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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Did you know that stones pelted by women don't scare away monkeys or that bears that return to a spot three-four times suggest that they are feeling threatened and are likely to attack? That one can read elephant behaviour from the manner in which it folds its trunk or sways its ears? That rotten sardines can keep animals away? Such seemingly obscure nuggets of information have long been part of tribal wisdom. Cashing in on this, a rich repository of traditional tribal wisdom is being documented in the state as part of the collaborative effort of the state forest department and the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI). The project has assumed greater importance at a time when Kerala has been witnessing an increase in human-wildlife conflict; and its widespread ramifications -- both social and political -- are being felt across the state. Pushed to the wall, the forest department came up with the novel initiative to tap into the traditional wisdom of forest-dwelling communities that have long lived in peaceful co-existence with wildlife. The fact that a few indigenous people also lost their lives in recent attacks has made it all the more pertinent to cash in on such indigenous knowledge that is part and parcel of tribal lives. Thus took shape Gothrabheri, one of ten missions proposed to address human-wildlife conflict in the state. Envisaged as a learning initiative, it's being undertaken by KFRI with funding from the forest department. Senior forest officer Raju Francis who coordinated the conceptualisation of Gothrabheri had, in his own words, a truly enriching experience in the course of having spent hours with hamlet chiefs in this regard.
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 >
Chaibasa (Jharkhand), July 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) A landmine planted by Maoists in the dense Saranda forest of Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district has claimed the life of a young male elephant, Forest Department officials said on Sunday. The six-year-old wild elephant, affectionately called 'Gadru' by local villagers, sustained grievous injuries after stepping on an IED in the Digha area of the Saranda forest on June 24. The powerful blast severely damaged the animal's hind left leg, which left it immobilised and bleeding. Locals later found the wounded pachyderm collapsed near a stream. Villag ...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 >
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has expressed profound dismay, describing itself as "perturbed, curious, and shocked" over the Assam government's decision to allocate 3,000 bighas (approximately 991 acres) of tribal land in Dima Hasao district to Mahabal Cement Private Limited for a cement factory. Our sources confirmed that during a hearing on Monday Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi questioned the rationale behind granting such a vast tract in a Sixth Schedule area, where tribal rights and environmental concerns are paramount, and demanded details on whether environmental clearances were obtained ...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 >
Guwahati (Assam) [India], July 5 (ANI): The Meghalaya Forest Department organised an outreach programme for the personnel of the 193rd Border Security Force (BSF) Battalion at Ranikor, Gumaghat Border Outpost (BOP) on the Indo-Bangla border in South-West Khasi Hills (SWKH) district. The main objectives of the outreach programme was to sensitise the BSF personnel on how to deal with herds of wild elephants they often encounter while discharging duty on the international border as well as raise awareness among BOP officials about various forms of wildlife crime, current trends in wildlife traff ...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/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: Mahadevi, an elephant once rescued from poor conditions at a religious institution in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, might soon be sent back, despite all the care and recovery she received at the Vantara Wildlife Centre in Gujarat. A few months ago, Mahadevi was shifted to Vantara after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) raised concerns about her health and treatment at the SwastiShri Jensen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Sanstha in Nandani village. The Bombay High Court, an ...Read More >
New Delhi, Sep 15 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Supreme Court on Monday accepted the report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by retired apex court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar, which gave a clean chit to the Vantara wildlife facility in Gujarat's Jamnagar. A Bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Prasanna B. Varale opened the sealed-cover report in open court and read out the conclusion of the SIT, which held that the transfers of wildlife in the facility were in conformity with the statutory mechanism. Saying that it would pass a detailed order in chambers during lunch, the Justice Mi ...Read More >
BENGALURU: Release of DNA-based elephant population estimation is the beginning for the scientific and wildlife fraternity. According to experts from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), who prepared the report, a detailed gene pool assessment is being done as the next step, with special concentration on Western Ghats and the Nilgiri Biosphere. According to Status of Elephants in India: DNA Based Synchronous All India Population Estimation of Elephants, Karnataka houses the highest elephant population of 6,013 in India, and the Western Ghats region (Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) has 11,934, ...Read More >
Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh deputy CM Chowna Mein on Saturday urged people to welcome and create a conducive environment for the development of hydropower projects in the state.Speaking at the inaugural session of a seminar, titled 'Traditional System of Tagin: Change and Continuity,' organised by the Tagin Cultural Society (TCS), in collaboration with the Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture (VKIC) at Daporijo in Upper Subansiri district, Mein said the hydro projects would usher in socio-econ ...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 >
Wayanad (Kerala) [India], September 16 (ANI): Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi visited Priyadarshini Tea factory at Mananthavady in Kerala's Wayanad district on Monday and interacted with workers. Earlier in the day, she also inaugurated a drinking water project at Mylukunnu and Panamaram villages in Wayanad district. The initiative is part of the MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) under which each MP is allocated Rs. 5 crore annually to recommend development works in their constituency. Priyanka Gandhi arrived in Wayanad on Friday for a 10-day visit to her constituency ...Read More >
Golfer Rory McIlroy and his Ryder Cup teammates are playing at the historic Delhi Golf Club. This unique course in New Delhi features ancient Mughal tombs and monuments. Wildlife like peacocks and monkeys roam the grounds. The tournament marks a significant moment for Indian golf. Players find the blend of sport and history special. Rory McIlroy and centuries of history blended beautifully as the Ryder Cup winner tackled a "special" golf course this week in the Indian capital, teeming with wildl ...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 >
Dhamtari: In a fresh instance of man-animal conflict reported from Chhattisgarh, a farmer was killed while his friend had a narrow escape when they were attacked by an elephant. The two were returning to Lilar village when they were attacked near Kamar Basti. They had gone out for some work and were returning when they were confronted by the elephant. The elephant threw the farmer identified as Devcharan on the ground killing him on the spot. Forest Department officials have taken his dead body into custody and are monitoring the elephant. The villagers disclosed that the elephant had got se ...Read More >
Bengaluru: Exploring scientific solutions to reduce human-elephant conflict across Karnataka, the forest department Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for landscape-level conservation of Asian elephants. Renowned ecologist and elephant expert from IISc, Prof Raman Sukumar, and Karnataka chief wildlife warden Prabhash Chandra Ray signed the commencement of the Rs 4.7-crore project, fully funded by the forest department.Admitting an increa ...Read More >
Wayanad (Kerala) [India], September 15 (ANI): Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi inaugurated a drinking water project at Mylukunnu and Panamaram villages in Wayanad district on Monday during her 10-day visit to her constituency in Kerala. The initiative is part of the MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) under which each MP is allocated Rs. 5 crore annually to recommend development works in their constituency. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Wayanad, Kerala, on Friday for a 10-day visit to her constituency. Earlier, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the Bishop House ...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 >
ISLAMABAD: Indian Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Rahul R Singh Friday claimed China used the four-day Pakistan-India conflict in May like a "live lab" to test various weapon systems and was providing all possible support to Islamabad in line with its ancient military strategy of killing the adversary with a "borrowed knife". The senior Indian military officer claimed while Pakistan was the "front face", with China extending all possible support to its all-weather ally, Turkiye was also playing a major role by supplying military hardware to Islamabad, adding that India was actually dealing w ...Read More >
Dibrugarh: A baby elephant that had fallen into a muddy pit and remained trapped for nearly two days was rescued by the Deomali Forest Division in Arunachal Pradesh's Tirap district. The rescue operation, which lasted about two hours, was significantly supported by local villagers who joined hands with the Forest Department. Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge! Thanks to their combined efforts, the baby elephant was successfully pulled out of the pit and safely guided back into the nearby forest. Upon receiving information about the stranded eleph ...Read More >
Kolhapur witnessed a massive turnout on Sunday (August 3, 2025) as thousands of locals walked in a silent protest, urging authorities to the bring back 36-year-old elephant Mahadevi, also known as Madhuri, from NGO Vantara's wildlife rehabilitation facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Elephant relocated to Gujarat facility run by Vantara from Kolhapur; devotees bid emotional adieu Vantara is the brainchild of Anant Ambani, son of industrialist Mukesh Ambani, and is supported by Reliance Industries Limited and Reliance Foundation The march, led by former Swabhimani Kisan Sangathan president and fo ...Read More >
Setting up the SIT under former judge Justice J Chelameswar, the apex court had on August 25 called for a report on a number of issues, including the acquisition of animals from India and abroad, particularly elephants, and compliance with the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, and rules for zoos. The Supreme Court on Friday said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) inquiring into the affairs of Vantara - the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre launched by Reliance Foundation in Gujarat's J ...Read More >
(Reuters) -A wildlife rescue centre run by the philanthropic arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's group has been cleared of allegations of illegal animal acquisition and mistreatment, India's Supreme Court said on Monday, citing findings from a court-appointed committee. In August, India's top court appointed a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate complaints from non-profit and wildlife groups alleging animal mistreatment at Vantara and raising questions over how the animals were brought to the centre. However, the court has said the evidence did not support claims of illegal acquis ...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 >
A sub-adult tiger spotted moving between Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh has prompted wildlife authorities to explore the possibility of developing Ratanmahal in Dahod as a tiger sanctuary as part of the Union govt's Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) Project. The three-year-old male tiger, first sighted near Gujarat border in Feb, has been frequently captured on camera traps in Ratanmahal's core area since late May. This marks the second tiger sighting in the region within six years. A National Tig ...Read More >
Kozhikode (Kerala) [India], September 14 (ANI): Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the Bishop House in Thamarassery and met Bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil on Sunday. Following the visit, Bishop of Thamarassery, Remigiose Inchananiyil, said representation of their community in the Parliament and man-animal conflict in the region were the main issues discussed. Speaking to reporters, Bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil said, "It was a totally personal visit. She requested this personal visit. Personal things were discussed; no political issues or requirements of the community were discussed. B ...Read More >