Bird poachers arrested in Dandeli

Three persons who were trying to kill hornbills and other birds in Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve have been arrested by Dandeli Wildlife Division officials.And dramatically the said accusers attacked the forest guards at Bailpar check post from where they have been arrested. Airguns,car and other weapons have been seized by the officials.

Please find the attachment below for more details:

‘People in ‘Project Tiger' area ready to relocate'

The Department of Forests has sent a Rs. 5-crore proposal to the government to shift people living in 52 villages in the Dandeli-Anashi forest area that come under “Project Tiger”. These villages are in 886 sq km forest area, according to Suneel Panwar, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Wildlife Division.

According to him, the proposal would be cleared soon. Many people living in the areas marked for “Project Tiger” were awaiting compensation so that they could relocate soon.

He said 500 families had given applications stating that they were ready for relocation. Mr. Panwar said that it was declared in 2007 that each person aged above 18, who was ready to shift from the forest, would get Rs. 10 lakh as compensation.

He said poaching, which was common in Joida taluk, had come done. Awareness was raised among the people living in 52 villages against killing of wild animals and conservation. A programme would be held to raise awareness among schoolchildren on the need to conserve wildlife, he added.

An edited version of this article can be read from the link below:

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2902391.ece

Karnataka gears up to fight wildlife crime-Wildlife Forensic Workshop at Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve

Seventy one forests officials met last week to examine methods for Strengthening Wildlife Law Enforcement. The meeting, which took place over the weekend of 18-19th February at Anshi Tiger Reserve, Dandeli in Karnataka, was organized by Karnataka Forest Department with support from TRAFFIC India. 

TRAFFIC provides training and inputs to a diverse group of officials working on wildlife enforcement and other related issues. 

A lack of adequate knowledge and skills was identified as a major gap among such officers, and therefore building capacity has become a significant component of TRAFFIC India’s strategy to help curb illegal wildlife trade in India. 

Mr B K Singh, PCCF (WL) inaugurated the workshop, with Ms Pallavi R, Judicial Magistrate Forest Council present for the inaugural session.

Mr B K Singh said that the workshop would surely help his team to take on board more knowledge regarding wildlife laws and their implementation, and asked TRAFFIC India to take lead in organizing more training workshops across the State. 

At the meeting, TRAFFIC India provided materials and information on a range illegal wildlife trade issues. They included: forensics as a tool to fight wildlife crime, the role of CITES, evaluating the scene of wildlife crime, setting up and handling information networks, conducting search and seizures, developing documentation that leads to successful prosecution in a court of law and more. 

Participants also learned about new tools and technology to tackle wildlife crime, such as the use of deep search metal detectors and wildlife sniffer dogs to combat poaching gangs and to break interregional wildlife trafficking routes. 

Mr Samir Sinha, representing TRAFFIC India, spoke about different aspects of illegal wildlife trade and how it has become an organized criminal activity. He called for greater transboundary co-operation and vigilance in tackling this growing menace and emphasized that co-operation between various agencies is necessary to prevent drainage of India’s precious natural heritage.

Technical assistance at the meeting was also provided by Dr SP Goyal (Wildlife Institute of India), Ritwick Dutta (Lawyer-Supreme Court) and Saurabh Sharma (Lawyer-High Court).

An edited version of this article can be read from the link below.

http://www.traffic.org/home/2012/2/27/karnataka-gears-up-to-fight-wildlife-crime.html

Camera traps installed in Khanapur Forest

The Nagargali forest which is contiguous to Dandeli and Haliyal forests will be under the strict vigilance of Forest Department now.Since Nagargali Range is a popular elephant corridor and also having viable prey predator density is suffering from huge encroachment,timber extraction and also poaching cases.So to end up all these Belgaum Division is trying some new idea by installing camera traps.Please find the article below for more details:

The Forest Department installed special cameras at the Khanapur jungle, on Friday to monitor the round-the-clock movement of both humans and animals. Under the leadership Deputy Conservator of Forests Girish Hosur and a team comprising Nagargali Assistant Conservator of Forests P K Nayak, Nagargali RFO Basavaraj Walad, wildlifer Sachin Patil, foresters and forest guards, a survey was conducted for installing the cameras at suitable places. The first camera trap was laid in the  tiger zone area under Nagargali range.

Speaking to Express, Hosur said, “The approximate cost of the camera is Rs 18,000. It has a sensor, which senses the slightest movements within a 50 feet radius and alerts the camera to capture the move. The photograph is captured by the camera within micro second.”

Hosur  also added that after every click, the camera needs 15 seconds to stabilise for the next shot.The camera’ battery life is 15 days, after which it needs to be recharged. With  high mega pixel lens and hi tech flash facility, the cameras can take high resolution pictures during dark hours.

“Apart from keeping an eye on law offenders, the camera will also capture the movement of wildlife, which will help the forest department in studying the forest more closely,” said Hosur. He added 12 more cameras would be installed in some more identified areas.

This article was published in expressbuzz.com and can be read from the link below:

http://expressbuzz.com/search/camera-traps-installed-in-khanapur-forest/362369.html

A cry in the wilderness, literally

Two families have been living in anonymity in the Dandeli-Anashi tiger reserve

Calling Incholi nondescript would not only be cliched, but also an understatement.
One does not even know whether this village finds a mention in the records. But the nonentity status of Incholi and just the couple of its families comes as no surprise, because with just a handful of votes, it has no benefit for the politicians. 
  
One of the only two houses there is peopled by Kedu Jannu Shelke, his wife Sagobai Gouli and a few of their family members.

Their doorless one-room hut has no walls, while only pillars and beams support the sliding, dry grass roof that almost touches the floor.Any description of the Shelke family would be incomplete without the mention of the cattle, poultry and the dogs and the family sustains only on its dairy produce. 

Life has been one of near anonymity for this family, residing eight km inside the forest off the Dandeli-Yellapur Road, for four decades now. The place comes under the Dandeli-Anashi tiger reserve and there are countless instances of the family’s domesticated animals being carried away by the tigers and leopards in the forest. 

Incholi is connected to the outer world only through the non-motorable kutcha road.

Water is accessible from a source one km away and it is an everyday labour for the people here to carry it in pots from that distance.

Education, power and health are alien terms for the tiny populace here. Being part of the reserve forest, there is no scope for development works here. The people graze the cattle in the forest, milk them in every morning and sell the milk at Bagwati or Ambikanagar, eight km away. Kunda, a sweet, is prepared from the remaining milk and sold in the nearby towns. 

The biggest nightmare, however, is the people falling sick at night. They have only to suffer as there is no other go. “If anyone is ill in the morning, we take them to Yellapur or Dandeli for treatment,” says Sagobai. Shelke rues that a buffalo is not to be seen in the past few days and suspects it may have been carried away by a tiger. The family has lost count of the cattle that have fallen prey to tigers and leopards. Every time a cow or buffalo is lost, the families incurs losses to the tune of thousands of rupees and there is no leader around to offer solace.

There, however, appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for the Shelke family. 

The Tiger Protection Authority of the Centre has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to rehabilitate each of the families residing in forests coming under Project Tiger. The family is nursing the hope that it can resettle using the money at Mynol near Sambrani, away from the forest and out of harm’s way.

An edited version of this article was published in Deccan Herald on 11Feb,2012 and can be read at,

 http://www.deccanherald.com/content/226479/a-cry-wilderness-literally.html

Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve gets Rapid Response kit for saving tigers

The Wildlife Conservation Trust, Mumbai, has donated an emergency rescue vehicle to the wildlife division of the Forest Department in Dandeli on Monday.

The vehicle would be used to shift the wild animals back to forest when they stray into residential areas. It would be used to rescue animals that accidentally fall into the gorges or open wells.

The vehicle, estimated at Rs. 14 lakh, will ply a six-member rescue team, a generator, lights, tents, search lights, ropes, binocular, walky-talky, cameras, helmets, and security shields, according to Suneel Panwar, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Wildlife Division, Dandeli. The vehicle has a GPS system and could be located from any place, he said. At a simple function held in Dandeli, the trust office-bearers handed over the keys of the vehicle to Mr. Panwar. Training would be arranged to the staff to use the equipment in the vehicle, the Forest Department sources said.

An edited version of this article can be read from the link below:

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2867765.ece

Please find the attachments below for more details:

                       Forest staff learning to pitch the tent provided as part of the RRU

• Mr. Milind Pariwakam, WCT and Forest staff taking inventory of the RRU equipment during the handover

• Mr. Milind Pariwakam, WCT handing over the RRU to Dr. Sunil Panwar, DCF Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve

The RRU vehicle was received with lot enthusiasm at Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve