“This leopard didn’t kill anyone, it was hardly a rampage; it was merely hungry! Humans can’t take away their natural habitat & expect them to just move on! It is humans that are at fault here; by taking away the leopards land etc. Animals go where the food is, they are very territorial, taking away their land involves taking away their food supply, so of course they are going to look elsewhere for food!
“This poor Leopard must have been scared to death, from the deafening crowd outside…the Forest Rangers or Police should have cord-end off the area & let the Leopard leave the same way it came in! The crowds were ridiculous, so I have no pity for anyone who was harmed…they shouldn’t have been so bloody nosey or so loud! I’m just praying the leopard isn’t caught by locals; if it is, they will surely make it pay, like they have with others they have captured….by burning it to death in a cage or beating it to death!! (As in the picture below) “
As a man-eating tiger preys on villagers in the jungle, a leopard is prowling an Indian city’s streets.
Soldiers, police and wildlife experts were today hunting a leopard which walked into ahospital ward in Meerut, a large city in northern India, and caused panic among staff and patients.
The big cat was first spotted by a timber merchant who saw it emerging from a lavatory in his warehouse and alerted the police on Sunday morning.
Two people in a large crowd which gathered at the site were reported to have been attacked by the leopard after one of them lifted a plank under which it had been hiding.
It was later seen by a caretaker at the Meerut Cantonment Hospital in the heart of the city’s military area where it walked onto a ward where several men were being treated.
Staff at the hospital helped the patients escape the ward and then locked the doors to trap the leopard inside.
It managed to escape and a hunt is now under way to track it down.
“The leopard was last spotted on Monday at around 3:30am on a road near the hospital but since then there have been no sightings. We are keeping a vigil but there is a strong possibility that it has returned to its natural habitat,” said Abhishek Singh, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Meerut.
“It was hit by a tranquilizer dart but we are not sure how effective that was. The animal was scared and was running away from people and in this commotion few people were injured. We were trying to control the crowds from getting near the leopard,” he added.
This poor leopard was beaten to death by villagers!
Ashok Kumar of the Wildlife Trust of Indiasaid more leopards are straying into towns because humans are increasingly encroaching on their habitats.
“This is happening very frequently because their habitats are shrinking and they come into human habitation for food and space,” he said. “So one can not say these animals are hunting humans for food, they are merely looking for food because humans took their food source away…if someone gets in their way & makes them feel threatened; one can’t blame the animal, it’s only acting on instinct!!”
Leopard enters Meerut hospital, attacks patients: Video
Published on 24 Feb 2014
High alert has been sounded in Meerut city after a leopard entered a hospital Sunday. A police inspector and media person got injured when they ventured too close to the irritated leopard. The big cat was spotted by a caretaker as it was entering the hospital.
“Please Note Graphic Image: furthest down page! Two items of related news: the first shows yet another image of an elephant killed by speeding train, in March 2013. In that article India’s Rail Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal stressed the need to protect the elephants from trains…the current news below is a step in the right direction!”
BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to check growing number of cases of elephants being fatally hit by trains, Odisha government today signed an MoU with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to develop a mitigation plan.
The New Delhi-based WTI would identify and map the critical accident prone sites and habitats of elephants and also identify factors – ecological, physical and man-made- responsible for accidental deaths of elephants.
“WTI will prepare a detailed report on mitigation plan and implement the Rs 9.9 lakh project over a period of 12 months,” said Forest and Environment minister Bijayshree Routray after signing the MoU.
Last year, the state has witnessed death of about 13 elephants due to train hits. While seven jumbos were killed due to train accidents in Keonjhar, four in Berhampur of Ganjam district and two in Dhenkanal district.
WTI will simultaneously organise consultations/ meetings/workshops with the staff of forest department and other stake holders departments and finalise mitigation plan and jointly implement a few identified shot term mitigation plan like signage along the railway track and awareness of train drivers, the minister said.
March 2013 – Giant elephant killed by speeding train INSIDE nature reserve as it tries to cross track in remote northeast India –
This tragic photo shows the body of a tusker elephant who died today when he was hit by a speeding train in West Bengal.
The adult elephant was struck by a train in a forest at the Buxa Tiger Reserve, a few miles from Alipurduar in north east India.
A speeding passenger train, the Guwahati-bound Somporkkranti Express, hit the elephant while he was crossing the railway line. He died instantly.
The tiger reserve where the elephant was killed is inside the Buxa National Park, which runs along India’s boundary with Bhutan.
This means that the tiger reserve serves as international corridor for elephants migrating between India and Bhutan, making a it a danger spot for train drivers.
Indian forest guards now have the difficult task of getting the huge animal off the tracks so that the train line can reopen.
Sadly this fatal collision was not an isolated incident.
As recently as December last year, five elephants were killed after they were hit by a passenger train in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.
They were crossing railway tracks with their herd.
At the moment there are around 26,000 wild elephants in India.
Although elephants are worshipped by many Indians, their shrinking habitat has made them increasingly unsafe, especially when travelling cross country.
The state of Orissa in eastern India last year issued a warning, asking trains to slow down because of moving elephants herd, but they say it was ignored.
The main reasons for elephant deaths are poaching, eating crops poisoned by farmers, and being hit by trains.
Last week, India’s Rail MinisterPawan Kumar Bansalstressed the need to protect the elephants from trains, describing the animals as ‘gentle giants’ whose lives must be safeguarded.
“LUCKNOW: Pilibhit is reeling under tiger scare again. A stray tiger has killed a man and a woman within a span of two days. The body of the woman was found partially eaten also. Though the feline is yet to be located, the forest department has sounded an alert and orders for tranquilising and trapping it have been issued. However, the department has denied that the tiger is a man-eater.
Reports say a straybig cat, whose sex is yet to be determined, has created panic among the villagers in Pilibhit. On September 5, a man was killed inKhamaria village in Puranpur range of the Social Forestry Division of Pilibhit. The body had deep injuries on head and shoulders. Its upper portion also bore bruises and scratches, apparently from the claws of the wild animal.
The post-mortem report said shock and haemorrhage caused the death. The body, however, was intact with none of the organs missing.
“Whatever be the reason, we have stepped up vigil, said A P Sinha, DFO, Shahjahanpur, who is part of the team. Puranpur range is hardly 5-6 kms from Haripur range where two tigers were found dead in May this year. The social forestry area has a lot of villagers around. Most of the villagers are from economically weaker groups, who are dependent on forest for their daily needs.
As a result of which the division witnesses lot of human movement all the time, the DFO added. On September 6, a woman was found dead in Ruria Salempur village in the same range of social forestry. The body had been partially eaten and one of the legs was found missing. The body was found 11 kms from the forest area, making it clear that the big cat ventured out of the forest to kill and then prey upon the deceased.
The forest department has put in place a team to tranquilise and trap the feline. The tranquilising experts, Utkarsh Shukla of the forest department and Saurabh Singhvi of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), have reached the spot. Two elephants have also been brought for combing.
The forest department, however, has yet notdeclared the big cat as a man-eater.
Though the forest department has no clue yet about the gender of the big cat, it appears to be a case of chance encounter. “However, rectangular pugmarks indicate it is a tigress. Some locals also have spotted a tigress with cubs in the area. Considering that it is sugarcane season, a tigress could be hiding in cane fields with her cubs.In that case, attacks could have come in defence by the feline that is nurturing her cubs. The deceased might have unknowingly gone very close to the big cat,” said a senior forest department official in Lucknow.
This is the reason why Pilibhit gets to see a lot of man-animal conflict. Census figures show that Pilibhit district is home to 30-35 tigers. The forest areas in the district also have a high human density. People are living in between forests in hamlets which has created lot of biotic pressure on the forest area.
“In all possibility, it could be a tiger searching for a safer habitat,” said the official. Pilibhit forests also has a lot of prey base for the tigers, which is the reason why big cats keep venturing out of the forest area into sugarcane fields,” he added.
KOLKATA: Buckling under pressure from the wildlife activists and NGOs, the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has put on hold the plan to capture four wild elephants in Bengal for domestic use.
Confirming the news, additional director general wildlife, MoEF, Jagdish Kishwan said that the plan has been put on hold. However, he refused to give further details. Chief wildlife warden in Bengal, S B Mondal, said that he has received a letter from the Centre on Monday stating that the plan has been suspended for now.
Permission for the elephant capturing was sought way back in 2000. But the MoEF on February 16 this year gave permission to the state to capture four sub-adult elephants from Dalma herd for captive use. Wildlife Trust of India’s conflict mitigation department head Anil Kumar Singh said they had sent a letter to the MoEF a couple of weeks back. “In Bengal, this is a major issue. And this happens due to large scale habitat loss for elephants. But capturing 4 elephants won’t solve the problem, rather it will start a bad trend,” he added.
Eminent ecologist Raman Sukumar, known for his work on elephant ecology and human wildlife conflict, said there has to be a detailed study before embarking upon such plans.
“The state should conduct a study on the routes used by the elephants, whether the forest patches are viable of holding the elephant population and identify the pachyderms which mostly lead the conflict. Unless these historical records are obtained, the entire effort to capture the elephants will remain half-hearted and won’t serve the purpose in the long run,” said Sukumar, who is also a professor with the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.
Echoing his view, WTI’s executive director, Vivek Menon, said: “Elephant is a social animal and capturing four from a herd will only make them more aggressive. As a member of the elephant task force in 2011, I had suggested setting up of a conflict mitigation task force in Bengal with elephant experts and ecologists, who will track the elephant behaviour, routes they follow to migrate towards south Bengal, find the number of pachyderms entering every year, damage caused by these elephants and identify the rogue jumbos.”
WPSI’s executive director Belinda Wright said the problem is not the elephants, but the habitat loss. “Sub-adult or young elephants are not responsible for the conflict. The depredation is led mostly by the big elephants. Even if the forest officials capture them, they won’t be able to train those jumbos,” Wright said, adding that she had taken up the issue with some experts in Sri Lanka, where the problem is very much prevalent.
In 1977, elephants were brought under the Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and such captures were made illegal. But the Centre, under Section 12 of the same act, can give permission for capture for population control and scientific research.
“I would like to know what they are going to do about it, so there can be no further casualties!”
GUWAHATI: An elephant was killed by aspeeding train on the outskirts of Guwahati on Wednesday night as the railway tracks continue to be a deathtrap for the pachyderms in the state.
Elephants risk life by crossing railway lines
A female elephant was killed in a collision with an inter-city train in the Kurkuria area under Sonapur forest range of Kamrup district on Wednesday night. The train was going from Guwahati to Tinsukia in upper Assam. The elephant, which had been separated from its herd, was dragged on the tracks by the train. The railway track where the mishap occurred is close to the Amsang wildlife sanctuary. Forest officials said the elephant would be around seven years old.
With the Wednesday killing, the total death toll of elephants due to collision with speeding train has increased to four this year. An elephant succumbed to injuries after being hit by a train at Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in Jorhat district last month, while two elephants were knocked down to death in Karbi Anglong area on February and June. In May this year, an elephant was injured by a moving train in the Deepor Beel area, also in the outskirt of Guwahati.
Last year, five elephants were killed in collision with moving trains in different parts of the state, including three jumbo deaths in Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary alone.
In 2010, about seven elephants were knocked down to deaths by speeding trains in Karbi Anglong and Deepor Beel areas. The Wildlife Trust of India has identified at least 19 spots where railway tracks passes through elephant habitats. These spots have been declared sensitive.
According to Elephant Task Force (ETF), Assam tops with a 36 per cent of elephant casualties due to train-hits since 1987, followed by West Bengal with 26 per cent and Uttarakhand with 14 per cent.
AHMEDABAD: The coastal dwellers of Mangrolin Porbandar district woke to a strange sight.The carcass of a huge whale shark, that weigh 10 tonnes and was about 47 feet long, had been washed up on the shores of Mangrol on Sunday.
As the news spread, people living in nearby villages rushed to the coast to see the big shark which was lying on the shore. The forest department and the local police had a tough time controlling the endless stream of visitors that went close to the shark to touch it and even took photographs, posing before the dead shark.
For Info. Only
Officials of the forest department said that the full grown whale sharkwas examined to find if it had died due to some fishing boat or any other factor. But, post mortem examination revealed that the whale shark had died due to natural causes. The forest department buried the shark close to the spot where it was found, after the medical examination.
A senior official said that this would be among the few full grown sharks that have been found dead on the shore. This, once again, reveals that the sharks are found in the Indian water and come here during the monsoons.
The state government in association with the Wildlife Trust of India has also tagged few sharks for satellite tracking. “Tags are put on the sharks to get information about the path that they take to come to Gujarat coast and also to get the details as to where do they actually come from,” said an official.
The whale shark was listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act in 2001, according to the highest level of protection. It is this Mangrol, a small fishing town situated along the Gujarat coast, that has a mascot – the whale shark. The adoption was declared during the Whale Shark Day celebrations to mark the successful Whale Shark Campaign.
Along with a team of wildlife activists, Sunday Times helps track and pin down a notorious poacher. Here’s how it happened…
At a tea stall on a hilly road in Uttarakhand, a little query like “What else do you have apart from tea?” gets a shocking answer. “Leopard skins,” says the stall owner, without batting an eyelid. The man has obviously mistaken us – this reporter and Sharma, an enforcement agent with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), an NGO in Delhi that works with the authorities to nab poachers and illegal traders – for people who buy skins and other body parts of wild animals.
In this area of wooded hills, slippery dirt tracks and villages hidden behind thick green cover, getting a lead on poachers is not easy. Here a cluster of villages – Hanol, Chadra, Tiuni, Parola – have become the epicenter of poaching, especially of leopards, musk deers and bears. Located on the border of Uttarakhand’s Govind Wildlife Sanctuary – a valley through which the Tons River flows, the villages are also close to the state’s boundary with Himachal Pradesh. Their location gives a perfect cover to the poachers who kill at will and vanish.
These criminals have their eyes everywhere. Laying a trap for them by trying to strike a ‘deal’ for animal skin can lead to one getting hunted himself. During two such ‘deals’ in 2011, Sharma had almost got lynched when the poachers realized that it was a trap. For an enforcement agent, entering a village alone is dangerous . “Almost every house here has at least one leopard skin. But going into the villages is risky because the villagers can spot the headlights of an approaching car from a distance and alert the poachers ,” says Sharma.
But the villagers too are victims of their conditions. Dependent on farming and animal husbandry, they have been trapped in poverty for as long as they can remember. In this area, where the poachers call the shots, the villagers or the actual hunters hardly make any money. The real killing is made by the middle-men and traders who deal with their rich buyers at home and abroad.
Chasing a lead, we meet Sharma’s informers who update us on two ‘deals’ they have struck. One involves two villagers who have killed a leopard and want to trade the skin; the other deal involves Shyam Prasad, a notorious poacher who has already been arrested twice.
Dhara is now being cared for at IFAW’s Wildlife Rescue Center in the outskirts of Kaziranga National Park. The x-ray showed that Dhara is suffering from a knee dislocation on her left front leg.
She is about eight months old, and was found alone.
We believe she was displaced from her herd during the floods in the park.
An iron-reinforced cast was fixed on her leg to immobilize the joint for the next 21 days. The vets at the Center will review the wound after the stipulated time to see the progress.
In the meantime the calf is being looked after by the vets, animal keepers and two volunteers from the UK. They provide the calf with milk nine times a day and a healthy dose of food supplements.
Dhara pokes her head out of the nursery building. Credit: IFAW/S.Bararuah
Dhara is very active despite the pain in her leg. She always keeps on exploring the enclosure and tries to climb up to the window to peep through and see if there is someone out there with food. And when the food comes she starts shouting out impatiently.
She looks awfully cute throwing baby tantrums to her keepers.
Even though she’s just a little calf, I felt that it was an elephantine task to tranquilize it, transport it to the center’s clinic, X ray her and fit an iron cast on her leg.
Now we’re all waiting for the 21stday of treatment when the vets will remove the cast to see the progress. I hope she regains her strength and is able to walk freely soon.
Stay tuned for more updates on Dhara coming soon. Many have asked how they can help support our efforts, and you can do so by donating here.
Nearly 70 per cent of theKaziranga National Parkwas flooded in the current spell of rains, which claimed the lives of two rhinos and 22hog deer. Speeding vehicles killed 17 hog deer till Friday. The park authorities have so far rescued and released 56 hog deer and eight swamp deer.
Assam Forest offcials rescue an adult deer from a flood-affected region at Bagori range of Kaziranga National Park in Nagaon district of Assam on Friday.
KNP Director Sanjib Kumar Bora told The Hindu that the magnitude of the flood in the park this time was higher than that of 2004, but all efforts were on to protect the wild animals from the flood fury.
Migration
He said elephant herds of the park started migrating to highlands on the southern side towards Nagaon, Golaghat, and Karbi Anglong followed by herds of hog deer. Rhinos can survive in water.
Mr. Bora said Section 144 had been promulgated, restricting the speed of vehicles plying along National Highway 37 that passes through the park, and time cards had been introduced to enforce a speed limit of 40km/hour, in cooperation with the police and local NGOs and general public.
Positive aspect
The KNP director, however, said the flood this time was expected to recharge the wetlands of the park, and rejuvenate grasslands and other areas.
“This is so tragic…when will they learn, elephants do not & should not be taken onto busy roads…period! R.I.P Roopkali”
NOIDA: A speeding truck hit twoelephants near the Mahamaya flyover in Noida around 5.30am on Friday, killing a 45-year-old female animal and seriously injuring another. Both elephants lay on the road for nearly four hours, causing a huge early-morning traffic gridlock on the busy stretch.
The elephants were finally lifted with cranes and the road cleared for traffic. The injured animal, still in a state of shock, is being treated. Police said the truck was speeding when the driver lost control and hit the two elephants, travelling from Dadri to Wazirabad in Delhi. The truck driverescaped leaving the vehicle behind.
The two mahouts riding the elephants also fell off as the animals came under the wheels of the rogue truck. The mahouts were taken to the district hospital in Noida for treatment by police, who reached the spot on receiving information about the accident from a patrolling PCR.
“We were walking on the side of the road and suddenly without warning a truck hit us with great impact and we were all thrown on the road,” said mahout Mukut Kumar.
“When the accident occurred, the elephant named , which was killed, fell on its side along with the mahout who was riding on her,” said an auto driver, Upender, who was passing by. “We thought the mahout would be killed, but when he was pulled out he was alive, although injured and shaken.”
Police called in a veterinary doctor who declared one of the elephants dead. Vets from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were also called to the spot to provide medical aid to the injured 30-year old Chanchal.
“Since the Wildlife Trust of India is the organization which handles such emergencies, we provided the injured elephant with first aid and iced her wounds to give her relief,” said Dr Preeti from SPCA, Noida. “We also informed WTI, who soon sent their team of doctors to monitor Chanchal’s condition.”
The WTI doctors, who arrived at the spot at about 9.30am, gave the elephant antibiotics and kept it under observation. It will be transported in a truck to its residence in Wazirabad on Saturday morning.
“The elephant had multiple lacerations and was bruised all over. Also, its right hind leg was badly injured and the animal was in extreme pain. “We have given it painkillers and are going to keep it under observation for 24 hours,” said Dr Shanaz Amin from WTI.
The body of the other elephant was taken for an autopsy and the carcass thereafter buried, police said.
Meanwhile, police have arrested the three owners of the elephants, Zaheer, Iqbal and Farooq (who is also the elephant association president) under the wildlife Act.
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Dhara pokes her head out of the nursery building. Credit: IFAW/S.Bararuah
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