Indian Wildlife Club Forum

Suresh, please tell us where the places you are referring to are.

I had been travelling a lot by road over the past 10 years, and have come across reported sighting of Leapord and Tiger in the Malshej Ghats. Once when we had gone during the Monsoon season during mid noon a Tiger did cross the waterfalls and seen by a lot of picnickers. After that I have been doing rounds from 11.00PM to 4.00AM and sighted a Tiger twice. Many of the lorry drivers who pass the ghats have reported the sightings. In addition I have seen a bunch ( 20 to 25 ) deers near the road that leads to Nane Ghat. Its not very far when the traffic could become a danger to the wildlife as the Big cats have to cross the Highway to reach the river during summer season. Can we take up the issue and reroute the entire ghat road?

Dear Vaibhav,

 If you go to our homepage and write "Mumbai Leopard" in our advanced search button, you will get 10 items which match the words. Please read the article "Leopard Conflict in Sanjay Gandhi National Park." which has further links to published pieces on th esame topic.  Various suggestions have been put forth to save the leopard and the Park.

BNHS is the right NGO to contact in case you can do some voluntary work. Thanks for raising this issue, which is crucial to the well being of all Mumbai residents.

heels on fire

 Ever thought what it would be like to run over 600 km in a month through the Indian state of Kerala that the National Geographic describes as one of the ten paradises on earth?

The chronicles of an insane plan and the adventures of Peter Dulvy - a runner, Desmond Roberts - a photographer and Rahul Noble Singh - a writer. They are giving themselves 30 days to complete the route. Peter on his feet and the others capturing the adventure and life along the way through images and words.

http://heelsonfire.blogspot.com/

http://www.heelsonfire.org/

Hi,

 I wanted to tell the IWC community about an online resource "Scholars without Borders" that I have recently set up. The site www.scholarswithoutborders.in

 lists a number of books on Natural History that are published in India and makes it possible to order these easily online... Also links to a range of Open Access material, journals and newsletters that are published in the subcontinent (e.g. BushChat from the Nature Conservation Foundation, the Himalayan Journal of Science from Nepal, Etc.). If you have suggestions of what books to carry (all of Salim Ali is more or less there!) please write in and let me know, at

mail@scholarswithoutborders.in

 Thanks,

Ram Ramaswamy

Find ways to rescue the Mumbai Leopard and its habitat.

Dear friends

Do not think that u are not doing anything unless some body is not with you, or unless a team is there. The thing is "what I am doing". Whenever and wherever we can support wild life, we can conserv environment we must be ahead for that. Someone has to bigin so think that "I" only the beginner. When we will walk people will join us, unless we walk how can we hope for others to join our walk. Small thing matters, so whatever we can do we must do...Keep hope and we will do it.

I believe that the Narmada issue has to be looked at as a landmark case seen in the perspective of a much larger project of "Interlinking of Rivers in India".

Narmada basin dams took over a half century to be built. Today we have modern and faster building techniques available. Finance is no longer a problem thanks to foreign investment pouring into infra structure projects in India. If rehabilitation and environmental issues were neglected in a long drawn out project( where all concerned had sufficient time to implement the agreed steps), one dreads to think what will happen in the coming Ken-Betwa /Kali-Chambal and many other imminent projects.

As a concerned citizen, I have been reading up on the issue as much as I can. It is easy to see why the media and the common man is swayed easily by the development vs rehabilitation or development vs environment debate. It is time the rational brains of this country ( whether living here or abroad) took a more balanced view by entering into an informed discussion /debate.

There is a yahoo group atcalled Water Watch which is worth being a part of, to gain insights from various thinking people

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WaterWatch/

Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have jointly formed a committee to look into the viability of river linking project for linking Kali Singh and Chambal rivers. The body would submit a report within 60 days.

When asked whether there is any threat to ecology due to the river-linkage programme, Mr Mishra stated that he did hear about this, but the Non-Government Organisations should come forth with presentation as how it would affect the ecology.

(Anup Mishra is Madhya Pradesh Minister for Water Resources)

On a recent visit to Rishikesh when I stayed at one of the mountain resorts, I decided to trek the mountain slopes along with one of the workers at the resort-who was a cook cum coolie at the place.

As we walked along, I was surprised to hear him talk about the uses and medicinal values of almost every plant that grew around there. He said he and his family members have never visited a doctor.

 As we came back, he wanted to know if I can help him get a job in Delhi. I felt ashamed and helpless. Tried explaining to him that the knowledge he has and the air he breathes in is so much superior to what we urbanites have to offer.

I do not think he was poorly off. Is there anything we can do to empower him- to respect him for his knowledge?