South African demand for legal trade in rhino horns leaves India jittery

NEW DELHI: The surge of poaching of rhinoceros in South Africa could lead to threats to the one-horned Indian rhino in faraway Assam and West Bengal if the African country decides to go ahead and demand opening the international trade in rhino horns. 

Speaking at the first stock taking meeting of the World Bank-led Global Tiger Recovery Programme in Delhi, Keshav Varma, programme director of the Global Tiger Initiative, warned that South Africa, unable to contain poaching, was inclined towards opening the trade in rhino horns. International trade in rhino horns is banned under the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Speciesof Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). 

Rhino horns, which are costlier than gold today, fetch upwards of $50,000 per kg in the international market and are used in traditional oriental medicine systems. 

Varma warned that if the South African proposal found support, the demand for horns from India could surge, leading to higher levels of poaching. 

India is home to about 2,500 one-horned rhinos with the armour-plated animal found only in Assam and West Bengal and one patch - Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh. While poaching at one time threatened the animal in these patches, it has not suffered the kind of pressure the South African rhino faces where more than 400 rhinos were poached for their horns last year. This year, Varma said, South Africa had been losing rhinos at the rate of almost four a day. 

Similar debates about opening up ivory trade in African nations had earlier led to heated negotiations at CITES with India wary that legalizing trade in the elephant tusks would lead to international and well-funded poaching networks getting active in Indian forests. With China farming tigers, the international conservation community has also been divided about satiating the demand for such exotic animal parts from farmed animals. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/South-African-demand-for-legal-trade-in-rhino-horns-leaves-India-jittery/articleshow/13157452.cms

'Nashik doesn't need a venom collection centre'

NASHIK: Sarpa mitras (animal activists who protect snakes) have been demanding a centralized venom collection centre in Nashik to curb the illegal sale of venom and to increase the production of anti-venom medicines, but the forest department has rejected this the proposal.

On the backdrop of the number of snakes being found in the city and surrounding areas on a daily basis, the Sarpa Mitras had suggested a centralised venom collection centre where the venom of the snakes caught could be collected and given to pharmaceutical companies for production of anti-venom medicines.

The former chief conservator of forests (territorial), Nashik, and former minister of forests for the state Maharashtra state, had shown some interest in the concept but the sarpa mitras say that after the portfolios of these individuals changed, the proposal could not materialise. Once again the sarpa mitras are demanding that a venom collection centre be established in Nashik, where venom of snake from all over the district could be collected in one place and then given to a pharmaceutical company. But the forest department has rejected the proposal.

"We do not want to commercialise the idea. Once it gets commercialised, everyone would run after it and it would be difficult for us to manage or keep a track on these sarpa mitras. When people got obsessed with tiger skins, heads, and elephant tusks, it became so commercial that we stopped displaying dead animals. We began burning dead animals once we caught them," said divisional forest officer, Arvind Patil. "The same thing will happen with venom collection. It would become commercialised beyond our control," he said.

Sarpa mitra Manish Godbole, who was foremost in demanding for a venom collection centre said, "Our main aim for having a venom collection centre was that sarpa mitras (friends of snakes) would get some financial support. They are doing it for free. If a venom collection centre is set up here, the illegal selling of venom will stop. Moreover, there is a shortage of anti-venom medicines. From where do these pharmaceutical companies get the venom? The venom can be collected from the snakes registered with the forest department after getting rescued by the sarpa mitras, and it will put a stop to illegal venom sale. The venom can be extracted within 21 days and the snake can then be released in the place that it was found, in the presence of forest department employees".

Godbole added that the snakes could be kept in a sarpa udyan (snake garden) for the 21- day period. "Former chief conservator of forests, V K Mohan had shown interest in the venom collection centre. If the venom is taken directly from the Sarpa Mitras, illegal trade would stop. When Baban Pachpute was the minister of forests, he had expressed interest and we also went to the mantralaya number of times with the details that they wanted. But after his portfolio got changed, the issue was not pursued".

The forest department is against the idea of a sarpa udyan as well. "Let the snakes remain where they are supposed to be, in their own habitat. Anti-venom medicines are available with the pharmaceutical companies, and there is no shortage," Patil said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nashik/Nashik-doesnt-need-a-venom-collection-centre/articleshow/13159622.cms

'Include man-animal conflict in disaster management lists'

NASHIK: A seminar on 'Man-animal conflict' was conducted by biologist and leopard expert Vidya Atre on Tuesday for the forest and fire departments at Nehru Udyan. The seminar came on the heels of a proposal by the chief conservator of forests (territorial) to the state that the man-animal conflict issue be listed under disaster management.

Atre briefed the forest department and the fire brigade on how to handle the situation if a leopard is found in a human settlements. She also shared her experiences and experiments in monitoring locations and behaviour of leopards. She said that help from the police should be sought first and then efforts should be made to trap the animal. She also said that it is not necessary to trap all animals.

"Soon, a list of dos and don'ts and precautions will be given to the departments so that whenever a wild animal is to be handled, the process becomes smooth," she said. The chief conservator of forests (territorial), G Saiprakash, said that though the collars used for tracking animals through GPS are very expensive, the forest department would try to include man-animal conflict under disaster management.

"One outcome of this seminar is that I will put forth a proposal to the state government that the issue of man animal conflict be declared under disaster management. I will send the proposal soon so that all the district machinery automatically comes to the picture and the district collector can issue orders to all concerned. In this way we can get all the help in time," said 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nashik/Include-man-animal-conflict-in-disaster-management-lists/articleshow/13159822.cms

Punjab to have mobile ambulance for animals

Chandigarh, May 13 — Animals in Punjab may now receive more prompt medical attention as the state government has decided to start a free veterinary mobile ambulance service to provide instant treatment to them.

This will be on the pattern of '108' mobile ambulance services for people, Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike said here Sunday. Ranike said the service would be operational soon with an aim to give instant and free treatment to the animals.

The mobile ambulance service would be provided at all 22 district headquarters and will connect the whole state through a toll free number, he said.

The mobile ambulance vans would be equipped with ultra-modern medical facilities to provide medical care to animals, added Ranike.Though primarily an agriculture state, Punjab also has an established dairy network.

http://india.nydailynews.com/business/1ad7b7f46011065b06d20b1330cf66aa/punjab-to-have-mobile-ambulance-for-animals

Elephant death forces Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body to look into animal care

The sad demise of elephant Chanchala, found abandoned in a nala, while undergoing treatment, may have finally woken up the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to take measures towards responsible animal care.

The 40-year-old injured female, which was left in pain by its mahout, and later shifted to the Manikdoh Rehabilitation Centre in Junnar, died on Friday.

The civic body is likely to introduce a system of issuing licences to animal owners. The licences will help in checking animal use and its safety. The PCMC had planned to launch this system a few years ago, but it failed to take shape.

Chanchala’s death has forced the civic administration to contemplate on the system again.

Last month, a camel had fallen into a 20-ft ditch in Chinchwad and injured its leg. PCMC veterinary chief Dr Satish Gore said, “There is a need to have enough data covering the history of animals and its owners. Often the owners of camels, horses and elephants use these animals for joyrides, marriage processions and alms and leave them unattended when they suffer injuries. This needs to stop and we are planning to implement compulsory licences for animal owners.”

The licences will also provide verification details whether the animal is fit for use or not, besides its health condition. It will issue registration number, identification mark and animal’s history. The scheme is awaiting civic committee’s approval.

Meanwhile, animal activists have demanded a total ban on use of animals at public places.“Sometimes animals can get violent and cause serious injury to people,” animal activist Amruta Ubale said.“It’s better to ban animal use and a punitive law should be implemented,” she said.

Kashmir's spiral-horned Markhor goat in peril

New Delhi/Srinagar: It is an animal that is as much an icon of Kashmir as the beautiful Dal Lake and its shikaras. The magnificent spiral-horned Markhor, the largest member of the goat family, has for centuries inhabited the high mountains of Kashmir. But human greed and interference have placed this graceful animal on the 'critically endangered' list with barely 350 members remaining.

Which is why the notification of the Tatakuti Wildlife Sanctuary near Shopian in South Kashmir by the Jammu and Kashmir government April 27 has come as a big boost to conservationists fighting for the very survival of the Markhor.

Tatakuti is the latest addition to the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks already declared to conserve the Pir Panjal or Kashmir Markhor (Capra Falconeri Cashmiriensis). Others parks are Hirpora (Shopian), Limber and Lachipora (Baramulla). There is also the Kajinag National Park (Baramulla).

The Pir Panjal Markhor is one of five distinct species found in Asia. It is found only in India's Jammu and Kashmir. "They were once distributed from Banihal, through the Pir Panjal range, crossing the Jhelum river over to the Kajinag and Shamsabari ranges, into Gurez and then into Pakistan-administered Kashmir. But the present Markhor population is very small and unconnected," Yash Veer Bhatnagar, Senior Scientist for the Mysore-based Nature Conservation Foundation, said. 

Most experts maintain that barely 350 of this species remain. "As an informed guess, I will put the population at 300-400, with close to 250 being in Kajinag itself," says Bhatnagar.

Though the Markhor is included in the Indian (Schedule 1) and Kashmir Wildlife Protection Acts, the threat against its survival remain very much in place. Insurgency, cross-border firing, competition with livestock for grazing ground, poaching for its antlers as trophy and for its meat, fragmentation of habitat due to LoC fencing, lack of awareness and developmental projects, all threaten the Markhor.

Given the multi-fold threats facing the Markhor, is it enough to just declare another sanctuary?

"No. Declaring a protected area is just the starting point and not the end of the crusade of conservation. A sanctuary or a national park does give you the necessary legal teeth to fight the odds, but implementation of the laws and execution of strategies on ground is what matters most," Intesar Suhail, Wildlife Warden, Shopian Wildlife Division, said.

Perhaps the greatest threat facing the species is competition from herders. In late May-early June, migratory (Bakkarwals) and local herders arrive with their livestock in the protected areas meant for the Markhor. They occupy the grazing grounds and force the Makhor to graze in other, mostly sub-optimal areas.

Speaking for the herders, Mian Altaf Ahmad, state Forest Minister, told IANS: "These people have been doing this for decades. It is the only economic activity they pursue. They have their rights. You cannot deny them those."

How can a balance be then found? "The best way to address the issue is to have a rehabilitation plan for the herders which should include providing alternative grazing areas and if possible, alternative means of livelihood," says Suhail.

"Critical areas like fawning grounds should be spared at least for some time during the fawning season. Similarly, critical habitats like those used in early spring should not be disturbed during that season," Riyaz Ahmed Peerzada, Manager, Mountain Ungulates Project, Jammu and Kashmir, said.

Another threat is that the Markhor's habitat borders the volatile Line of Control. Can wildlife conservation override national security? "LoC fencing is thought to have affected the Markhor movement in Limber and Lachhipora. National security is indeed paramount but the interests of wildlife and biodiversity need to be safeguarded simultaneously," feels Suhail.

Then there is the Mughal Road project, which is being built to connect Srinagar and Rajouri. It would slice through Hirpora, endangering the 50 individuals that reside there. "The permission to construct the Mughal Road was granted by the Supreme Court only after putting some conditions like extension of the sanctuary area and fencing of vulnerable areas which have been accomplished. Further measures like traffic regulation, closure of road during nights and compensatory afforestation of eroded road-sides shall be taken up once construction work concludes," promises Suhail.

What else can be done to manage Markhor population? "Strengthen infrastructure and increase manpower, control grazing, release sites like fawning grounds and spring habitats from grazing, spread awareness, involve locals and punish poachers," advocates Peerzada. 

http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/kashmir-s-spiral-horned-markhor-goat-in-peril_774424.html