Union minister of state for forests Jayanthi Natarajan on Wednesday announced a recovery programme for saving critically endangered species and their habitats.

Under the initiative, 16 species have been identified for support. This includes snow leopard, bustards (including floricans), dolphin, hangul, Nilgiri tahr, marine turtles, dugongs and coral reefs, edible nest swiftlet, Asian wild buffalo, Nicobar megapode, Manipur brow-antlered deer, vultures, Malabar civet, Indian rhinoceros, asiatic lion, swamp deer and jerdon’s courser.

The other surprise in the railway budget is a new line that Mamata Banerjee wished in the heart of Buxa Tiger Reserve
DEEP INSIDE the core of Buxa Tiger Reserve in north Bengal and at the heart of a vast forest landscape that includes Bhutan’s Phipsu wildlife sanctuary is the settlement of Jayanti. Set up during the Raj to facilitate mining, this was a busy railway station transporting dolomite and limestone till the mid-1980s before conservation became the priority.

Conservation measures have taken away the traditional livelihoods of nomadic tribes in Karnataka.

Capturing of animals is also illegal especially if the animal is a species figures in the schedules of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and people who indulge in such publicity could also face action and arrests from the forest officials.

Araujo’s observations come even as the Wildlife Institute of India declared that leopards (which also are animals that are “rescued”) is occupying an even greater area of Goa’s forests.

Jaipur: Waking up to gross violation of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and orders of the Supreme Court, minister for forest and environment Bina Kak on Monday ordered an immediate halt on the construction of annicuts with the use of earth-moving machinery inside the Sariska Tiger Reserve.

The forest department had embarked on a project of constructing 28 annicuts inside the reserve for providing water to animals there, especially during summer. However, the authorities seem to have missed the clearly laid laws for such work.

In order to sustain a sound tiger population, the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has issued orders to declare 600-1,200 square kilometres as inviolate areas for all the tiger reserves in the country.

In all, an area of 32,578.78 sq km has been notified by 16 tiger states as critical tiger habitat under Section 38 (5) of the Wildlife Protection Act.
These states include Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,

In a decision that is bound to antagonise conservation scientists, the State Forest Department has clamped down on field research in tiger reserves and will neither renew nor grant fresh permits to enter these forests.

The State's five tiger reserves — Bandipur, Nagarahole, Anshi-Dandeli, Bhadra and B.R. Hills — will no longer be accessible for field research, according to Principal Chief Conservator of Forests B.K. Singh.

Rampant felling of trees without any resistance from the forest department have unsettled the habitats of birds and animals

SILCHAR: Serious concern has been expressed at the unabated deforestation in the valley of Barak, threatening the flora and fauna. The recently concluded international seminar organized by the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Assam University, and the related research papers have pointedly focused on the loss of greenery or green cover in the forests of the three districts of Cachar

Siliguri, March 1: The forest department will conduct a census to find out the number of red pandas in two national parks in the hills. The first phase of the study will begin on Saturday. The survey will cover the Neora Valley National Park in Kalimpong subdivision and Singalila National Park in Darjeeling.
Foresters said 61 teams will conduct the study in two phases — from March 3 to 7 and from April 5 to 9. Another survey would be conducted later. The reports will be submitted to the forest department by the end of this year.

Following disclosure of blatant violation of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, Project Elephant guidelines and mistreatment of private captive elephants around the Corbett national park, the State Animal Husbandry department conducted a medical check-up of these elephants.