A standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with the emergency arising due to the straying of tigers in human-dominated areas has been issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), s

A tiger that has strayed into human habitation must be guided back to forest, chemically immobilised, trapped but, unless it is established as a man-eater, not killed, states a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) framed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority to deal with man-tiger conflict.

The SOP, circulated among chief wildlife wardens last month, states that "under no circumstances must a tiger be eliminated by invoking the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, if it is not habituated for causing human death". And declaring it a man-eater must also be a well-deliberated exercise that differentiates a chance man-killer from a habituated human stalker that feeds on the body and avoids its natural prey, says the SOP.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has laid down a Standard Operating Procedure to deal with emergencies arising out of straying of tigers into human habitations.

In a directive to all Heads of Forest Forces and Chief Wildlife Wardens in Tiger Range States, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has asked them to translate the SOP in regional languages and circulate it widely among the field staff for guidance.

Advisories To Deal With Situations When Big Cats Stray Into Human Habitats

Pune: The chief wildlife warden of Maharashtra has issued advisories to the state’s four tiger reserves —Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Kolhapur, Tadoba-Andhari in Chandrapur, Pench in Nagpur and Melghat in Amravati — to follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) recently released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), framed to deal with emergencies arising because of tigers straying into humandominated landscapes.

BHOPAL: The white tiger will not be shifted to Madhua forest.

Jaipur: In an ambitious conservation plan, sloth bears may be introduced in the Sariska Tiger Reserve. Following the successful relocation of tigers, the initiative aims to re-introduce an animal that had disappeared from Sariska during the early twentieth century.

Bina Kak, minister of tourism for forests and environment, said, “Sloth bears would be re-introduced from Kota and Mount Abu. Sloth bear population in Mount Abu is beyond what the area can hold leading to man-animal conflict. The genetic stock of the sloth bears from Kota and Mount Abu areas and of Sariska is assumed to be similar as they are in semiarid areas in Aravalli hills.”

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has instructed the PCCF/HOFF(s) and Chief Wildlife Wardens of all “Tiger Range States” to adhere to a clearly defined Standard Operation Procedure (

A committee set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests has suggested new parameters to declare pristine forested areas as 'inviolate' and thus out of bounds for mining or other harmful non-forest activities.

The panel, headed by former environment secretary T Chatterjee, has recommended that national parks and wildlife sanctuaries; areas within a kilometre of protected areas; compact patches of very dense forests; last remnants of forest types located in direct draining catchment of first order perennial streams being utilised as water source or feeder stream for water supply schemes; areas in direct draining catchment of first-order perennial streams feeding hydro-power projects and boundaries of important wetlands "shall be automatically labeled inviolate".

Sariska: The interim pause in the relocation experiment for re-populating the Sariska tiger reserve with big cats was finally broken when two-year-old tigress Beena 1 was released at the reserve on Tuesday evening.

Wildlife and forest officials tranquilized Beena 1 and fixed a satellite collar in Ranthambhore before it was released at Sariska. The officials are hopeful that its sibling will be tranquilized on Wednesday after which she will also be shifted to Sariska to take the total population of big cats in the reserve to nine.

On 4 FEBRUARY 2005, two weeks after I reported the local extinction of tigers in Sariska, Project Tiger (PT) chief Rajesh Gopal told the Hindustan Times that a tiger was spotted and tracked by a te