Three years after the entire tiger population of the Panna Tiger Reserve was decimated, the Madhya Pradesh government has neither been able to fix responsibility for the disaster, nor has it handed over the enquiry to the Central Bureau of Investigation inspite of requests from the Ministry of Environment and forests and even the Prime Minister's Office.

While the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) has now been repopulated with translocated tigers and tigresses, the promised CBI probe into the disappearance of the entire population before 2009 is yet to be ordered even after the PMO’s intervention. Despite repeated reminders over the last five months, PTR’s field director R Sreenivasa Murthy has not sent evidence about three specific cases of poaching identified for a CBI probe to the headquarters in Bhopal.

Surat: Of the 145 endangered bird species in India, Gujarat is home to at least 35 of them. Thus it is important that researchers and ornithologists and people from all walks of life join hands in bird conservation, speakers said at a recently held seminar in Navsari on ‘Birds of Gujarat: Present status and future scenario’.

Ahmedabad: The recent poaching of lesser flamingos and cranes in Gujarat could well be the worst of its kind globally. Experts from different parts of the world, who have congregated at the second global bird watchers’ meet here, expressed shock and disbelief at the blatant manner in which these winged visitors were being targeted in a state that is more known for its adherence to Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of non-violence.

Rampant poaching by villagers, who continue to live inside wildlife sanctuaries and the forested areas surrounding the tiger reserves, is threatening wildlife at an alarming level in Madhya Pradesh.

The situation has become so serious that on Tuesday, the Panna Tiger Reserve field director was compelled to issue a public statement urging the villagers and others, who kill wild animals as a tradition or for personal entertainment, to desist from such practices. They have been advised to stay on the right side of the law and cooperate.

Birds Continue To Fall Prey Despite Arrest Of 9 Men

Ahmedabad: The forest department claimed to have cracked the case of the poaching of 64 lesser flamingos in Venasar village in the Little Rann of Kutch when its officials arrested nine people on January 4. They had even recovered the nets used to trap the birds, after TOI had reported the massacre.

Hunters have intensified wildlife poaching drive taking advantage of heavy snowfall that has lashed Bajura district for the past three days.
The poachers have been selling off the flesh of wildlife including birds and animals in headquarters Martadi and Kolti bazaar, RSS reports.
The price of wild chicken per kg ranges Rs. 500 to 800 while the price for Danfe, Nepal's national bird, and Munal each is set from Rs. 1000-2000. With the rise in the sale of these birds in the market, its price has also gone up.

Scourge a major cause for depletion of species

Karnataka was crowned the ‘Tiger State’ of the country after the recent tiger census. But, it has now come to light that the State has accounted for the most number of poaching cases in the last four years.