If you look for the name Narcondam in a map, it will appear as a tiny speck as part of the Andaman and Nicobar islands of India. But it is this insignificant little place that is home to one of the rarest of hornbills in the world and which might have disappeared from the planet if not for the timely plea of few conservationists and action taken by the environment ministry.
Those who have read Jungle Book are not unfamiliar with Balu, the black bear, Mowgli’s friend, philosopher and guide. You might have sometimes even wished that you too had such a friend. But while we all can’t turn into Mowgli, one family in Lakhpada did get lucky when they adopted a stray black bear and made him a member of their loving family.
When Sasan Gir National Park in Gujarat the last bastion of the Asiatic Lion was first recognized as a protected reserve in the 70s it was impertinent that the homes of the pastoral community living within the forest be shifted. Many such villages were thus moved further away from the core area. Over the years, the gradual increase in lion population proved that the decision to minimize human interference, helped protect a rare species. But now, some experts say that as the lions number increase, once again competing population of livestock and wild ungulates in and around Gir is overcrowding the area.
Just days after the Supreme Court banned tiger tourism in all core areas of tiger reserves, the Jammu & Kashmir government too has taken a strict stance to conserve the Kashmir Stag by banning tourism inside the Dachigam Wildlife Sanctuary.
It is the time of the year when Indian skies are covered with gray skies and engulfed with the South West monsoon winds originating from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The heavy clouds begin to pour and the rains quench the thirst of the parched dry Earth. It is Monsoon in India.
In a shocking incident, the mutilated body of a tiger has been found outside the Tadoba Tiger Reserve near Nagpur in Maharashtra. Poachers took away the head, paws and vital organs of the tiger, leaving behind a chopped off tail and other body parts stuffed in gunny bags dumped on a highway.
Old habits die hard. This was found to be true after forest department officials in Karnataka found at least 80 snares in the protected forest covers of Bandipur and Nagarhole national parks in the last 3 months. It seems that poachers of the area have shunned firearms and started re-using the traditional snares and traps to injure and kill tigers.
When we asked our readers if they liked the way technology was used to aid protection of wildlife, most said the move was excellent. 90 percent believed that the installation of camera traps could reduce poaching of wild animals to a large extent.
22 year old junior level boxer, Meetu Singh had a promising future. He was well built, had both the strength and agility needed by a professional boxer and had represented Himachal Pradesh at the national level. But boxing could not satisfy his greed and that is why the sportsman turned his attention to a different kind of sport killing leopards and selling the animal parts for lakhs. The boxer’s fast road to affluence ended Friday though when police caught him red handed with his latest loot.
The 800 sq. km of Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand is now ready to fit in to a small tv screen. India’s first national park has now also become the first reserve to be equipped with E-eye high-tech infrared and thermal imaging cameras, that will allow 24×7 surveillance of the tiger reserve.
Tigers in India’s oldest national park had been lately subjected to the noise made by party goers, and tourists staying in the vicinity of the park and playing loud music till late in the night. But after a high court directive, the state government has now imposed a strict ban on noise pollution in a 500 metre radius across the park.
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