Satya Priya Sinha and Bitapi.C.Sinha
Thursday, 25 February 2021
Man Animal Interaction in special reference to Protected areas including Gir NP
Friday, 29 January 2021
Important places to visit in Gir NP/WLS Gujarat By Dr SPSinha
Last March, 2020, after attending COP 13, workshop held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, had opportunity to visit both the temple Kankai maa and Banej my favourite places in Gir. This time lots of changes seen in both the places as compared to earlier years of 80. No comparison but improved a lot. Because of rain road conditions was badly hampered and in some place tree also encroached towards road on the way to Banej. At Banej temple area river was flowing and new thing which I observed was the wild animals were observed quite close to the temple steps. This area had number Sambar deer, Crocodiles and Python which we observed. It seems wilderness and tree cover has increased which is good. Sambar deer seems to be quite familiar to presence of visitors and not shy of camera clicks.
Tuesday, 26 January 2021
MANAGEMENT ACTION PLAN FOR PROPOSED MITHIYALA WILDLIFESANCTUARY A SATELLITE OF GIR PROTECTED AREA Dr SP Sinha
INTRODUCTION
Conserved this area known as Mithiyala
Forest. Although due to number of development activities and encroachments most
of peripheral forest corridor link between Gir and other areas are no more
existing which once happened to be there. Existing area is degraded due lack of
management inputs and protection. During that period efforts made by the then
State Forest Officer Shri Dalip Sinhji extensively planted local variety of
plant species, palatable grasses and fruit bearing trees by considering the
preferences of wild animals found in this area. Due to less rain fall and
terrain and frequent droughts water conservation measures like construction of
series of check dams, reservoirs and gully traps still exists in this area and
becomes the historical land marks for present days to learn and follow. Most of
them are still existing and functioning after 100 year except in some area
because of poor maintenance earthen boundaries started seepage and needs fresh
construction.
H.E.Dhramakumar Sinhji, a well know wildlife
conservationist and naturalist in his famous book ‘ Birds of Saurashtra’
mentioned about the distribution of lessor florican and other rare and
endangered birds visiting the area. Shri P.C.Desai in his book ‘Kudarat Ni
Kedeyo’ has elaborately mentioned about wildlife and other information’s of
Mithiyala forest in the past years.
On a hilltop a well designed and fully furnished Rest
House along with number of peripheral infrastructures was constructed inside
the Mythiyala forest three kms from
Monday, 25 January 2021
The Proposed Introduction of the Great One Horned Rhinoceros in Corbett Tiger Reserve Uttarakhand. How far advisable?
Shri V.B.Sawarker, IFS (Retd) , Former
Director of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun
and Dr SP Sinha,
Genesis
The Great one horned rhinoceros, hereinafter referred to as rhino was
Red Listed by IUCN as an endangered species since 1986. In 2008 it was
downgraded to the status vulnerable. It however widely continues to be
considered endangered in the country owing to its restricted geographical distribution,
the unabated threat of poaching and now shifts in the climate, consequently the
hydrological regimes. Rhino is listed under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife
(Protection) Act 1972, thus providing the species the highest degree of
protection and conservation priority under the law.
On 26th November 2019 during the 14th Meeting of
the Uttarakhand State Board for Wildlife (UKSBWL) a decision was taken to
‘reintroduce’ the rhino in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR). As per the set
procedure the proposal would have to go to the Indian Board for Wildlife (IBWL),
Government of India for its consideration and decision.
Sources of six newspapers viz. the PTI, Hindustan Times, Pioneer, the
Times of India, Express News Service and Dailyhunt mention among other aspects
of the decision of the UKSBWL about reintroduction of the rhino, that it stands to ‘boost tourism’ in CTR as one of the outcomes. It
needs to be stated that wildlife tourism in the country although commonly
referred to as Eco-tourism is nowhere near the accepted definition of the term—being
unquestionably run as mass tourism and money making industry as its sole
purpose. The tourism industry has a powerful clout and there are signs of the
times that it has started dictating unethical management practices within the
protected areas and tiger reserves, precisely in those that are the most
popular visitor destinations. Another example besides the one under discussion
is the proposal in Madhya Pradesh to reintroduce the highly zoo inbred white
tiger into the Sanjay Dubri tiger reserve to pander to visitor curiosity and
attraction with conservation ethics taking a back seat. Records indicate that
the first white tiger was found in this area during 1915. But the celebrated
example pertains to the orphaned (?) white tiger cub found by the Maharaja of
Rewa in 1951 that was named Mohan. The white tigers in zoos are descendants of
Mohan. This reintroduction has no conservation value at all and such influence
by the tourism lobby and those others who are intent to support it are setting
very dangerous portents.
Tuesday, 29 December 2020
Experiences with Rhino, Tiger and Elephants in Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh.
In 1987, after successfully executing two major assignments one of them was my doctoral work on Gir Lion study in Gujarat, the survey of snow leopard in Trans Himalayas and my contribution to the EIA of Gori Ganga River, I was looking forward for some new assignment. During the same year the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun (WII) was involved in a collaborative project with UP Forest Department on monitoring the reintroduced rhinos in Dudhwa National Park (DNP) under the supervision of Prof VB Sawarkar, IFS. Considering my field experience in wildlife ecology that included several ecosystems, habitats and species, I was offered the task—intensive monitoring of the re-introduced rhinos leading to establishment of their population. A well-wisher had told me that it may prove a challenging assignment as not many have endured the hardships of living and working under the harsh conditions of those forests that were dominated with terai vegetation—swamps and tall wet grasslands with dense sal forests on the upland areas. It was known that dacoits often camped in these forests to escape from law, and tigers inhabiting the park had earned some notoriety in attacking people. There was a history of man-eating tigers, although most incidents had taken place outside the park in sugarcane fields dotted with swamps. The HQ of the project was at Salukapur that had a forest rest house (FRH) and a small establishment of field staff. The area was malaria prone. I was informed that one researcher had already left the Salukapur monitoring center. Accepting such a challenging assignment was not new to me, so I decided to accept it.
Monday, 21 December 2020
Experiences during Mountaineering expeditions: A unknown Bonding with the mountains
Call of the Mountains; A divine attachment
Dr Satya Priya Sinha
As a matter of fact, most renowned people usually prefer to write their memoirs based on their lifetime endeavors, experiences, and achievements while some others pen their life’s pages in their biographies. But I have no intention to do so because I am neither a renowned person nor a famous individual. As I am a simple person, I just wish to share my experiences that I felt and confronted on the mountains as a mountaineer and in the wilderness as a researcher in different National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries of India over a span of almost 40 years. Hopefully, in the coming years I would add my recent experiences to this chronicle.
True wilderness has become a matter of the bygone era as the damaging footprints of mankind even in the remotest of forests have gradually diminished them along with their jewels - the wild animals.
Our team leader was a strict disciplinarian and an adept climber himself. In his mountaineering career, he remained totally devoted to this part of his vocation. In one of the expeditions, when his leg got fractured, he had trudged nearly five kilometers and had reached a motorable stretch from where he was rescued.
Later during my training, I had a golden opportunity to work directly with Tenzing Norgay, the first Everest summiter and Nawang Gombu, who had scaled Mount Everest twice. One thing which I have learned in their association is to respect the Mountains, its wilderness and to face the odds cheerfully despite the hardships. I had always found Tenzing in a cheerful mood and encouraging the entire team. Later I followed the edicts of these two great mountaineers when I was working in Ladakh in search of the elusive snow leopard. In Ladakh, I met two very old Lamas in one of the villages in Markha valley. Local people told me that those Lamas were very old and highly respected in the valley. They had come to Markha valley for the last rites of a Lama who had died recently in a Gompa near Hankar, which was the last village in this valley. I told them that since last 8 months we were in search of the snow leopard without any success. After a few moments, one of the Lamas with a wide smile on his face predicted that I would see the animal in that valley within a short time and he was right as later, during the very next month, we sighted a snow leopard in the Markha valley.
Living with lion and leopard in Gir National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary, Saurashtra, Gujarat
Living with lion and leopard in Gir National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary, Saurashtra, Gujarat
Dr SP Sinha
My experiences with lions of Gir
My association with Gir national park began in 1978 when I first arrived there with my colleagues as a common visitor and saw a pride of lions resting. They were totally indifferent to the presence of humans around them. There is no doubt it was a fascinating experience to see lions in the wild. Their magnificence stirred in me an ardent desire to work on the lion in detail and I decided to do my doctorate on the Gir lions. Thereafter, as of my resolve, from 1980 to 1985 I became a part of the Gir sanctuary and its lions. When tracking lions during the day and then at nights in those years of my research I had a clear impression that by disposition lions were very gentle and disciplined animals. A lion never attacks humans unless pestered and provoked but even then unless the culprit is within a striking distance only then a lion may attack in self defense. In some cases, sudden confrontation with the animals might precipitate fatal accidents.
I used to track three prides on a regular basis. I experienced that if a pride or an individual lion are being followed at a safe distance—for the lions that is—for a long stretch of time, the lions get used to the person and tolerate the presence so long as the approach is discreet. During the night time the big cats are very active, therefore, while tracking them at night exercising adequate caution is necessary. One has to be extra cautious during the mating period of lions to avoid an attack, which often can prove fatal.
During my research period, I never at any time felt uneasiness in proximity of lions but I was more careful in areas with the known presence of leopards; I was apprehensive while following lions along river courses during the day or the nights since crocodiles as well as leopards were always active in such riparian areas.
T
Nomadic Male lion Tipu monitored regularly in Gir NP
lionesses of study pride and
One of the male member of Lion pride
My field guide Abla Jaffer an excellent wild lifer
Inside the Gir NP maldharies rear the livestock and sell the milk
Maldhari Charan family
Kankai Maata temple inside Gir NP
On the occasion of completion of 50 years of Gir National Park, facilitation ceremony
in search of Snow Leopard in Trans-Himalayas covering Uttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir (Ladakh)
In search of the elusive lord of the Mountains :The Snow Leopard in Trans-Himalayas covering Uttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir (Ladakh)
During my visit to Srinagar in 1985, I had seen pelts of snow leopard and other endangered species being sold in the market place. Jammu and Kashmir have a different wildlife protection Act, and the state did not follow the central Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 till the year 1986. There are several parallel provisions but with gaps. Local people, out of frustration kill snow leopards, in retaliation for the loss of their livestock. In a village of Markha Valley, one night I had seen a snow leopard creeping into a sheep’s pen and causing death of 27 sheep. Snow leopard actually would have killed only a few animals but others in the same pen died from panic, stampede and suffocation. This is a typical consequence, unfortunate as it is, when a predator enters a pen. The natural prey of snow leopard like wild sheep (blue sheep / Bharal), goats, have been reduced through excessive hunting by local people. This has consequences for livestock. Every year large number of Bakarwals along with their flocks of sheep climb up to the alpine grasslands in summer months; during this journey a number of wild sheep and goats are killed by the snow leopard. Another reason for the decline of the natural prey base is the severe competition for food as growing number of livestock have now exerted serious pressure on wild ungulates within their preferred grazing areas. If these trends continue—there does not appear to be any favorable change—it is doubtful that the snow leopard will survive across its natural range except in few isolated areas or some in captivity. While this is true of present times the situation was not too different in the distant past
Alarmed by these reports, in 1985-86 a Snow leopard Survey was launched jointly by some of the international conservation agencies and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India to assess the status of the snow leopard and its prey. The survey was undertaken by some scientists of the Wildlife Institute of India drafted specifically for this purpose and the International Snow Leopard Trust, USA, WWF-International and US Fish and Wildlife Service. The Survey team included besides myself, a zoologist, Pallav Das, sociologist, Raghu Chundavat, botanist and Dr J.L.Fox, a representative of the International Snow Leopard Trust. The objectives of this survey included ascertaining the status of snow leopard and its prey base in Uttar Pradesh--now the Garhwal region of Himalayas in the Uttarakhand state, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir especially the Ladakh region. The areas covered during the survey included all the representative snow leopard habitats throughout northwestern India. The survey sites were within the alpine, sub-alpine, and arid desert zones of Himalayan and trans-Himalayan mountains. They ranged from the high desert Zanskar mountains of central Ladakh, through somewhat moist alpine forests of the southern slopes of the Himalayas along the northern region of Uttar Pradesh and the Pir Panjal Range in Himachal Pradesh. The elevation of survey areas ranged from 2000m to 5000 m.
Initial surveys from 9 November to 22 December, 1985 were conducted in the upper Suru / Zanskar Valleys, south of Kargil in Ladakh, J&K. Further surveys in this general location, and over Pensi La to Padam in Zanskar, were conducted from 26 June to 15 July, 1986. This included the areas from which the Rangdom Wildlife Reserve was later carved out. The Markha valley region, south of Leh, Ladakh, was surveyed in three stints - from 1-15 January, 1986; 23 February to 28 March, 1986 and during 4-8 July 1986. This region included areas which were later notified to constitute the Hemis National Park. The Shang Wildlife Sanctuary, northeast of and adjacent to Markha valley, was surveyed from 31 December, 1985 to 6 January, 1986, and again during 8-11 July, 1986. Areas to the south of Markha valley, which were under consideration for protected area status, were surveyed from 26 June to 4 July 1986. The Himalayan crest region in the vicinity of Shingo La was surveyed from 12-21 June 1986 as far as Jispa in Lahul, Himachal Pradesh and Padam in Zanskar, Jammu and Kashmir.
Wooley hare
Blue sheep fawn and herd in Kommarula Pass in Markha valley
Topographical features of different valleys in Trans-Himalayas during survey of snow leopard
Snow leopard in the wild in Markha Valley, Laddakh
Photo by Dr Satya Priya Sinha on 8 March, 1986)
Sunday, 20 December 2020
Assessment of Corridor Viability and Habitat Restoration between Dudhwa National Park and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary and its ManagementKheri District, Uttar Pradesh, India
Dr.
Satya Priya Sinha, Project Coordinator
INTRODUCTION
The
terai is one of the worlds most spectacular landscapes, encompassing the tall
grasslands and sal forests of the southern slopes and foothill valleys of the
eastern Himalayas. This biologically diverse landscape spans as area of
approximately 12.3 million acres (5 million hectares) from Nepal’s Bagmati
River in the east to India’s Yamuna River in the west. The Terai is home of
endangered wildlife such as the tiger, Greater One-horned rhino, Asian
elephant, sloth bear, gaur and Gangetic river dolphin and also contains vital
migratory and breeding habitat for over 500 bird species.
In fact, the Terai landscape
is one of the last few places in the world where rhino, elephants and tigers
coexist and offers exciting and urgent need for conservation. This landscape
contains two Asian Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy (AREAS) priority
populations of Greater Indian One horned Rhinos. In fact, terai landscape area
supports the second largest population of Greater One-horned rhinos in the
world along with three reintroduced rhino population.
Fifty years ago, terai (In Sanskrit
for “lowlands”) stretched across 1,600 kilometers of rich forests and tall
grasslands. Since than, the exploitation and unsustainable management of forest
resources has led to fragmentation and degradation of natural habitat.
Approximately 3 million people, of which 50 percent subsist below the poverty
line, live in this landscape and depend on its resources for their livelihood.
In addition to the degradation of habitat, specific threats to the landscape,
and to its rhinos, elephants, and tigers, include poaching and illegal wildlife
trade, as well as human- wildlife conflict (WWF-Nepal Terai ARC).
Corridor
plays an important role in management of landscape, by linking fragmented
forest patches and provides accessibility to alternative habitat for long
ranging animals. It also helps in maintaining gene flow as it is required to
prevent inbreeding depression thus causing extinction (Harris, 1984). In recent
years a number of wildlife habitats have under gone or are threatened with
fragmentation due to various anthropogenic factors and this has actually
affected large mammal population residing in them (Johnsingh et al 1990, 91).