Tuesday 9 April 2013

Save And Protect Our Wildlife


Many native animals have to live in developed areas and this means they must navigate a landscape full of human hazards. One of the biggest obstacles to wildlife living in developed areas is that created by roads. Roads divide habitat and present a constant hazard to any animal attempting to cross from one side to the other. So when you're out driving through a forested patch, slow down and keep an eye out for wildlife.

Perhaps the greatest threat that faces many species is the widespread destruction of wildlife habitat. Deforestation, farming, over-grazing and development all result in irreversible changes soil compaction, erosion, desertification, and alteration of local climatic conditions. Such land use practices vastly alter or even eliminate wildlife habitat. In areas where rare species are present, habitat destruction can quickly force a species to extinction.

In the last few centuries new inventions have led to extinction of many animals- those that were present in the wild till a few years ago are now extinct. New inventions which require extensive search of new coal mines to fuel industries and vehicles that only create more pollution in the environment has caused many species to get wiped off the face of the earth. Sometimes human beings kill these animals for money; they sell their skin and fur. Take for example the wretched tale of tigers and lions. In India many tigers and lions are getting killed for their skin which is sold at extremely high prices to other countries. Unless better monitoring agencies and facilities are provided, protection of animals against poachers can take the longest to achieve.

Reducing pollution, creating new wildlife parks for animals and making stricter punishments for those involved in animal trade like life sentences for killing wild animals are some ways we can curb the large scale extinction going on during our lifetimes.  

1.    The steps to reduce habitat destruction and in some ways try to reverse the effects of human encroachments will be to shift to eco-friendly vehicles and industrial processes that would help to keep the environment pollution free. In areas where such measures have been implemented, the results are astounding. Tree frogs had become a rare sight along the Malabar hills; but their now common sightings reinforce the view that the survivals of many species are within our control.
2.    We should also have harsh laws for persons engaged in game or poaching/ smuggling of animals. Those who kill animals should get life imprisonment or heavy penalties so that people think twice before hunting animals for skin and fur.
3.    Limits on cutting trees in jungles have to be strictly adhered to, so that animals that live there can live freely and survive for longer time with regular reproductive and life cycles.
4.    New wildlife parks have to be established where critically endangered animals can be kept and studied. Once we learn their life cycle patterns- their feeding, their breeding, and offspring rearing habits, it would be easier to help maintain their populations and ensure species survival.

To conclude, the animals can be saved from extinction, but only if we take definite steps to prevent hunting and make sure that the environment becomes pollution free and enough area is reserved for parks for animals without human interference so that they can live freely and safely.

By protecting their habitat, entire communities of animals can be protected together and when communities are kept intact, less conservation intervention is required to ensure species survival. Parks, reserves, and other protected lands are too often the only habitats left untouched by habitat destruction.



Saturday 6 April 2013

Lifting the ban on tourism in core areas of India's tiger reserves and its impact on its inhabitants.

As many of you have already been reading the online articles regarding the ban on Tiger Tourism, I thought I would give a better explanation of what is happening.

Banning tourism in core areas of tiger reserves helps increase tiger population. Reduced human access should lead to more intact wildlife habitats. Well, that’s what activists like me say. However, if its tourism is banned Indian government tourism revenue will be affected. 
Wildlife Tourism started in India by middle of 1980s. There are 40 tiger reserves across the country, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority of India. Tiger reserves are set up throughout India to provide a protected environment for animals still in the wild. Resorts and villages were set up for tourists, local as well as foreign, to see the tiger habitats and perhaps catch a glimpse of the big cat. 
Some states, such as Madhya Pradesh, with six tiger reserves, will be hit hard by the ban on tiger tourism. Following the ban, hundreds of tourists who were looking forward to staying in hotels within the forests will have to cancel their plans and book other rooms outside of the core areas. This way many hotels and resorts will be in great loss.
My point is why should tourism be permitted in core areas? Whatever statistics may say, the fact remains that the tiger population in the country has diminished,
if the ban remains in place, however, it is expected to have a significant impact on the livelihoods of communities in and around the reserves whose income depends on wildlife tourism.
Conservationists have argued that resorts and hotels have over-expanded in the reserves, encroaching on the tigers’ habitat and have largely excluded local people from most of the industry’s profits.
I worry that the large number of tourists visiting tiger reserves may be disturbing their habitats. India has 41 tiger reserves. The most visited among them Corbett, Kanha, Periyar, Ranthambore and Bandhavgarh—attract 150,000-200,000 visitors each every year. A tiger task force constituted in 2005 to review the management of tiger reserves had recommended that “tourism activities should not be allowed in the core of the national parks and the tiger reserves,” and that wildlife tourism need to be regulated. Tourism in tiger reserves needs to be extremely well managed to ensure that the direct impact on the habitats due to tourism is mitigated. The chain of command as well as the management of tourism in tiger reserves has suffered from multiple governing institutions as well as confusion in policy and regulations so far,” the task force said in its report, adding, “Tourism can lead to further stress on the tiger’s habitat.”
This Is the Reason -To Stop Tourism in Core Areas of Tiger Reserves
How will you feel if all of a sudden a group of people barge into your house and start looking at what you are doing? To add to this unpleasant situation, they start talking in loud decibels and throw things here and there and after some time they leave. If this continues for a few days won’t you feel irritated? This is what is happening to the wild animals and it’s leading to a change in their psychology, behaviour and their habitats are getting destroyed. Just like a disturbed human being the animals who are disturbed spend very little time for their normal activities and they are on the constant run to avoid being spotted by the tourists. This may lead to several problems like their migration to less favourable feeding grounds, hampering their mating cycle and improper care of the young ones by the scared mothers. This can further lead to dire results for the entire population of the species. To make the matters worse, the tourists are very interested in watching the behaviour of the mother around her young ones. The other dangers can be due to increased dependencies of some animals on the tourists for their food.






Banning tourism in India’s tiger reserves will prevent tigers from becoming extinct.
However, so far, the tourist industry and international conservation groups have failed to provide any solutions of their own that have led to any measurable successes. In the past ten years, despite donations to tiger conservation projects totalling over $41-million and the hundreds of millions of dollars earned in tourist revenue, India’s tiger population has more than halved and their numbers continue to decline at an alarming rate.
Ultimately, however, like the mountain gorilla, the future of the tiger almost certainly lies in the tourist dollar. But for conservation to be effective it will need government commitment and a willingness to support the only people that can make a real difference – the thousands-strong army of conservationists-in-waiting living around all of India’s tiger reserves, willing to make a difference. Ultimately, it is they – the villagers and communities – who can save the  tiger, if only they were given the chance.


 Some of our indiscretions can have disastrous results. The pictures of Dandeli- Anshi Tiger Reserve road kills are of graphic nature. Hence, viewer discretion is advised.

Be respectful when you go to a wildlife sanctuary. Many tourists demand to be let into core areas that are the only refuge of animals. Don’t bring music, plastic and cigarettes. Even now wildlife parks tie goats so that tourists can see tigers killing them.
Tourist money supports trades that profit from animal suffering. Why don’t you enjoy nature and the culture of the places you visit without taking part in activities that harm animals? 
  

 The way the safaris were run there was no peace and quiet for the animals. There was constant noise and human activity. We should let animals live in peace. Tourists also cause many problems for the local environment; wildlife parks are filled with litter from overuse. Tourists also use cars or coaches to travel to these locations and within the area. This increases the amount of pollution in the air. Animals get more street by human presents is a fact.
The main impact that humans have on animals when it comes to interfering is changing their habitat. That can happens in many of ways, one is to make the environment friendlier to humans like putting in walking or driving roads. This is bad, because if many humans walk on the road the animals will move away to be left alone, then the new road have to be made to get to then animals.
The problem when not biding walking tracks is that the tourist will walk to the animals the way they can, so it can be the fast or the one that everyone else walks. It will still be a big impact ether way, because if people walk their oven way more of the habitat will be affected. But with walking tracks normal paths for the animals can be cut off. The effect that new drive roads can have is that people can get to the animals easier. That will give higher speed on the cars and buses, more road kills and more contamination of gases from the cars.
 It will also give a higher pressure on the location that it can handle more people, like car parks and trash caring. The biggest problem when people are coming in to the animal’s habitat is that they want to go beyond the barriers. So the fact, that in national parks the guides are not well paid, so they will break the law of the park if the visitor bribes them with money. This often happens so the tourist can go closer to the animals and that disturbs the animals more. The way to stop this is to pay the guides more and educate them so they know why it is bad for the animals. Even draw the parallel to that if the animals get disturb too much they might move away and the guide can loss their small income.
The tiger is dying because of two centuries of crime, greed, political apathy and corruption. Tigers face their greatest ever risk of extermination at the time of the weakest ever commitment to their survival. The decision to end tiger tourism was evidence of calamitous failure.