An adult tiger with a radio collar was found dead in the Rani Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India, prompting concerns about the safety and management of the reserve. The death, attributed to a territorial fight, has led to allegations of negligence and calls for investigation.
After more than three decades, Gujarat has regained the status of a 'tiger-present state', with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) confirming the presence of a tiger in the state.
A delegation from Botswana visited Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh to review preparations for the translocation of cheetahs from Botswana. The team expressed satisfaction with the quarantine facilities and other arrangements.
Expressing sorrow over the incident, Khandre immediately ordered an investigation into the matter, which will be led by a team under the principal chief conservator of forests.
India is set to bring eight cheetahs from Botswana in two phases, with four arriving by May 2025. This follows the successful reintroduction of cheetahs to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, with the population now at 26, including 14 cubs born in India. The initiative aims to boost cheetah conservation efforts and create inter-state collaboration for their protection. The project has already seen significant investment, with over Rs 112 crore spent on cheetah rehabilitation.
The tribal communities, asserting their rights under the Forest Rights Act, are now planning to gather in Delhi to demand "justice" for their livelihoods and traditions that are closely linked to the forests.
2023 was the worst for the tiger population, recording the highest number of mortalities in a decade with 178 tigers dying.
Currently, only one cheetah, named Pavan, is roaming free, with officials noting that he is difficult to spot and capture.
After three cheetahs died in just over a month last year in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, the National Tiger Conservation Authority in May 2023 called in experts from Reliance's wildlife facility in Gujarat to review health monitoring protocols, official records show.
These include Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and Shahgarh Bulge, Bhainsrorgarh Wildlife Sanctuary and enclosure of Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.
Due to the differences in circadian rhythms between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, some cheetahs developed thick winter coats during the Indian summer and monsoon last year, anticipating the African winter (June to September).
This is the highest number of tiger deaths in three years.
Younger cheetahs that are habituated to management vehicles and human presence are preferred candidates for relocation to India, international experts involved in Project Cheetah have told the government based on lessons learnt from the initial experience in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.
The Centre has set up an 11-member high-level steering committee to review and monitor the progress of the cheetah reintroduction programme and provide suggestions on the opening of the cheetah habitat for eco-tourism.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath asked the Centre to furnish details of the experts in the task force who specialise in cheetah management, their experience and qualification within two weeks.
A Supreme Court-constituted panel has asked the Union environment ministry to amend or withdraw the guidelines related to setting up zoos and safaris within tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries to discourage the use of wildlife habitats for tourism activities which are non-site specific.
The central government's ambitious Project Cheetah is facing a major problem, with the animals translocated from South Africa developing a "winter cover", a thick coat of fur, in anticipation of African winter, the Supreme Court was told on Monday.
'The space required for wild cheetah populations to thrive was grossly under-estimated.' 'Cheetahs, because of their social system and ecologically fragile nature, live at only 1 cheetah per 100 sq kms even in the best habitats of Africa.'
A Namibian cheetah has given birth to three cubs at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district, a Union minister said on Wednesday.
India has lost 1,059 tigers since 2012 with Madhya Pradesh, which is known as the 'tiger state' of the country, recording the highest number of deaths of striped felines.
The death of 40 per cent of cheetahs translocated from South Africa and Namibia to the Kuno National Park (KNP) in less than one year doesn't present a "good picture", the Supreme Court said on Thursday, and asked the Centre to not make it a prestige issue and explore the possibility of shifting the animals to different sanctuaries.
With a 50 per cent increase in the last four years, Madhya Pradesh has the maximum number (785) of tigers in the country, followed by Karnataka (563), Uttarakhand (560), and Maharashtra (444), according to the data.
The Wildlife Institute of India's former dean Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala, who was part of the cheetah project in the past, told PTI that KNP has 'inadequate space' for these animals.
Yadav's comments came amid concern expressed by some experts on the cheetah project and that some recent deaths could possibly be due to infection caused by radio collars though that is highly unusual and collars have been used in wildlife conservation in India for over two decades.
A bench of justices BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol told the Centre that from reports of experts and articles, it appears that KNP does not seem to be sufficient for such large number of cheetahs and the Union government may consider shifting them to other sanctuaries.
In a statement, the ministry also said several steps have been planned to support the cheetah project, including the establishment of a Cheetah Research Center with facilities for rescue, rehabilitation, capacity building, and interpretation.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath was told by the Centre in its application moved by additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati that a status report in this regard will be filed before the court within six months on the basis of the advice of the experts on the tanslocation of Asiatic lions from Gir to Kuno.
Sanjeev Chaturvedi said though he had investigated "hundreds" of corruption cases, never did his "very appointment to probe a case evoke the kind of nervousness, fear, confusion and apprehension as in this case".
More than two dozen officials of the Uttarakhand forest department have been transferred following allegations of large scale felling of trees and illegal constructions in Corbett Tiger Reserve's buffer zone.
A police complaint was lodged on Sunday against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev and others for allegedly violating wildlife protection laws during their jeep safari after dusk in the Kaziranga Nation Park the previous day.
The Madhya Pradesh forest department has asked the Centre for an "alternate" site for cheetahs currently introduced at the Kuno National Park, which has seen the death of two felines in less than a month, with officials citing lack of logistical support and space.
Park officials allowed booking for only 37 seats while maintaining COVID-19 protocols.
The committee said there was no operational coordination among veterinary professionals and the team which killed the tigress on November 2 in Yavatmal and that the dart for tranquillising the feline was fired unauthorisedly.
The latest death reports came at a time when a team formed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority is probing the big cat deaths in the state.
Primary investigation into the death of the pregnant elephant in Kerala has found that it may have accidentally consumed a cracker-stuffed fruit, the environment ministry said on Monday. The ministry also noted that many a time, locals resort to the illegal act of planting explosive-filled fruits to repel wild boars from entering plantation farms.
Have India's tigers increased by 30 per cent in the last four years?
The female tiger, named Nadia, is believed to be the first known case of an animal infected with COVID-19 in the US. It is suspected that she contracted the virus from a caretaker who was asymptomatic at that time.
The Centre on Monday earmarked a separate Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres to tackle air pollution and announced the much-awaited voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and polluting vehicles, even as it shrunk the budgetary allocation for the environment ministry from the last fiscal by nearly eight percent. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech for 2021-22, announced a total of Rs 2869.93 crore for the ministry, Rs 230 crore less than the last fiscal. Officials said the outlay has been lesser this time as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fadnavis said preliminary reports made available to him stated that the tigress was shot after she attacked the forest staff trying to tranquilise her.
A senior Madhya Pradesh minister has sought a law that allows people to domesticate or keep big cats like lions and tigers as pets, for their conservation.
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