Tiger deaths reach all-time high

•  DC | Rashme Sehgal | 11 hours 54 min ago

http://www.decannchronicle.com

New Delhi: India saw a sharp increase in tiger deaths, which reached an all-time high of 88 tigers dead in 2012, according to data released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). This is the highest number of fatalities in one year, overtaking the 71 tiger deaths in 2011.
Mortality rates have been unusually high in Corbett National Park and Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. Overall, a large number of tiger deaths have been reported from the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka and can be attributed to increased poaching.

Both Maharashtra and Karnataka recorded 14 tiger deaths each while Uttarakhand reported 12 deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh with eight deaths while 28 tigers died due to natural causes. The last all-India tiger population estimation in 2010 had placed the number of tigers at 1,636. Wildlife conservationist Belinda Wright blames government apathy.
“The NTCA has put a Phase 4 monitoring protocol in place. While some states are following it, others are lagging. Tiger densities in Karnataka and TN are high but the situation in Kerala is very bad with the state coming up with exaggerated numbers, especially for Wayanad Reserve,” said tiger biologist Ullas Karanth.

Tiger populations have gone down in some reserves in the Maoist belt, but the big cat is thriving in parts of the Western Ghats, central India and Terai, he added.

 

Excellent initiative to Sariska. It was decided to carry out night patrols. 5 teams were formed for this purpose.

 Planète Tigre

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Plan%C3%A8te-Tigre/131742830190805

 

Excellent initiative to Sariska. It was decided to carry out night patrols. 5 teams were formed for this purpose. These guards will operate on five areas patrolling sixty circuits. On the other hand, villagers were approached to serve as indicators to the police (working with Belinda Wright and Planet Tiger). A bonus will be given for good information on poachers.

 

Now, tigers to be assigned UIDs

By Krishnendu Mukherjee, TNN | Dec 4, 2012, 01.13 AM IST

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Now-tigers-to-be-assigned-UIDs/articleshow/17470236.cms

READ MORE National Tiger Conservation Authority|conservationist|Belinda Wright|UID|NTCA

KOLKATA: Getting a UID is no longer just a unique human right. Tigers can have it too.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) issued a guideline on Monday, proposing to assign a unique identification (UID) number to each tiger captured through camera traps. The NTCA wants to create a national repository of camera-trap photographs of tigers, and the UIDs will help cut out duplication and give the big cats an exact headcount. Tigers in the Sunderbans, for instance, will have the prefix ‘Su’ before a number while those in the northeast hills will have ‘NE’. Tigers are identified on the basis of stripe patterns obtained through the camera trap images.

The Ranthambore tigers are likely to be the first to get UIDs, officials said.

NTCA deputy inspector general S P Yadav said the aim was to identify all tigers across India. “Each tiger will have its own UID number. Once the tiger dies, the UID will be closed. Even if the tiger crosses over to another state or country through a contiguous border, like what the Indian Sunderbans shares with Bangladesh, the tiger can be recognized through the UID,” Yadav said.

Tiger reserves will prepare detailed camera trap records. “The entire exercise will take place under the leadership of the chief wildlife wardens. Apart from photographs of tigers, the data will have details lik, trap location, date, time, beats and ranges where the tiger was photo captured, the camera ID and memory ID,” the NTCA guidelines say.

“Each state will then send the details to the NTCA, which will select and scrutinize the photos before entering camera trap data and associated images into the main database along with other details. A software programme, ExtractCompare, will be used to match the camera-trap data with the visuals to assign unique IDs to the tigers,” said an NTCA official.

Yadav said the unique IDs will be linked to the areas where the tigers originally belong. “In India, there are six landscapes where tigers are found – Central India, Eastern Ghats, northeast hills and Brahmaputra flood plains, Shivalik hills and Gangetic plains, Sunderbans, and Western Ghats. The UID for a Sunderbans tiger will always start with a code, SU. These IDs will be assigned to landscapes and not to states since tigers often move across state boundaries,” said Yadav. The trap location will give the code of the site where a tiger originally belongs.

Conservationist Belinda Wright hailed the decision, but cautioned that “the information should be managed very carefully”.

 

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In Bandhavgarh Reserve, Frederic GEFFROY compensate villagers who suffers the loss of one of their cattle. Mini-van used for films.

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This commitment has already borne fruit in 1973 with the “Project Tiger“, under the auspices of Mrs Gandhi, is now back on the agenda. Planet Tiger is a concrete support and assistance in the field.

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Early October 2011, Planet tiger met Indian political authorities, under the auspices of the Ambassador of France in India, to work on the priorities to implement on site. The first aid material, thanks to your donations, our representative will be assigned to India. Our representative is Ms. Belinda Wright WPSI founder of the association. Belinda is one of the most influential women in India on Indian wildlife.

Tiger planet in late 2011, funded a professional photocopier Belinda Wright of New Delhi in April 2012, Planet compensated villagers tiger reserve Bandhavgarh having lost one of their cattle during the attack a tiger avoiding the poisoning.

On a larger scale, planet tiger, invest with the Indian government and other international NGOs to travel to villages located within the reserve. The cost of a transfer is about 4 million U.S. Dollars per village.

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The scourge of tiger farming must be brought to an end

October 23, 2012

 

http://www.eia-international.org
The scourge of tiger farming and the trade in parts and derivatives of captive-bred tigers continues, despite UN agreements and a commitment by the leaders of tiger range countries to end the tiger trade.

Regardless of an international commitment under a UN treaty to phase them out, tiger farms still operate in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. The tigers in these operations play no conservation role – from either a genetic diversity perspective or an educational perspective; what educational value could there possibly be in a tiger pushing a pram or jumping through a hoop of fire?

Tiger bodies in cold storage at Guilin Tiger & Bear Farm (c) Belinda Wright

The tiger is of far greater value to humanity alive and in the wild, as an indicator of the health of the forest ecosystems it inhabits, the same forests that provide water for millions and mitigate climate change; as an indicator of good governance; as a cultural icon of power and strength, a religious figure associated with deities; and as a potential source of tourism income for local communities.

Yet to satisfy the desires of rich and powerful elite, the skins of captive-bred tigers are sold as luxury home décor, their bodies chopped up for the meat and bones. This perpetuates a demand which in turn drives the poaching of wild tigers, and of other big cats such as leopards and snow leopards as substitutes

The growing threat posed by these expanding breeding operations was recognised by international non-government organisations and concerned governments way back in 2005, when the International Tiger Coalition set out the arguments as to why tiger farming is a threat to wild tigers.

Caged tiger (c) EIA

In 2007, the Parties to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided that tigers should not be bred for the trade in their parts and derivatives, including domestic trade, and that tiger farms should effectively be phased out.

In 2010, the leaders of tiger range countries committed to double the population of wild tigers and to end tiger trade. However, they have failed to address the threats posed by tiger farming.

In March 2013, the Parties to CITES will convene in Bangkok, Thailand. Compliance with the decision to end tiger farming is on the agenda. We need governments to speak up to end tiger farming now; is your government ready to say ‘enough is enough’?

Watch this space for updates on tiger farming and how you can help – and please start by sharing this film as widely as you can!

 

• Read EIA’s briefing on why tiger farming won’t save wild tigers here.