Thursday 30 November 2017

NEWSLINK: Feds to investigate escape of tiger found prowling metro on Georgia interstate

Panthera tigris -Franklin Park Zoo, Massachusetts, USA-8a (2).jpgFederal authorities will investigate whether charges should be filed against an entertainment company and the owner of an escaped circus tiger found wandering the interstate south of Atlanta.

In an email, Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark McKinnon said state officials have handed over the probe to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He said multiple states were involved and USDA oversees wild animal regulations.
The USDA will look at whether charges should be filed against Feld Entertainment, the owner of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s circus, and big cat trainer Alexander Lacey.

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NEWSLINK: Tigress found dead in CTR; 13th big cat fatality this year

Malay tiger.jpgA tigress was found dead in Dhela range of Corbett Tiger Reserve CTR ) on Saturday, taking the total number of big cats in the state which died this year to 13. Forest officials said that the tiger died during a territorial fight and the carcass was buried after the post-mortem. Amit Verma, deputy director of CTR told TOI, "The tigress died of ruptured lungs while fighting for territory"

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NEWSLINK: Big cats gain from India-Myanmar warmth

DAK Panthera tigris 02.JPGThe improved strategic relationship between India and Myanmar has a secret benefactor—the tiger. India, which is home to nearly 60 per cent of the world’s tigers in the wild, is set to sign a pact with Myanmar for tiger conservation and checking illegal wildlife trade along the border.

According to government sources, the Ministry of External Affairs has sent an official communiqué regarding this to Myanmar. A team of experts comprising government officials from Myanmar is expected to visit India in January 2018 to discuss the details of the agreement on tiger conservation.


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Tuesday 28 November 2017

NEWSLINK: Ringmaster who killed escaped Paris tiger says cage lock was cut

A circus owner who killed a female tiger he raised from a cub said the animal escaped to the streets of Paris after someone “maliciously” cut the lock on her cage.


Eric Bormann, an owner of the Bormann-Moreno circus, fatally shot the 450-pound tiger named Mevy near the Eiffel Tower on Friday. 

Furious animal rights advocates posted gruesome photos of the dead tiger on social media and called for a boycott of circuses using animals.
Bormann, who is also the lion tamer and ringmaster of the circus, told AFP that no animal had previously escaped in the 40 years of the circus because of a security system that uses cages within another enclosure. But one enclosure was open and the lock was cut on another when Mevy escaped, he said.


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NEWSLINK: Limpopo police launch search for escaped lion

A lioness aproaching towards us.jpgLimpopo police are searching for a lion that escaped from a trailer outside Tzaneen.


It’s understood that two of the big cats jumped off the trailer on Sunday but one of them was recaptured after it was injured.


The police's Moatshe Ngoepe says a search is underway for the other one.

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NEWSLINK: Lion snapped along rural Wainfleet road

African lion female.jpgThe back roads of Wainfleet are the last place one would expect to find a lion. But Saturday, it’s exactly what one resident found while driving down Garringer Road near Willson Road. 

And that person snapped a photo as proof of what they saw and it made its way to Facebook.
“A family member took this photo while coming home from work. This family member does not want to be involved in this, therefore I have brought it to everyone’s attention,” Greg Dawn, a relative who posted the photo, said in a statement.
Since Saturday, the photo has been shared nearly 1,000 times and received hundreds of comments.


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Thursday 23 November 2017

NEWSLINK/PHOTO: 2 more tigers dead in Nagpur division

Cathay.jpgThe forest areas in Vidarbha region are fast becoming death traps for the big cats, giving Maharashtra the dubious distinction of the state with highest number of tiger deaths. This year 23 tigers died in the state. Shockingly, this is the sixth tiger death in 33 days in Vidarbha region.


The state’s tally of tiger deaths is followed by neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, which has reported 21 deaths. The official figures of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) make these the 22nd and 23rd tiger deaths in Maharashtra, and the 95th and 96th in the country. Most of the deaths were not due to natural causes.

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NEWSLINK: Leopards attack three in Mandvi

IndianLeopard.jpgThree incidents of leopard attacks were reported from Mandvi taluka of Surat district on Wednesday night. Forest department has placed cages to catch the leopards at two of the total three places.

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NEWSLINK: Uttarakhand villagers set fire to farm land to keep prowling leopard at bay

Approaching Leopard Closeup (18026534841).jpgTo keep prowling leopards at bay, villagers in Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar district set on fire the crop residue on nearly four-hectare agriculture land adjoining the reserve forest area late Thursday night.


Timely action by forest officials, however, prevented the fire from reaching the forest area or damaging the trees.

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Wednesday 22 November 2017

NEWSLINK: Leopard enters Dhirenpara school, mauls four in melee

A leopard which had sneaked into a school building in the city's Dhirenpara area caused panic for about one and a half hours on Sunday, leaving four persons injured.


The leopard was eventually tranquillized and taken to the Assam State Zoo. The four people who were mauled were admitted to Gauhati Medical College Hospital and are reported to be out of danger.

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NEWSLINK: West coast hunters aim to capture suspected cat on camera

Some avid hunters on the province's west coast are determined to put all rumours to rest and record 
an image if what they suspect is a cougar.


Possible sightings have popped up on social media this fall with people claiming they saw a large black cat around Deer Lake in October.

Unlike some other reported sightings, Kirk Moore doesn't think he saw a black panther.


"I definitely seen a cougar," he told CBC News.

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NEWSLINK: Tiger killed by carnivore in buffer zone of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve

In more bad news for tigers and animal lovers in Maharashtra, the state lost yet another tiger. The big cat was killed by another carnivore in the buffer zone of the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. (TATR).


This has taken the number of tiger mortalities in Maharashtra this year to 15, which is at par with the highest toll recorded.

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Tuesday 21 November 2017

PHOTOS: Three Sunda Clouded Leopards Caught on Camera

Sunda clouded leopards aren’t just rare. They are also highly elusive. They are so elusive in fact that mere sightings of them can qualify as newsworthy occurrences. Thus the feat of a foreign photographer in capturing on camera a female clouded leopard walking through a forest with her two cubs has duly made the news internationally.


Photographer Michael Gordon caught sight of the big cats as they were nosing around a gravel road before disappearing into a bush in the Deramakot Forest Reserve in Sabah. He managed to take a short video clip of the animals. “Seeing it in daytime is nearly unheard of, and never with its young,” Gordon told the Reuters news agency.

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NEWSLINK: Epic India leopard rescue photo wins award five years later

FestiveLeopard.jpgAround 8 am on July 19, 2012, Anand Bora received a phone call saying a leopard was trapped in a well in a nearby tribal village in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.


Mr Bora was used to these phone calls - a teacher by profession, he is also a wildlife photographer who has documented several rescue missions carried out by forest officers.


He rushed to the village, Bubali, and photographed the three-and-half-hour long effort to save the tired and terrified animal from drowning.


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NEWSLINK: State forest department to promote solar fencing in Maharashtra

DAK Panthera tigris 02.JPGAfter the electrocution deaths of six tigers in just over a year, the state forest department will promote solar fencing of farmsteads to prevent animals from entering them.


Officials note that many farmers who illegally electrify their farm fences or put live wires near their fields claim that they do so to prevent crop depredations by wild animals. However, this leads to these animals being electrocuted on coming in contact with the live wires.

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Sunday 19 November 2017

NEWSLINK: Tiger mauls boy to death

A nine-year-old tribal boy was mauled to death by a tiger in Budhni forest in the district today, a Forest department official said.


This is the second such incident in the forest, located around 100 kms away from the district headquarters, in the last 25 days. In the first incident, a child was attacked and killed by a tiger.


The boy, identified as Shekhar Parate, had gone to the forest to collect woods when he was attacked, said Sehore Conservator of Forests Manoj Argal.


"We have provided an immediate financial help of Rs 10,000 to the family members of the deceased. We will provide a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to them shortly," he said.

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NEWSLINK: Second Lynx Killed At Borth Wild Animal Kingdom After 'Terrible Handling Error'

The Wales wildlife park whose escaped lynx was shot dead has detailed a “devastating” second death of a wild-cat following a “terrible handling error” that caused the animal to be asphyxiated.
Borth Wild Animal Kingdom on Monday issued a statement detailing the circumstances surrounding the “demise” last week of Nilly, an adult female lynx.


The news comes after the park on Saturday condemned a council decision to destroy a Eurasian lynx called Lilleth on Friday night after it strayed into a populated area after escaping from its Ceredigion enclosure on October 29. The park, who had failed to recapture it, said it in “no way agreed to or participated in” the animal’s destruction and was “devastated and outraged”.


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NEWSLINK: Lioness gives birth to stillborn cub in Chennai’s Vandalur zoo

Mala, a six-year-old lioness in Arignar Anna Zoological Park (Vandalur zoo) in Chennai, gave birth to a stillborn male cub on Monday.


This is the first incident of a lioness giving birth to a stillborn cub in the Vandalur zoo, an official said.


The cub was buried after a postmortem.


According to zoo authorities, the lioness mated with a nine-year-old lion, Siva, 104 days ago. The gestation period of a lioness ranges between 105 and 110 days.


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VIDEO: How This Dog Mom Protects a Leopard Cub From Cannibalism

People say it takes a village to raise a child. But in this case it takes two dogs, two cats, and a zoo to raise an endangered leopard cub.

Zookeepers in the Far Eastern Russian city of Vladivostok have paired a newborn Amur leopard cub with a canine foster mom. The golden retriever, named Tessa, already has her paws full with four pups of her own, but she cares for the newcomer with licks and love. Thanks to a healthy diet of Tessa's milk, supplemented with formula and rabbit meat treats by the zoo, the cub has already outgrown her adopted siblings.

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Thursday 16 November 2017

NEWSLINK: Nod for mineral prospecting near tiger corridor

Even as lack of connectivity between tiger reserves remains a big hurdle for re-population of big cats, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has given an in-principle approval to Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC)’s proposal for mineral prospecting in Kathpal chromite mines which is barely 7.5 km from Similipal-Satkosia tiger corridor.Finding the proposed site close to the tiger corridor, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) had sought comments of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

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NEWSLINK: Will a New Family of Mountain Lions Soon Be Looking for a Hollywood Hills Home?

Iguaçu National Park - Puma.jpgThe recent news that an as yet gender-unidentified mountain lion has been discovered in the Hollywood Hills reminds us that, while we live in a very dense city, our urban landscape also includes a thriving wilderness. If the mystery cat is a female and if she mates with one of the better-known local mountain lions – such as the iconic P-22 – we could soon have a new family in search of a hillside habitat. It would be, however, a family without a “dad” since male mountain lions leave “mom” within days of mating.

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VIDEO: New lion attraction at zoo puts humans in big cage while lions roam free

Visitors to the Monarto Zoo can take a walk on the wild side. The Australian animal park now boasts of a new feature: Lions 360. It is a cage inside the lion's enclosure at the zoo where humans can see the big cats up close and personal.
The zoo is turning the tables on the traditional zoo experience. The lions roam free while the humans are locked up in a cage. Zoo workers say while the experience is frighting, it is absolutely safe- it has been tested by lions.

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Wednesday 15 November 2017

NEWSLINK: Rare big cat flees exile and returns 700 km to Vladivostok

Legendary wild Amur tiger back to city one year to the day after he caused panic stalking residents - despite being banished to faraway wildlife park.
'He went back to Vladivostok, crossed the Trans-Siberian railway, overcame our terrible roads, and eventually now seems to have chosen China.'

This amazing cat story involves Vladik, an endangered Siberian tiger, who is in love with Russia's eastern capital, Vladivostok.


A year ago we covered his escapades when he caused some fleeting terror in and near the city with frequent sightings as close as five miles from downtown.

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SIGHTIING, UK: Man’s shock as he sees ‘large black cat’ on A12

A man has described his shock at seeing a large black cat on the A12 in the middle of the night.


The animal, which ran across the road at around 12.30am on Tuesday morning, was “much bigger than a fox” and had a long, rather bushy tail.

The man from Chelmsford, who did not want to be named, said the creature ran in front of his car on the A12 on the stretch of road between Ingatestone and Margaretting.

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Sunday 12 November 2017

NEWSLINK: Big cat remains on M25 Hertfordshire slip road?

Graphic designer Gavin Wybrow, 50, saw the road kill on his way to work at about 9am on Monday - he said the body was huge, had round ears, and sandy coloured fur.

The body was on the M25 slip road, leaving the motorway at Junction 24 for Potters Bar.
He said: “It’s only my opinion, I haven’t taken measurements or photographs, but it was weird and I am not mad.


"There was a huge mess of road kill and as I glanced at it, obviously I had to do this in a split second while driving, but it looked like a cougar or some cat.

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NEWSLINK: Cougar suspected of snatching pets from Seaside apartment complex

Seaside Heights Elementary School moved all student activities inside Monday after a reported cougar sighting.


Staff escorted students home and monitored crosswalks. Residents of Creekside Village Apartments are being warned their small pets could be in danger.


Superintendent Sheila Roley said a neighbor reported to Principal John McAndrews “that she believed she had seen a cougar in the neighborhood last weekend.”

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Thursday 9 November 2017

AZGFD treats orphaned 8-week-old mountain lion cub

 
 
GAME AND FISH NEWS
 
 
 
AZGFD treats orphaned 8-week-old mountain lion cub
 
 
PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department is caring for an approximately eight-week-old mountain lion cub found in the Cornville area. 

The cub was spotted by Cornville residents and reported to AZGFD on three separate occasions. Each time, the reporting residents did the right thing, leaving the animal alone, because the mother of a young animal is typically nearby. In this case, the mother never returned after two weeks and AZGFD biologists determined that in this situation, it was best to intervene.

The female cub was picked up from a nearby licensed wildlife rehabilitator and transferred to AZGFD on Friday, Nov. 3. To determine the overall health and condition of the cub, it was given a full examination by veterinarians at the Arizona Exotic Animal Hospital. The veterinarians found the cub to be in poor-to-fair health.

“Mountain lions are truly resilient animals, but this one likely would not have made it without human intervention and specialized care at the Wildlife Center,” said Mike Demlong, AZGFD Wildlife Education program manager. “When we received the cub, it was lethargic, severely dehydrated and emaciated. She needed help immediately. We’re currently doing everything possible to improve the health of this cub and give her the strongest chance for survival.”

Providing a fighting chance for wildlife needing a helping hand isn’t anything new for the AZGFD Wildlife Center, but such a rescue can often be costly. 

To provide better care for sick, injured, orphaned and confiscated wildlife, AZGFD is planning to build a new wildlife center at the department’s headquarters in north Phoenix. With limited funding available for the project, the department is seeking the public’s help. 

The public can donate to AZGFD’s ongoing “Be a Hero for Wildlife” donation campaign and assist many different species of wildlife in need by texting CRITTER to 41444 from any smartphone or visit www.azgfd.gov/WildlifeCenter.

“Helping injured wildlife — and especially baby wildlife — is the best part of my job,” said Demlong. “In regards to this mountain lion cub, I know I’ve made a difference. It’s rewarding knowing that we’ve taken an animal that was nearly dead and with time, good nutrition and care we’re able to turn it into a rambunctious, playful mountain lion cub.”

The cub will remain with AZGFD until a permanent wildlife sanctuary, wildlife park or zoo can be found to give it a forever home. Unfortunately, because it was orphaned it cannot be returned to the wild. Mountain lion cubs spend a year or more with their mom learning critical survival skills. This cub will not have that opportunity. 

In addition to donations, the public can also help keep wildlife wild by leaving baby wildlife alone. The situation with this cub is an exception, but in general baby wildlife is rarely orphaned or abandoned. One or both of its parents is likely nearby searching for food and will return.

For more information on Arizona’s diverse wildlife or the Wildlife Center, visit www.azgfd.gov.​​​​​​​

ARTICLE: Big cats in Britain—urban myth or scientific fact?

Blackleopard.JPGThe escape of Lilith the Lynx from a zoo in Wales has focused attention once again on the question of what exotic beasts might be roaming the British countryside.

Sightings of "big cats" in the UK are more frequent than a naturalist might expect. Since the 1760s, when William Cobbett, then a small boy, saw a large cat at Waverley Abbey near Farnborough, for reporting which he was soundly beaten, instances of people spotting apparently alien cats have been well documented.

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PHOTO: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff posts video of mountain lion outside his SF Pac Heights home

Cougar Walking in Tall Grass (19243047895).jpgIt's not something you see everyday in the city: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff posted video showing a good-sized mountain lion strolling outside his home in San Francisco near the Presidio over the weekend.

Since Benioff shared the video on YouTube and Twitter on Saturday morning, it's been viewed thousands of times.

He posted it with the caption, "A San Francisco Mountain Lion just walked in front of my house," and he used the hashtags #trailhead and #AppyDF.

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NEWSLINK: More space for big cats: Mudumalai grows 2-fold

Panthera tigris tigris Tadoba India wild tiger.jpgThe Mudumalai Tiger Reserve(MTR), home to five dozen tigers, is all set to get bigger.The forest department will soon be annexing 367.59 sqkm of reserve forests, making the tiger reserve more than double its existing size.To be precise, the expansion would make the tiger reserve bigger by 114%, from its current 321 sqkm to nearly 690 sqkm. Not just bigger, but a better habitat for tigers, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs besides herbivores such as elephants, Indian bison and various deer species.

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Wednesday 8 November 2017

NEWSLINK: Chinese billionairess donates $200 million to save big cats

In Monaco’s prestigious yacht club, something big is going down. Tom Kaplan, billionaire philanthropist and co-founder of Panthera, an organisation devoted to the preservation of the world’s 40 species of wild cats, is making a speech. He’s introducing someone who he says is one of the most spectacular humans he has ever met; a woman who will become ‘the most important force for wildlife preservation in the world today’.

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NEWSLINK: Female leopard dies one week after its debut at Lahore Zoo

A female leopard who was imported from South Africa a week ago died on Sunday morning, confirm officials.


The three-year-old leopard’s postmortem will be conducted by the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences and after that, the real cause of the death would be examined. “We have sent samples to the university and the complete report would be available on Monday,” Deputy Director Lahore Zoo Tanvir Ahmed told Daily Pakistan.


On October 30, 2017, four big cats including two white lions and a pair of leopards were brought from Africa. “It is possible the leopard was unable to adjust here and expired,” he added.

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NEWSLINK: Mountain lion plan adopted

Cougar Licking His Nose (17855168902).jpgWith established populations of mountain lions in three areas of the state, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission now has adopted a formal management plan to guide the agency’s long-term approach to the big cats.

The plan was approved by the commission in late October and spells out the agency’s goals for mountain lions in the state. It includes hunting seasons when the agency deems them appropriate, contingencies for predation of livestock or threatening behavior against a human or livestock animal, as well as protections of the state’s bighorn sheep population.

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Tuesday 7 November 2017

PHOTOS: First picture of zookeeper, 44, mauled by rampaging tiger

Panthera tigris5.jpgThe zookeeper who was mauled by a rampaging Siberian tiger has been blamed by the zoo she works for after she 'violated safety procedures'.


Horrifying pictures showed how Nadezhda Srivastava, 44, was savaged by the beast after it pinned her to the ground as she brought food into the enclosure.

Heroic visitors saved her life by shouting, screaming, throwing stones at the tiger and picking up a table and chairs from a nearby cafe and hurling them into the compound.


This distracted the animal long enough for Nadezhda - who fought the beast's attempt to kill her - to flee to safety in part of the predator's enclosure.


One local account said the mother of three's escape was 'miraculous'.


Another said she had been "incredibly lucky" to be able to flee.

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NEWSLINK: On the trail of Sabah’s elusive clouded leopards

Clouded leopard.jpgA wild Sunda clouded leopard trapped and fitted with a satellite collar by conservationists in Sabah’s east coast Kinabatangan will provide vital data to the elusive big cat in the area.


The male leopard weighing 24.75kg was captured in one of the purpose-built traps placed along the Kinabatangan River on Saturday.


It was collared as part of an intensive satellite-collaring programme to study the animal in the fragile Kinabatangan landscape.


The project by the Sabah Wildlife Dep­artment (SWD), WildCRU (Oxford University) and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) focuses on research and conservation of the leopard.

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Sunday 5 November 2017

SIGHTING, Illinois: Unconfirmed sighting of large cat in Roscoe

Black Panther - India.jpgRoscoe police are investigating a possible panther sighting in the stateline.


Police say around 11:30 Wednesday morning they were called to investigate a panther in the 5100 block of Rockton Road. They say the area was checked and no animal or additional witnesses were located.


The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says there has not been a population of panthers in Illinois in more than 100 years. They say occasionally cougars have been seen in the area.


Officials say large cats are protected in Illinois unless the animal is a threat to humans or livestock.

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PHOTOS: Photographer captures 'mating' of two male lions

A wildlife photographer has captured a remarkable gay encounter between adult male lions.


Paul Goldstein,who guides for Exodus Travels in the UK, spotted the big cats engaging in seemingly affectionate love-making in August this year.


He first observed them standing side-by-side in Kenya's Masai Mara, before one lay down and was gently mounted by the other.

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Thursday 2 November 2017

NEWSLINK: 'All of India' tiger estimation using camera traps

Tigress in Bandhavgarh NP.jpgIts time once again for the country to check if it is succeeding in protecting its tigers from poachers. The last estimation in 2014 revealed there were 2,226 tigers in the country and Karnataka’s five tiger reserves of Bhadra, Biligiriranga Hills, Nagarahole, Bandipur and Kali were home to 417 of these big cats.


And now forest officials around the country are all set to begin training for the fourth cycle of the all- India tiger estimation that could be done in January-February 2018 using camera traps in all 50 tiger reserves and forests of the country, according to National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) sources. The officials will complete their training for the exercise in November-December, they reveal.

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VIDEO: African leopard kills and eats a two-metre crocodile

A leopard in captivity in gir forest.jpgIt's not every day that you see wildlife at its most primal, but a new video has emerged of an African leopard feasting on its freshly killed prey: a two-metre-long crocodile.

The video, shot in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, is rare not least for its timely capture, but also the animals involved. It is highly uncommon to see a leopard with crocodile kill in Africa.

British photographer Edward Selfe, 31, caught the moment on film.

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