No neutering tigers in Chandrapur: State Board for Wildlife

The State Board for Wildlife SBWL has rejected the Forest Departments idea of neutering tigers in Chandrapur district where more than half of Maharashtras tiger population is found and where a growing number of humananimal conflict deaths are recordedThe board which met under the leadership of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday decided that the experts should find out why tigers didnt disperse to the neighbouring Gadhchiroli forests It also said that a fragmented corridor should be cleared to ease their movement to the new habitat instead of taking the extreme step of laparoscopic vasectomy of males and temporary sterilisation of females to stall procreation and prevent humananimal conflict The Forest Department had also suggested translocating 50 Chandrapur tigers to other suitable forest areasA SBWL member Kishor Rithe who attended the videoconference told midday that the CM was of the opinion that the neutering was the last option available According to Rithe Chandrapur district which houses Tadoba and other wildlife sanctuaries has 160 excluding cubs and semiadult of the states 312 tigers and has also reported about 150 deaths in tiger attacks since 2007 This is the only forest area where the tiger population is increasing consistently because of habitat conservation and protection The population is expected to grow further and the tigers are moving closer to human habitat But we told the meeting that neutering wasnt the way to control the population said RitheAbout translocation of tigers the wildlife expert from Amravati said the forest officials were asked to know why the tigers werent moving out to the adjoining Gadhchiroli forests which could also be a perfect habitat for them Is the corridor between Chandrapur and Gadhchiroli fragmented because of several development projects or is there a threat from poachers We refused to approve the neutering proposal saying that it wasnt a subject for a 10minute discussion but needed a thorough study and recommendations from wildlife experts he addedWildlife Conservation FundThe board decided to set up an exclusive Wildlife Conservation Fund in order to provide financial grants to conservation projects across the stateThis was necessary because the development projects paid a certain cess for a specific purpose against causing environmental damage For example the Navi Mumbai International Airport provided for mangrove conservation in Mumbai and neighbouring areas But henceforth the money thus collected will go to the state fund and be used for all needy thingsNew rule for laying cablesThe SBWL asked optic fibre companies to use machines that dig horizontally instead of earthmovers that cause extensive damage to lay their cables It also asked power transmission companies to lay cables instead of constructing huge towers that need a lot of forest landSonneratia Alba was recently declared the State Mangrove Tree It is found in Maharashtras coastal regions and because of white flowers is locally known as Safed ChippiThe board said public awareness should be created to know the importance of the mangroves and especially Safed Chippi that is among 20 mangrove types found in India and not only protects the ecosystem but also provides for birds honey bees and gives edible fruitsCMs younger son gets a boostCM Thackerays younger son and environment minister Aaditya Thackerays younger brother Tejas and his team was granted permission to collect different types of landsnails mdash Taxon Cyclophorus sp Theobaldius sp Tortulosa sp Genera Acavus Oligospira and Corilla Micromollusca genera Philalanka Microcystina and Cyathopoma to study their diversity in the Western Ghats Tejas who has made some wildlife discoveries before has Aniket Marathe Swapnil Pawar and Amrut Bhosale on his research teamCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news