MANAGEMENT ACTION PLAN FOR PROPOSED MITHIYALA WILDLIFESANCTUARY A SATELLITE OF GIR PROTECTED AREA Dr SP Sinha

 

 

                                                               

INTRODUCTION

Mithiyala Forest was under the Bhavnagar State before the Independence and has a long historical account in the field of Wildlife Conservation and its management specifically in lion conservation during that period. Due to keen interests and loves for the wildlife and its conservation, Maharaja of Bhavnagar State, H.H. Shri Krishankumar Sinhji,

 

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 Khambha Village. These complexes were used for resting, during hunting of lion, wild boar and other wildlife with other guests and dignitaries. These complexes in recent years despite of long years of service are still standing with same dignity. Although in present day’s it is maintained well but care must be taken while repairing so that the original structure is not altered. Still a metallic measuring scale and two water tanks exist which indicates that after hunting operation wild animals were measured and pelt was processed and cleaned in these tanks. These are important spots to be preserved for the future generations.

 

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 26^th November 2019 during the 14^th 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.

 Four out of the six newspapers cited above have referred to the decision of UKSBWL as being considered an ‘Experimental Reintroduction’, something that does not exist in any guideline for the purpose, especially in case of a Red Listed species and those listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 that carry the highest conservation priority.

 

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.

 

Experiences during Mountaineering expeditions: A unknown Bonding with the mountains

                               Call of the Mountains;  A divine attachment 

By

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.

                                  In Gangotri Glacier area, Garhwal Himalaya

                                 

                                Advance Mountaineering course in HMI, Darjeeling

                            Graduation ceremony at HMI Hon Defense Secretary presenting the ice axe

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

                                                

                                 One of the Male member of study pride of Lion

                                       Myself with Lone nomadic male lion Tipu

                       

    

                               My field guide Abla Jaffer an excellent wild lifer

Inside the Gir NP maldharies rear the livestock and sell the milk

                                            Maldhari hut and its entrance 

                                        Maldharies in their traditional dress

Maldhari  Charan family 

                                Tulsishyam temple inside Gir Wildlife Sanctuary

                                        Banej Temple inside Gir WlS

                                        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.

 

                   Nun kun peak and the Zanskar  Vally marsh near Zuldok Village

                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

                                       Local inhabitant of Zuldok village of Zanskar valley                                   

                            Snow leopard in the wild in Markha Valley, Laddakh

                             Photo by Dr Satya Priya Sinha on 8 March, 1986)

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

                                                                            And team  

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).

 Dudhwa National Park and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary are important habitat for large mammals like rhino, elephant, tiger, swamp deer and other wild animals found in the terai and bhabar range. Once these areas had abundant population of rhinoceros (Laurie, 1978), linked with each other, now has reintroduced and isolated populations. A number of rhinoceros have been reintroduced in recent past from Pobitara Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam and The Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal to Dudhwa in India (Sale and Singh, 1987, Sinha and Sawarkar, 1993) and from the Royal Chitwan National Park to Royal Bardia National Park in Nepal (Barner, 1988, Mishra and Dinertein, 1987, Jnawali and Wegge, 1993) to establish new viable breeding populations and safeguard this species from various threats. The Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary has three rhinos dispersed from Royal Bardia National Park to Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.