Cowherds want to live close to Lions

The Cowherd community has written to Union forests and environment minister Jairam Ramesh requesting that they may not be moved out of the Gir sanctuary. They have said that the authorities should not consider them eriemines of big cats.

The community has sent a memorandum to Ramesh through anon- government organization, Setu, opposing the rehabilitation. Since 1972, the government has officially resettled 952 Cowherd families and many other inhabitants when the Gir national park was established. They say that these families have suffered badly as they were deprived of basic requirements like drinking and irrigation water, electricity school and transportation facilities. The memorandum said that they did not even get the benefit of government schemes such as Rojgar Yojana and other welfare schemes.

They claim that the land they got was of poor quality arid because of water shortage, cultivating that land was difficult. They also said that the eight acres of land which they got as the compensation put them in the category of big farmers and disqualified them from government schemes and thus made them poorer. A report by Gujarat government’s directorate of evaluation on the rehabilitation programme of Gir cowherd scheme said, “It has not been possible to achieve the objective of bringing the socio-economic uplift of the Gir cowherds. On the contrary the net income earned by the shifted families in 1986-87 is significantly less than the net income earned by families still inside, 10 years after rehabilitation.”

Cowherds have also urged the minister and environment experts to understand that the lion has been part of their lives and culture. “They have been living together since centuries, without which, the survival of both is difficult. The cowherds worship lions as one of their gods,” the letter said.

Courtesy:- The Times Of India, Thursday, 3rd February,2010.

The movie is part of a new plan which aims to reduce conflicts between villagers and lions that prey on their livestock. The department will also shift 800 other families residing at Jambutala village. These families were moved earlier from the forest and brought to the village to resettle. The government has worked out a compensation package which may be acceptable to them, said the forests official.

The state forest department has decided to shift more than 400 Cowherds families staying in Gir sanctuary limits.

The move is part of a new plan which aims to reduce conflicts between villagers and lions that prey on their livestock.

The department will also shift 800 other families residing at Jambutala village. These families were moved earlier from the forest and brought to the village to resettle.

The plans are part of the Rs 262 crore Brihad Gir (Greater Gir) project aimed at lions’ Conservation. It will include, apart from shifting Cowherds, developing new sanctuaries in the Sasan Bhavnagar stretch, where also the big cats are found these days. The rehabilitation of the Cowherds alone will cost Rs 179 crore.

The 2010 Lion Census revealed that lions have now found homes in Amreli, Junagadh and Bhavnagar districts. Forest officials said that according to the plan, each family relocated outside the sanctuary will get Rs 10 lakh as compensation.

Generations of Cowherds have been living inside the Gir forest and have consistently refuted State Government’s proposals to relocate them starting 1972. However, the government has worked out a compensation package which may be acceptable to them, said the forests officials.

The officials found that with the big cats moving out of the protected area, there
was a threat to the Cowherds lives. Also, an increase in livestock numbers had increased the pressure on the ecosystem within the sanctuary.

Gujarat’s principal secretary for forest and environment S.K. Nanda told Times of India (TOI) that the Centre and state government had cleared the proposal and the department is now waiting for the money.

‘They are small but can easily outrun a jeep’

While the focus is on the Kathiwarl and Marwari horses, another species which is fighting its own battle for survival is the Indian Wild Ass (also referred to as Khur). Its range once extended from Western India, through Sindh and Baluchistan,
Afghanistan and south eastern Iran. Today, its last refuge lies in the Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch and its surrounding areas of the Greater Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. Wild Ass however, is also seen in the districts of Surendranagar, Banaskantha, Mehsana, and other Kutch districts. Saline desert, Grassland in Arid Zone and Shrub land are its preferred homeland. Wild Ass, like the lion of Gir is an endangered species and all efforts are being made to preserve it.

During 1958-1960, the Wild Ass was a victim of a disease known as surra, caused by Trypanosome evansi and transmitted by flies, which caused dramatic decline of its population in India. In November and December 196l, the Wild Ass population was reduced to just 870 after to the out break of South African Horse Sickness. Besides disease, the Ass’s other threats include habitat degradation due to salt activities and encroachment. Conservation efforts since 1969 have helped boost the animal’s population to 4000.

“They are well protected now and the state government is putting lot of efforts to preserve this rare species and the number has now increased to 4000 in the last count last year,” said Muzahid Malik of Rann Raiders, “They may look small but they can run faster than Kathiwadi and Marwari horses,” he added

It is one of the fastest of Indian animals with speeds clocked at about 70-80 km/ph and can easily outrun a jeep.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS

* Stallions live either solitarily or in small groups of two sand threes while family herds remain large.
* Wild asses graze between dawn and dusk. The animal feeds on grass, leaves and fruits of plant, crop and saline vegetation.
* Mating season is in rainy season. The mare gives birth to one foal, the male foal weans away by 1-2 years of age, while the female continues to stay with the family herd.


Courtesy:- Times Of India, Monday, January 3, 2011.

Forest department to conduct harrier count again

The state forest department is going to take fresh re-count of the harriers at Blackbuck National Park (BNP), at Velavadar in Bhavnagar district, in the second week of the January 2011.

Recently, forest department and volunteers had conducted population estimation
Of harriers at BNP and around 895 harriers were recorded. BNP is world’s largest communal roosting site of harriers, which are now among the endangered species.

According to J.S.Solanki, assistant conservator of forest, BNI earlier in September, forest officials had counted harriers and about 1,300 were spotted at BNP “We had hoped that due to the good monsoon, more harriers would come this year but, in the recent population estimation process, about 895 harriers were reported. It is possible that harriers may have stayed in other grassland in nearby areas and might come to BNP later so, in order to better understand this situation, we decided to conduct the again population estimation again,” said Solanki.

Unlike last few years, the prolonged monsoon and good rainfall in the region would have replenished food chain for the harriers around the BNP and other areas as well. The slender, long, bare-legged, long- winged and long- tailed hawks with an owl-like facial Ruff, Harriers are considered as farmers’ friends as they are predators. Their diet includes large insects and especially Locust, Fish, Reptiles especially Snakes, Lizards and Skinks, birds (both land and water) and small mammals (rodents).

“Of the l6 Harrier species in the world, four types of harriers migrate to BNP every year. These include Montagu Harriers, Pallid Harriers, Eurasian Marsh Harriers and Hen Harriers. All the four species have arrived,” said R L Meena, Chief Conservator of Forest, Junagadh circle (wildlife).

“There may be many factors behind the less number of harriers making it to BNP this season. We need to understand the situation with further studies,” Meena said.

Courtesy:- Times Of India.

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