SONARPUR, 20 JUNE: The tourism industry in the Sunderbans is likely to get a boost after works for a tiger rescue centre at Jharkhali in Basanti is completed. The spot would be more attractive to the animal lovers as a crocodile breeding centre was also constructed near the tiger rehabilitation centre.

The rescue centre would be built on the bank of Harobhaga river in the Jharkhali area.

The cats in your para may be multiplying but at least one of the four cat species found in and around Calcutta is vanishing along with the wetlands the animals thrive on.

Wildlife specialists have no clue about the population of the fast-disappearing fishing cats, which have been spotted in the marshy areas on the city outskirts, and in Howrah and Hooghly as well as the Sunderban swamps.

The

Ecological diversity in Sunderban is at the threshold of decline. The fragile land here is being swallowed every day by gradual sea level rise, coastal erosion and tropical cyclones. Besides the global cause of sea level rise i.e. thermal expansion of sea water also responsible is the land degrading anthropogenic activity. An unsustainable situation has crept in the deltaic plain when natural capital is being used up faster than it can be replenished.

Human-wildlife conflict is widespread in today’s South Asia and the wider world. Forty-seven elephants, seven leopards and two tigers have been killed in the last twenty months in the forests of northern Bengal. The deaths of elephants were caused in most cases by speeding trains. The problem of
human-animal conflict is increasingly featuring in the media and in discussions. Interestingly, human-animal conflict has a rich history and dates back to the pre-historic times.

Ananya Dutta
KOLKATA: Scientists and officials of the Sunderban Tiger Reserve are investigating whether the Sunderban tiger is a different sub-species compared to those found in the sub-continent, officials told The Hindu on Sunday.

The Sunderban tiger exhibits certain distinctive morphological adaptations that make it particularly suited to the mangrove habitat of the Sunderban islands.

Th

KOLKATA, 19 SEPT: Forest officials of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (STR) successfully tranquillized a full grown female Royal Bengal tiger from Kumirmari island of Gosaba in South 24-Parganas last night.

According to forest officials, the big cat, which is around 10 feet long, had strayed into a village last night.

Ananya Dutta

KOLKATA: Two persons were killed in separate incidents when they were attacked by tigers in the Sunderbans over the weekend, officials of the Sunderban Tiger Reserve told The Hindu on Sunday.

KOLKATA, 13 JULY: At least 15 per cent of the Sunderbans ~ the world's largest mangrove forests ~ will be submerged by 2020 and neglecting the area further can have global implications as it is highly vulnerable to climate change, says a UNDP report.

This press release by UNDP provides an in-depth study of three districts in the Indian state of West Bengal, namely, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Uttar Dinajpur.

The study reveals that where we live can determine our well-being as there are wide variations in human development between districts and also between rural & urban populations.

Ananya Dutta

KOLKATA: Radio collars, meant for tracking the behaviour of tigers in the Sunderbans as part of the ongoing census, will be custom-made. For, the big cats here

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