Close on the heels of rising poaching of big cats, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in a strong advisory addressed to all the Chief Wildlife Wardens (CWW) has stated “every case of tiger and leopard death should henceforth be treated as case of poaching unless otherwise proved beyond reasonable doubt”.

Members of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) agreed on Wednesday on cattle breeding rules, its first ever deal on livestock production.

The deal, approved by OIE's 178 members apart from South Africa, includes measures such as ensuring cattle beefs' health, breeding environment, genetic selection, Director General Bernard Vallat told reporters at the 80th General Assembly.

If Americans ever eat genetically engineered fast-growing salmon, it might be because of a Soviet biologist turned oligarch turned government minister turned fish farming entrepreneur.

That man, Kakha Bendukidze, holds the key to either extinction or survival for AquaBounty Technologies, the American company that is hoping for federal approval of a type of salmon that would be the first genetically engineered animal in the human food supply.

The entire Vidarbha region in Maharashtra is facing a drought-like situation following huge water scarcity due to drying of lakes and wells in most of the villages due to intense heat wave conditions. Approximately 4,300 villages are facing the grim situation as village wells and water bodies are drying up fast, prompting the administration to supply water through tankers for human consumption and live stock.

With the Union Cabinet not taking up the much-anticipated amendments in the Lokpal Bill on Thursday, the fate of the anti-corruption legislation is now in a limbo. UPA strategists had earlier decided to bring a couple of amendments in the legislation and place it for passage in the Rajya Sabha after getting the Cabinet approval, but some points of disagreements still remain.

Pakistan is among the most vulnerable countries facing climate-related risks revealed an Asia-Pacific Human Development report launched here on Wednesday.

The report further suggested the Asia-Pacific region must continue to grow economically to lift millions out of poverty but it must also respond to changes in climate to survive.

“Growing first and cleaning up later is no longer an option”, advised the report titled ‘One Planet to Share: Sustaining Human
Progress in a Changing Climate.’

AHMEDABAD: While Madhya Pradesh is pitching Palpur Kuno as second home for the Asiatic lions, attempts to settle lions in the forest near this sanctuary had failed miserably in the past.

The Scindias of Gwalior advocated for the forests of Vindhya Pradesh where they had tried to introduce African lions. Sudipta Mitra describes the episode in his book 'Gir Forest and the Saga of the Asiatic Lion'. He writes, "Lord Curzon, while visiting Gwalior to shoot tigers in 1904, encouraged the Maharaja to rear African lions in his territory and as a good gesture, Curzon wrote a reference letter, which helped him a lot in getting the cubs."

After last year’s failed rainfall dried up most wells and the depeleting water table drove the hand pumps to a trickle, farmers in the nearly 200 villages in Mann and Khatav talukas in Satara are now struggling to save their cattle. While both farmers and their livestock await government relief with parched throats, help it seems is lost somewhere in the not-so-unusual ways of bureaucracy and procurement glitches by local officials.

The Central team touring the State to assess the drought situation has concluded that the drought in Chitradurga district is severe.

A member of the team, D Rajashekar, Deputy Advisor, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, New Delhi, told mediapersons in Chitradurga on Tuesday that the water table had depleted and borewells have dried up. The team will recommend to the Centre in its report to roll out development schemes to alleviate the sufferings of the drought-affected, he said. He commended the officials for the drought-relief works taken up in the district.