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BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Urban forest officers have busted a poaching racket, arrested one and seized the carcasses of four spotted deer, a wild boar, and 74 kg of deer meat. The accused allegedly killed nine deer and a wild boar for the illegal wildlife meat trade. The officials said that based on a tip-off, a team led by the Bengaluru Urban Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) along with officers from the Kaggalipura range intercepted two cars near Nice Road Junction on Bannerghatta Road late Saturday night. While three suspects managed to flee, one accused, identified as Pratap, 31, was nabbed. The forest officers found and seized around 74 kg of deer meat and the skin of six spotted deer near CK Palya. Additionally, a double-barrel and a single-barrel rifle, along with 10 live rounds of ammunition, were also confiscated. A special team has been formed to trace and arrest the three absconding suspects. Officials said they are yet to determine the forest area where the animals were killed, how long the gang has been active, and who else may be involved in the poaching network. A case has been registered under the Wildlife Protection Act.
KARUR: A two-year-old spotted deer which wandered off from a reserved forest near Vadacheri into Veeranampatti village was chased by stray dogs and took refuge inside a house on Saturday morning. According to sources, the reserved forest is situated close to the village and spotted deer frequently roam near the village border in search of food and water. On Saturday, the deer lost its way while grazing, wandered into Veeranampatti, and was chased by stray dogs. The panicked animal ran into a nearby house, and the owner, Selvakumar, immediately informed forest officials and fire and rescue se ...Read More >
Lucknow: UP is set to celebrate Van Mahotsav from July 1 to 7 under the guidance of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wherein the forest and wildlife department plans to plant a record 35 crore saplings across Uttar Pradesh, the highest in country.The department, working in close coordination with various other departments, has gathered 52.33 crore saplings and completed advance soil work on 72,912 hectares of land.A review meeting led by forest and environment minister Arun Kumar Saxena was held fo ...Read More >
BENGALURU: Unidentified persons allegedly poisoned as many as 20 Bonnet Macaques and stuffed them into two gunny bags before dumping them on a roadside linking Kandegala-Kodasoge in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district on Wednesday. Of the 20 poisoned macaques, 18 died while two survived. The surviving monkeys have been treated by veterinarians. A wildlife activist in Gundlupet suspects that some villagers might have poisoned the Bonnet Macaques due to their frequent crop raids and nuisance in the area. The dumping is believed to have occurred around 6:30 am on Wednesday, before being d ...Read More >
The viral video from the Bandipur Tiger Reserve shows the elephant charging at the man and running after him before stomping on him. A dramatic incident unfolded in Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve when a wild elephant stomped on a tourist who was trying to take a photograph of the animal. The video is circulating on the internet, sparking a backlash against the man and a conversation about interfering with wildlife. Shared by Daniel Osorio, the viral video shows the elephant charging at the ...Read More >
BENGALURU: The death of two 10-day-old tiger cubs and the disappearance of their mother for the past two days in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS), 227 km from Bengaluru, has alarmed the forest department and the conservation community. On Monday, a forest foot-patrol team found a dead cub near Kirubanakallagudda in the Holemurdatti range of CWS. The following day, another cub was found dead a few metres away. The carcasses, a male and a female, were estimated to be at least three days old. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) PC Ray said postmortem examination revealed that ...Read More >
Kushnepalli Forest Range Officer P. Dayakar stated that a case has been filed against Athram Bapu and Kudimetha Lachanna from Oddugudem for killing a wild boar. The two were caught sharing the boar's meat at a stream during a raid conducted by forest department officials, who had received a tip-off about the incident. Macherial: Two persons were booked for allegedly poaching a wild boar at Oddugudem village in Vemanapalli mandal on Thursday. Kushnepalli Forest Range Officer P Dayakar said that a case was registered against Athram Bapu and Kudimetha Lachanna from Oddugudem for killing a wild ...Read More >
Bengaluru: Concerns have been raised following the report of another tigress' death in Karnataka on Saturday, coming close on the heels of the shocking incident involving the death of a tigress and her four cubs. According to forest officials, the latest death has been reported from the Gundre Forest Range in Bandipur, located in Chamarajanagar district. Authorities, based on preliminary investigation, have stated that the tigress, estimated to be between 4 and 5 years old, appears to have died of natural causes. However, the post-mortem report is awaited for confirmation. The carcass was d ...Read More >
Kolkata: A two-member National Commission for Women team on Sunday visited the south Kolkata law college where a student was allegedly gang-raped last week.The team, accompanied by a videographer, was initially denied entry and asked to produce a formal order. After an hour-long discussion at the college entrance, the team, led by Archana Majumdar, was allowed in under two conditions -- no access to the crime scene and no videography permitted.The visit lasted 10 minutes. "We were denied access to the crime scene and other floors. I will include this in my report," said Majumdar, who was the f ...Read More >
Bhubaneswar: Zeenat, the three-year-old tigress from Maharashtra brought to Odisha's Similipal last year under translocation project, is believed to be pregnant after mating with a melanistic male tiger named T-12 Mahabal in May this year. If her pregnancy is confirmed, Zeenat would deliver cubs around August or September this year, said Prem Kumar Jha, Odisha's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife). Love blossomed after Zeenat was released into the wild in April this year. She made the forests between Yamunagarh and Gudugudia in Similipal her new home. In May, she came across a r ...Read More >
Jhansi: A bomb threat delayed the Durg-bound Chhattisgarh Sampark Kranti Express on Friday night, when it was halted at Virangana Laxmibai Jhansi railway station for nearly an hour. The threat turned out to be a hoax, and the train resumed its journey after a thorough inspection. According to SP, GRP, Vipul Srivastav, after the train left Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station in Delhi around 6pm on Friday, a call was recieved at the railway helpline 139, claiming that a bomb had been planted in a sleeper coach of the train. The railway control room in Lucknow started preparations for search of the ...Read More >
Guwahati: At least 42 poachers were arrested, six major rhino poaching gangs with links to illegal trade of animal parts through Myanmar were identified and nine poaching attempts were foiled under 'Operation Falcon' by the Assam Police and forest department since the operation was launched last year.CM Himanta Biswa Sarma shared a video on 'X' on Monday, hailing the success of the departments' efforts against poaching. He said the operation broke the back of poaching and illegal animal trade. He ...Read More >
Guwahati/Morigaon, Jun 6 (PTI) The flood situation in Assam continued to be critical with over 5.6 lakh people reeling under the deluge in 16 districts, an official bulletin said on Friday. The toll in this year's floods and landslides stands at 21, with two more deaths reported on Thursday. Also Read | Thane Shocker: Wife Booked for Hurling Hot Oil on Autorickshaw Driver During Fight Over Domestic Issues in Kalyan. Wildlife has also been affected with nearly 70 per cent of the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district facing inundation, an official said. The Regional Meteorological ...Read More >
Bengaluru: In an incident of concern, the unnatural death of a tigress and her three cubs, probably due to poisoning, came to light in the Male Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar district on Thursday. Addressing media persons in Bengaluru, Forests, Ecology, and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre announced that an investigation has been ordered into the incident and officials have been directed to submit a detailed report within three days. The probe will be conducted by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF). "Karnataka stands second in the count ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) The Congress on Sunday attacked the Centre and Rajasthan governments over the reported plan to redraw the boundaries of the Sariska Tiger Reserve for the reactivation of over 50 mining operations, saying the move would be "ecologically devastating". The opposition party also said that with the Rajasthan and Union environment ministers both being from Alwar, this "double engine" cannot be supporting such a move. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared on X a media report which claimed that a plan to redraw the boundaries of Rajasthan's ...Read More >
Bhubaneswar: A heartening chapter is unfolding deep within the emerald wilderness of Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha, where a Royal Bengal tigress named Zeenat, originally from Maharashtra, is believed to be carrying a new generation of cubs -- a milestone that could reshape the future of the region's famed tiger population. Brought to Similipal in 2023 as part of a bold genetic diversification project, Zeenat was tasked with an extraordinary mission: to infuse new bloodlines into a population long shadowed by the risks of inbreeding, particularly among Similipal's rare melanistic (black-co ...Read More >
New Delhi: Protest at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) against a recently announced fee hike, the long-standing suspension of students' union elections and calls for administrative accountability have entered their sixth day, with students boycotting classes and staging sit-ins at the Bab-e-Syed gate (the iconic entrance of the varsity). The fee structure for different courses has witnessed a sharp revision. Students say the hike ranges from 25% to over 60% across various programmes. Many claim they first learned of the revised fees only while trying to pay through the university's online ...Read More >
PILIBHIT: Authorities at Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) have initiated action against a man identified as Arbaz Ansari of Pilibhit city for allegedly flying a drone over the Mala Forest Range, the core area of the reserve, and posting a 30-second video on social media.Officials said the clip, uploaded from an account named Pilibhit Zone, was shot by flying the drone from the Pilibhit-Madhotanda road that cuts through the core forest. The Mala range has one of the highest tiger densities in PTR, and authorities said "such filming could endanger wildlife safety".Divisional forest officer (DFO) Man ...Read More >
Park's director Sonali Ghosh said that intelligence inputs had indicated the movement of armed poachers inside the park, following which all anti-poaching camps were immediately alerted. "They were instructed to comb the area and block possible escape routes," she said. Around 2:50am, a river patrol team from the Burapahar Range spotted light emanating from an unidentified object in the Maite Tapu area and located a group of suspected poachers. Also Read: Assam: Suspected poacher killed in Kaz ...Read More >
Viral video shows AI cameras spotting a herd of elephants. (Photo: X/susantananda3) Elephants in Odisha's forests often face the threat of train collisions on railway tracks, as highlighted by multiple reports over the years. To prevent such accidents, authorities installed four AI cameras in the Rourkela Forest Division. A post on X (formerly Twitter) by Susanta Nanda, a retired Indian Forest Service officer, stated that the use of AI cameras effectively averted another potential accident. In t ...Read More >
Guwahati: The flood situation across Assam continues to be critical, with over 5.6 lakh people in 16 districts reeling under the severe flood, an official bulletin confirmed on Friday. The cumulative death toll from this year's floods and landslides has now climbed to 21, following two more fatalities reported on Thursday. Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge! The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) bulletin stated that floodwaters are currently submerging 57 revenue circles and 1,406 villages, impacting a total of 5,61,644 individuals ...Read More >
Karnataka: With a steady increase in the tiger population at the Male Mahadeshwara Hills (MM Hills) Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka's Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre has directed officials to begin the process of declaring the region a tiger reserve. He emphasized the need to first collect public opinion from the local communities before proceeding with formal proposals. Chairing a high-level meeting with senior forest officials, including the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, at Vikasa Soudha today, Minister Khandre instructed the depar ...Read More >
Bengaluru: Following the poisoning of five tigers at MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, forest minister Eshwar Khandre on Tuesday ordered an audit of tiger mortality in various tiger reserves (national parks) and wildlife sanctuaries of Karnataka. Delving into the activities of the wildlife wing, shortly after sending errant forest officials of MM Hills sanctuary on compulsory leave, the minister sought within 10 days a complete review of tiger deaths over the past five and a half years.As per the All-India Tiger Estimation report of 2022, Karnataka stood second in the country in tiger population, w ...Read More >
Bengaluru: Forest minister Eshwar Khandre's decision to initiate a departmental inquiry into the recent unnatural death of a leopard in the MM Hills wildlife sanctuary has triggered hopes among conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts about uncovering the truth behind such incidents.In the most recent case, the carcass of the big cat was found mutilated last month.Recollecting similar incidents in the past few years, the activists suspect an organised nexus of poachers could be behind such wildlife crime.A few days before the June 26 death of five tigers in the Hoogyam forest range of MM Hill ...Read More >
Bengaluru: Based on the preliminary report submitted by the committee formed to probe into the death of five tigers, including a mother and four cubs, the forest minister has recommended suspension of the three senior forest officers. After confirming dereliction of duty by the senior officers through the report, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre has recommended suspension of the IFS officer and DCF of MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary Chakrapani Y, Assistant Conservator of Forests Gajanana Hegde and Range Forest Officer Madesh. In the first place, it was confirmed that the officials had not disburse ...Read More >
Berhampur: Forest officials in Odisha's Ganjam district have rescued a two-month-old barking deer (Indian muntjac) from a house at Gunakhala village under Badagada forest range. The operation, carried out in the Ghumusar South forest division, also led to the seizure of two country-made guns, a knife, and explosives from the premises. After being rescued, the fawn was immediately shifted to the veterinary hospital at Sorada for treatment and will be released into the wild once declared fit, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Vipasha Parul said on Sunday. "We suspect the house owner is involved ...Read More >
Guwahati, Oct 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) Alert security forces in Assam's Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) on Thursday foiled a rhino poaching attempt and arrested three poachers, officials said. KNPTR Director Sonali Ghosh said that in a joint operation conducted by Biswanath Police along with Majuli Police and Lakhimpur Police, led by Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) (Crime), Biswanath and Additional Superintendent of Police (HQ), successfully foiled a rhino poaching attempt. The security personnel arrested three suspected armed poachers, and they are identified as Muhikan ...Read More >
RANCHI/SILLI/PURULIA/KOLKATA: "Bhagwan Krishna ne aaj bacha liya (Lord Krishna has saved us today)," said farmer Puran Chand Mahto (55) of Mardu village in Ranchi district's Silli block, still unable to believe his luck at being alive to tell the tale of how he and his family - his three daughters and a relative, who is a minor - slept peacefully while a tiger silently crouched in a corner of the same room.Around 4.30am Wednesday, Puran was getting ready for the day. As he stepped out of his thre ...Read More >
Bengaluru, June 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said an investigation has been launched into the death of a tigress and its four cubs in the state's Chamarajanagar district, and necessary orders have already been issued, even as two suspects have been held for questioning. Sources said that the authorities have taken two persons into custody on Friday and are questioning them in connection with the incident. Speaking to the media in Bengaluru, CM Siddaramaiah said that appropriate action would be taken once the investigation report is submitted. Minister ...Read More >
Puri: Despite travel uncertainties due to recent conflicts in some parts of the world, people from Europe and elsewhere have reached Puri to witness the annual Ratha Yatra of the sibling deities.As non-Hindus are not allowed inside the 12th-century Jagannath Temple, the Ratha Yatra provides a rare opportunity for devotees across the world to see the deities in their full glory atop their majestic wooden chariots."Back home, we are surrounded by uncertainty and fear. But here, I found peace. I came because this is my only chance to see Lord Jagannath. He comes out for the whole world. This is v ...Read More >
NEW DELHI, July 18: Bangladesh has apprehended 34 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in its territorial waters and India has been pressing Dhaka to ensure their safe and early return, official sources said on Friday. The fishermen along with their two fishing trawlers were apprehended on the intervening night of July 14 and 15, they said. Immediately after information about the incident was received, the Indian high commission in Bangladesh took up the matter with Bangladeshi authorities and immediate consular access to the fishermen, the sources said.A total of 34 Indian fishermen along ...Read More >