YEAH! Good news At Last

[shooter]

I cant believe it!!

Good news from India Re: Tigers.!!

http://wwf.panda.org/?193530/

India tigress gives new hope for conservation after first-time births

A few years ago, India’s Panna Tiger Reserve made global headlines when all of its tigers were lost to poachers.

Now Panna is once again in the news, but this time for a very different reason: Three tiger cubs were photographed this spring with their mother, marking the very first time that a translocated tiger has given birth in the wild.

“This is a momentous occasion for tiger conservation in India and indeed the world,” said Diwakar Sharma of WWF India “The new family is a positive sign that tigers are returning in Panna, but our work here is far from over until the cubs reach safely into adulthood.”

Down to zero
In less than a decade, poachers had systematically wiped out every single tiger in Panna Tiger Reserve, which boasted 21 tigers in 1998.

By 2009 reports that Panna had lost all its tigers was making the news and in June last year, the state government of Madhya Pradesh finally admitted there were no tigers left in the reserve.

This raised international concern and galvanized national action. The Indian government immediately put together protective and remedial actions to make Panna a safe haven for tigers once more.

Starting from scratch
Last year, a male tiger from Pench and two females from Bandhavgarh and Kanha Tiger Reserves were translocated to Panna under the expertise of the Wildlife Institute of India. WWF lent technical support to these historic efforts through state-of-the-art radio collars along with remote surveillance systems to monitor the translocated tigers.

The process has not been without incident. A female tiger frequently left the reserve until she marked her territory in the core habitat of the protected area. The lone male travelled over 190 miles until it was captured and brought back to the reserve on December 25, 2009.

Since 2004, WWF has been committed to the long-term support of Panna Tiger Reserve and has worked with the field staff and local communities to strengthen tiger conservation efforts. We are helping educate children from the nomadic Pardi hunting tribe that live around the reserve to ensure that future generations won’t have to rely on illegal activities to earn a livelihood. Pardis are traditional hunters that illegal wildlife traders often use to poach tigers.

“The birth of these cubs shows us that the key rules remain unchanged—first that tigers need undisturbed habitat with enough prey and second, they have to be protected against poaching,” said Samir Sinha, head of TRAFFIC-India. “With enough protection and the continued commitment of local communities and national bodies, tigers can bounce back even from small populations.”

The new frontier
The success in Panna is vital to tiger conservation as scientists now have initial indications that translocations can work if there is enough prey and protection on the ground.

With wild tiger numbers as lows as 3,200, could this be a viable solution to repopulating tigerlands throughout Asia?

“What we learned from the translocation in India will help inform bold new strategies for tigers in other countries like Cambodia, Lao and Vietnam where wild populations are in peril,” said Dr Barney Long, WWF’s Asian species expert. “The three cubs in Panna are a powerful symbol of what can be done to ensure a future for wild tigers.”

Bravo.
Well done officers.

[Yaj]

I would prefer if the authorities did not release these stories. Inviting disaster.

[m24]

Great news, shooter. Is it too early to say, all is not lost??

Well here's more. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... 009409.cms

Until five years ago, the grinding roar of gigantic mining machines filled the grasslands of Kudremukh. Now, often in the night, one can hear the tigers calling after they have made a kill, say tribals who live within the Kudremukh National Park.

Undergrowth is slowly covering the rusting machines of the Kudremukh Iron Ore Corporation (KIOCL) and conservationists say there are dramatic changes since the controversial mining project was stopped. This January, forest officials sighted two tigers during census operations and they say the population has "improved" greatly over the past couple of years. But with the good news comes the need to step up protection in an area that is still bustling with KIOCL employees and their township within national park limits.

“I have been going to Kudremukh since the mid-80s when we could hardly see any large mammals. Now one sees several gaur and sambar in the national park, meaning an increase in prey base. Stopping of mining is one of the important reasons for rebounding of wildlife density,” says Sanjay Gubbi of Wildlife Conservation Society - India Program. “On an educated guess, currently, we might have about 15 tigers in Kudremukh and it has the potential for more. When one compares this to similar tiger habitats in other countries such as Hukaung Valley in Myanmar, Thailand's Huai Khai Khaeng-Thung Yai, Nam Et-Phou Louey in Lao PDR, Endau Rompin in Malaysia or the eastern plains of Cambodia, Kudremukh should be doing a lot better,” he says.

“We can spot a good number of ungulates now so there is an upward trend in tiger evidence,” says principal chief conservator of forests B K Singh. “Tigers might always have been there but now we have started seeing clear evidence. It could be because mining has stopped or because of uninterrupted grasslands. Kudremukh will be proposed for being brought under Project Tiger after Biligiri Rangana temple (BRT) sanctuary,” he adds.

V K Bomme Gowda, a Girijan tribal from Mensinahadya, a hotbed of Naxal encounters in Karnataka, points to a cliff where the “hulis” (tigers) roam. “I haven’t seen them but often, they kill our cattle and we hear their call. They are there in Kudremukh as well,” he says.

The number of carnivores has gone up in Chikmaglur and Kudremukh national park, Gowda says, but he hardly understands the significance of having tigers around. His concern is about the tribals who are arrested on suspicion of links with Naxalites. “There are a lot of Girijan clans here in Chikmagalur. Though the police have been visiting our villages in the forests regularly since the two Naxal encounters in 2005 and 2009, we don’t want to leave the place. We belong to the forests, I hope the forest department doesn’t evict us from here,” he sighs.

The forest department, however, has begun relocating families that are willing to move. Twelve families have been relocated at a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each. NGOs have helped relocate around 25 families of farmers while another 600 applications for relocation are pending with the revenue department.

More than 300 KIOCL employees continue to live in the park with their families. So even though the impact of mining is wearing out, there is continuous human movement in the park limits. The state government has approved Rs 2.5 crore to shift 25-30 families from the core area this year. Once the buffer zones are identified, the core critical wildlife habitat will be declared inviolate, says Singh.

[shooter]

I would prefer if the authorities did not release these stories. Inviting disaster.

Is it too early to say, all is not lost??

My first thoughts exactly.
Lets hope and keep our fingers crossed.

[mundaire]

Unfortunately from what I hear the other translocation attempt (at Sariska) isn't doing as well, with the translocated Tigers preferring territories outside the main park. Maybe just a temporary thing but considering the past history of that park doesn't bode too well.

Cheers!
Abhijeet