Tale of the wild

Gobind Sagar Bharadwaj was attacked by a tiger just after his induction into the Indian Forest Service. The wounds took two months to heal. But the episode was an eye-opener for the forest officer. "The tiger could have easily killed me but it didn't as man is not on its menu," he writes in Tracking Tigers in Ranthambhore.

Pug marks hide the truth

a conference organized by the Union environment ministry on February 12 in the national capital came out with the Tiger Census 2008 and the State of India's Forests Report 2005. Both came out with dismal figures a little more than 1,400 tigers are left in the county; and over 725 sq km of forests have vanished between 2002 and 2004. Add to that forestland diverted between 2004 and 2007--over 2,750 sq km according to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests' data.

Vietnamese zoo admits auctioning tiger

A zoo in Vietnam has admitted that it auctioned two dead Indochinese tigers (Panthera tigris corbetti) to animal traffickers, which wildlife conservationists say is in violation of international conservation laws.

Tiger trouble - balancing act gone awry

on january 1, 2008, the government after much vacillation notified the rules of Scheduled Tribes and Other Tradi- tional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. The day before, it had notified "critical tiger habitats" in 28 existing and eight proposed tiger reserves. It scored on both tiger conservation and protection of tribal rights.

It is misinformation that chareterizes the tiger debate

The notification of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (forest rights act) and rules brings a long process to close. But the real challenge is now. There are two extreme positions on the act.

Tiger balm

in the 'Tribal Vs Tiger' wrestling match, the first round has gone to the tiger. May its tribe increase. Activists lobbying for tribal and non-tribal forest dwellers rights had agreed that inviolate space in forest for wildlife would be mapped scientifically before the act was to be notified. This was a demand that had been made by the wildlife lobby, rightly led by the top predator, the tiger lobby.

Controvesy over South China tiger's photograph

Photographs supposedly showing a South China tiger in the wild have sparked a controversy. Chinese wildlife experts, officials, Internet users and media organizations have been drawn into a row over whether the tiger still exists in Shaanxi province.

Tiger cubs missing in Ranthambore

a tiger cub went missing from the Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, in early November. Officials of the Rajasthan Forest Department are still looking for the cub. Villagers in the neighbourhood have been asked to keep their domestic animals safely. The cub, called Yuvraj, had run away from the park in 2006 too, but had returned on its own.

A 'shoot-at-sight order for a tigress

Travelling through Maharashtra on assignment, I heard hair-raising stories about a killer tigress in Talodhi village, barely 150 km from Nagpur. I couldn't resist the temptation of taking time off from documenting natural resources management practices and making a detour to track the tigress.

Tigers and tribals

Tigers or tribals? Tribals versus tigers. This is how the discussion on the tribal forest rights act is being framed. The law, which was enacted by parliament a while ago, is aimed at conferring land rights on people who already live in forested regions. The government says it wants to correct a historical wrong against people on whom rights were never settled when forest areas were earmarked for conservation. Quite right. But these homes of the poorest also house the country's magnificent wild animals, like tigers. It is critical that their habitat should be protected and future safeguarded.