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Thursday, July 29, 2010

IN NEWS

India approves plans to reintroduce cheetah

Eighteen cheetahs to be imported from Iran, Namibia and South Africa more than 60 years after the species was hunted to extinction
Jason Burke
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 July 2010 16.40 BST
The cheetah is to return to India, more than 60 years after the last three were shot dead by hunters on the subcontinent.
Indian minister for the environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, has picked three sites for the reintroduction of the animal within a year. Eighteen cheetahs are to be brought from Iran, Namibia and South Africa. A budget of over £500,000 has been made available to prepare the sites for their release.
"It is important to bring the cheetah back as it will help restore the grasslands of India," Ramesh said. "The way the tiger restores forest ecosystems, the snow leopard restores mountain ecosystems, and the Gangetic dolphin restores waters in the rivers, in the same way the cheetah will restore our grasslands."
India's wildlife has struggled in recent decades. The country's world famous population of tigers has shrunk from more than 3,600 in 2002 to around 1,400 now. Successive government initiatives have foundered on corruption; conflicts between often extremely poor local communities and the animals; the power of organised criminal smuggling networks which supply tiger parts to east Asia, and simple administrative inertia. The population of snow leopards now numbers between 100 and 200, possibly less than a third of the total a decade ago. The Gangetic dolphin remains endangered, although the number of Asiatic lions has recently increased.
India's last wild cheetahs are thought to have been shot by the Maharajah of Surguja in 1947………………………………………………………
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Tigress relocated to Sariska Tiger reserve to revive breeding
2010-07-29 17:40:00
A genetically compatible tigress from the Ranthambore Tiger reserve has been relocated to the Sariska Tiger reserve in Rajasthan, to revive hopes for tiger breeding.
The tigress, T-44, was freed in the reserve at around 11.30 a.m. after being brought by helicopter.
"The operation that we carried out today was planned in advance. We put her in the cage properly and a collar was fitted on her. We took samples and measurements in advance. The whole operation was conducted smoothly. The biggest advantage was that we saved a lot of time as earlier we planned to come by road but then we came by helicopter," said K. Shankar, a scientist of Wildlife Institute of India (WTI) in Dehradun.
The forest already has two males and two females that had been shifted there in the past two years. The two-and-a-half-year old tigress is the fifth in the forest………………………………….
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29 July 2010 Last updated at 13:29 GMT

Indian police arrest man carrying horde of snakes

By Narayan BarethBBC News, Jaipur
Many of the snakes were reportedly ill-treated
A man has been arrested on suspicion of breaking wildlife laws after he was found with 43 snakes in his car, police in the Indian city of Jaipur have said.
Rajesh Kapoor was arrested with the snakes, including eight protected cobras, in a cotton bag, police said. Mr Kapoor has previously been linked with idol smuggling and antiques theft, superintendent of police Hawa Singh Ghumariya said.
A snake rescue team was looking after the snakes.The arrested man runs a fitness centre in Jaipur and told journalists that he hoped to sells the snakes on the international market………………………………………………
For full report, please go to:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10802480

Central team nails mass poaching in Simlipal

Tags:simlipal forest|national tiger conservation authority
BHUBANESWAR: The mass deaths of elephants reported inside Simlipal forest last month was the handiwork of poachers who used poison and guns to silence the animals, according to a Central government inquiry report. It added that forest staff tried to destroy the evidences in a bid to conceal the incidents and recommended stringent action against the erring staff. 

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had sent noted environmentalists, Belinda Wright and Biswajit Mohanty, to Simlipal in June in the wake of media reports about mass slaughter of elephants. The team made extensive tour of the 5,000 sq km biosphere area for about a week, discussed the situation with officials, villagers, local environment activists before submitting its report. …………….
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Nepal-India ink pact to combat illegal trade in animal parts
Published: Thursday, Jul 29, 2010, 19:30 IST 
Place: Kathmandu | Agency: PTI
Kathmandu: Nepal and India today inked a key pact to conserve biodiversity and combat illegal trade in wild animals coinciding with the first International Tiger Conservation Day.
"As Nepal and India are facing similar challenges in conserving the biodiversity, including the tiger, the signing of the joint resolutions gives us the responsibility to take the lead role in protecting tigers and showcasing to the world that together we can make a huge difference," said inister for forest Dipak Bohara, who was present at the function in the capital.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which aims to conserve biodiversity and strengthening ecological security in the trans-boundary region, was signed by Gopal Prasad Upadhyaya, director general, department of national parks and wildlife conservation, Nepal and SPYadav, DIG and joint director, national tiger conservation authority, ministry of environment and Forest, India.............................................
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Green tribunal to check forest offences mooted

Express News Service
First Published : 27 Jul 2010 09:14:12 AM IST

BHUBANESWAR: Minister for Higher Education Debiprasad Mishra today criticised the Centre for not releasing adequate funds for compensatory afforestation programme despite huge deposit with the Compensatory Afforestation Management Fund and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
Replying to the demand discussion on Forest and Environment Department on behalf of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Higher Education Minister said that the State has a deposit of Rs 1,608 crore in CAMPA fund which has transferred only Rs 131 crore to the State CAMPA account.
Every year funds to the tune of Rs 400 crore is deposited with CAMPA from the State, but the Centre is not releasing adequate amount to the State for compensatory afforestation…………
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Vedanta Resources: the world's most hated company?

Protesters descend on FTSE 100 mining group's AGM – but chief executive describes criticism as 'lies'
By Alistair Dawber
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Vedanta Resources' highly successful financial year, and its annual meeting, were overshadowed yesterday when more than 100 protesters, some dressed as characters from James Cameron's Avatar film, came to object to what they say is the company's shocking human rights and environmental record.
Police stopped protesters storming the meeting, as pressure groups and celebrities lined up to attack the mining group's record over its treatment of the Dongria Kondh tribe, which, they claim, will be devastated if Vedanta's planned bauxite mine in India's Orissa state goes ahead…………………………………….
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