3 leopards poached near Sariska Tiger Reserve, 2 arrested: Rajasthan
Two people have been arrested for allegedly poaching three leopards in jungles outside the buffer area of Rajasthan’s Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR), forest officials said.
The incident came to light on January 16 when the district forest administration received a photograph of a leopard carcass, clicked by a villager around 3km from the Sariska buffer zone, said district forest officer AK Srivastava.
Officials said the postmortem prima facie hinted at poisoning as the cause of death since there were no injury marks on the body. Postmortem of the two cubs were conducted on Friday and the viscera samples have been sent to a lab in Bareilly and forensic science lab in Jaipur for testing, said Srivastava.
Founder secretary, Sariska Tiger Foundation, Dinesh Kumar said, “It is an unfortunate incident and the real reason will be probed. We hope it is not what happened with tiger ST-1, who was poisoned to death in 2010.” He added that the area where the leopards are found is not part of STR but is close enough to send an alarming call.
Using citizen science to track illegal wildlife trade in the Himalayas
Citizen reporting tools could provide crucial data on the status of species and trade of their commercial products and help trade illegal wildlife trade. Several such citizen apps exist, some working in tandem with scientific institutions.
The Plantix app, which enables farmers to identify crop diseases, enlisted the help of Indian agronomists to build its initial image database and train the app’s deep neural network. Meanwhile, the iNaturalist app’s data goes into the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Other popular dedicated apps include iSpot, CitSci, Cybertracker and eBird, but postings to social media apps can also be mined via their metadata
Investments in citizen reporting tools could provide crucial data on the status of species and trade of their commercial products, a report by scientists from Kumaon University in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand and the University of Sydney, in the journal Trees, Forests and People says.
Apps could be developed for monitoring wildlife trade and other conservation and environmental issues, including agriculture and public health. In 2019 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that in India, illegal wildlife trade is “expanding rapidly, driven by demand for rare species – headed for the pet market – as well as for species believed to have medicinal properties.” It says that the main consumer markets are China and South East Asia, but live animals or their parts are also smuggled to the Gulf, Europe and Northern America.
Iron ore sludge pond breaks in Sambalpur: Odisha
A portion of the wall of an iron ore slurry pond at a steel plant, belonging to Jindal Steel Works (JSW) Ltd collapsed January 20, 2022, leading to iron ore slurry inundating the vicinity.
The guard of the Bhusan Steel plant, at Thelkoloi village under Rengali block in Odisha’s Sambalpur district was reported missing, according to a local official. Officials of Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) visited the spot January 21 to investigate the reason behind the collapse of the wall of the iron ore sludge pond.
The incident has led to protests in the area, with the affected villagers demanding that the plant authorities provide them adequate compensation for crop loss and sludge removal from the affected areas.
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Hunters killed 49 elephants in India in 2021: Official data
Hunters killed 49 elephants across India in 2021, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) said in response to an RTI query. Law-enforcement agencies have arrested 77 accused, it added.
The highest number of killings were recorded in Assam at nine, followed by Odisha and Tamil Nadu at eight each and Karnataka and Uttarakhand at three each. Both Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh logged two cases of elephant killings while Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra had one case each, it added.
In terms of arrests related to the killings of elephants, the maximum 17 people were held in Tamil Nadu followed by 15 in Assam, 13 in Odisha, 11 in West Bengal, according to the reply. Five people were held in Kerala, four each in Uttarakhand and Bihar, three in Maharashtra, two each in Meghalaya and Rajasthan and one in Karnataka, it added.
SC notice to Centre on plea for establishing Indian Environment Service
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a plea for establishment of ‘The Indian Environment Service’ and creation of a high powered committee for environment safeguards compliance in all projects at ground level.
A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh sought response form the Centre on the plea and observed that it has prima facie doubt whether any mandamus could be issued for creation of such a service.
However, it asked whether or not the Central government intends to implement TSR Subramanian Committee recommendation for creation of independent All India Environment Services on the lines of All India Service.
The apex court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Samar Vijay Singh seeking direction in constitution of a High Powered Committee for protection and monitoring of environmental projects at the field level. The plea referred to the report submitted by the High Powered Commitee formed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests under the chairmanship of former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian in 2014 which recommended creation of a new All-India service — the Indian Environment Service.
Environment India 