July 16, 2009

Poachers killed 12 rhinos last year 

Twelve rhinos were killed by poachers in Chitwan National Park during the past fiscal year. Another five rhinos met natural deaths during the same period.According to Assistant Conservation Officer Ganesh Pant, the rhinos were killed by poachers between September 2008 and June 2009. The first rhino was killed on September 8, 2008, at Gaidasaakha. The last one was killed near Bhawanipur inside the park on June 5, 2009.

Most rhinos died during the month of March in which four were killed by poachers, while one died of natural cause.No rhino was killed in the months of October, November and January. When the Maoist conflict was at its peak during 2001, 37 rhinos were killed. Protecting members of the endangered species was difficult back then due to low security presence.

But now, the budget for checking poaching in the park has been increased along with the increase in the number of security posts. There were 408 rhinos in the park in 2008.

  
Source: Republica 

July 16, 2009

Elephant herds create havoc in Jhapa

Faced with repeated threats from the enraged villagers of the easternmost Jhapa district, the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation is making efforts to restrict the movement of wild elephant herds into the villages in Jhapa from India.

The ministry has proposed a two-pronged approach to solve the problem. First, it is planning to erect electric fences around the village areas, and second bring into operation a compensatory mechanism to give relief to some 200 households  whose crop fields have been completely destroyed by the migrating herds.

However, the ministry is yet to finalize the mechanism to resolve the local problems now getting out of hand. “Although the new budget has allocated around Rs 50 million for relief assistance, it is yet to be approved by the Finance Ministry,” Dr Annapurna Nanda Das, the spokesperson, Department of Forest Research and Survey, said.

Das also denied having knowledge of any local-level consultation between Nepali authorities and their Indian counterparts in West Bengal over the matter.

The WWF-Nepal, on the other hand, has proposed “immediate consultation” between the eastern regional director and the district forest officer from West Bengal to address the rising problems faced by locals in Jhapa.

“We have urged the authorities of both sides to immediately hold joint-meetings at the field-level and regional-level as it is difficult to divert the elephants from their traditional route,” Anil Manandhar, the country head of WWF-Nepal said.

Contrary to the West Bengal state government´s decision to stop and divert the herds headed to Nepal, the WWF has argued that translocating or relocating the wild animals and trying to change the traditional migratory route is not the correct way.

“Instead of changing the structure, we propose building little corridors, trenches and fortifying the village to protect the people and secondly to put in place a compensatory mechanism to give relief to those who suffer heavy loss of  property,” Santosh Nepal, WWF-Nepal´s special policies and programs coordinator, told myrepublica.com.

According to Nepal, such a compensation fund should have 70-80 per cent contribution from the Indian side and 30-20 percent contribution from the Nepal government.

With the Brahmaputra plains in India´s Assam state being flooded, the herd began migrating, crossing the open border between India and Nepal and entering Jhapa. Since June 6, about 200 elephants descended on the village, destroying homes and crops. In the past, at least 24 people have been killed in Bahundangi alone by migrating herds.

On June 6, in Bahundangi, an elephant, said to be three to four years old, was killed after it came in contact with an  electrified fence surrounding the house of a villager, Nepal informed. Another tusker was killed, either by a bullet or stones hurled by irate villagers, on June 11.

Stating that the killing of the elephants has been a rising concern for the conservationists, he, however added, “The news printed in Indian media lately that the elephants were shot by Nepali police personnel is false. The police only fired in the air to disperse the herd.”
  
 
Source: Republica 

July 11, 2009

Medicinal ‘value’ leads to rise in huchil trade

Increasing demand of the Eurasian Eagle owl (commonly known as huchil) for medicinal, ornamental and ritual values in national and international markets has led to a rise in the illegal trade of the endangered birds in recent months.The police in coordination with different conservation organisations have arrested several people along with live seizures in the last two months from different parts of the country.

Data provided by Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN) shows that three seizures have been reported in the last two months from Nepal, whereas in 2007, only one case of seizure was reported, and none were reported in 2008.

On July 6, Surendra Upreti, a local of Kalanki, was arrested while trying to sell a bird. Similarly, four live birds and a dead one were recovered from four traders arrested by Kaski district forest officials on June 19. In another case, Ram Bahadur Gurung, a retired policeman, was arrested on May 13 while trying to sell the bird.

According to conservationists, these endangered birds were not known to be hunted for the illegal market till a few years back, but due to the increase in demand, locals are now actively involved in illegal trapping and killing the birds.

“These endangered species have a good market in Pakistan, India and the Middle East. The demand has led to a rapid increase in its trade," said Hem Sagar Baral, senior bird specialist. He said that the medicinal value of the birds has not been scientifically proven. “The locals are prompted to trap and kill the birds whenever they see them, just because of the hype that owls have high medicinal value and are highly priced in the international market,” Baral said.

He added that media reports have contributed to this hype as well. In Nepal, people domesticate these birds for use in witchcraft, though it is illegal to domesticate the owls as per the Wildlife Protection Act 2029 and Wildlife Protection Regulation 2030, he said.

These owls are sold for a price between Rs. 50, 000 to Rs. 500,000. According to Section 26 of National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act 1993, anyone found involved in its illegal trade can be fined up to Rs. 10,000 or jailed for up to two years.

  
 Source: The Kathmandu Post

July 7, 2009

 Tuskers on rampage 

A herd of wild elephants straying out of the Chitwan National Park and Parsa Wildlife Reserve ravaged Thori VDC, a remote area in Parsa district, wreaking havoc on crops. The wild elephant menace started again after a lull of a month, according to local residents. Wild tuskers descend on the villages during the evening on daily basis and destroy standing maize crops and go on a marauding spree, said Ram Prasad Dhungana, a local of Thori VDC-9. Dhungana said a herd of pachyderms did damage to maize crops planted in around 10 bigha of land.

 Source: The Kathmandu Post

July 6, 2009

Eurasian Eagle Owl trade on rise