Gallagher the Comedian visits Big Cat Rescue

Gallagher

Big Cat Rescue was visited by one of the great long time names in comedy, Gallagher.

He is working on an animated animal based cartoon that will feature a lion, tiger and leopard in supporting roles.

He came to the sanctuary to learn more about their behavior.

Based on his pose in the photo, he is a quick study!

Comedy Legend Gallagher visits New York, NY and Johnstown, PA. Come along for the ride.

Bangkok: India should step up efforts to revamp its forest service and create a separate wildlife cadre for tigers which can work in partnership with other agencies to protect the animal, a top conservationist has said.

Valmik Thapar, an Indian conservationist, is of the view that when the British left India they also left behind the Indian Forest Service, whose primary duty was cutting of forests and use of forests.

“That scenario has changed now, it is not only about protecting the forest but also protecting its wildlife,” he said adding that wildlife protection was a very tiny part of the service and not sufficient and called for a wildlife cadre.

“If India wants more landscape for tigers, a separate cadre has to be carved,” he said on the sidelines of a Tiger protection conference here. “The time has come for change, new partnerships without that tigers won’t be alive,” he said.

The Tiger conference organised by the UN office of Drugs and Crime saw police and customs heads and Tiger conservationists from 13 Asian countries agreeing to tighten controls and improve cross border cooperation to curb the illegal smuggling of tigers and other critically endangered species.

“We must take immediate and urgent action to save these magnificent animals from extinction,” Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the World Customs Organisation said. Thapar said poaching was linked to a government.

“Poaching accelerates, when there is a bad and weak government as poachers exploit these gaps,” he said, adding that bad governance and bad political leadership also led to the endangerment of animal species.

He felt that India’s forest department did not like change. “We need to rethink otherwise we have no hope,” he lamented. Meanwhile, the Global Tiger Initiative of the World Bank said India faced major challenges in sustaining the integrity and inviolability of core tiger habitats and corridors (mounting pressures from roads, mining and extraction industries)

It said that one billion US dollars were needed to relocate villages out of the core areas.

Another challenge was in maintaining tiger occupancy in habitats outside tiger reserves and noted there was a 20 percent in tiger occupancy observed habitats outside designated tiger reserves. A third challenge according to the Tiger Initiative was managing human-wildlife relationships noting there had been increased tiger-human conflict in some landscapes.

However the Global Initiative also noted that India had made some major achievements. These included addition of 2,500 km of new tiger habitat by establishing two new Tiger Reserves bringing a total of 54,656 Km2 under 41 Tiger reserves. This represented a five per cent increase in tiger habitat under protection, it said adding that five more tiger reserves were under establishment and another six were proposed.

It said across the country, tiger and prey estimations had recorded a modest increase in tiger numbers and that wildlife corridors connecting critical tiger breeding areas had been identified and published.

“If we lose an emblematic species like the Tiger, mankind will be acknowledging that it is prepared to lose any animal on the planet. This must not be allowed to happen,” Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the UNODC told the conference adding that “by our actions we must show that we have the capacity, the ability and the commitment to protect other species living on this planet.”

http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/india-must-make-wildlife-cadre-to-protect-tigers_759292.html

CHANDRAPUR/NAGPUR: A tigress was found dead and its sub-adult cub has been traced close by on the premises of Lohara teak research centre, 3km from Chandrapur, on Sunday.

This is the second tiger death in a month in the district. On January 23, a full-grown tiger was electrocuted in Zaran in FDCM area near Chandrapur.

The tigress seems to have died after being hit by an unidentified vehicle while crossing the road. Experts say the spot seems to be a favourite crossing as a tigress had met the same fate in February 2006.

Senior officials confirmed presence of a cub nearby, who is unable to stand on its legs after the accident. “The cub, suspected to be sub-adult, is in a state of shock. We are closely monitoring movement of the cub and have installed camera traps. A bait has also been tied near the cub. A search of the area has revealed that there is only one cub,” they said. However, experts suspect that there might be another cub which must have moved ahead.

On Sunday, patrolling staff of the teak centre noticed carcass of the tigress in compartment no. 397 close to the Chandrapur-Mul road. It took more than five hours for the senior officers of Chandrapur circle to reach the spot after the carcass was noticed.

A visit to the spot revealed that the carcass was fresh and blood was oozing out from the nose and the right hind limb was slashed. The 8-year-old beast may have died early in the morning.

“All the body parts of the tigress are intact and hence possibility of poaching is ruled out,” officials said. The big cat was 2.40 metres in length and 94cm in height.

Sources claimed that the tigress had its location in the teak research nursery and forest around. The tigress had a 20-cm-long gash in the right hind limb. A deep cut ripped the skin revealing bone close to the claw.

“The animal’s joint at the place of fresh injury has also been dislocated. There is also a 4-cm-long injury on the right forelimb which appears a bit old. The tigress might have died due to excessive internal bleeding,” officials said, quoting veterinary doctors.

They ruled out the possibility of electrocution as no burn marks were found on the body. Veterinary doctors who performed autopsy later deduced the internal haemorrhage as a cause of death.

Deputy conservator of forests (DyCF) P Kalyankumar informed that the tigress might have been hit by some vehicle while crossing the road. The carcass was burned in the presence of forest officials and NGOs in the evening.

Nitin Desai, Central India director of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), said, “It’s a big loss as a tigress delivers at least 16 cubs during her life circle. It is high time vehicular traffic is regulated on Chandrapur-Mul road.”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Tigress-dies-in-road-accident-cub-in-shock/articleshow/11955987.cms

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois officials are looking to add some teeth to the state’s exotic animal laws.

Spurred by an incident last year in which the owner of a wild animal farm in Ohio released lions, tigers, bears and other animals from their enclosures, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is pushing for a rewrite of the state’s dangerous animal laws.

Agency spokesman Chris McCloud said officials believe an update is needed because the statutes haven’t been beefed up since they were approved in 1969.

“This is something we had thought about for a while. We thought it would be a good time to do something,” McCloud said. “Clearly, the case in Ohio brought some publicity to it.”

Under legislation filed last week by state Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, the state would update guidelines for permits, transportation and record-keeping for exotic animal owners.

The law affects people who own a a variety of wild game, including lions, tigers, cougars and leopards. It also covers the owners of bears, hyenas, elephants, gila monsters, kangaroos, wallabies, scorpions and certain dangerously venomous spiders.

McCloud said ownership of dangerous animals has changed since the law was first written more than 40 years ago. For example, the proposed update addresses a number of types of snakes, including boas and pythons.

The proposal has drawn the attention of reptile owners, who are concerned the proposal is too broad in its scope.

Andrew Wyatt, chief executive owner of the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers, said the organization plans to fight the proposal, which would alter state laws for people who own boas, pythons and anacondas.

“Essentially, this would ban private ownership,” Wyatt said. “I’m not particularly happy about it. Reptiles had nothing to do with what happened in Zanesville, Ohio.”

In the Ohio case, police officers were forced to kill more than 50 animals that were running loose in Ohio after their owner let them loose and killed himself.

McCloud said the proposal is not a done deal.

“This is just the introduction. I think the staff is open to hearing comments from folks,” McCloud said.

The legislation is Senate Bill 3264.

kurt.erickson@lee.net|782-4043

Read more: State wants tougher rules on exotic animals http://www.herald-review.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/state-wants-tougher-rules-on-exotic-animals/article_3acf4d1a-514b-11e1-9c35-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1mrv6SOqS
From the Herald & Review

Letter to Senator Heather Steans re: SB 3264

RE:  SB 3264 in IL to put some teeth into your wildlife laws http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/97/SB/09700SB3264.htm

It is a mixed bag for future of tigers.

A captive bred tigress in Panna, Madhya Pradesh, has become world’s first big cat to deliver in wild but pregnancy of a relocated tigress in Sariska, Rajasthan, has failed for the second time, a setback to the breeding efforts.

Panna

and Sariska are India’s big cat experiment labs as both lost them due to poaching and the government re-introduced tigers from similar landscape to create a new pool.

On Wednesday, Panna delivered the world’s first — two cubs from a six-year-old captive tigress, who was orphaned six years ago and was reared in an enclosure in Kanha tiger reserve. She and her two siblings – a brother and a sister — were trained for hunting in the enclosure.

After a positive report from Dehradun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the tigresses were shifted to Panna in March 2011 and the brother, who was injured, to Van Vihar, Bhopal.

“The tigress has been spotted with two cubs after mating with a wild tiger,” said R S Murthy, field director of Panna Tiger Reserve that had no tigers in 2009. In all seven tigers have been relocated to Panna.

Since the two tigresses landed, there was around the clock monitoring through Global Positioning System (GPS). In September 2011, the elder tigress, which created history, lost the radio collar and since then she was being monitored manually. The forest guards were able to spot and record the presence of two cubs with the mother on Wednesday. “It is for first time captive bred tigress has adapted completely to wild conditions,” Murthy said.

But, the said news is that her sister had been badly injured in a brawl with another tiger. “She will take four to five days to recover,” he said, adding that she was slow in adapting to wild conditions unlike her elder sister.

That has not happened in Sariska, which lost all tigers in 2004. A tiger and two tigresses were shifted from Rathambore and only one tigress had conceived twice. “She has again lost her baby,” an official of National Tiger Conservation Authority said, adding that the Wildlife Institute of India has been asked to investigate the reasons for repeated abortions. However, officials said the high human presence in Sariska was causing problems for the big cats there.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Tiger-breeding-Panna-strikes-global-first-Sariska-fails/Article1-812579.aspx