WCN

April 24, 2010

Poachers kill rhino

In yet another incident of poaching, an endangered one-horned rhino was found killed near Kasara in Chitwan National Park (CNP). Employees and security personnel heard gunshots in the evening on Wednesday near the CNP’s headquarters in Kasara. Later, they found an adult rhinoceros dead about three kilometres away from the office. A CNP source said the poachers had taken away the horn, while the hoofs were, however, intact.

Park officials carried out a post-mortem on the rhino on Thursday. According to ranger Rupak Maharjan, the rhino was about 20 years of age.Sources said poachers intensify their activities with the onset of the Nepali new year and and that most of the rhinos were killed in the Sauraha and Kasara areas. As per CNP, poachers killed 10 rhinos, while another 10 died of natural causes inside the park last year.

Source: The Kathmandu Post

April 18, 2010

Poacher’s release may boost wildlife crime

By Pragati Shahi

Notorious poacher Pemba Lama aka Yakche will be freed from Central Jail after two months.His impending release has opened a can of worms about the sincerity of the administration and judiciary. It also raises doubt as to whether the government really has the will to curb crime.

Yakche was given a five-year jail term for killing 20 rhinos — the highest tally in the poaching history of Nepal. Six others of Yakche’s gang got 10 years’ imprisonment. Yakche was arrested in 2005 in Chitwan National Park (CNP) and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by the then park authority. In 2008, Hetauda Appellate Court reversed the decision and meted out a reduced sentence of five years to over 100 convicted smugglers, including Yakche.

Former assistant chief warden of CNP and now an official at the Ministry of Forests Kamal Jung Kunwar said weak law enforcement is a challenge for conservationists and a shield for poachers.

According to the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (NPWC) Act 1973, rhino poachers or body parts smugglers will get five to 15 years’ jail or a fine of Rs.50,000 to Rs.100,000.

Conservationists say the decision to free poachers in 2007 was proof politicians are the poachers’ patrons. The then cabinet decided to release them on bail on ‘Democracy Day’.

Prasanna Yonzon of Wildlife Conservation Nepal said, “NPWC Act must be amended.” He feared that poaching would scale up as Yakche’s release will hearten smugglers. Supreme Court lawyer Padam Bahadur Shrestha said Yakche’s case was intentionally delayed and a technically weak case was forwarded to the court. B K Dalit of Team for Nature and Wildlife said the Hetauda Appellate Court sent the appeal very late to the Attorney General’s Office and the Supreme Court dismissed it saying that the time provided by the Act to appeal the case had expired.

SOURCE: The Kathmandu Post

April 10, 2010

Climate Change Conference

Wildlife Conservation Nepal in partnership with Go Green Campaign is organizing a four - day National Children Conference on climate change. Students from across the country are participating in the conference that began in Kathmandu today. The theme of the conference is "Let's take care of our planet." Around 50 students from different schools from across the country will participate in various activities and debate on global socio - environmental issues.

"The conference is aimed at strengthening environmental citizenship of children and youth," said Wildlife Conservation Nepal Program Manager Sanjeevani Yonzon Shrestha. Five best students in the conference will get an opportunity to represent the country to participate in an international forum on climate change.

According to Wildlife Conservation Nepal, the selected students will attend Children and Youth International Conference on Climate Change to be held in Brasilia, Brazil from June 5-10, 2010. " Five best students will be selected on the basis of their performances during the four - day conference in which they will participate in various activities related to climate change" added Sanjeevani Yonzon Shrestha.

Source: The Himalayan Times

February 10, 2010

Three skin traders nabbed along with tiger skin

With the marking of 2010 as the year of Tiger, conservationists have keenly developing strategies on protecting the last living tigers. Mr. Prasanna Yonzon, CEO of WCN says that we should work together to protect these charismatic animals in the wild. In this regard, Nepal Police, working on the information provided by WCN field operatives arrested three tiger skin traders; Hari Tamang, Sher Bahadur Tamang and a woman along with a 6ft long tiger skin at Dhangadi Bazaar of Kailali district on February 10, 2010. The traders are residents of Kanchanpur district.

Source: WCN

December 6, 2009

Tiger bones and skin seized

Acting on the information provided by WCN, Nepal Police seized a nine feet long tiger skin and 10 - 12 kgs of tiger bones from a rented apartment in Hakim Chowk, Bharatpur on December 4, 2009. The rented apartment belonged to Santosh Gurung, 41, of Manabu VDC ward no 9, Gorkha district. Along with the convicted Ram Tamang, 36, resident of Gangtok , Sikkim, India currently staying in Khairinitar, VDC ward no 4, Tanahu District and Chini Maya Tamang, 54 of Bijay Chowk, Gaidakot, Ward no 8, Nawalparasi was also arrested. The arrested have been handed over to District Forest Office for further investigation.

“The recently held international tiger workshop in Kathmandu has no doubt helped in bringing the tiger conservationist from all tiger range countries into a common platform for the conservation and protection of tigers in their natural habitat. However, despite all the effort tigers in protected areas are still being targeted by the poachers and traders which have a greater price outside the borders of Nepal. We need to unite and stand against the onslaught of poaching , says Prasanna Yonzon, CEO, WCN.