Crop Damage by Elephants near Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve:

Since last two days Elephants which are 10-15 in no are attacking Agriculture Fields which are surrounded by Haliyal Forests and Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve.There has been a lot of crop damage in Sambrani,Ajamnal,Vandarval,JatagaHosur,Tattigera,Garadolli,Balashettykoppa,Narnalli,Gudamuragi villages.The poorer sections which are mainly dependent on Paddy,Ragi,Jawar and Sugercane are heavily affected by the incident.

                     Farmers who lost their property requested Haliyal Forest Division officials to take necessary actions and precautions in order to prevent Elephant attacks and also requested to give the compensation for crop damage.Several leaders of Sugercane association were present at the time.

Poachers active around Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve:

Poachers were arrested while trying to sell the skins of Fox, Mongoose and Wild sheep by  Forest officials in Ramnagar which is adjacent to Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve.According to the sources these people came from Hassan District and were produced to Khanapur Court for further process.

             As per the exact information given by Mr.Narasimha Chapkhand who is a well known person in the area for his wildlife conservation activities, Ganeshgudi ACF Mr.Ramchandra Adlamane,Jagalpet RFO Mr.G S Bhandari and Londa RFO Mr.C B Patil were involved in the operation.

An efficient step towards Hornbill Conservation in Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve:

                            Dandeli Wildlife Division is putting very sincere efforts towards Hornbill Conservation Project by sending a proposal worth Rs.1.5 Crore to State Government.The foundation for this project was initially setup by previous DCF Mr.Manojkumar.Now this dream is becoming true with the sincere efforts made by present DCF Mr.Sunil Panwar..Please read the article below which has been published in local newspaper..

                      

Khanapur forest area to be declared as a elephant reserve:

BELGAUM: As many as 64,643 hectares of forest area, covering 161 villages in Khanapur taluk in the district, will be declared as an elephant corridor and notified as Elephant Reserve, where there is a regular movements of elephants. This corridor will come under Dandeli Elephant Reserve, which covers Belgaum, Karwar, Dharwad and Haveri districts. 

The move has come up to conserve elephants and avert human-elephant conflicts in these districts. Once the corridor area is notified, all forest area covering the corridor will be upgraded to reserve forest from the present protected forest. Besides this, the forest area will get additional importance on the forests map. Elephants will get maximum protection from the department and farmers will be compensated for damage of their crops. Recently, the principle chief conservator of forest wildlife, B K Singh visited Khanapur and inspected the elephants' route. He instructed the conservators of forests of Belgaum, Dharwad and Canara circles to send a comprehensive proposal to the Union ministry of environment and forests regarding the matter. Following his instructions, the forest department has identified an elephant corridor, based on studies done during the last 10 years. They took into account the number of crop damage incidents and elephant attacks on humans, while identifying the corridor. Speaking to `The Times of India' deputy conservator of forests of Belgaum division, Girish Hosur said: "Generally, elephants appear in the Belgaum forest division during October and November, as they have plenty of paddy and sugarcane crops, during these harvesting months." Hosur said elephants have a good memory and never forget their routes for at least 12 years after passing thorough a place with good amount of food. He said the Belgaum division has the fixed a migratory path for the elephants. The herd of elephants, which arrive from Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and Haliyal forest divisions will enter into the Chandagad forests of Maharashtra via Khanapur forests. 

Anshi-Dandeli tiger reserve plans on backburner:

Dandeli Wildlife Division is engaging still more effective plans to conserve Flora and Fauna in the Tiger reserve.Please read the article below which has been published in a Newspaper.

KARWAR: The Anashi Dandeli forest region, declared a protected region under the Project Tiger on January 4, 2007, is yet to become a safe haven for the flora and fauna it preserves, thanks to the apathy of both state and central governments.

The forests are a natural abode for tigers and other fauna like black panthers, leopards, gours, sambar deer, spotted deer, barking deer, wild dogs, elephants, bonnet macaque (white tailed monkey), giant squirrel, flying squirrel, pangolin and a variety of birds.

The reserve was formed by including 475.018 sq km area of Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary and 339.866 sq km area of Anashi National Park. As per the Wildlife Census of 2006, there are about 33 tigers in and around the tiger reserve, including the Sharavati valleyDandeliKhanapur landscape. With unique flora and fauna, the newly created tiger reserve is considered a natural home for tigers. However, the proposal for boundary rationalisation for the tiger reserve, which was prepared by the wildlife division of the forest department some time back, is still pending with the state government. Although the buffer zone is delineated, the government is yet to make the final declaration.

Conservation plans pending

The wild life division has prepared an Indicative Tiger Conservation Plan, which includes habitat management, protecting the existing vegetation with cattle proof trenching, creation of water holes, eradication of weeds, fire protection, creation of fodder plants, restricting grazing and reclamation of mine dumps. The plan, however, is still before the National Tiger Conservation Authority for approval.

Confusion over rehabilitation

There are 56 revenue villages in the tiger reserve, which leads to humananimal conflict. Although an attractive compensation package with a compensation of `10 lakh to each family, considering each villager above 18 years of age as a separate family, has been announced, many villagers are opposed to it. According to Sunil Panwar, DCF of the wildlife division, no family would be displaced forcibly. Around 500 families have volunteered to leave their villages. 320 families would be displaced in the first phase. A proposal in this regard was sent to the central government long ago, but awaits approval.

Also, as against the sanctioned posts, there are 42 posts still vacant. Of them, 34 are of forest guards, who are supposed to take care of the field work.

Awareness drives

The wildlife division is engaged in creating awareness about wild life among the villagers. It has adopted 13 schools and created nature clubs and organised youth training camps to create awareness about forest and poaching.

Rich Signs of Tiger Presence in Dandeli-Anshi tiger reserve..

Its very happy to know that there are rich signs of tiger presence in Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve.Please look at the images below which shows domestic buffaloes killed by tigers in these  forests recently.However there were doubts at first whether its a tiger kill or leopard kill but after the pug marks have been found near kill which is of tiger.

                            

Conflictions and Disagreements towards Resettlement Package of Tiger Project:

Since Dandeli-Anshi forests have got the significance of Tiger project,as a part of this resettlement package has been declared for each family leaving in the reserve.But however this is not totally accepted by local people by saying that resettlement plan is not scientific.There are lot of Conflictions and Disagreements towards Resettlement Package of Tiger Project between local people and Government.

Please find the attachment below for more details:

Wildlife Week Celebration in Dandeli

Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve is celebrating 56th Wildlife Week(October 1 to October 7th). Center For Environment Education (CEE) is participating in the programme. As a part of this several nature awareness programmes(eg.stage shows) are being conducted by Dandeli Wildlife Division. Interested people can attend and enjoy this event..