The issue of translocation of tigers and leopards from core and buffer
areas of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) here is under active
consideration in view of an increase in the population of the wild cats.
"There is a considerable rise in the population of big cats in the area
and it (TATR landscape) might not be enough to accommodate their rising
numbers," Principal Secretary (Forests), Pravin Pardeshi said.
Pardeshi was here to address a Workshop on 'Mitigation of Man-Animal
Conflict In Tadoba Landscape' at Moharli, 28 kms from here on Sunday.
"Translocation is a complex issue that needs to be addressed from
various angles. It involves political and scientific angle which is
being worked out. As of now, all that I can say is that the number of
carnivores in the area is very high and it would be difficult to imagine
the situation after a decade. A stage might reach, either the humans
might have to be shifted or the big cats," he remarked.
As the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has given its green
signal, Chief Wildlife Warden, SWH Naqvi has been directed to prepare a
proposal for translocation of big cats, so as to forward the same for
approval from the union government, he said.
The workshop was addressed by senior forest officials including P
Kalyan Kumar, Deputy Director (Buffer) and Sunil Limaye, Chief
Conservator of Forests, Sanjay Gandhi National Park , Vidya Atre, expert
on Leopard Ecology and Dr Habib Bilal from Wildlife Institute of India,
Dehradun among others.
The officials discussed issues pertaining to man-animal conflict and urged the villagers to take precautions.
Gram Panchayat Sarpanchs and Eco Development Committee representatives
from the area also expressed their views during the interaction session.
A proposal for preparing a technical manual to deal with sensitive or
conflict situation for the benefit of locals was also approved during
the workshop.
Pardeshi assured to take up the matter of veterinary doctors for the
department so that a couple of full time vets would be posted for Forest
Department in Chandrapur besides construction of a Wildlife Rescue
Center at Nagpur.
source
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Famous Big Cats from India Face Threats of Extinction
Mon, 05/20/2013 - 13:35 by Emilia Marowanyanga
Scientists, for the first time, compared the data of modern tigers with tigers shot during the time of the British Raj so as to have a better perspective of genetic diversity.
The researches were granted an unprecedented access to Natural History Museum of London's tiger collection. They found a very high number of DNA variants in the tigers shot during the British rule. The scientists revealed that 93% of the DNA was shockingly missing in Indian tigers today.
During the last three generations, the territory, occupied with tigers, has sought a decline for more than 50%. The latest research said that only seven percent mating occurs of its historical territory.
Scientists from Cardiff University said that both conservationists and the Indian government must appreciate that the species' survival cannot be ensured by the number of tigers alone. The whole spread of forest reserves have to be protected, as many reserves have their own unique gene combinations, which might be useful for future breeding programmes.
sources
60 Minutes: Discovering the Secrets of Lions
Watch the Segment »
Dereck and Beverly Joubert have been filming Africa's lions for 30 years and their discoveries have challenged conventional wisdom. Lara Logan reports.60 Minutes Overtime
They've made more than 20 films for National Geographic, where they are "Explorers in Residence."
They live in Botswana in the heart of southern Africa, a country about the size of Texas.
As we first reported in November, the Jouberts often go long stretches without seeing another human being, but they made an exception for us, and allowed us to join them in a wild place they call home.
For information on the Big Cats Initiative, click here
Their films are known for these spectacular cinematic moments. But what distinguishes their work is their belief that all the animals have untold stories which they bring to life in their films.
21 Photos
Behind-the-scenes on a 60 Minutes safari
View the Full Gallery »
To read the transcripts and to see the full gallery, click this link
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Leopards: 21st Century Cats, BBC One, review
Jake Wallis Simons reviews Leopards: 21st Century Cats on BBC One, and discovers what causes the animals to 'go rogue'.
A leopard at the Junnar Wildlife SOS rescue centre in India Photo: Icon Films/Laura Coates
Did you know that there are around 14,000 big cats living in India today,
often within metres of humans? Did you know that Mumbai
is infested with them? And did you know that in some districts they
are afraid of humans, while in others they have mysteriously become
man-eaters?
If the answer to the above is no, you must have missed Leopards: 21st
Century Cats (Friday, BBC Two). I didn’t. I was gripped.
The presenter, the wonderfully named Romulus Whitaker, one of India’s leading
conservationists, kicked things off by relating the tale of how his dog was
dragged off and killed by a leopard at his home in southern India. From
there he went on the hunt, travelling across India to try to work out why
some leopards turn bad.
At one point, he tested the tameness of a leopard by advancing, unarmed and in
full view, until he was within metres of the animal. Stick that in your pipe
and smoke it, Attenborough.
The final 20 minutes of the documentary had rather too much Blair Witch
nightscope footage for my liking. And at times it was rather hammy, what
with the overblown accounts of leopard encounters and repeated shots of the
clouds passing in front of the moon. Romulus’s conclusion, however – that
leopards go rogue when they are “messed with” by man, and that with a bit
more tolerance, inter-species coexistence is possible – was compelling.
source
source
Young mountain lion rescued from Santa Cruz aqueduct
Thursday, May 16, 2013
KTVU
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. —
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
False alarm raised on lion-killing virus in Gir
The report claimed that scientists in India had 'recently' found Pestes des Petits Ruminants Virus (PPRV) to be behind the death of a lion in Gir. PPRV is the same virus that in 1994 killed 1,000 lions — one-third of the Serengeti population.
TOI has found that the study, which was completed in 2012, was based on a sample taken from a lion carcass in 2006.
While the existence of the virus is itself doubtful, quite obviously, it has not hit the lion population in the last seven years. In fact, the lion population in Gir has increased from 360 to 411 during the period.
The Gujarat government suspects that the pro-transfer lobby was trying to get international endorsement, at a time when the issue is critically poised in the Supreme Court. The alarm has been raised by Dr Richard Kock of Britain's Royal Veterinary College who has been quoted as saying, "The lions in India are a small vulnerable population and widespread infection with such a virus can kill at least 40% of the Gir lions."
Dr Kock plans to visit India in September to conduct tests with the help of Wildlife Institute of India (WII). It is doubtful though that he will be allowed to enter Gujarat, given the manner in which Dr Ravi Chellam, a pioneer of the translocation plan, was hounded out of Gir by protesters recently. Officials of the forest department ruled out any cooperation with Dr Kock's team and called the virus alert as a "conspiracy backed by a cock and bull story".
Dr R K Singh, director of National Research Centre on Equines who was part of the research, told TOI that the analyses of the samples had only found "marginal presence of PPRV". Since no epidemic had broken out in seven years, he too felt that that the strain may no longer exist in the Gir lions.
Dr Y V Jhala of WII-Dehradun said, "We had received an email from Dr Kock expressing his desire for further study of PPRV prevalence in Gir lions but no decision has been taken yet."
source
Former ‘Tarzan’ actor likely losing pet tigers, leopard after accepting plea deal for mishandling big cats
Friday, May 17, 2013
Missy the cougar cuddles up to her owner Steve Sipek before drinking the water that he brought to her in 2007.
PHOTO BY TOM ERVIN
Steve Sipek, former actor in Tarzan films, with a tiger at his home in Loxahatchee in 1985.
By Jane Musgrave
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH —
Thursday, May 16, 2013
US lawmakers seek to ban captive big cats
A male lion rests at a zoo park the eastern French city of Amneville on March 25, 2013 (AFP/File, Jean-Christophe Verhaegen)
WASHINGTON — US lawmakers on Thursday proposed a ban on the private possession and breeding of big cats, saying that roadside zoos found around the country were inhumane and put humans at risk.
Wild animal ownership made headlines in 2011 when a suicidal man near Zanesville, Ohio, flung open the doors of his farm before shooting himself. Dozens of lions, tigers and other animals ran amok until police shot them dead.
Representatives Buck McKeon and Loretta Sanchez, a Republican and Democrat respectively from California, introduced a bill to prohibit private possession and breeding of big cats, replacing widely inconsistent state laws.
"No matter how many times people try, big cats such as lions, tigers and cheetahs are impossible to domesticate for personal possession," McKeon said in a statement.
The law would exempt certified zoos, wildlife sanctuaries and -- in a change from a proposal that failed during the last session of Congress -- some circuses, which have sought safeguards for the industry.
Under the revised proposal, traveling circuses will be allowed to own and breed big cats if they do not allow visitors to handle the animals, and under other conditions.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which encouraged the bill, said that 10,000 to 20,000 big cats are living in the United States as pets or for profit. The advocacy group said that more than 200 humans have been mauled, with at least 22 dead, in incidents since 1997.
Tracy Coppola, the campaigns officer for the fund, said that the market was fueled by demand for cubs who are seen as cute for photo opportunities. Once they grow up, the cats are sent off as surplus.
"When I first learned about this type of industry, I thought that was very weird and discreet. But the more you look into it, the more you realize that this is a really lucrative industry," she said.
source
WASHINGTON — US lawmakers on Thursday proposed a ban on the private possession and breeding of big cats, saying that roadside zoos found around the country were inhumane and put humans at risk.
Wild animal ownership made headlines in 2011 when a suicidal man near Zanesville, Ohio, flung open the doors of his farm before shooting himself. Dozens of lions, tigers and other animals ran amok until police shot them dead.
Representatives Buck McKeon and Loretta Sanchez, a Republican and Democrat respectively from California, introduced a bill to prohibit private possession and breeding of big cats, replacing widely inconsistent state laws.
"No matter how many times people try, big cats such as lions, tigers and cheetahs are impossible to domesticate for personal possession," McKeon said in a statement.
The law would exempt certified zoos, wildlife sanctuaries and -- in a change from a proposal that failed during the last session of Congress -- some circuses, which have sought safeguards for the industry.
Under the revised proposal, traveling circuses will be allowed to own and breed big cats if they do not allow visitors to handle the animals, and under other conditions.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which encouraged the bill, said that 10,000 to 20,000 big cats are living in the United States as pets or for profit. The advocacy group said that more than 200 humans have been mauled, with at least 22 dead, in incidents since 1997.
Tracy Coppola, the campaigns officer for the fund, said that the market was fueled by demand for cubs who are seen as cute for photo opportunities. Once they grow up, the cats are sent off as surplus.
"When I first learned about this type of industry, I thought that was very weird and discreet. But the more you look into it, the more you realize that this is a really lucrative industry," she said.
source
'Big cat' spotted on the prowl in Carlisle
By Emily Parsons
Thursday, 16 May 2013
A lynx-like feline has been spotted skulking near a Carlisle footpath, it is claimed.
Summer and Paige McNeill
She said: “We were coming from Botcherby and walking towards the section known as the Arches near Harraby.
“As we walked around the corner this cat was sitting on the railway line looking at us.”
From a distance she did not notice anything unusual.
Mrs McNeill says she pointed out the creature to her four-year-old daughter, Summer.
It was only as the three got closer that her eldest daughter Paige, 11, commented on just how large it was.
Mrs McNeill continued: “I was a bit worried when we got closer and I realised just how big it really was.
“It was brown and about four times the size of a house cat.”
Paige was so fascinated by what she had seen that the first thing she did after school yesterday afternoon was to ask her mum to help look it up on the internet.
Mother and daughter looked at numerous images, and concluded it most closely resembled a lynx.
“I didn’t really know what to do about it,” Mrs McNeill admitted.
“I told my husband and he said I should really get it in the paper, to make other people aware.”
It is not the first big cat to be spotted in and around the city.
Last year Raymond Sant was driving from his home in Thursby towards Asda, Carlisle, when he got a glimpse of a strange creature in a wooded area beside the supermarket.
He told the News & Star at the time: “It looked to me very much like a panther. It was the size of a labrador, but wasn’t a labrador, and had a much longer tail.”
Large felines have also been reported in the Rockcliffe area, in Eastern Way, Carlisle, and around Shap and in the Eden Valley.
A spokesman for Cumbria police said the force had not received any reports of so-called big cats in the city.
source
Indian tigers face extinction due to lost genetic diversity
Kalyan Ray, May 16, 2013, DHNS:
Notwithstanding a rise in their absolute numbers in the last seven years, physical isolation of big cats in Terai population in the jungles of the east and semi-arid zones of the west such as Ranthambhore and Sariska, have made them vulnerable because the animals lost their genetic diversity. They are now two genetically isolated groups, which do not have enough resilience and can easily come under threats from nature. Though wildlife scientists are aware of such threats, the new study provided a scientific pedestal to plan out conservation strategies. Increasing linkage, they say, between forest landscapes is the only to secure the future of the striped cats.
In the past there were two broad naturally occurring groups of tigers that had genetically distinct characteristics. One group was categorised as peninsular India group while the other was called Terai-Semi Arid region group as there were genetic connections between the animals from these two areas. Now, there is a separation.
“The disconnect is a conservation red-flag. It means increasing the number of tigers in Ranthambore will not help. Such disconnect signatures were shown by other large animals in the past before extinction,” Uma Ramakrishnan, a biologist at National Centre for Biological Sciences who studied the genetic variability of Indian tigers told Deccan Herald.
The warning has come at a time when India’s tiger count is on an upswing. The 2010 tiger count is 1,706 – an increase of 295 tigers from the 2006 tiger estimate of 1,411. According to an assessment made by scientists at Wildlife Institute of India, Ranthambore, Corbett, Dudhwa, Bandipur and Madhumalai are filled up to the brim but there is scope for tiger population to increase in Srisailam, Simlipal, Palamou and Satkosia.
Even though the subcontinent hosts 50-60 per cent of global tiger population, the zone lost vast stretches of forest areas for development works, resulting in not only elimination of tigers from Afghanistan but also segregation of gene pools.
“Loss of habitat leads to reduced gene flow and population isolation. Globally 93 per cent of tiger ranges are lost. Because of habitat destruction by humans and hunting, tigers now persist in small and isolated populations (20–120 individuals) in India,” Ramakrishnan said.
The findings have been published in the May 16 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The NCBS researchers along with their collaborators at the University of Cardiff studied genetic material from tiger species kept in the Natural History Museum in London and National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The historical samples were subsequently compared with modern tigers. They found modern tigers are genetically more disconnected than historical population.
source
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Big cats have been big news for years in the UK
A Courier article from 1988 tells the story of a close encounter with a big cat in Fife.DC Thomson
I wrote before about newsroom excitement about beasts on the loose but omitted the most frequently mentioned creatures.
These are the big cats, sightings of which come in from every corner of our territory and require a separate article.Big cat stories are common across all British newsrooms from the south of England to the north of Scotland. Over the decades, I have edited scores of big cat stories and seen almost as many photographs.
Most of these pictures were taken in the split second available to the photographer so the quality can vary. Some, however, are convincing. The wider availability of cameras and camera phones in the past few years means there is a deeper pool of photographic evidence.
I was of the view that big cat sightings peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But I set out to test that view with a dig through the archives.
The cuttings did back up my memory of a peak period but there were also credible sightings from much earlier including an authenticated capture of a big cat in Scotland.
One article, from 1988, dealt with a series of big cat sightings in north-east Fife. The belief back then, and one backed by an animal expert, was that the beast was a lynx.
One motorist even knocked it down and managed to get a close look at it. To my memory, this is the closest any member of the public has got to a big cat in any story we have reported.
The driver collided with something late one night near Cupar and left his vehicle to investigate. He realised he had knocked down a large beast with pointed ears and reckoned, at the very least, it was a wildcat. The animal survived the accident, struggled to its feet and then made off.
In the ensuing days, there were reports of a mystery animal being spotted in woods around Wormit and Newport.
Quarry worker Kenneth Wilkie of Douglas, Dundee, saw it cross a road and described it as being as big as a labrador.
Another article, from 1995, stated that police in Dundee and Angus were investigating a big cat on the loose after a sheep was savaged near Monifieth. The carcass of the adult Jacob’s ewe was stripped of its flesh. The grim find followed weeks of reported sightings in the Monifieth area.
The year before, a large black panther-like creature was spotted in the Sidlaws near Tullybaccart. There was another sighting on Broughty Ferry Esplanade in March 1995 and one in the Gotterstone housing development in Dundee.
However, the only big cat capture I have come across in the archives took place in 1980.
Here is a quote from The Courier of Thursday, October 20, 1980: “A puma was captured alive in Scotland yesterday in a man-made trap after an eight-month Highlands hunt by a farmer. The animal was enticed to a cage by a sheep’s head dangling from a rope at the entrance to the trap which was built by Mr Ted Noble of Kerrow Farm, Cannich, near Inverness.”
Mr Noble had set the trap eight months earlier when one of his ponies was attacked by a big cat. The director of the Highland Wildlife Cat at Kincraig, Eddie Orbell, confirmed the animal was a puma. But his conclusion was that the big cat seemed too tame and too well fed to have been living wild. He believed it had been hand-reared as a cub and had been kept as a pet.
The animal went on to live at the wildlife park where it was given the name Felicity. She died in February 1985.
There have been hundreds, if not thousands of sightings in this area, but still we have to secure definitive photographic evidence of a lynx, lion, panther or puma.
I do not doubt the very many genuine people who have contacted us over decades. Something seems to be out there but I am still looking for a photograph.
Anyone have the clincher?
source
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Hold That Tiger: Big Cat's Fate Snarls Campaign
The Tiger: A Political Symbol in Pakistan
It has been a tiring campaign ahead of Saturday's
Pakistani elections, and equally tiring for the tiger, the electoral
symbol of the PML-N party.A tiger stood on a car
during a protest in Lahore, Pakistan, in March 2012. The tiger is the
electoral symbol of the PML-N party of former Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif. Pakistan's general elections will be held Saturday.Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
May 10, 2013
LAHORE, Pakistan—It has been a tiring campaign ahead of Saturday's Pakistani elections, with leading politicians crisscrossing the country to press the flesh. It has been particularly exhausting for Idris Ahmed Ali's pets.Mr. Ali, a businessman here in Pakistan's second-largest city, owns six tigers and two pumas, in addition to goats, chicken, cows and other livestock. The tiger is also the electoral symbol of the PML-N party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, widely predicted to garner the largest number of votes on Saturday.
Then, disaster struck. A day after Mr. Sharif's leading rival, former cricket star Imran Khan, plunged to the ground during a Lahore campaign rally on Tuesday, fracturing his vertebrae, it seemed as if a bad omen hit Mr. Sharif's campaign, too. Sandra, Pakistani TV stations reported in breathless bulletins on Wednesday night, had taken ill from heat exhaustion at the latest PML-N rally, and died.
It took a day, and a tweet from Mr. Sharif's daughter Maryam, to dispel the report. "Sandra is alive. We raised it like a baby," said a distraught Mr. Ali. "If someone tells you your baby has died, how would you feel?"
"It is all politics," Malik Arshad, a local PML-N activist, chimed in. "They want to hurt us."
Another tiger, named Sam, was pacing inside a small enclosure, regularly jumping into a pool of water to refresh herself. Behind her, a giant PML-N poster showed Mr. Sharif and pictures of striped big cats.
Suspicions, however, still persist. Uzma Khan, director of biodiversity at the WWF Pakistan environmentalist group, said she wasn't sure that Sandra is alive. Ms. Khan said she visited the animal on Wednesday night, and found it to be "severely ill" and "very frail."
In any case, she added, parading the tiger during political rallies violated Pakistan's commitments to protect endangered species under international law.
"Such displays are not appropriate or ethical," she said. "Big cats can be very dangerous, even if they are tamed."
Mr. Ali, who runs a cold-storage and agriculture business with his brother, said he has always been passionate about animals. "I am a pet lover—I have donkeys, goats, cows, chicken, pigeons, dogs," Mr. Ali said. "Ever since I was young I have loved them."
The tigers were imported from Canada, said the brother, Mian Muhammad Zia. "These are Bengal tigers, not Siberian," he said. "It is too hot for Siberian tigers here in Pakistan."
Mr. Ali was visibly unnerved by all the media attention focused on his cats. "It's not just us—everyone has got a lion or a tiger in Pakistan. Thousands of people have," Mr. Ali said. "If Nawaz Sharif's symbol were a goat, we would have given him a goat. But it is a tiger, and so we gave him a tiger to go and come back for an hour."
There will be no more campaigning with live tigers, however, Mr. Arshad assured.
"Now, for the rallies, we will campaign with toy tigers," he said.
In fact, there were no real tigers in sight at Mr. Sharif's final campaign rally Thursday night in Lahore. Mr. Sharif is called "sher" by his supporters—an Urdu word that refers to tiger and lion alike.
Instead of a tiger, supporters paraded through the streets a male lion, caged in the back of a flatbed truck, yelling in loudspeakers: "Wake up, wake up, sher is coming!"
The caged lion, impervious to the call, seemed fast asleep.
source
Saturday, May 11, 2013
This Mother's Day, Honor Your Mother and Support Big Cats
07
May
This Sunday, May 12th, is Mother’s Day. Let your mother know you care about her, and big cats, by sending one of Panthera’s beautiful wild cat e-cards.
Personalize your e-card for a minimum donation of just $10 and if you’d
like to make a larger gift to Panthera in your mother’s name, please visit this page.
All e-card and other donations go directly to the field to support
Panthera’s work to protect the world’s wild cats. Browse other great
gifts for Mom in Panthera's online store, including our t-shirts, polos, hats, water bottles & more.
Send a Mother’s Day e-card.
Send a Mother’s Day e-card.
To protect your privacy, e-card recipients will not be informed of the amount of your donation.
Reality 101: These big cats are family
By Joline Gutierrez Krueger / Journal on Fri, May 10, 2013
Months ago, a team of cancer specialists walked into a room to
discuss with Deborah-Ann Milette how best to deal with the bad news.
That was, until the therapist in the bunch noted that Milette was accompanied only by two very large, very exotic, very gorgeous Savannah cats. “I have a problem with this situation,” Milette recalls the therapist grousing. “She has no family here. No family support.”
That was a very large mistake.
Milette, who isn’t one to conceal her emotions, glared at the therapist and hoisted Motzie, the bigger of the two cats, onto the table between them.
“Meet Reality 101,” Milette snapped. “This is my family. My family support.”
She fired that therapist from her case.
Milette tells me that story, with slight variation, twice during her visit this week from her home near Oklahoma City. She’s brought along the family, much to the delight and momentary apprehension of those who stare or snap photos with their cellphones as the big cats slink through the parking lot, lobby and newsroom of the Journal.
These cats turn heads.
Motzie might also turn out to be the World’s Tallest Cat (Domestic) as measured by Guinness World Records. (The 2013 Guinness edition lists Trouble, also a Savannah, of Lodi, Calif., as the current world champ at 19 inches from paw to shoulder top. Alas, Trouble used up his nine lives before the book went to print.)
He’s a big one, that Motzie, about the size of a small bobcat.
Nobody knows how big until the official photographed, videotaped and notarized measuring takes place Saturday at the Enchanted Cat Club’s Feline Fiesta at Expo New Mexico.
Which is what brings Milette to Albuquerque. That, and she loves showing off Motzie.
“I consider Motzie the goodwill ambassador of the breed,” she says. “He is the people’s cat, and so it’s only right that I share him with people.”
Size, though, isn’t everything. They are beautiful creatures, cheetah-spotted and graceful and looking straight out of the African bush were it not for their harnesses and leashes.
Motzie, 7, is a second-generation Savannah, meaning he is 29 percent serval, an African wildcat, and the rest domestic house cat; the smaller Peanut, 4, is third-generation Savannah, or 16 percent serval.
Savannahs are one of the newest cat breeds, growing in popularity among those who are willing to shell out between $9,000 and $16,000 for a kitty cat.
(Milette won’t say how much she paid for her cats, though in news accounts about Motzie’s momentary escape in 2011 from a Longview, Texas, motel, the big cat was reportedly valued at $80,000).
Savannahs, though, are a misunderstood breed, banned in several states because they are considered too wild, too exotic, too dangerous for personal possession.
Yet a recent New York Times article dug up no reported incidents of injury attributed to a Savannah.
“These legislators who try to pass these bills don’t know what they are talking about,” says Milette, who has traveled to various states to lobby against Savannah bans. “They get the mistaken notion that these are vicious creatures the size of cougars. But when they meet Motzie, they realize they’re just big – but not that big – pussycats.”
Milette’s cats are friendly enough to be welcomed as guests at nursing homes and children’s hospital wards, and she expects they’ll visit a few while she is in town.
As Milette and I talk, Motzie and Peanut roam freely around us, lolling on the desk, pawing at my notebook and peering curiously out into the newsroom. They are cool cats, patient and apparently comfortable with the attention they attract. These boys come when they are called, are leash-, litter box- and car-trained and, frankly, less aggressive and skittish than an average cat might be in similar situations.
That Savannahs are unique and misunderstood might be why Milette was drawn to them.
She is like that, too.
Her life has been both adventurous and harrowing and nearly unbelievable were it not for a scrapbook she keeps with news clippings and documents as proof.
She survived a sexually abusive childhood, leaving home at age 13. She was the first woman assigned to the U.S. 10th Special Forces Group as an Army medical corpsman and cartographer, the first female U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspector in Rhode Island. She has a patent for thermally processing eggs into cans, helped create “tube foods” used on NASA shuttle missions and has worked in some of Boston’s finest restaurants. For a time, she traveled the country trapping lions, tigers, cougars and other exotic cats – the “real” big cats – that escape from private owners. “I like the spice of life,” she says. “I have no sense of fear.”
At age 59, she also has no living human family members, at least none from whom she is not estranged. She never married, never had children. She is 100 percent disabled from her tours of duty in Vietnam, and as a result Motzie also serves as her official service animal.
Motzie goes everywhere with her. Motzie and Peanut are truly her family.
Two weeks ago, Milette walked away from chemotherapy. At that meeting with the cancer team, she told them she didn’t want to know how, or when, it would end for her.
“Because once you know, you give up,” she says.
And so she will take the lessons her big cats have taught her. Cats, she says, don’t care what others think. They never show signs of sickness or pain until it is too late to do anything. They just keep on going, enjoying their time in the sunlight, living large.
source
Deborah-Ann
Milette, from Oklahoma, with her Savannah cats, 4 year-old Peanut, at
left, and 7-year-old Motzie, at right, Tuesday, May 7, 2013. (Morgan
Petroski/Journal)
That was, until the therapist in the bunch noted that Milette was accompanied only by two very large, very exotic, very gorgeous Savannah cats. “I have a problem with this situation,” Milette recalls the therapist grousing. “She has no family here. No family support.”
 |
||
|
Meet Motzie (and a bunch of other cats) Enchanted Cat Club’s Feline Fiesta 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, School Arts Building, Expo New Mexico. Cost: $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children under 12. Parking $5. Coupon available at enchantedcatclub.com |
|
|
That was a very large mistake.
Milette, who isn’t one to conceal her emotions, glared at the therapist and hoisted Motzie, the bigger of the two cats, onto the table between them.
“Meet Reality 101,” Milette snapped. “This is my family. My family support.”
She fired that therapist from her case.
Milette tells me that story, with slight variation, twice during her visit this week from her home near Oklahoma City. She’s brought along the family, much to the delight and momentary apprehension of those who stare or snap photos with their cellphones as the big cats slink through the parking lot, lobby and newsroom of the Journal.
These cats turn heads.
Motzie might also turn out to be the World’s Tallest Cat (Domestic) as measured by Guinness World Records. (The 2013 Guinness edition lists Trouble, also a Savannah, of Lodi, Calif., as the current world champ at 19 inches from paw to shoulder top. Alas, Trouble used up his nine lives before the book went to print.)
He’s a big one, that Motzie, about the size of a small bobcat.
Nobody knows how big until the official photographed, videotaped and notarized measuring takes place Saturday at the Enchanted Cat Club’s Feline Fiesta at Expo New Mexico.
Which is what brings Milette to Albuquerque. That, and she loves showing off Motzie.
“I consider Motzie the goodwill ambassador of the breed,” she says. “He is the people’s cat, and so it’s only right that I share him with people.”
Size, though, isn’t everything. They are beautiful creatures, cheetah-spotted and graceful and looking straight out of the African bush were it not for their harnesses and leashes.
Motzie, 7, is a second-generation Savannah, meaning he is 29 percent serval, an African wildcat, and the rest domestic house cat; the smaller Peanut, 4, is third-generation Savannah, or 16 percent serval.
Savannahs are one of the newest cat breeds, growing in popularity among those who are willing to shell out between $9,000 and $16,000 for a kitty cat.
(Milette won’t say how much she paid for her cats, though in news accounts about Motzie’s momentary escape in 2011 from a Longview, Texas, motel, the big cat was reportedly valued at $80,000).
Savannahs, though, are a misunderstood breed, banned in several states because they are considered too wild, too exotic, too dangerous for personal possession.
Yet a recent New York Times article dug up no reported incidents of injury attributed to a Savannah.
“These legislators who try to pass these bills don’t know what they are talking about,” says Milette, who has traveled to various states to lobby against Savannah bans. “They get the mistaken notion that these are vicious creatures the size of cougars. But when they meet Motzie, they realize they’re just big – but not that big – pussycats.”
Milette’s cats are friendly enough to be welcomed as guests at nursing homes and children’s hospital wards, and she expects they’ll visit a few while she is in town.
As Milette and I talk, Motzie and Peanut roam freely around us, lolling on the desk, pawing at my notebook and peering curiously out into the newsroom. They are cool cats, patient and apparently comfortable with the attention they attract. These boys come when they are called, are leash-, litter box- and car-trained and, frankly, less aggressive and skittish than an average cat might be in similar situations.
That Savannahs are unique and misunderstood might be why Milette was drawn to them.
She is like that, too.
Her life has been both adventurous and harrowing and nearly unbelievable were it not for a scrapbook she keeps with news clippings and documents as proof.
She survived a sexually abusive childhood, leaving home at age 13. She was the first woman assigned to the U.S. 10th Special Forces Group as an Army medical corpsman and cartographer, the first female U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspector in Rhode Island. She has a patent for thermally processing eggs into cans, helped create “tube foods” used on NASA shuttle missions and has worked in some of Boston’s finest restaurants. For a time, she traveled the country trapping lions, tigers, cougars and other exotic cats – the “real” big cats – that escape from private owners. “I like the spice of life,” she says. “I have no sense of fear.”
At age 59, she also has no living human family members, at least none from whom she is not estranged. She never married, never had children. She is 100 percent disabled from her tours of duty in Vietnam, and as a result Motzie also serves as her official service animal.
Motzie goes everywhere with her. Motzie and Peanut are truly her family.
Two weeks ago, Milette walked away from chemotherapy. At that meeting with the cancer team, she told them she didn’t want to know how, or when, it would end for her.
“Because once you know, you give up,” she says.
And so she will take the lessons her big cats have taught her. Cats, she says, don’t care what others think. They never show signs of sickness or pain until it is too late to do anything. They just keep on going, enjoying their time in the sunlight, living large.
source
Friday, May 10, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
State To Confiscate Woman’s Mountain Lion From Backyard
Cheryl Swartout must give up her big cat to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, or face penalties from local police, according to the Elm Springs Police Department.
Swartout has been keeping a mountain lion in her yard, police said. She is listed as a volunteer for the Arkansas Wildlife Rehabilitators.
Donna Emmons, a neighbor, called authorities Tuesday night to complain about the animal, and police called the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to investigate. A representative for the state commission investigated the situation Wednesday and said they would come pick up the big cat from the home Monday.
Emmons said her daughter found the animal after she heard a growl. Emmons fears for her five-year-old grandson, as well as other children in the neighborhood, she said.
“I’m just scared for the kids,” Emmons said. “I’m scared for anybody that could be outside if this thing gets loose.”
Mark and Cheryl Swartout live at the house, according to police and property records, but neither was home Wednesday. Neighbors said Cheryl Swartout is out of town. 5NEWS contacted her by phone Wednesday, but she would not comment on the situation.
Police said owning wild game such as big cats is illegal in Elm Springs, as per city ordinances. The Swartouts will likely be cited if they refuse to give the animal up Monday, according to Elm Springs police.
The mountain lion is not visible from neighbors’ yards, and one man living nearby told 5NEWS he does not have a problem with the big cat being kept at the home.
“I’m aware that the lady has a small game rehabilitation license, and since I have no small children, it’s not of a major concern to me,” said Harold Duethit. “If I had small children, it might be a concern.”
source
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
VIDEO: Two lynx face off in Minnesota, photographer calls it a 'sighting of a lifetime'
Published May 08, 2013
Bill Hansen, who with his wife, Cindy, owns Sawbill Canoe Outfitters at the end of the road north of Tofte, experienced what he called “the sighting of a lifetime” Saturday evening.
By: Sam Cook, Forum News Service, INFORUM
Bill Hansen, who with his wife, Cindy, owns Sawbill Canoe Outfitters at the end of the road north of Tofte, experienced what he called “the sighting of a lifetime” Saturday evening.
He was headed to town about 7 p.m. when, on a back road near Sawbill Lake, he saw two lynx facing off. The two growled and yowled at each other for about 20 minutes, Hansen said. He made a video with his iPhone showing part of their encounter.
Hansen isn’t sure just what the cats were up to.
“Just from watching domestic cats, I got the hunch it was two males just posturing,” Hansen said. “Once in a while they’d move toward each other, and that would set off another round of yowling. But they never took a swipe at each other.”
Chris Balzer, Department of Natural Resources area wildlife manager at Cloquet, said he isn’t sure what the cats’ behavior means.
“I would assume mating season is well behind us,” Balzer said. “They probably would have kittens already or very soon. It might have been a little territorial dispute? It did appear the smaller of the two lynx retreated and the larger one held its ground. On the other hand, there was no indication of aggressive behavior other than the vocalizations. Maybe things are going well and they just said ‘hi’ to each other.”
source
Bill Hansen, who with his wife, Cindy, owns Sawbill Canoe Outfitters at the end of the road north of Tofte, experienced what he called “the sighting of a lifetime” Saturday evening.
By: Sam Cook, Forum News Service, INFORUM
Bill Hansen, who with his wife, Cindy, owns Sawbill Canoe Outfitters at the end of the road north of Tofte, experienced what he called “the sighting of a lifetime” Saturday evening.
He was headed to town about 7 p.m. when, on a back road near Sawbill Lake, he saw two lynx facing off. The two growled and yowled at each other for about 20 minutes, Hansen said. He made a video with his iPhone showing part of their encounter.
Hansen isn’t sure just what the cats were up to.
“Just from watching domestic cats, I got the hunch it was two males just posturing,” Hansen said. “Once in a while they’d move toward each other, and that would set off another round of yowling. But they never took a swipe at each other.”
Chris Balzer, Department of Natural Resources area wildlife manager at Cloquet, said he isn’t sure what the cats’ behavior means.
“I would assume mating season is well behind us,” Balzer said. “They probably would have kittens already or very soon. It might have been a little territorial dispute? It did appear the smaller of the two lynx retreated and the larger one held its ground. On the other hand, there was no indication of aggressive behavior other than the vocalizations. Maybe things are going well and they just said ‘hi’ to each other.”
source
Man in custody after tiger, several other big cats seized from relative’s Kansas property
(HSUS, Kathy Milani/ Associated Press ) - In this May 5, 2013, photo provided by the Humane Society of the United States staff members of the HSUS and the Kansas City Zoo move a sedated mountain lion from a menagerie of wild cats in Atchison, Kan. Authorities said one tiger, two cougars, three bobcats, two lynx, one serval and two skunks, living in inadequate enclosures and wereinfrequently fed, were seized and a man is in custody.
Authorities found a tiger; two mountain lions; three bobcats; two lynx; a type of African cat called a serval; and two skunks on the property. They were taken Sunday from the land belonging to a relative of the animals’ owner and were turned over to animal sanctuaries in Texas, Florida and Kansas.
Laurie said authorities became involved in early March after receiving a complaint. Witnesses reported that the owner previously had better pens but moved the animals to the relative’s property about two years ago. The move was supposed to be temporary, but the animals never left, Laurie said.
“It was dirty,” he said. “It was gross.”
The cages were made of chain link panels wired together with hose clamps. They varied in size, with the tiger’s measuring about 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and 7 feet high, Laurie said. The enclosures had mud floors and weren’t staked down.
“My dogs would have been out of there the first day you put them in there,” Laurie said.
Laurie said authorities weren’t immediately able to seize the animals because there was no place to take them. But authorities received permission from the property owner to feed the animals, a Kansas City Zoo veterinarian evaluated them and rescue organizations began lining up new living arrangements.
The owner didn’t live on the property, and, after receiving the complaint, authorities saw him tend to the animals only four or five times, Laurie said.
During the seizure, staff with the Humane Society of the United States and the Kansas City Zoo helped sedate the animals and prepare them to be moved. The Humane Society said in a news release that the tiger was shipped to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison, Texas; the two cougars to In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Education Center in Wylie, Texas; the bobcats, lynx and serval to Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Fla.; and the skunks to Operation Wildlife in Linwood, Kan.
Laurie said the owner is cooperating with authorities and released all the animals to the rescue organizations. The Humane Society said the animals will be held at the sanctuaries pending the final disposition of the case.
source
Translocation of big cats from Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve under consideration
Tuesday, May 7, 2013|
Place: Chandrapur (Maharashtra) | Agency: PTI
Place: Chandrapur (Maharashtra) | Agency: PTI
Chief
Wildlife Warden, SWH Naqvi has been directed to prepare a proposal for
translocation of big cats, so as to forward the same for approval from
the union government.
After Mhadei find, tiger expert on big cat trail in Cotigao
PANAJI: A team of experts led by noted conservation zoologist Kota
Ullas Karanth has commenced work on a comprehensive tiger survey in the
Cotigao wildlife sanctuary and other protected areas after the recent
success of the camera trap method.
The Goa government had recently cleared the decks for an intensive survey and within a few weeks of the go-ahead the forest department had captured a tigress on camera within the limits of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
The extensive study, which will extend for four years till 2017, will rely on refined protocols such as camera trap findings to assess the presence of the big cat and the prey base in Goa's forests.
"He (Karanth) has given a list of 45 spots in different sanctuaries to lay camera traps and line transects for the survey," said Richard D'Souza, principal chief conservator of forests. While the expert will conduct the study, the forest department will also independently do its work, especially in Mhadei.
The protected areas of Cotigao, Neturlim, Molem national park, Bondla and Mhadei form a contiguous corridor with tiger areas in Karnataka.
The tiger estimation done by the forest department in the past has shown the presence of tigers. Three had been counted in 1993, five in 1997 and 2002.
Though the forest department had been in a denial syndrome for a long time earlier, things have changed recently with significant findings.
"This vindicates the stand taken by some officials and animal lovers who have claimed the big cats' existence here for more than a decade and a half," a source said.
Referring to the work being done in the protected areas over the last few days D'Souza said, "This is the actual groundwork for the survey."
Goa's protected areas have been identified as a tiger conservation unit (TCU) along with the contiguous forest areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra in a study by international organizations.
The World Wide Fund International, US Fish and Wildlife Services and Wild Life Conservation Society, New York, in a study had categorized the Western Ghats as the second best tiger habitat in India after the Sunderbans in West Bengal.
source
The Goa government had recently cleared the decks for an intensive survey and within a few weeks of the go-ahead the forest department had captured a tigress on camera within the limits of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary.
The extensive study, which will extend for four years till 2017, will rely on refined protocols such as camera trap findings to assess the presence of the big cat and the prey base in Goa's forests.
"He (Karanth) has given a list of 45 spots in different sanctuaries to lay camera traps and line transects for the survey," said Richard D'Souza, principal chief conservator of forests. While the expert will conduct the study, the forest department will also independently do its work, especially in Mhadei.
The protected areas of Cotigao, Neturlim, Molem national park, Bondla and Mhadei form a contiguous corridor with tiger areas in Karnataka.
The tiger estimation done by the forest department in the past has shown the presence of tigers. Three had been counted in 1993, five in 1997 and 2002.
Though the forest department had been in a denial syndrome for a long time earlier, things have changed recently with significant findings.
"This vindicates the stand taken by some officials and animal lovers who have claimed the big cats' existence here for more than a decade and a half," a source said.
Referring to the work being done in the protected areas over the last few days D'Souza said, "This is the actual groundwork for the survey."
Goa's protected areas have been identified as a tiger conservation unit (TCU) along with the contiguous forest areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra in a study by international organizations.
The World Wide Fund International, US Fish and Wildlife Services and Wild Life Conservation Society, New York, in a study had categorized the Western Ghats as the second best tiger habitat in India after the Sunderbans in West Bengal.
source
Dietary flexibility may have helped some large predators survive after last ice age
Published: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 -
in Paleontology & Archaeology
"We found that dietary flexibility was strongly species-specific, and that large cats were relatively inflexible predators compared to wolves and bears. This is a key observation, as large cats have suffered severe range contractions since the last glacial maximum, whereas wolves and bears have ranges that remain similar to their Pleistocene ranges," said Justin Yeakel, first author of a paper on the new findings published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Yeakel, now a postdoctoral researcher at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, worked on the study as a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz with coauthor Paul Koch, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UCSC. The other coauthors are Paulo Guimarães of the University of São Paolo, Brazil, and Hervé Bocherens of the University of Tübingen, Germany.
The researchers based their findings on an analysis of stable isotope ratios, chemical traces in fossil bones that can be used to reconstruct an animal's diet. They used previously published stable isotope datasets to reconstruct predator-prey interactions at six sites located from Alaska to western Europe. The sites covered a range of time periods before, during and after the last glacial maximum, the period around 20 to 25 thousand years ago when the ice sheets reached their greatest extent.
The study found that the diets of the large cats were similar in different locations, especially in the post-glacial period. Wolves and bears, in contrast, ate different things in different locations. Prey species on the mammoth steppes included bison, horses, yaks, musk oxen, caribou, and mammoths. The researchers noticed changes in predator diets coinciding with an increase in caribou abundance starting around 20,000 years ago.
"During and after the last glacial maximum, many predators focused their attention on caribou, which had been a marginally important prey resource before then," Yeakel said. "Large cats began concentrating almost solely on caribou in both Alaska and Europe. Wolves and bears also began consuming more caribou in Alaska, but not in Europe."
The cave lions and saber-toothed cats of the mammoth steppes were morphologically similar to modern lions, but they went extinct within the past 10,000 years. There were bears similar to modern bears, as well as the short-faced bear, which was larger than a polar bear and has since gone extinct. Interestingly, the short-faced bear is the only species that did not focus on caribou in the post-glacial period.
After the last ice age, a growing human population coincided with the demise of the mammoths and other large fauna of the mammoth steppes. Many species are still around, however, including wolves and bears. According to Yeakel, studies of past ecosystems can inform scientists' understanding of modern carnivores and their capabilities.
"If you look at wolves today, they are specialist carnivores preying on large herbivores like deer and elk, but when we look in the fossil record we see that wolves are remarkably flexible. Their environment today is fairly artificial compared to when they evolved," he said.
The study found that large-scale patterns of interactions differed between locations, but remained stable over time. In Alaska, there was relatively little overlap in the preferred prey of different predator species, whereas predator-prey interactions were less "compartmentalized" in Europe.
"The large-scale patterns don't seem to change, which suggests this community was resilient to the climate changes associated with the last glacial maximum. That makes sense, because it survived multiple ice ages further back in time," Yeakel said.
source
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Climate Change, Not Human Activity, Led to Megafauna Extinction
Artist's reconstruction of a marsupial lion -- Thylacoleo carnifex. (Credit: Peter Schouten)
May 6, 2013 — Most species
of gigantic animals that once roamed Australia had disappeared by the
time people arrived, a major review of the available evidence has
concluded.
The research challenges the claim that humans were primarily
responsible for the demise of the megafauna in a proposed "extinction
window" between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago, and points the finger
instead at climate change.
An international team led by the University of New South Wales, and including researchers at the University of Queensland, the University of New England, and the University of Washington, carried out the study. It is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The interpretation that humans drove the extinction rests on assumptions that increasingly have been shown to be incorrect. Humans may have played some role in the loss of those species that were still surviving when people arrived about 45,000 to 50,000 years ago -- but this also needs to be demonstrated," said Associate Professor Stephen Wroe, from UNSW, the lead author of the study.
"There has never been any direct evidence of humans preying on extinct megafauna in Sahul, or even of a tool-kit that was appropriate for big-game hunting," he said.
About 90 giant animal species once inhabited the continent of Sahul, which included mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania.
"These leviathans included the largest marsupial that ever lived -- the rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon - and short-faced kangaroos so big we can't even be sure they could hop. Preying on them were goannas the size of large saltwater crocodiles with toxic saliva and bizarre but deadly marsupial lions with flick-blades on their thumbs and bolt cutters for teeth," said Associate Professor Wroe.
The review concludes there is only firm evidence for about 8 to 14 megafauna species still existing when Aboriginal people arrived. About 50 species, for example, are absent from the fossil record of the past 130,000 years.
Recent studies of Antarctic ice cores, ancient lake levels in central Australia, and other environmental indicators also suggest Sahul -- which was at times characterised by a vast desert -- experienced an increasingly arid and erratic climate during the past 450,000 years.
Arguments that humans were to blame have also focused on the traditional Aboriginal practice of burning the landscape. But recent research suggests that the fire history of the continent was more closely linked to climate than human activity, and increases in burning occurred long before people arrived.
"It is now increasingly clear that the disappearance of the megafauna of Sahul took place over tens, if not hundreds, of millennia under the influence of inexorable, albeit erratic, climatic deterioration," said Associate Professor Wroe.
An international team led by the University of New South Wales, and including researchers at the University of Queensland, the University of New England, and the University of Washington, carried out the study. It is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The interpretation that humans drove the extinction rests on assumptions that increasingly have been shown to be incorrect. Humans may have played some role in the loss of those species that were still surviving when people arrived about 45,000 to 50,000 years ago -- but this also needs to be demonstrated," said Associate Professor Stephen Wroe, from UNSW, the lead author of the study.
"There has never been any direct evidence of humans preying on extinct megafauna in Sahul, or even of a tool-kit that was appropriate for big-game hunting," he said.
About 90 giant animal species once inhabited the continent of Sahul, which included mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania.
"These leviathans included the largest marsupial that ever lived -- the rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon - and short-faced kangaroos so big we can't even be sure they could hop. Preying on them were goannas the size of large saltwater crocodiles with toxic saliva and bizarre but deadly marsupial lions with flick-blades on their thumbs and bolt cutters for teeth," said Associate Professor Wroe.
The review concludes there is only firm evidence for about 8 to 14 megafauna species still existing when Aboriginal people arrived. About 50 species, for example, are absent from the fossil record of the past 130,000 years.
Recent studies of Antarctic ice cores, ancient lake levels in central Australia, and other environmental indicators also suggest Sahul -- which was at times characterised by a vast desert -- experienced an increasingly arid and erratic climate during the past 450,000 years.
Arguments that humans were to blame have also focused on the traditional Aboriginal practice of burning the landscape. But recent research suggests that the fire history of the continent was more closely linked to climate than human activity, and increases in burning occurred long before people arrived.
"It is now increasingly clear that the disappearance of the megafauna of Sahul took place over tens, if not hundreds, of millennia under the influence of inexorable, albeit erratic, climatic deterioration," said Associate Professor Wroe.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of New South Wales.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Stephen Wroe, Judith H. Field, Michael Archer, Donald K. Grayson, Gilbert J. Price, Julien Louys, J. Tyler Faith, Gregory E. Webb, Iain Davidson, and Scott D. Mooney. Climate change frames debate over the extinction of megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea). PNAS, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1302698110
University of New South Wales (2013, May 6). Climate change, not human activity, led to megafauna extinction. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 7, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2013/05/130506181711.htm
Monday, May 6, 2013
Big Cats Seized In Kansas Now At Florida Animal Sanctuary
Posted: Mon - May 06, 2013
Reporter: Associated Press
Associated Press Release
ATCHINSON, Kan. (AP) -- A northeast Kansas man is in
custody after a menagerie of wild cats was seized from private property
in northeast Kansas.Atchison County Sheriff Jack Laurie says one tiger, two cougars, three bobcats, two lynx, one serval and two skunks were taken Sunday from land belonging to a relative of the suspect. Laurie says the animals were living in inadequate enclosures and were infrequently fed.
Staff with the Humane Society of the United States and the Kansas City Zoo helped sedate and move the animals. They've been taken to animal sanctuaries in Texas, Florida and Kansas.
Laurie says the owner became combative during the seizure and was found to be in possession of methamphetamine. He was arrested on suspicion of multiple charges, including interference with law enforcement and disorderly conduct.
source
State mulling translocation of surplus big cats from Tadoba
Chandrapur:
With population of tigers and leopards soaring high in Tadoba landscape
often leading to conflict situation, forest department has decided to
take up the challenging task of translocation of surplus big cats in the
forests devoid of them. Having received a nod from NTCA, principal
secretary (forest) Praveen Pardeshi has directed chief wildlife warden
SWH Naqvi to prepare a proposal for the translocation project.
"Good conservation measures have helped in the rise of population of carnivores in Tadoba landscape. Government of India is keen to give permission for translocation of tigers in the forests devoid of them. States like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have shown interest in taking these predators," said Pardeshi in a workshop on man-animal conflict in Tadoba landscape held in Moharli on Sunday.
Translocation is transport and release of wild animals from one location in forest area to another with emphasis on conflict control. With human-leopard conflict raging high in Moharli range in buffer zone and adjoining forests, translocation of surplus population of leopards would come as long term solution to the problem.
Pardeshi claimed that there are surplus tigers in the Tadoba landscape. The population of leopards too has soared. These surplus predators can be translocated to other forest areas. "But, the project will be implemented through strategic planning and scientific approach after seeking proper permission. Chief wildlife warden will prepare a proposal for the project, which will be forwarded to the government for approval," Pardeshi said.
Forest officers and senior wildlife experts discussed the reasons for rising human-leopard conflict and measures to mitigate the problem in the workshop. Deputy director, TATR (buffer), P Kalyankumar highlighted the problem faced during handling the angry crowd during conflict situation. Expert in leopard ecology Dr Vidya Atre and scientist from Wildlife Institute of India ( WII), Dr Habib Bilal gave important inputs in dealing with conflict situation and handling the problem leopards.
CCF, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Sunil Limaye and CCF, Nasik, G Saiprakash also gave presentation on human-leopard conflict in their respective areas. Gram panchayat sarpanches and eco development committee representatives also expressed their woes during the interaction session.
Officers agreed on preparing a technical manual with the help of available experience in dealing with conflict situation. Pardeshi assured to push the proposal at least two full time veterinary doctors for forest department in Chandrapur. He also assured to expedite the process for construction of wildlife rescue centre in Nagpur.
Forest officials also decided to make focused approach in providing employment opportunities to forest dwellers under MREGS. They also agreed to further expand the reach of LPG connection scheme, construction of cattle sheds and latrine construction in forest villages.
CCF and field director of TATR Virendra Tiwari claimed that Rs 1.07 crore was earned through tourism in the park in last fiscal. This year the target has been set at Rs 2 crore. Entire earning will go to TATR tiger foundation and 30% of it will be spent for development of buffer villages.
CCF, Chandrapur, BSK Reddy claimed that the menace of man-eater will be termed as disaster situation and district administration will be involved for disaster management. Every captured carnivore will be implanted with microchip for its identification on recapturing. Forest department will create awareness about threat of carnivores during tendu collection season, he said.
source
"Good conservation measures have helped in the rise of population of carnivores in Tadoba landscape. Government of India is keen to give permission for translocation of tigers in the forests devoid of them. States like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have shown interest in taking these predators," said Pardeshi in a workshop on man-animal conflict in Tadoba landscape held in Moharli on Sunday.
Translocation is transport and release of wild animals from one location in forest area to another with emphasis on conflict control. With human-leopard conflict raging high in Moharli range in buffer zone and adjoining forests, translocation of surplus population of leopards would come as long term solution to the problem.
Pardeshi claimed that there are surplus tigers in the Tadoba landscape. The population of leopards too has soared. These surplus predators can be translocated to other forest areas. "But, the project will be implemented through strategic planning and scientific approach after seeking proper permission. Chief wildlife warden will prepare a proposal for the project, which will be forwarded to the government for approval," Pardeshi said.
Forest officers and senior wildlife experts discussed the reasons for rising human-leopard conflict and measures to mitigate the problem in the workshop. Deputy director, TATR (buffer), P Kalyankumar highlighted the problem faced during handling the angry crowd during conflict situation. Expert in leopard ecology Dr Vidya Atre and scientist from Wildlife Institute of India ( WII), Dr Habib Bilal gave important inputs in dealing with conflict situation and handling the problem leopards.
CCF, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Sunil Limaye and CCF, Nasik, G Saiprakash also gave presentation on human-leopard conflict in their respective areas. Gram panchayat sarpanches and eco development committee representatives also expressed their woes during the interaction session.
Officers agreed on preparing a technical manual with the help of available experience in dealing with conflict situation. Pardeshi assured to push the proposal at least two full time veterinary doctors for forest department in Chandrapur. He also assured to expedite the process for construction of wildlife rescue centre in Nagpur.
Forest officials also decided to make focused approach in providing employment opportunities to forest dwellers under MREGS. They also agreed to further expand the reach of LPG connection scheme, construction of cattle sheds and latrine construction in forest villages.
CCF and field director of TATR Virendra Tiwari claimed that Rs 1.07 crore was earned through tourism in the park in last fiscal. This year the target has been set at Rs 2 crore. Entire earning will go to TATR tiger foundation and 30% of it will be spent for development of buffer villages.
CCF, Chandrapur, BSK Reddy claimed that the menace of man-eater will be termed as disaster situation and district administration will be involved for disaster management. Every captured carnivore will be implanted with microchip for its identification on recapturing. Forest department will create awareness about threat of carnivores during tendu collection season, he said.
source
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)