger population to excessive poaching in the area. On October 30, a crucial meeting between the Rajasthan government and the Union ministry of environment and forest in the Capital will give the green signal for a final plan of action that has been undertaken by the Committee on Forest and Wildlife Management.

The Dehradun-based Wildlife institute of India has submitted a report furnishing details of how relocation should take place in different phases. To begin with the suggestion is to relocate one male and two-to-three female tigers in the sub-adult category of four-five year old male tigers and slightly younger female tigers.

V B Mathur, Dean of WII, said: "Tigers will be identified through ground-based surveys. To take them to Sariska they will eventually be tranquilised through darts and put into special crates and finally we will have a soft release next to a water body so that they do not struggle."

Tigers will be also radio-collared and monitored after being released into the forest which will be fenced initially, so that they learn to acclimatize gradually and not wander away. "Sariska already has a natural population of prey like deer and nilgais and tigers will not have to be fed separately," adds Mathur.

 Sariska has the capacity of sustaining 15 tigers to begin with and the committee has recommended guidelines based on the International Union for conservation of Nature and Natural resources to relocate them - from picking up the right wild stock to their veterinary care.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1060403

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is developing a network of wildlife rehabilitators working in India who would like to rehabilitate distressed wildlife through Emergency Relief Network (ERN).

ERN is an association of team of people whose expertise on the skill of rehabilitation can be utilised to reach out to rehabilitators in different parts of the country.

WTI have created a online community / group in which the rehabilitators can send in information and interact with each other. If selected as a member, your name will be included in the group list to get updates on ERN news.

This team of trained rehabilitators, of people and organizations, can exchange, share and contribute their knowledge and professional skills to save wildlife for the cause of conservation.

If interested in joining the network, write to Dr. Prajna Paramita Panda, for a registration form. Dr. Panda can be contacted at wren@wti.org.in

or at the postal address mentioned below

 Wildlife Trust of India

ER Network

C/o Dr. Prajna Paramita Panda

A-220, New Friends Colony,

New Delhi - 110025

Looking to devise a special attraction during the eighties, the Punjab Zoo's administrators created a unique hybrid species by cross-breeding Asiatic and African lions. Less well-known than its African cousin, the Asiatic lion is slightly smaller and has a less shaggy mane. It is close to extinction in the wild: there are only some 300 left, and the only place they are found is the Gir national park in India.

On paper, the cross-breeding programme looked fine...................

But when their cubs were born, it became clear that all was not well. The hybrid lions were all born with severely weak hind legs. They could barely walk. It got worse: as the years went by, many of the hybrids' immune systems began to fail..........

Read the full story at the link

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1616628.ece

A striking multi-colored bird has been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh making it the first ornithological find in the country in more than half a century.

Discovery of this new species in Arunachal Pradesh was made by Dr. Ramana Athreya who is a professional astronomer with the National Centre for Radio Physics in Pune. Bombay Natural History Society honed his birdwatching skills.

The Bugun Liocichla, scientifically known as Liocichla bugunorum, a kind of babbler, was discovered in May at the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary. The bird -- with olive and golden-yellow plumage, a black cap and flame-tipped wings -- is 20 cm (8 inches) in length and named after the Bugun tribespeople who live on the sanctuary's periphery.

The story is certainly inspiring for all bird watchers!

Read more about the discovery at

http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/12/stories/2006091202072200.htm

BNHS ( Bombay Natural History Society) is an NGO working silently and persistently for conservation. For the last five years they have been working to save the grasslands around Naliya in Kutch (Gujarat), where 25-30 Great Indian Bustards and 40-45 Lesser Floricans are found. Finally they have managed convincing the Gujarat Government to transfer the land to the Forest Department for maintaining it as a bustrad/florican habitat.

Read the full story in the Newsletter Sep-Oct 2006 available online at

 http://www.bnhs.org/

Why should it be every citizen's concern to protect endangered species, and how can one be of assistance? Not just by volunteering with NGOs working for the cause, but are there ways in which we can contribute in small measure? The readers must be told why at all should they bother, and possibly, how? (Question: Shirley Abraham)

Each person can contribute -drops in the ocean make up the ocean. Most of us in our busy life are unaware of the BIG ROLE nature plays in our well being. The amount of oxygen in the air, the purity of water we drink -these are the basic threads of life.

The forests with all the life in it make these basic things posssible. The oceans with all the marine animals in it control our climates. Without animals the forests will wither away. Taking away just the tiger or the elephant which seemingly threaten human life around the forests will change the forests forever. Without the marine creatures like the whales at the apex, the ocean we know will be changed for ever.

Be aware and knowledgeable-taking action will come naturally. Finally it is the harmony of man animals and life which keep us going. Man is intelligent enough to enumerate the endangered animals. He should also be sensible enough to know that protecting them is the only way forward.

How do everyday human activities (seemingly innocuous, though) harm an already threatened species of plants/animals? I mean, do we end up harming nature even unconsciously? ( Question: Shirley Abraham)

We are all part of nature. Being paranoid about hurting nature will not be a good idea. "There is enough in nature to fulfil man's need but not greed." So the first step is to know more about nature and wild animals around us. For people in Orissa it could be Olive Ridley Turtles, for people from Assam -the Hoolock Gibbon, for Rajasthan the Great Indian Bustard and so on. So we all can be part of efforts made to protect these endangered species.

The major threat to endangered species is man's insensitiveness to the fragile web of living things. Blaming deforestation, poaching, wildlife trade etc is addressing the issue in bits and parts. For example, the temptation to cut down forests for agriculture or land grabbing will persist as long as man is conscious of the immediate wealth prospects of land and not the value of a forest for the present and future generations.

Poaching will never stop as long as the market demands and pays for it.

 Endangered species are on their way to being extinct unless we take steps to consciously protect them. Natural extinctions also occur but speeding up the extinction process by manmade causes can be disastrous simply because man does not have the know how to create the web of life.

 Resurrecting the cheetah through DNA will not bring back the cheetah into the web of life. It will probably remain in a zoo for ever.

She spent most of her short life working on turtles and there is a small memorial to her right next to the turtle pond at the Madras Crocodile Bank.

Viji (as Vijaya was called) was India’s first woman herpetologist when such a career was unknown in this country. In 2006, 19 years later, her name was formally given to the cane turtle that she spent so much of her time studying. Herpetologists analysed the DNA of Reiner’s now-dead turtles and recently re-named the turtle Vijayachelys silvatica in her honour.

Read more about this remarkable woman who made a difference to wildlife at the following link

http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/sanctmagazine/archivedetail.php?id=775