Save that tiger, kill this tiger !

The Royal Bengal Tiger or the Indian Tiger which is the most endangered VVIP of this country has found a new enemy for its life.

No, not the odd poacher this time, it is the same celebrated so called experts in Tigers who wanted to save the tiger from the hands of the poacher while it was young and sexy, but now want it eliminated as the tiger turns a frail veteran.

India is a country where the Tiger is not only protected by the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 or the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1962, but as per the article 51A(g) of the Indian Constitution Fundamental duties it is the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures.

But of late an old Tiger that had killed a few humans but was captured alive is facing an uncertain future. A section of celebrated experts feel that instead of capturing the animal it should have been swiftly killed.

"We can't be sentimental about this. Our objective is to save the tiger as a species, not individual tigers," Karanth, director for science (Asia) at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told TOI."

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/Maneaters-must-be-swiftly-killed/articleshow/27098086.cms)

Mr. Karanth, who perhaps is referring to the Animal Rights & Animal Welfare people when he uses the word 'sentimental' fails to see that the Indian Constitution was not framed by animal welfarists instead it is the sensibilities of people such as our father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu) who preached, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

In India we don't cull elephants just because their population has increased (much due to the shrinkage of forest cover, thanks to us humans) unlike countries such as South Africa.

Every animal or human being is supposed to get respect in India even if the animal is made ready for a ritual sacrifice.

Therefore veteran experts like Mr. Karanth (with due respect to their contributions towards conservation) should not make such statements and if at all they are actually concerned about 'SAVING THE TIGER' and not just running an industry of it, then they MUST work on a 'retirement policy' for animals. At least begin with the animal that is the VVIP- The Veteran Tiger.

Baby Tragedy & the Steel Monster

Hello friends,

I am 'Baby Tragedy'.

This name was given to me by the lovely and caring mother of all elephants Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick.

She wanted me to share the story of my short journey to this world so that you good people out there can help me fight the battle against 'Steel Monsters' who have been making tragedies of our lives.

I was in my mother's womb sleeping when she was knocked down by a powerful 'Steel Monster' that night, forcing me to eject into this world prematurely.

The 'Steel Monster' then killed my aunt who was a little ahead.

The 'Steel Monster' supposed to be moving at only 20kmph in that elephant corridor which we used to transit between the Deepor Beel, Assam's lone Ramsar site wetland and the adjoining forests.

But see below the bolts in the track (more than seven of them) had bend down to almost 45 degrees due to the impact my mother was knocked down.

As soon as I was born my mom who was left seriously injured with a hip fracture dragged herself to the adjoining forest and was calling me from the hill. I was too weak to to walk and so the people came and wanted to help me reunite with mummy. But they came too late 6 hrs after the incident happened and then they were also shouting, making noise that scared both mommy and me. They wanted to help me but sadly they did not know how to.

I could barely see my mom in the jungle but her cries everyone could hear. She was so much in pain.

I was then tied with a rope and whisked away in a rickshaw to the Assam State Zoo which became my home. That was last I saw mom.

The ride was so bumpy and traumatic, I kept falling in that vehicle which served as a makeshift ambulance.

My aunt who lay dead was paid tributes by the local people who lighted incense sticks and prayed.

We are also respected in India as Gods you know.

After the tributes, another 'Steel Monster' (not the one that kills) came and dug a grave for aunt. She was buried after a postmortem. They do this to find out how she was killed.

Meanwhile my mommy was left unattended deep in the jungles. Many had forgotten about her and thought she was fine. But in a few days her hip injury turned worse and she had to hit the ground near 'Sattargaon' village.

The people of the village were so good, they all came out including children to try and help mommy.

But mommy was too weak to get up, so they made glasses of bamboo stem and carried water and banana plants for her.

The villagers informed some good animal people who put pressure within the authorities and the best Veterinarian was sent to see mommy. He found out that mommy would not recover and advised that she be put to sleep.

Meanwhile, I was loosing my battle for survival. I tried my best but just could not make it.

And less than a month after I was born, I too followed my mommy and left the world. I died of enteritis.

Dear friends,

that was my story- Baby Tragedy's true story.

We elephants are stronger that humans, but we do not have a voice as powerful as yours.

If my story has moved you then please do voice for me and my family.

Please share this with all your know.

Please make sure that the 'Steel Monsters' do not kill us any more.

Please write to the 'Steel Monster' guardians and do your best.

I know you will,


love,

Baby Tragedy.

___

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Skins shall not RIP

one of the billion fur stores across the world. Pic: azam

Suddenly the news media, facebook and twitter updates of many animal people was abuzz with a news item where PETA- the organisation better known for its hardcore animal rights activism was found playing Santa to needy and destitute human beings.


Donations to the needy, that's a noble cause?


Well, yes indeed it is. But not when you donate stuff that you would not like to wear or endorse yourself with, neither would the hundreds of employees at PETA or the millions of their members would volunteer to.


So what exactly are they donating?


Its is recycled FUR- skin of animals most of which is ripped off even when the animal is alive.


Is it then 'unethical' to be donating recycled FUR among the poor, isn't it much better than just throwing it off?


Well if you ask the receiver, he wont mind. He is happy and thankful because he is in need.


But FUR is not just an ordinary piece of clothing.
It is a wildlife product and could well invite a penalty or imprisonment or both in many countries if found in possession. PETA's actions can send a wrong signal to the ethics of animal protection & conservation of wildlife.


If it is acceptable to donate animal products like animal fur in USA, is it acceptable to donate elephant ivory, rhino horn, tiger skins, mongoose pelts and deer antlers in India and Asia?


I come from northeast India where a majority of the population in this region is below poverty level, their economic condition is far worse compared to the homeless in the US. Some of their ancestors were head hunters, not anymore but animals they do hunt. Wildlife they do kill. Since India's independence the Wildlife Protection Act is applicable to each of these places, on both those with homes and also the homeless. Despite that wildlife is at risk, animals are killed including the largest mammal on earth, not for tusks alone but also for meat.
One elephant's flesh can feed a village and many villages for days.
There have been several instances when elephants were found dead, poachers managed to escape.
Should the PETA formula apply to these people?
The elephant is dead, how about donating it among the villagers?


Indeed, it has been a longstanding debate at CITES regarding what to do with stockpiles of wildlife products.
If giving away fur costs is acceptable, why not also sell and distribute wildlife stockpiles and other wildlife and animal stock?


It might also be acceptable then to give away shahtoosh shawls obtained by killing Tibetan Antelope.
It can be justified on the same grounds to distribute meat to poor people as is the norm in religious festivals.
Where does one draw the line on what is acceptable for usage of animal products?
After all, some of us are very vocal in opposing sustainable use.


Or maybe the real difference and the acceptability threshold lies in the varying standards laid down in  the West and those employed in the East.
Donating furs is acceptable in US for homeless people but doing the same would amount to outrage in India.
Imagine what would be the reaction in the West if people started distributing their old shikar trophies of tigers and lions in India.

Many of us do not talk about these issues because we have our purse strings tied to many of the big groups that indulge in such antics. Apathy comes together with ignorance and vested interests.

Comments and opinions invited.

__________________

PETA Gives Away Fur Coats To Homeless

Group Says Those Without Are Only Ones Who Need Them

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/29953256/detail.html#ixzz1g9gyewFq

The Great Indian Elephant Cull

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culling ):

"Culling is the process of removing animals from a group based on specific criteria. This is done in order to either reinforce certain desirable characteristics or to remove certain undesirable characteristics from the group. For livestock and wildlife, the process of culling usually implies the killing of animals with undesirable characteristics."

If the above definition of 'Culling' is to be followed then I am afraid 'ELEPHANT CULLING' is already in full swing slowly but steadily all over India.

Yes, one may argue that and brush it aside as 'stray incidents' of 'human elephant conflict' or 'poaching' since the official announcement of 'Elephant Culling' has not been declared by the Indian Government.

But hang on, is the Indian Government taking any actions on the growing incidents of 'brutal massacres' of the Jumbos?

On papers, Yes perhaps.

In reality a simple 'NO".

They just do not have the 'WILLPOWER' to save/ protect this mammal from being eliminated in this Country.

Political pressure from various corners seems to be only working in favour of the 'Humans' here.

More and more people are pumped inside protected wildlife habitats to convert jungles into paddy fields.

A Local MLA goes full blast spraying bullets from AK-47 on a wild herd in Assam and goes on record in the media for what he does.

The same MLA is later arrested for flouting more wildlife laws only to be out fished out by his lawyers scratch free.

Same goes with the BIGGEST terrorist in Wildlife Crime, Sansar Chand who has recently been granted BAIL by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.

Wonder what he is planning next?

Cement factories and Stone quarries are welcomed in many parts of the Country inside protected areas and even elephant corridors.

Trains are crushing herds into pieces of meat. Yes meat because now its not the animal carcass that the forest department recovers from the site of any so called 'conflict death', instead there have been many reported incidents of people feasting on the kill of the elephants after bringing it down.

In fact in a recent incident where an elephant accidental consumed 'urea' and fell unconscious, a section of the public went on to cut its ear and chop off its tail before the elephant regained conciousness.

High tension live electric cables are laid in a very organised manner and this trend is ON for quite many years.

And in the Northeast of India you have another unique issue.

The issue of insurgency, militancy and terrorism which is driving the Government nuts.

They are entering into dialogues after dialogues with these groups some of whom are under a 'ceasefire' but with the condition of allowing them the liberty to remain in the jungles till the talks are over.

Now, what they do inside the jungles is anybody's guess.

So the 1st BIG question that one may ask is that:

Is there space for elephants in India?

And the answer is NO.

Then in that case what should the Government do in order to protect the citizens from the elephants, and cut down their population?

If the Government allowed the 'Culling' of elephants it will face an ARMY of wildlife respecting people who will go all the way to oppose the same, also considering the Wildlife Protection Act, it may not be easy to get that done.

The next best and simple option is to just sit and watch.

Now the 2nd BIG question that I would ask is that:

Do we wait for the official word on 'Elephant Culling' from the Government's mouth and we take action, or is it time to pick up the many 'stray incidents' of elephant massacres and murders across the nation and DEMAND ACTION NOW?

We certainly are not waiting for the last Tiger in the Wild to vanish before the focus shifts into the Jumbos, or are we?

Azam Siddiqui

____________________

CULL UPDATES (check weblinks below):


Wild jumbo perishes at Bhutiachang tea estate

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=may2910/state06

Elephant electrocuted in Udalguri district, again

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090930/jsp/northeast/story_11553827.jsp

threatened moms- nowhere to run !

It wasn't the most violent Human Elephant conflict I had ever seen or heard of.

Instead it was more of a crisis situation that had developed between the villagers of Chandrapur area in the outskirts of Guwahati. A herd of 30 odd elephants had descended from the nearby Amchang forests where their habitat had been robbed of by human settlers and the wildlife mafia.

After some damage to the standing paddy crop and pulling down a few jackfruit, the people cornered the herd to a bush within the croplands. Although no fire arms, crackers or arrows were aimed at the jumbos, yet with the hooting and yelling the herd was moving back and forwards seemed disturbed and did make a couple of attempts to charge at the men. On a closer observation I saw a baby ellie holding on to its mom, surrounded by the other members of the herd.

Fearing that things could get worse if the threatened dominant mother or the matriarch decide to take on. I appeal them to calm down. As the voices dimmed and the disturbed ellies seemed relaxed and had started feeding, I dared slowly walk towards them hiding behind the bush to get a better shot with my cam.

The camera rolls for a couple of minutes as I film each member of the herd-

the baby, the mother, few young ones, the tusker . . . . .

then suddenly the mother charges on me like a flash of lightning from about 50 meters away. Lucky I saw her from the corner my left eye, right being engaged in filming the tusker. The cam rolling and my heart racing out, I turn around and run for my life. I hear a few screams of the people trying to scare the elephant who was obviously running much faster than I could.

“run !!! Its still charging”, yells a villager from somewhere. It is not easy sprinting in a bush and no sooner did I realise this I was on the ground. Turning over my shoulder I see the giant mammal shake her head down at me for a second and the quietly return to her baby.

After a brief pause numbed by the shock I do manage to rise up, pick my cam and slide out of the conflict area with a dozen of Whys on my mind.

The question most on priority being, just why did the elephant have to stop when it almost got me? She certainly did not wait to answer my question but instead taught me a very BIG lesson in life.

To never underestimate the power of a ‘threatened mother’.

My training in ‘Orphaned Elephant Management’ of playing surrogate mother to the orphaned ellies at the ‘David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’ in Kenya would certainly not have been complete without this practical field experience of confronting this real threatened mother.

With habitats shrinking and crisis snowballing into conflicts, one wonders just how far these mothers would be allowed to run for their dependent young ones before the two legged monsters corner them again.

In the pic above: Trunks rise to explore the presence of predators.

the unfortunate key

It has been almost a year now and still that unfortunate moment haunts me every time the 'key' gets turned.

Like any normal day I turned the ignition of my car in the garage. After a couple of attempts the engine roared but as if something was blocking it from cycling.

I immediately switched off the ignition pausing for a moment what could that be?

Then I could hear a faint sound of something knocking inside . . . . I knew this was tragedy !

Opened the bonnet and there was blood splattered all over with traces of small hair, for a minute I could not see where & what animal that was.

Then as I explored deep beloe where the belts are placed, I could see a severely wounded full grown rat which was stuck in between the chassis and the crash bumper of the car.

This was the most horrifying sight I ever witnessed in my life.

There was blood dripping from its face, it was alive, I could see its eyes were staring at me as if begging for mercy, but there was just no way I could get the poor thing out.

Finally after 5mins of struggle I could manage to get him out.

I reached out for a shoe box from my house and drove him to the nearest clinic 'Pet & Vet where his condition was examined and it was decided to put him to sleep.

This horrific accident could have been averted had I been a little more responsible.

Many times, rats in the past have chewed up my car wires etc in my garage and so there was every possibility of them hiding inside.

If only I was a little careful with looking around before turning the 'key' it could have saved a life.

A lesson learnt but at such a heavy price.

Pictures above: The rat being put to sleep at 'Pet & Vet' clinic, Guwahati