INDIA: Tigress T-5 Found Dead In Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh

Tigress T-5 was found dead with injuries on her body in Madhya Pradesh's Panna Tiger Reserve on Saturday.

According to the Tiger Reserve administration, injuries on her body suggest that the animal may have died in a territorial fight with another big cat.

Tigress T-5 was one of the first big cats brought to the reserve in 2009 after the reserve had lost all of its tigers.

T-5 was brought here from Kanha Tiger Reserve.


Panna National Park is a national park located in Panna and Chhatarpur districts of Madhya Pradesh in India.

Among the animals found here are the tiger, leopard, chital, chinkara, nilgai, sambhar and sloth bear. The park is home to more than 200 species of birds including the bar-headed goose, honey buzzard, king vulture, blossom-headed parakeet, Changeable hawk-eagle and Indian vulture.

SOUTH AFRICA: Tourism Yields $12 Per Acre,Agriculture Yields $3

TOFTigers, the nature travel action charity, which recently launched it‘s Good Wildlife Travel Guide to India and Nepal’ is quite hopeful that niche tourism segment in India, mainly wildlife nature tourism, will grow manifold. “The niche tourism segment in India is very small and still very young.

It is just 15-16 years old. We are still very small but it is going to be much bigger. However, we need to plan very carefully so that tourism can be sustainable,” Julian Matthews, Chairman, TOFTTigers, said. He opined that parks with both tigers and tourism hold the greatest density of tigers left in India.

“We aim to collectively spread best practice tourism and its indirect and direct revenues, help manage visitors and their experiences more effectively, and use eco-tourism’s extraordinary spending power and ability to change local lives and livelihoods to save the forest habitats of India,” he added.

Talking about TOFTigers role on creating awareness about sustainability and tiger tourism, he said, “We got 250 travel companies across the globe including 140 in India. We got about 90 tour operators from the world. There is a supply chain pressure on TOFTigers to make niche tourism responsible and sustainable. We want to make sure that our efforts work towards sustainability of the tourism. We want to work together to make tourism a viable conservation tool. We are working with the Ministry, MoEF and Field Directors to make it more responsible. He added that the charity is trying to educate everybody – visitor, provider, the government, the tourism sector in terms of what tourism can be and what it should be doing.

He suggested placing monetary value on parks that comes close to the cost of maintaining it. “Tourism places a value on a wilderness resource, like no other non-extractive industry. In fact, in South Africa, wilderness tourism is generating US$12 per acre, while agricultural land gets only US$3 per acre per annum. Moreover, South Africa’s national parks are almost paid for by tourism, to the tune of 76 per cent of their annual budget. India’s tourism charges and park fees on the other hand make only a single digit impact on the annual park budgets,” he added.

Responding a question over overcrowding of lodges at Corbett National Park, he said that there needs to be rule, regulator and monitoring mechanism so that sustainability is not compromised. “TOFTigers is the only organisation in India which is monitoring the activities. We need to engage local communities actively in conservation. We need to make local community partners in conservation by educating them about the benefits of conservation,” he added.

TOFTigers’ guide highlights over 220 of India and Nepal’s best and most responsible nature travel providers, best eco-lodges and India’s only luxury cruise ship. From the wilds of Kanha Tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, to the coffee plantations of Coorg, it covers 22 of India and Nepal’s finest reserves, sanctuaries, cruise ship on Brahmaputra river and areas of outstanding beauty and is the ‘Go To’ guide for travellers who want to go wild on their next adventure.

INDIA: Unique Idea To Stop Poaching At Pench National Park

Located at a distance of around 70km from Nagpur, the tiger reserve — which was declared as India's 25th reserve in 1999 — has a 257.26 sq km core area bordering Madhya Pradesh and a 483.96 sq km buffer zone. It also has an eco-tourism area.

The state forest department is trying to kill two birds with one stone. To deter poaching, illegal tree felling and grazing in the buffer zone of the Pench wildlife sanctuary, the authorities have begun a unique experiment where tourism and increased footfalls would be used to deter intrusions into the protected areas.

On an experimental basis, the authorities would allow tourists to take part in guided foot patrolling, machan watch tourism (during summers) and vehicle patrolling. The revenue earned from the initiative would be ploughed back into the local community from where guides would also be selected, so that they are involved in the conservation effort and collude with poachers.

"This would act as a protection mechanism against poaching. Poachers would not enter the forest areas due to the presence of people. It will also provide employment for the locals," MS Reddy, chief conservator of forests and field director of the Pench Tiger Project, told dna, adding that this was the first time that the experiment was being tried out in Maharashtra.

Otherwise, night time movement is not allowed in the forest. "We do not have sufficient vehicles and staff. So, we are encouraging more people to come to the area," Reddy said, adding that "people will enjoy moving around in the forest at night as it would enable them to witness nocturnal life."

The pilot project will be undertaken in the Nagalwadi range, which is part of the buffer zone of the tiger project. This range, coupled with the Pavni range, together cover 202 sq km area of the buffer zone, and sees illegal tree felling, grazing of animals and poaching. The Nagalwadi range was handed over to the reserve from the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) in April, 2015.

Located at a distance of around 70km from Nagpur, the tiger reserve — which was declared as India's 25th reserve in 1999 — has a 257.26 sq km core area bordering Madhya Pradesh and a 483.96 sq km buffer zone. It also has an eco-tourism area.

The reserve — which has 21 tigers, 33 species of mammals, over 160 bird species, reptiles, fishes and amphibians — is an important corridor between the forest areas of Madhya Pradesh (Pench Tiger Reserve) and Nagzira-Navegaon and Tadoba- Andhari Tiger Reserves in Maharashtra.

Patrolling on foot in the jungles during the night and afternoon will be a unique experience for tourists and enable them to see bio-diversity as against travelling by vehicle in forest areas, wherein they can sight only big animals. The tourists will be accompanied by forest guards and guides on these trails.

The machans in the forests are otherwise used once a year for wildlife counting. Now, tourists would be able to use them seven times a month, i.e. during full moon nights and three days before and after it to sight animals from February 15 to June 15. Tourists will also be able to travel with forest guards in vehicles at night and the wee hours of the morning for patrolling.

However, to prevent poachers from infiltrating as tourists and prevent unruly behavior, the department has taken a series of measures like restricting numbers, allowing small batches, taking identity proofs, making it mandatory for visitors to register at least four days in advance and giving priority to people and NGOs working for conservation.

The use of liquor, narcotics, cigarettes, tobacco and search lights, gutkha, mobiles will also be banned, though binoculars would be allowed.

"Our forest guards will accompany them, which will prevent activities like drinking. Vehicles will also be checked," said Reddy.

Part of the funds generated will be given to the guides, who will be locals, while the remaining amount will be ploughed back into the local gram samiti and the Pench Tiger Conservation Foundation.