Wildlife Conservation India Project #21240

Help rescue wild animals and birds in India

by Wildlife Trust of India

Project Report | Apr 19, 2022
Empowering community to protect wildlife of Jawai

By Monica Verma | Project Leader

Greetings from Wildlife Trust of India!

Hope you are doing great.

We are back with the updates on our project ‘Help rescue wild animals and birds in India’, which you so generously chose to donate for.

Thank you so much for your kind donation and for believing in our work. It is through your support that we are able to work towards our vision of a secure natural heritage of India.

The updates for the project are from a Conservation Reserve in Rajasthan’s Pali district – the Jawai Bandh Leopard Conservation Reserve. The region is refreshingly known for the peaceful co-existence among humans and leopards.

Situated in the Aravalli ranges, the rocky terrain of the Reserve surrounds a dam and constitutes diverse wildlife including sloth bears, crocodiles, nilgai, hyenas, jungle cats, Indian grey mongoose, Indian eagle owls, ospreys, egrets, Indian pond herons, etc. Incidentally, the Jawai dam is the biggest dam in western Rajasthan and the surrounding forests inhabit several migratory birds as well, such as demoiselle cranes, sarus cranes, great white pelicans, Ruddy shelducks and many more.

Although the community follows sensible co-existence practices with the leopards and other wildlife, Jawai faces several challenges when it comes to protecting its natural heritage. There is a lack of statutory protection which has resulted in the rise of unethical wildlife tourism. There is a severe shortage of forest department personnel to monitor the region. While the reserve falls within the Pali district geographically, it has been placed under the administrative authority of Udaipur Forest Division which is as far as 170 km from the Reserve. This has resulted in inadequate veterinary care facilities during wildlife emergency cases.

To counter this problem, the Department thus formed a team constituting the locals from the area who were interested in wildlife protection, a classic case of conservation by the community. The newly-formed team however, had limited access to resources and had to borrow equipment and vehicles to carry out rescue and release operations. To make the team self-reliant, a Rapid Action Project was sanctioned to provide adequate rescue equipment to the dedicated team. With the assistance provided, the community rescue team carried out 10 rescues - two leopards, two nilgai, two pythons, two cobras, one common kestrel and one monkey so far.

We are hopeful, that more timely rescue and release operations will follow suit. Thank you once again for making all this possible. We will be back with more updates soon. Till then, take care!

Warm regards,

Team WTI

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Nov 19, 2021
Promote human-leopard coexistence in West Bengal

By Monica Verma | Project Leader

Camera trap image of a leopard in the area.

Hi Friend,

Hope you are doing great!

At the outset, we would like to express our gratitude to you for supporting the project ‘Help rescue wild animals and birds in India’. Through the project we ensure quick, timely interventions to handle wild animals that are distressed or displaced either due to natural or man-made factors. Your generous contribution will significantly help us realize the project’s aim. We are also highly thankful to you for believing in us, our work and for choosing to donate for this cause.

The updates from the project are as follows.

The Kurseong Forest Division consists of transboundary forests and tea estates interspersed with human habitations. It is an important migration corridor for wildlife such as elephants and leopards. Recently, encounters with leopards in nearby tea estates and villages has increased and resulted in close to 28 conflict incidents recorded since last year (14 incidents in just the last 4 months) in which humans, as well as leopards, have been harmed. The data indicates 3 leopard deaths, 5 injured, 6 leopards rescued from tea estates and released outside by the Forest Department.

To address the rising conflict between humans and leopards, there was a need to initiate Quick Response Teams (QRTs) and sensitize the tea estate community to coexist with leopards. Through one of our Rapid Action Projects (RAPs), we have planned to target 15 tea estates, where conflict has been high, by creating leopard monitoring teams who will also keep the Forest Department in the loop. QRTs (comprising 10 members from each estate area) will be provided with sirens and torchlights to help with the monitoring and generate warnings in case of a leopard movement. The project will also assist the forest department in mapping the conflict zones and creating a Leopard conservation management plan.

That’s all for today. We’ll soon follow up with more updates from the project. Till then, take care!

With regards,

Team WTI

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Jul 19, 2021
Supporting rescue efforts in wetlands of Kashmir

By Monica Verma | Project Leader

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