Karnataka government notifies Chinkara sanctuary at Tumakuru
The government of Karnataka on May 16, 2019, notified Bukkapatna in the Sira Taluk of Tumakuru district as a wildlife sanctuary for Chinkara or Indian Gazelle, according to a media report. Bukkapatna is the southernmost range of the Chinkara in India. With a total area of 148 square kilometres, it is also larger than the only other protected area for Chinkara in Karnataka, Yedehalli in Bagalkot district in the northern part of the state. The media report noted that the credit for the setting up of the sanctuary went to wildlife conservationist Sanjay Gubbi, who works with conservation non-profit, Nature Conservation Foundation. He first found an abundance of Chinkara in the area while camera trapping leopards and proposed setting up a sanctuary for the species. The proposal was approved by Karnataka’s state wildlife board in January 2019 and the notification issued on May 16.
Rajasthan to co-host leading global conservation event in March 2020
Rajasthan will be co-hosting a leading global conservation event in March next year which would see a host of dignitaries from around the world descend on the state, according to a media report. WILD11 of the Wildlife Wilderness Congress (WWC) will be held from March 19-26, 2020. Over 2,000 experts from 60 countries including royalty from the United Kingdom, Spain and Monaco, heads of state, Nobel laureates, non-profits from India and abroad as well as government officials and students will be attending the event, said the report. Some of the main themes that would feature in the conference include tourism and conservation, wilderness and big cats, protecting rivers, grasslands and others.
Two Great Indian Bustards tagged with GPRS system in Desert National Park
A team of experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, along with officials of the Rajasthan Forest Department have fitted two Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) with GSM GPRS system at the Desert National Park in Rajsthan’s Jaisalmer district, according to a media report. The team is currently in the process of attaching GPRS to two other GIBs in the Ramdeora area. The report noted that the GPRS tags were less than one per cent of the birds’ body weight and would be charged automatically using solar heat. They would help in getting information of how the birds moved across landscapes as well as where they went to make nests and raise their chicks.
Tiger sighted in South Goa national park
An official statement in Goa has said that a tiger was camera trapped in the state’s only national park, the Bhagwan Mahaveer National Park, according to a media report. The Bhagwan Mahaveer National Park is located in the Western Ghats in Sanguem Taluka of South Goa district on the state’s border with Karnataka. The tiger was camera-trapped on May 14 in the national park, which is spread across an area of 240 square kilometres. This is the second sighting of tigers in the state, with the species already having being recorded in the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in North Goa.