New Delhi [India], September 18 (ANI): Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday called the Central government a "pathological liar" while sharing a letter from 2009 about Project Cheetah to hit back at the Centre over the allegation that "no constructive efforts" were made by the previous governments to the re-introduction of cheetahs in India.

New Delhi: Yadvendra Jhala,  dean of the Wildlife Institute of India will be reintroducing cheetahs in India. Cheetahs shared India’s jungle land with leopards, Lions, and tigers but they disappeared 70 years ago as human development and hunting ramped up. He said, “This is the only large animal that we... The post appeared first on .

New Delhi: Yadvendra Jhala,  dean of the Wildlife Institute of India will be reintroducing cheetahs in India. Cheetahs shared India’s jungle land with leopards, Lions, and tigers but they disappeared 70 years ago as human development and hunting ramped up. He said, “This is the only large animal that we... The post appeared first on .

New Delhi: Yadvendra Jhala,  dean of the Wildlife Institute of India will be reintroducing cheetahs in India. Cheetahs shared India’s jungle land with leopards, Lions, and tigers but they disappeared 70 years ago as human development and hunting ramped up. He said, “This is the only large animal that we... The post appeared first on .

Ranchi Mar 22 PTIThe dense forests of Palamu will once again reverberate to the roar of the king of the jungle as Jharkhand forest department is gearing up to reintroduce big cats once again into the tiger reserve The Palamu Tiger Reserve which was teeming with tigers in the 1970s reported nil tigers in 2018 Though a tigress was found dead in February 2020 Jharkhand forest department plans to replicate the success story crafted in Panna and Sariska Reserves which too reintroduced tigers in recent years For this two deputy director level officers from PTR recently visited Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh and Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan to study their successful tiger resettlement and conservation plans forest officials said PTR field director Kumar Ashutosh told PTI Two deputy directors from PTR had been sent to Panna and Sariska in February to study their success stories of tiger reintroduction and improving prey base The officers have submitted their preliminary study report which mentions how these reserves improved their prey base including increasing the number of deer and sambars and reintroduced tigers We are going through it to chalk out our action plan he said The forest department through the state government has also submitted a vision document to the National Tiger Conservation Authority NTCA in February this year where it has proposed translocation of tigers from other reserves of the country The director said If NTCA approves our proposal after its assessment it will recommend to the Center seeking approval for tiger translocation for PTR he said Spread over 1129 sqkm PTR which was constituted in 1974 under Project Tiger had 22 tigers in 1972 a former principal chief conservator of forest wildlife Jharkhand Pradeep Kumar wrote in his book Main Baagh Hoon which was published in 2016 The reserve recorded its highest tiger population in 1995 with 71 tigers Thereafter population started declining There were 44 in 1997 34 in 2002 10 in 2010 and 3 in 2014 according to the book Pointing to the reasons for declining tiger population in the reserve former state wildlife board member DS Srivastava told PTI that dwindling prey base frequent gunfight between police and Maoists development works rail and road routes and rising population of domestic cattle are the major reasons that forced tigers to leave the reserve Though Srivastava welcomed the idea of tiger reintroduction he raised doubts over its success Until the issues that cause tigers to move out are sorted out tigers will not stay here The species loves tranquility and it doesnt want disturbance in its habitat he said Tiger census process in the PTR for the upcoming All India Tiger Estimation is still going on PTR authority has installed around 500-high sensitive cameras to track big cats since October last year We have covered around 70 per cent of the areas of the reserve with these trap cameras However not a single tiger has been captured on camera till date said the PTR director He said as many as six samples of scats had been sent to Wildlife Institute of India WII last year Of the six two scats were found to be of big cats - one tiger and one leopard The remaining four samples had been spoiled he said The big cats re-introduction move holds significance in the backdrop of the Jharkhand High Court last year commenting on the absence of tigers in PTR If there is no tiger then this agency should be closed after all what is the point of wasting public money Of the 112993 sq km area of PTR 41408 sq km is marked as core area critical tiger habitat and the remaining 71585 sq km as the buffer zone Of the total area 22632 sq km is designated as Betla National Park In the buffer zone 53 sq km is open for tourists PTR mainly consists of sal and deciduous forests and bamboo groves The reserve zone is a watershed area for Koel Burha and Auranga rivers It was one of the first nine tiger reserves of the country during the inception of Project Tiger The first tiger census based on pugmark count was carried out in PTR in 1932 under the supervision of then Palamu Divisional Forest Officer JW Nicholson Apart from leopards it also boasts of elephants gray wolf gaur sloth bear four-horned antelope Indian ratel otter and pangolin among its inhabitants A total of 47 species of mammals and 174 species of birds 970 species of plants 17 species of grass and 56 species of medicinal plants have been identified in PTR officials said PTI SAN NAM JRC JRC