Protected Areas

Conservation Areas

Conservation Initiatives

 
South Bengal Elephant Census

Elephant Census operation for 2010 in South West Bengal at the Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve was conducted from 22nd to 24th April,2010, simultaneously with the adjoining states of Orissa and Jharkhand.
The estimated population figures for elephants in South Bengal are as follows:

Bankura(N) Divn-        15 nos.
Panchet Divn-             4 nos.
Medinipur Divn-           92 nos.
Purulia Divn-               12 nos

Total :  123 Nos.

Census operation in North Bengal at the Eastern Duars Elephant Reserve will commence tentatively in the 2nd Week of September.2010.

» Tiger Reserve Foundation in Sunderban Tiger Reserve and Buxa Tiger Reserve Foundation have been registered under the Indian Trusts Act,1882.

» Two male tigers have been Radio Collarred is the Sunderban Tiger Reserve. The collars are beaming signals at regular intervals. This will help in montoring the tiger movement.

 
Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal chairs the 7th State Wildlife Advisory Board Meeting:

 
The 7th Meeting of State Wildlife Advisory Board was held on 13th January 2010 at Rotunda Hall in Writers' Buildings. Some important Wildlife issues were discussed and resolved.
 
Zoos cannot exhibit Elephants:
Central Zoo Authority has decided to prohibit exihibition and performance of elephants in Zoos henceforth. All such elephants are to be moved to Government run "Elephant Camps" where they would be able to roam and graze freely. However, the traditional "Mahouts" would still be retained to take care of the animals.
 
Deer release in Nature:
24 spotted deer(8 male and 16 female in speciefied ratio of 1:2) have been released in Deul Park by the Ajoy river bank, near Durgapur from Ramnabagan Zoo under direct guidance and supervision of the Spl.Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife(HQ),West Bengal.
 
Swamp Deer being re-introduced in Jaldapara:

Forest Department has decided to introduce swamp deer in the Jaldapara WLS. Six deer, in exchange for three sub-adult elephants, procured from the Lucknow Zoo. Six swamp deer- two males and four females – are to be kept in an enclosure in Jaldapara, for the time being and subsequently upon acclimatization, will be released in the wild.

 
Appointment of Hony.Wildlife Warden:

As per the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972 the Chief Wildlife Warden, West Bengal has appointed 23 Hony. Wildlife Wardens for each of the districts in the state. The  Hony. Wildlife Wardens are selected from community leaders and other persons of standing with an interest and capacity to render assistance in ensuring People's participation in the support for the cause of Wildlife Conservation. The Hony. Wildlife Wardens have definite role in the mobilization of support towards the control of poaching and clandestine trade in live animals and wildlife articles, identification and protection of lesser known wildlife refuges, sensitizing the people living around the Protected Areas for ameliorating man-animal conflicts etc.


The list of Hony.Wildlife Wardens appointed with their respective areas of jurisdiction are as follows:


Sl. No

Name of the Hony.WLWarden

Jurisdiction (District)

Phone Number

1

Sri Amiya Patra

Bankura

9434224462

2

Swami  Atmaprabhananda

Purulia,

9434138996

3

Sri Subinoy Ghosh

Nadia

9434056337

4

Sri Sham Suzzaman Ahmed

Murshidabad

9443021480

5

Dr. Amitava Mukherjee

Burdwan

9832729062

6

Dr.UrmilaGanguli

Birbhum

9333523095 & 9432887298

7

Sri Saiyad Ahmed

Malda

9733243362

8

Sri Purnendu Dey

Uttar Dinajpur

9434171260

9

Dr. Amit Sarkar

Dakshin Dinajpur

9434044556

10

Sri P.K. Bhattacharjee

Jalpaiguri

9434016658

11

.Sri Raja Routh

Jalpaiguri

9474417178

12

Sri Ranjit Mondal

Jalpaiguri

9832327401 & 9474013239

13

Sri Animesh Bose

Darjeeling (Siliguri Sub-Division)

9434167299

14

Sri Tarapada Barman

Cooch Behar

9434385927

15

Sri Santosh Adhikary

Howrah

9732612385

16

Sri Rathin Banerjee, IFS (Retd)

Howrah

(033)26670356 & 9433668372

17

Sri Abdul Rahaman Laskar

Hooghly

(033)26595571 & 9433337490

18

Sri Binoy Mukherjee

Paschim Medinipur

(03222)275428 & 9735639091

19

Sri Gandhi Hazra

Purba Medinipur

9735795429 & 9732750103

20

Lt.Col.Sakti Ranjan Banerjee (Retd)

Kolkata Metropolis

983015987

21

Sri Arunakshy Bhattacharjee

24-Parganas(N)

9433880900

22

Sri Soumen Mitra, IPS

24-Parganas(S)

9830030345

23

.Mr. M.A.Wohab

24-Parganas(S)

9830031780

 
Participatory approach to awareness generation among the general populace:

West Bengal Forest Department is credited for initiating the Participatory Joint Forest Management Approach. The concept succeeded not only in enhancing the green cover percentage for the state against overall global trend of reduction of the same, but also helped immensely in mitigating man-animal conflict in vulnerable areas of South West Bengal and the Sunderbans.

 

With an objective to combat the illegitimate trade in live birds and turtle, the Wildlife Wing decided to generate awareness among the general citizens on a participatory mode. A theatre performance group, "Manthan, the achievement" was commissioned to stage street plays enscripting the message of conservation of urban wildlife at select market places in and around Kolkata.

 


The move was further accentuated by means of distribution of posters and pamphlets that bore the conservation message. The total public interface was carried on a decentralized mode with a top-down approach, interacting with them face to face. 10 such interactive programs was carried out from January 30th to February 14,2010.

 
Bird Census at the Santragachi Jheel:

A bird census was conducted at the Santragachi Jheel on 16.01.2010 by Prakriti Sansad, an NGO. The final enumeration enlisted 5068 individuals from 20 species, showing phenomenal increase from the previous years' census figure of around 2051.

 
All India Monitoring and Estimation of Tiger, Co-predator, Prey-base and their habitats during 2010 begins:

A comprehensive estimation of tiger, co-predator, prey base and their habitats is being conducted in all the 17 tiger Range states of India to ascertain the status of tiger occupancy, both within and outside the Protected Areas. This new approach, being conducted in collaboration with the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Wildlife Institute of India, would not only  undertake estimation of the tigers and co-predators but would also evaluate their habitats and prey-bases. A Forest Beat is being considered to be the unit for this study.
In West Bengal, efforts are being made to complete the Phase I data collection work in the plains by 31.03.2010 and by 30.04.2010 in the high altitude inaccessible areas like Darjeeling, Singhalila and Neora Valley National Park.

 
First in 27 years: Tiger photographed in Buxa Tiger Reserve

The Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) in north Bengal finally had its moment to cheers when a beat officer photographed a sub-adult tiger with a film camera — a first since the reserve was set up 27 years ago.
Senior State Forest department officials were “excited” as the news confirms the presence of Tiger in the Reserve.
Manindra Sarkar was in the Hatipota forest area on March 24 when he came face-to-face with the tiger. Although shaken, he pulled out his camera and clicked two pictures of the animal, said reserve field director R.P. Saini. “A camera trap was set up in the area as there had been a recent kill there, but the animal was not caught on automated cameras,” he said.
Reserve authorities are hopeful of reconverting the cultivated land of the 10 villages that are to be relocated from the reserve, he added.

 

 

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