Sariska Relocation - A reasonable move

End of 2004 Sariska lost its last tiger, and the state government took another 6 months to accept this bare fact that there are no more tigers in one of the best tiger reserve of this Nation. The State Government needed the evidence to prove that there are no tigers in its own Sariska, which were provided to them from the nation run WII.


Perhaps these were the evidence, strong enough to ensure that there can't be any tigers until unless these issues were not solved.

(1) 11 villages inside the tiger reserve, with 1000s of families living upon the forest resources - some having background of poaching ( AS PER THE MANAGEMENT PLAN OF TR).
(2) One of non-regulated traffic ( Round the calendar, round the clock ) running on state highway passing through the sanctuary.
(3) A Temple in the epic of the Tiger reserve having heavy influx of devotees twice a year.

All 22 ( As per the last census report ) tigers were wiped out by the poachers and illicit traders making money on wildlife trade, and so on. Does Sariska deserved the Tigers any more, after losing its every tiger due to sheer negligence of the state apathy and FDs commitment to save its wildlife.

In my opinion, The State Government didn't deserved the Sariska TR. It would have been better if Sariska would had been de-notified as TR and renamed as mere Wildlife Sanctuary.It would had been better if the current relocation should not had taken place, and 3.5 year male tiger , which was radio-collared and lifted with the help of Chopper of Indian Army. It would had been better if the Government of State would have lost its largest tiger reserve, due to its own mistake of not keeping any eye on its own pride.

One male tiger was relocated in Sariska on Saturday 28th at 12.34 PM from Ranthambore, keeping media out of the event ensured that there is no cross questioning and counter productive statements within the conservationist and state FD and WII officials. The second tiger ( female ) would be relocated by the end of this week. And three more would be brought in by the end of this year.

But, are we still positive that the tigers tribe would prosper ? The villages are still inside, the highway still taking toll and also substitute of carrying the wildlife trade out of the borders of state, the temple is more controversial due to its position being in the core of the TR.

The questions remained unanswered from years passed away and would remain unanswered years to come, down the line.

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Regards
Rajesh Sachdev
Wild Mumbai Nature Conservation
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"The tiger cannot be preserved in isolation. It is at the apex of a large and complex biotope. Its habitat, threatened by human intrusion, commercial forestry, and cattle grazing, must first be made inviolate." - Mrs. Indira Gandhi

Posted by Rajesh Sachdev at 12:26 AM

1 comments:

Abhishek said...

Yes i agree with you here Rajesh, naming it a wildlife sanctuary should have been better rather then the prime focus of having a viable population of tigers surviving in Sariska. To have the dynamics healthy we need to focus on areas and ask questions to why it went on a decline in the first place.
Many factors should have been looked into rather then the prime focus of being relocation. I am not against relocation and i think it’s important to understand that it was encouraging enough to see FD tackle the process well. Media was kept away from the relocation but now it is sure that there is a male in the park along with 11 villages a highway and many other distractions.

The existing problems in Sariska have not been wiped out. How are they going to tackle that? These are questions which should have been discussed and thought before the relocation. They may have been thought about by the FD but areas like human interference etc are very crucial points. The other factors like a SWOT analysis should have been made and problems linking to the Tigers disappearance in 2004 should have been areas which needed to be tackled before the shift.

Sariska should have not been once again created but now it has and we have to help and watch that it does not repeat 2004. I heard somewhere that the state govt is trying to keep away tourism from the park. Not so clever moves if it’s true as tourists are one of the prime eyes to an informal anti-poaching unit. A battle for us conservationist, but i guess with a positive start to relocation i hope it is a reasonable move.

Abhishek Behl
TOFT India

June 30, 2008 2:51 AM

HSBC Mumbai Bird Race - Osprey team

Hello All,
The Osprey team, although not found a single osprey during the expedition, but had great chance to see many birds for the first time in life. And one among that as Pied Harrier, for which we won the "Bird of the day"category award.

Team OSPREY

Rajesh Sachdev

Rajendra Shelar

Prashant Bhagat

Dr. Sushama Ketkar

Sanjay Kulkarni

Prgyavant Mane

Shailesh Masulekar

The areas we covered were Dombivali-Baravi-Matheran-Uran-MNP

There were two beautiful  sightings of the day (a) The Indian Giant Squirrel -Matheran (b) and the Pied harrier -Uran

List of Birds  

1. Indian pea fowl - heared
   
2. Lesser whistling duck
3. Spot Billed Duck
4. Lesser Golden Backed woodpecker
5. Brown headed barbet
6. Coppersmith barbet
7. Indian roller
8. White breasted kingfisher
9. Small Blue kingfisher
10. Green bee eater
11. Chestnut headed bee eater
12. Blue tailed bee eater
13. Asian koel
14. Greater coucal
15. Rose ringed parakeet
16. Plum headed parakeet
17. Alexandrine parakeet
18. Asian palm swift
19. House swift
20. Bran owl
21. Rock pigeon
22. Laughing dove
23. Spotted dove
24. Yellow footed green pigeon
25. White breasted waterhen
26. Purple swamphen
27. Common coot
28. Common coot
29. Black shouldered kite
30. Black kite
31. Shikra
32. Changeable hawk eagle
33. Common kestrel
34. Little cormorant
35. Little egret
36. Cattle egret
37. Indian pond heron
38. Black ibis
39. Golden fronted leafbird
40. Bay backed shrike
41. Rufous backed shrike
42. Long tailed shrike
43. Southern grey shrike
44. Rufous treepie
45. House crow
46. Jungle crow
47. Eurasian golden oriole
48. Black hooded oriole
49. Black naped oriole
50. Large cuckooshrike
51. White throated fantail
52. White browed fantail
53. Black drongo
54. Greater racket tailed drongo
55. Ashy drongo
56. Asian paradise flycatcher
57. Asian brown flycatcher
58. Common iora
59. Oriental magpie robin
60. Indian robin
61. Pied bushchat
62. Brahminy starling
63. Common myna
64. Bank myna
65. Jungle Myna
66. Dusky crag martin
67. Red rumped swallow
68. Common swallow
69. Wood swallow
70. Bran swallow
71. Red whiskered bulbul
72. Red vented bulbul
73. Gray breasted prinia
74. Jungle prinia
75. Plain prinia
76. Ashy prinia
77. Jungle babbler
78. Greenish leaf warbler
79. Indian bush lark
80. Rufous tailed lark
81. sky lark
82. Thick billed flowerpecker
83. Purple rumped sunbird
84. Crimson backed sunbird
85. Purple sunbird
86. House sparrow
87. Paddyfield pipit
88. Scaly breasted munia
89. Intermmediate Egret
90. Black-headed Munia
91. Red Munia
92. Garganey
93. Black-tailed Godwit
94. Common Greenshank
95. Common Sandpiper
96. Marsh Sandpiper
97. Little Stint
98. Common Redshank
99. Black-winged Stilt
100. Whiskered Tern
101. Little Tern
102. Gull-billed Tern
103. Western Marsh Harrier
104. Pied Harrier Bird of the day
     
105. Brahminy Kite
106. Western Reef-Egret
107. Grey Heron
108. Common stonechat
109. Asian Pied Starling
110. Bronze winged Jacana
111. Pheasant tailed Jacana
112. Tailorbird
113. Crested Serpant Eagle
114. Pied Avocet
115. Whimbrel
116. Eurasian curlew
117. Terek sandpiper
118. Northern Shoveller
119. Cotton Teel
120. Common snipe
121. Spoonbill
122. Northern pintail
123. Black headed gull
124. Gadwall

-- 
Regards
Rajesh Sachdev
Wildlife Activist & Photographer
Mumbai, India.
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/wild_mumbai/
www.rajesh-sachdev.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leoparguy/

Wings of delight - An article on Mumbai BirdRAce

The city's birdwatchers flock together
The hunt is not an exercise of will
But patient love relaxing on a hill
To note the movement of a timid wing
—Nissim Ezekiel in
Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher


Years ago, Nissim Ezekiel drew similarities between a poet, lover and birdwatcher in one of his much appreciated poems. Over the years, the number of those who will agree with his words has only multiplied as the community of birdwatchers has increased in the city and continues to grow.

"Since Mumbai has the advantage of being a coastal city, it has a wide variety of bird species. Over 350 species of birds have been recorded over the years in the Mumbai surrounds," says naturalist Sunjoy Monga. Nearly 50 per cent of these species do not breed here, these are the various type of migrants or seasonal visitors to the region, he adds. And they are the ones who make the otherwise dull winter in Mumbai interesting. And bird-lovers take out their pairs of binoculars and reference books before setting out on the trail of two-winged creatures.

"Most of the people who come for our bird-watching outings in Mumbai are learners. These trips teach them how to use binoculars, reference books as well as study and document bird movements. They later on go to the spots outside Mumbai where birds population is higher," says Avinash Kubal of the Maharastra Nature Park. "With the surge in the number of birdwatchers, the documentation of birds has also got a boost," says Sujit Narwade of the Bombay Natural History Society.

Though with flamingoes, the Sewri Bay, especially the jetty, has become a famous stomping ground of birdwatchers along with the Uran wetlands, these nature lovers have found many other places across the city where the chances of sighting of birds—resident and rare—are high. Rajesh Sachdev's favourite haunt is Sanjay Gandhi National Park. "Any time of the year, one can spot at least 30 species of birds in the park if you spend a couple of hours there," says Sachdev, who is involved in the Mumbai Bird Race. The annual evented scheduled on February 22 is organised in the city since 2005.

In fact, it was after sighting a beautiful Paradise Flycatcher in the park three years back that he converted into an avid birdwatcher. Rajmachi and Matheran are the two other favourite weekend

getaways for Sachdev to study birds.

There are more: Elephanta Island, Vikhroli grasslands, Thane creek and

margins, Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, near Vasai, Lotus Pond on the Malad-Marve Road and Talzan Hills in Charkop. According to Monga, several city parks and groves too attract birds. "Actually, birds exist all around us. One just needs to learn to notice them," says Neeta Deb. She admits to being a

"beginner birdwatcher" and tries to spend as much time as her nine-year-old old allow her to be with the nature.

Bird-watching has also become a

perfect excuse to get wildlife activists and lovers together. On February 1, Rishi Agarwal is organising one such event at Lokhandwala Lake. His motive, other than spotting the winged creatures, will be to draw attention to the condition of the lake. In 1999, he, along with a group of friends, had stopped the BMC from dumping garbage at the lake. His inspiration might have come from a bird-watching trip to the area that this environmental activist had undertaken with a group. "We had spotted 45 species of birds that day," he recalls, and adds, "On a regular day one can spot pond heron, bar-headed geese, common kingfisher, pied kingfisher and medium egret among others there."

The pollution, concrete growth and demolition of forest have taken a toll on the bird population in Mumbai. Sachdev wants vultures, who are now extinct in the city, to be back. Till that happens the sighting of 'Indian pitta', locally known as 'navrang' can make him happy.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/wings-of-delight/417684/
--
Regards
Rajesh Sachdev
Wildlife Activist & Photographer
Mumbai, India.
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/wild_mumbai/
www.rajesh-sachdev.blogspot.com