Forest department helpless in checking jumbos straying out

Frequent transfer of officers posted to Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) and, increasing human habitat has made the Forest department helpless in checking the growing man-animal conflict. This has resulted in elephants straying out of the forests in the region, wildlife experts opine.

Stone-crushing units continue to operate in defiance of court order

Several government orders, verdicts of the courts, including directions from the Supreme Court, seem to have had no impact on the quarries and stone-crushing units around the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP). They have not only indulged in the illegal blasting of rock and quarrying, but have also been threatening and abusing people who raise a voice against them.

The State government has dropped a proposal to expand the Bhadra Tiger Reserve as well as include Kudremukh National Park under Project Tiger after local people opposed it, Law Minister Suresh Kumar told the Assembly on Thursday.

Replying to the issue raised by Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, the minister said the government shelved the plan in the interest of tribals and other forest dwellers.

Twenty-one of the 55 animals at the rescue centre (RC) of the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) have serious malfunction of liver and kidney, tests have revealed.

Preetha, a 19-year-old white tiger, that has an infection in its left eye.

Bangalore: Twenty lions and tigers have died over 15 months at the Bannerghatta Biological Park.

According a reply by the government to a question in the Assembly, nine tigers and 11 lions in the park died of various diseases and ailments between January 2010 and March 2011.
Of the nine tigers, six were from safari and three rescued from European circuses.

The Karnataka government

A total of nine tigers and 11 lions have died due to various reasons, including old age and ill health, in the Bannerghatta Zoological Park here in the past 14 months.

In a written reply furnished to the Legislative Assembly, Minister for Forest C H Vijayashankar today said that 75 animals, including lions, tigers, leopards, snakes and crocodiles, had died in the Park from January one, 2010 to

A 19-year-old lion, Ajith, died on Monday at the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP). Two lions and a tiger cub have died over the past few days in Bannerghatta Park.Ajith was ailing for the past one month and survived on fluid and supportive therapy. According to the post mortem report, the lion died of pneumonia and multi-organ failure.

The animal exchange programme between Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Garden, Mysore, and Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) saw as many as eight leopards; three China ring-necked pheasants and four lady Amherst pheasants shifted to the BBP on Wednesday.

The park has to make space for these animals owing it to the space crunch at the Mysore Zoo, which is procuring new animals including cheetahs an

Poornima Nataraj, Bangalore, Dec 17, DHNS:

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