Letter to IUCN gave goosebumps to Madhya Pradesh

An NGO refuted MPs' desire ~ Mumbai based NGO acted bold as brass to the Lions translocation issue


These are the translation of the below report published by a Hindi language newspaper

Certainly, the letter to IUCN and other international wildlife bodies washed the desire of Kuno Palpur for translocation to an extent, and the media support to the NGO boiled the blood of MP for sure. There is a long chain of media publishing against the translocation project one after another which clearly portrays exactly what people want, unfortunately still it's not able to open the eyes of the troop of happy and crazy chimps. Further this report states, the translocation shouldn't happen, because the habitat of Kuno is totally unsuitable for Lions. The report reveals the details of the letter we wrote to IUCN for the intervention in this matter.

However, in middle of the report, it's written that after Hon'. SC supported the translocation, Gujrat had no other option than to be on their knees and plea the NGO for protest. "This is a totally unfamiliar notice for us even" for which Empower foundation is strongly against as this statement tries to tie a knot between the Gujrat Govt and the NGO. NGO has made very clear from the first day that its not riding on any political chariot, and just fighting for Wildlife and nothing else.

Where this report quotes Empowers' statements and reveals the facts as why this translocation is necessary to be reviewed, it also quotes an wildlife activist from MP (Ajay Dubey) who opposes the NGO and comments in favor of translocation. 

The wildlife activist is the president of a MP based NGO (Prayatna). Ajay is associated with wildlife since years and has achieved countless appreciations for his dedication and work for Tigers in MP. Let me take you to some more details of the activist. Ajay fought against illegal mining in MP reserve forests, and also filed several RTIs and PILs in this respect. The story didn't ended here till he fought to the Hon' Supreme Court for the same. The activist also fought strongly against Tiger tourism in MP tiger reserves for years. He also plead the apex court to direct MP to notify buffer zones in all its tiger reserves and ban commercial tourism in critical tiger habitats. "Unless the core and buffer zones are notified, a tiger reserve is technically not a tiger reserve. This is a prerequisite for the preparation of the tiger conservation plan as required by WLPA" says the activist. Ajay raised the issue of Tiger poaching in MP throwing the reason being heavy tourism and near to no security for wildlife, and strongly stood against it. Dubey brilliantly raised the issue of the knot between the Tiger reserve officials and poachers to the CM of MP and demanded CBI probe for the same.

Okay.. enough of Ajay Dubey the famous wildlife activist, but let see how the news paper column quoted him for the translocation subject. The newspaper quoted below: 

"Ajay Dubey, president of the NGO, Prayatn, said that SC already pronounced the verdict for translocation. In such a case, writing to any international organization for their intervention is wrong. He had wrote to Wildlife and forest minister Ms. Jayanti Natrajan and requested to get the translocation happen ASAP".

Sorry friends, but I don't have enough understanding and skills to compare the activists' thoughts for Tigers and Lions. Please.. try if you could?

Although, irrespective of whatever the MP lovers are quoting and planning, this report surely gave goosebumps to MP as well as those happy and crazy chimps, and the fight is still on. Moreover I could say the fight has caught the heat..

~ Black Pearl

"NO" for Kuno ~ Speak before it's too late

The whole planet knows the one and only resort for last 400 Asiatic Lions is Gir National Forest of India. Undoubtedly, Gir went far behind the limits to protect the last Asiatic Lions and bring up the number from 12 to 400 in past several decades. The contribution Gujrat govt made on grounds of conservation, in past several decades, cannot be ruled out. However, since Gir has contributed so much, and the Lion population is brought to it's limit which can be hold by the forest, Lions are now finding their way out of the forest boundaries. Today, Lions are not only limited to Gir Forest, but  has spread over a very large area all over the Saurashtra region, which is why it's very urgent to find a second home for teh Gir Lions. The idea for finding a second home was aroused decades back, and for which central and state govt has worked very sensitively.


For this translocation project, out of 3 places, Kuno was found to be teh best habitat for Lions, and thus was finalized. Since the area for translocation was finalized, there had been several attempts by Gujrat State govt as well as individual/ NGOs to stop the translocation, on various grounds. No one went against the idea for translocation, but protested against other grounds, which were never heard neither by MP State govt, not the Judicial benches, and it was a black day for wildlife lovers when Hon. Supreme Court of India announced teh verdict by nodding YES to the project.

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Why "NO" for Kuno?

Post research, we found Kuno not to be suitable for Lions in any single sense, although, the wildlife research team which was appointed for this task (officially) submitted its report finding Kuno the best place after Gir Forest in India. Below are the major points which were neglected/ manipulated in the report submitted to drive the Judicial verdict on their side. (Click the hyperlinks to know the )


1.  Kuno is a typical Indian rainforest which is not an adequate habitat for Lions. Lions lives in a different kind of habitat.


2. Kuno is almost an extension of a Tiger Reserve "Ranthambhore" and houses couple of Tigers which strayed away from the Tiger reserve. Lions and Tigers can't live together.


3.  Kuno Palpur is a poacher ruled area, where multiple incidents of poaching has been found in past. Many wild animals have been already brought down by poachers. In fact Kuno region is rich in channelizing illegal arms and ammunition.


4. Since Kuno is too far from Gir, the translocation has to be human assisted. There have been several human assisted translocation not only in India, but all over the world, which all failed. So, success of this human assisted translocation is very much doubtful. Even IUCN recommends, that we should focus on natural translocation whose success rate is 100%.


5.  As part of translocation plan, to keep up the healthy genetic pool in Kuno, every 3-5 years, fresh Lions from Gir would be brought to Kuno, and the residing male would be jailed to Zoo. This translocation simply aims at putting all wild Lions to Zoo which is highly unethical and insane act.


6. Prey base at Kuno is not at par for Lions. A manipulated report and argument submitted to Hon. Supreme court of India to show a good number of prey and driving the verdict to their court. As per the report, Langurs are also counted as Lions' prey with a high rate of population. While the main prey "Sambhar" and "Nilgai" rate are too less.


7. Gir people have learnt very well to share the same land in a peaceful manner and no incidents of Lion killing came into light  till date. While on other hand tribals inside Kuno were forcefully kicked out to make space for the reserve. This would definitely lead to man-animal conflict and Lions would be targeted badly. Poisioning and killing of Tigers are of no surprise there in Kuno region.

8. For this project, 24 villages who found there home in Kuno, were kicked out and forced to find their new home out of Kuno where they are suffering to death. Though a heavy amount was sanctioned for the tribal relocation, only few drops has reached for the actual cause.


This is the time to say "NO" to Kuno. This is time to prove the democracy. This is the time to prove that we care for our heritage, we care for wild animals..


~ Black Pearl

GIR Lions~ A journey from paradise to hell

The Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary (also known as Sasan Gir) is believed to be the last residence for last 400 Asiatic Lions over this earth. Gir proved not only just a home to these majestic Lions, but as a paradise to them. Had it been the terrain, vegetation, climate, or medical care, Gir always stood the best for them. It's not only the Gujrat Govt, but even the people of Gujrat has shown much affection towards these Lions. To people of Gujrat, Gir Lions are like members of their family. Gir has always stood the best fighting poaching, hence the Lions there feel themselves safe from cruel hands.


However, the decision for translocation of Gir Lions to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary (MP) has been thrown over everyone and precisely the animals there in. The decision slapped down not only Gurat Govt but also all the Wildlife lovers and conservationists. While Indian Govt. claims this plan to be the most needful and call of the hour which would offer the Gir Lions more space to expand their prides, on the other hand paved the path for the wild Lions to end up in hell i.e. Zoo. While the whole world is protesting against captivating wild animals, we Indians are denoting this act as beneficial? India has history to captive their kings, and that is what happening today.. The saying is well proved that "history repeats itself.."


WII (Wildlife Institute of India) recommendation

WII report clearly mentions that "Genetic consideration would not be a major factor, provided fresh male lions are moved from Gir to Kuno every three to five years and the resident males in Kuno selectively captured for Zoos."

Last life treat

Are we ready to see our majestic wild Lions like this? So basically we are planning for the wild Lions to move from the paradise to hell, and we have no regrets for the same. Surprisingly, the suggestion came from the Wildlife Institute of India. Is the translocation so important that we are ready to sacrifice the wild cats to zoo in their last life? Do our Lions deserve such treatment after fighting for their life in wild? Ask yourself and you'll find what to say..


~ Black Pearl

India will make Lions jump over trees

I am pretty sure, India want to see Lions chasing Langurs over trees. Well, before discussing anything further, I would like to place some facts about the prey list and hunting procedures of the majestic beast "Lions" which will in turn brief you some more facts about Lion and prey behavior. If you google about the prey list of Lions, hopefully you would find many listing them, but what's new here is we would discuss them in depth. Prey list of Lions totally depend as how they hunt, and hunting procedures are again related to the prey density where they survive.

Africa (Tanzania, Botswana, Mara etc.) offers too widely stretched land (rocky mountain, savannah, grassland, desert, dense forest). But Lions do live in some very specific places. To know where Lions live, click here. However Lions always choose to live where there is plenty of prey (which they prefer to have). 

 African & Asiatic Lions' hunt

Lions (males) do prefer to rest a lot and not to waste more energy on chasing preys, since they know that Lionesses of his/ their pride have to bring eatables for their cubs. Accordingly, Lionesses too know that Lions won't participate in hunting so they tend to bring a lot of food which can satisfy them, the cubs and more precisely, the pride owners (Lions) obviously in return of protection by them from other males. In order to bring back so much of food, Lionesses hunt in groups (group may vary from 2-10) to bring down big animals such as Zebra, Buffaloes, Wild beasts, Warthogs, Nilgai etc. However, they can also bring down huge animals such as Giraffes, Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos etc while in scarcity of prey, as there's a famous saying in Hindi "Marta kya naa karta" (When it's up to ones life, one may do anything to survive). This need turned them social, as hunting alone can only bring down small preys such as Antelopes, Wild boars, Rabbits, Sambhar, Chital etc. It's not that they don't hunt these small preys in groups, but the group size is directly proportional to the prey to bring down. Having said this, usually African Lion prides consists 5-20 members (including their cubs) while Asiatic prides usually holds 3-10 in a pride. This directly makes us understand their prey type. Now since we are known of the prey type of Lions in different regions, it's time to know which are the preys which Lions chase the most and why.

Asiatic Lions hence targets primarily on few animals such as Chitals, Sambhars, Wild pigs. However, they also don't hesitate in scavenging preys, brought down by other predators/ big cats, or naturally dead, which may include anything.



Asiatic Lions' choice

Asiatic Lions precisely chase Chitals and Sambhars. Reason behind this is, in India, Chitals (or spotted deers) and Sambhars are abundant so can be found easily. However, as per Chitals and Sambhars behavior, they do prefer to roam in and around big thick trees (which is often not a lovable place for Lions) for reasons. Reason being Monkeys and Langurs. Monleys and Langurs often drop leaves from trees which make easy food for the Cheetals (lazy lads), and also the Langurs make alarm calls as soon as they see any predator near to them. So catching Chitals and Sambhars has never been an eazy job for the Lions in such locations.

The only exception, when Lions can chase down Chitals is when they roam in open savannah or grassland (which happens very often), come in group for quenching their thirst (often at early morning, afternoon or early night), or while grazing at night (when they loose their areal eyes i.e. Langurs). Big cats do have a very good night vision as compared to Chitals/ Sambhars. Other reason for which Lions avoid hunting in dense forests is due to their bulky body, they can't chase zig zag too much (being trees the main hurdles) while Chitals/ Sambhars are pretty expert in that, hence, they prefer to get down the prey while chasing them in open (along with a strong group attack strategy/ planning). Despite of so much trouble Asiatic Lions prefer these both because once they get hold of them, just with a single hard bite of canine can damage their spine or choke their breath to bring them down, while they have to fight a lot for Wild boars, Neelgais etc.  Therefore, Asiatic Lions avoid chasing big bodies. It's found that 20% approx food for Asiatic Lions is contributed by cattle from the nearby/ adjacent villages of Gir forest, which is again an easy prey for the beasts which they can't miss. Given the chance, and if the Lion is injured/ old, they may also raise the percentage from 20% to 50% or even more, so we should always consider easy prey in the prey list of any big cat.  



Lion hunting Langurs?

When I came to know that Wildlife experts of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary included "Langurs" while making a list of prime prey density for Lions, just in order to increase the figures to make their debate stronger. However, a biologist is expected to know all the above facts even more deeply than it's mentioned above. A Langur should always be considered as a spoil sport for any big cat. In fact Lanhurs can also force Lions to starve for days alarming the deers which Lions do chase for. There is no possibility for a Lion to chase a Langur (I mean come on.. this is just as driving my car from earth to moon..). Yes, you might have seen a Lion having feast on Langur, but that is only when they scavenge it from Leopards/ Hyenas (who may likely killed it) or may have hunted an injured Langur (over land, not on trees). There have been incidents, when Lions killed Langurs while they were quenching their thirst (that too if the Langur was not alert at all, which happens once in a blue moon, or couldn't run back that fast). Except mentioned I don't think there must be any possibility when a Lion can have feast on Langur, and that doesn't gives liberty to claim Langur as Lions prime prey. Below listed is the prey base chart which was provided.      

Species                Population Density/Sq.km.± Standard Error
Chital                                               51.59           ±         8.84
Sambhar                                        3.59              ±         1.01
Nilgai                                               2.32              ±         0.59
Wild Pig                                         4.68              ±         1.54
Chinkara                                        0.99              ±         0.35
Langur                                          17.2              ±         4.6
Peafowl                                          6.44              ±         2.34
Feral Cattle                                   1.83              ±         0.77
  

If Indian biologists are including Langurs as Lions "MAIN PREY LIST", hopefully we would be soon seeing Asiatic Lions jumping over the trees of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, again, which would be an unbelievable sighting which may fail all rules of Nature. So, be prepared to experience the thrill soon.
 

TOI : Madhya Pradesh unsuitable for big cats: Study

TNN Jun 25, 2013, 02.49AM IST

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-25/flora-fauna/40184824_1_two-tigers-madhya-pradesh-palpur-kuno

AHMEDABAD: Madhya Pradesh is a major poaching ground with a strong gun culture. This was the finding of Empower Foundation, a Mumbai based NGO working on Sanjay Gandhi National Park's man-animal conflict.

The NGO in its report submitted to the forest department has stated that lions should not be translocated to Kuno as Madhya Pradesh is known to be a major poaching ground and the state has lost 453 tigers out of 710 (63% loss) in a decade. The state as per the 2011 census has only 257 tigers. The loss of tiger in Madhya Pradesh was 50 per cent of the total loss of the tigers across the world.

Jalpesh Mehta has claimed that between 2000 and 2010, about 1079 tigers have died across the globe and of these 453 were in Madhya Pradesh itself.

It was also pointed out that Sariska and Panna have recently lost all their tigers. The two sanctuaries had 28 and 25 tigers respectively and Palpur Kuno had only two tigers. Once upon a time, Kuno used to have 25 tigers.

Sheopur district has 4800 fire arm licenses for a population of six lakh and the sanctuary area was once a hub of dacoits from Chambal. As these are licensed guns, one cannot estimate the illegal fire arms present in the area. Also the state has an adjoining sensitive location - situated on the border of three states namely Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Geographically, Mehta said that the hilly terrain of Kuno-Palpur forest with very little water sources unlike Gir region will also not support translocation.

The government of Madhya Pradesh has declared Sheopur as a drought-prone area and district affected by natural calamity. These conditions are unfavourable for lion translocation.

Further, he added that tigers and bears live in Kuno-Palpur and this would lead to in-fighting and territorial wars among the wild animals, further increasing the chances of man-animal conflict.

TOI : Threat to conservation: Lion bone trade on rise

TNN Jun 25, 2013, 06.44AM IST

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-25/flora-fauna/40184311_1_lion-skeleton-lion-bones-lion-conservation

AHMEDABAD: The international market value of lion bones range between $ 300 and $ 500 for every kilogram. The bones are used in China for traditional Chinese medicines. Lion bones are being used as substitutes for tiger bone potions, finds Empower Foundation, a Mumbai based NGO working on Sanjay Gandhi National Park's man-animal conflict.

In 2007, eight lions were killed in Gir by poachers from MP. Investigations carried out by CID (Crime) officials had concluded with the arrest of several poachers including Sarkas Lal, leader of this poachers' gang

In that case too, CID officials had concluded that the lion bones were passed off as tiger bones and were smuggled to China for "medicinal purposes."

The report submitted to the government stated that South Africa has been supplying a considerable volume of lion bones to mainly Laos, Vietnam and China. A warning against such trade has been issued by LionAid, an organisation which is into lion conservation. LionAid has warned that such trade could well stimulate a demand that would increasingly involve poaching of lions.

The South African trade involves lion breeders, canned lion hunters and taxidermists. The value of a lion skeleton could therefore be in excess of $10,000. "In China, lion bones are soaked for a variable period in rice wine, whereas in Laos and Vietnam, the bones are made into a paste with added ingredients like herbs. The paste is then dissolved in rice wine. Such bone tonics are used to treat a variety of ailments. Bones from wild lions are considered more efficacious than those bred in captivity. In South Africa, Vietnamese and Thai nationals have been arrested at O R Tambo International Airport with illegal lion bones in their luggage, but levels of the illegal trade are considered much higher than such occasional seizures suggest.

The report stated that lion carcasses should now be treated with the same degree of suspicion. As per LionAid, in India, all carcasses of tigers are considered poaching incidents and same treatment has to be given to lion carcasses.