2,300 leopards killed in last decade: Study

ORIGINAL: Deccan Herald

New Delhi, 

October 15, 2012

For the last ten years, at least four leopards were killed every week in India, either by poachers or by people who considered these animals as threats to their livelihood.

Collating and statistically analysing available data, a wildlife organisation has claimed that an estimated number of 2,294 leopards were killed between 2001 and 2010. The estimate has an error margin of 403, which means the figure could vary between 2,700 and 1,800.

“This translated to an estimated killing of at least four leopards per week for illegal trade over the past 10 years,” says the study carried out by Traffic India.

Bulk of the killings took place in Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh in the North and Karnataka in South. Delhi has turned out to be a major centre for accumulation in trade in leopard body parts and skins.

The findings have come a year after the Union Environment and Forest Ministry brought out a guideline on leopard conservation that outlined several strategies to reduce man-animal conflict and curb on poaching. 

One of the key reasons for conflict is the leopard’s tendency to target small domestic animals as prey because of the shrinking forest cover. But little seems to have taken place on the ground.

“The government’s attention is so focused on tiger, other animals rarely get any notice. 

And all documentation is under-reporting as no crime is recorded 100 per cent,” conservationist Ravi Chellam, a former scientist of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun who now heads Madras Crocodile Bank told Deccan Herald.

Leopard skins dominate the illegal market of leopard body parts. Out of 420 incidents of seizures of leopard body parts by law enforcing authorities in 27 states, seven Union territories and the national capital region of Delhi, as many as 371 incidents involved only skins.

These reported seizures account for at least 1,127 leopards poached and in illegal trade, says the survey.

As many as 209 localities were recorded as being active in leopard trade at some point of time in the last 10 years. 

There has been an overall increasing trend in the number of localities reported as active each year but southern India appears to be growing fastest, pointing to a need for increased law enforcement effort in that region in future. “Poaching of so many leopards are enough of a cause of worry. The incidents of man-animal conflict rises because of habitat destruction. These cats are small and agile, which can live in the proximity of human population,” said Chellam, who is not connected to the Traffic India study.

China: Captan imágenes de tigre siberiano en peligro de extinción

ORIGINAL: Mas Verde

Cámaras automáticas infrarrojas colocadas en un bosque de la nororiental provincia china de Jilin lograron captar dos imágenes de tigres siberianos salvajes, especie en peligro de extinción.

Las fotos fueron tomadas el pasado 4 de abril en la montaña Changbai, del condado Wangqing, en la prefectura autónoma coreana de Yanbian, que limita al este con Rusia y al sur con la República Popular Democrática de Corea.

Financiado por el Fondo Mundial para la Naturaleza (WWF), la Oficina Forestal del lugar puso en marcha más de 100 cámaras automáticas infrarrojas en el bosque para capturar imágenes de animales raramente vistos.

Durante los últimos años, esos equipos captaron muchas imágenes de tigres siberianos y leopardos de Amur, según el WWF, citado por medios de prensa. La población total de los primeros es de aproximadamente 500, concentrada en Rusia, noreste de China y norte de la Península Coreana.

El Leopardo de Amur es otra de las especies de la zona que se encuentra en grave peligro de desaparecer.

China cuenta actualmente con sólo 20 tigres siberianos salvajes registrados.

Empleados del buró de silvicultura de Dongfanghong, lanzaron en febrero pasado una campaña basada en alimentar a corzos y ciervos rojos para la supervivencia de los tigres siberianos (sus depredadores) durante el crudo invierno.

Fuente: Prensa Latina, Agencias

Tras una caida en un viaje de caza de elefantes en Botsuana, implantan al Rey de España una prótesis de cadera.

ORIGINAL: ElMundo.es

Ana Romero | ELMUNDO.es | Agencias | Madrid

14/04/2012

Las armas de fuego han estado asociadas a incidentes nada agradables al Rey:

• El 29 de marzo de 1956, a los 18 años y en un confuso incidente, dió muerte a su hermano el infante Alfonso de 14 años, de un disparo de revolver en su cabeza
• El pasado lunes 9 de Marzo, su nieto Froilán de 13 años se disparó accidentalmente en un pie
• Y el pasado jueves 12 de abril, durante un viaje de caza de elefantes en Botsuana, sufrió una caída que le causó una fractura en la cadera

Imagen del Rey publicada en la web de la empresa Rann Safaris.

• Don Juan Carlos ingresó anoche tras su regreso del país africano
• Había viajado a Bostuana para practicar caza mayor
• Además de la prótesis, se le ha reconstruido el fémur fracturado
• El médico intensivista que le acompaña le trató con analgésicos
• Regresó en un avión privado, no medicalizado, en el que iba sentado
• El Príncipe Felipe y la Infanta Elena visitan a su padre en el hospital
• La Reina se encuentra en Grecia y no volverá a España hasta el lunes
• Matar un elefante en Botsuana, a partir de 30.000 euros
• Debate: ¿Cree que la cacería del Rey fue oportuna?

El Rey Juan Carlos ha sido intervenido quirúrgicamente de la cadera esta madrugada en Madrid tras sufrir una caída en la residencia en la que se alojaba en Botsuana, el país surafricano al que se había desplazado para practicar caza mayor.

356 leopard deaths in India in 365 days

By: Adnan Attarwala

Date:  2012-02-28

Place: Pune

Wildlife Protection Society of India report for 2011 shows 356 deaths in 365 days; poaching behind 52% of fatalities
The observation that India is losing its leopards faster than any other wild cat will soon be proved true as according to the latest report by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) 356 leopards died across the country because of various causes last year alone.

A dwindling race: A leopard in the wild. Experts warn that the actual

number of leopard deaths in the country in 2011 may be more than

three times the reported figure of 356. file pIC

The data shows 52 per cent of the deaths were due to poaching.

Since earlier reports show 126 leopards died in 2007, 157 in 2008, 161 in 2009 and 180 in 2010, the latest figures reveal that after 2007 the death rate among the spotted big cats has only increased and that leopards are in greater danger than tigers in the country.

State figures
According to the Nagpur forest department's wildlife division, 81 leopard deaths were reported in the state in 2011 compared to 56 in 2010 and 48 in 2009. The deaths, reported in villages near the city, Junnar, Jalgaon, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Hingoli and Ratnagiri, are largely being attributed to poaching.

Of the 356 deaths reported in 2011 countrywide, 41 (12 per cent) deaths were due to conflict with humans, 29 (8 per cent) were due to accidents, 65 (18 per cent) fatalities were ascribed to unknown reasons, and 186 (52 per cent) occurred due to poaching. The report adds that 14 leopards were killed during rescue operations and 21 by other animals.

The data shows that the highest number of deaths was recorded in Uttarakhand; as many as 114 (30 per cent) of the leopard deaths last year occurred in that state.

The many deaths were recorded despite leopards being listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and should enjoy the highest degree of protection.

Just tip of iceberg
According to the forest department, there were fewer than 200 humans injured or killed because of leopard attacks between 2003 and 2012.

"More than one leopard is killed everyday. The cases that we have reported are just the tip of the iceberg; the loss could be three to five times more since most of the incidents happened outside the forest range and also due to improper intelligence gathering. Cub mortality due to the absence of the females is not even recorded," said Dr Anish Andheria, Director of Science, Natural History and Photography with Sanctuary Asia, who was instrumental in gathering the information.

According to him, there is a problem of livelihood and degradation of forests, because of which the leopards enter human territory in search of food sources, which are depleting.

Since jungle corridors have been destroyed with builders encroaching into the forest zones, the leopards have nowhere to go and stray into residential areas, only to be beaten to death by people.

"They have created water canals and sugarcane fields in places like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, and the cropping land use pattern is changing from traditional to fertiliser farming, because of which the leopards are colonising the areas close to human settlements," said Andheria.

Killing clip draws sharp reactions on net  

Savage brutality: A leopard is whacked to death by villagers in Haryana.

A clip of the incident on the internet revealed the grim reality of rising

attacks on leopards in the country and drew sharp reactions from the

world over

Last week a video of a leopard being clubbed to death by around 50 villagers in Haryana that was doing the rounds of social networking sites provoked sharp reactions from people and wildlife activists across the world. People expressed great disappointment towards the apathy of the government, which they say has failed to protect its national asset.