ARTICLE: 25 lost leopard cubs reunited with their mothers in Maharashtra

In the past two years, 25 leopard cubs found lost in forests in Pune’s Junnar taluka have been reunited with their mothers.


Earlier, the forest department used to release rescued cubs in the wild. Realising that abandoned cubs can’t survive in the environment, they started to track down their mothers.


The state forest department, with help of veterinarians from Mandikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre (MLRC) and NGO Wildlife SOS, reunited 18 lost cubs in Junnar, Ambegaon, Khed and Shirur in 2016 and the rest this year.


Members of the rescue centre said cubs get lost when their mothers go hunting leaving them in sugarcane or banana plantation.

Read more...

ARTICLE: Interspecies Hybrids Play a Vital Role in Evolution

In a paper published last month in Science Advances, a team of researchers from institutions spanning seven countries examined the genomes of the five members of the Panthera genus, often called the “big cats”: lions, leopards, tigers, jaguars and snow leopards. The scientists sequenced the genomes of the jaguar and leopard for the first time and compared them with the already existing genomes for the other three species, finding more than 13,000 genes that were shared across all five.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Satellite collars can save big cats in the wild, say biologists

Satellite collars, though possibly detrimental to their daily activities, can save the wild cats from being killed by humans, international big cat biologists say.

Domestic animals are easy prey for a carnivore. Attacks on them often lead to retaliation the world over by locals. “While documenting the diets of puma and jaguar using GPS (global positioning system) collars, we were notified many times that ‘I would have killed a jaguar I observed, but I was afraid it may have had a GPS collar on it’,” Ron Thompson and Ivonne Cassaigne, North America’s most experienced big cat biologists, said.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Teen tells judge he bought tiger cub on streets of Mexico

A California teenager who says he bought a Bengal tiger cub on the streets of Tijuana for $300 was arrested when he tried to bring it into the United States in his 2017 Chevy Camaro.


Luis Eudoro Valencia was charged with smuggling a Bengal tiger into the United States after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials found the furry cub lying on the floor of the passenger side of his car during an inspection around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Otay Mesa border crossing.

Read more...

PHOTOS: Lions go wild when they see their ‘godmother’ in Slovakia

This is the heartwarming moment two rescued lions went crazy when they came face to face with the woman who helped to raise them.

Malkia and Adelle were rejected by their mother when they were cubs and were handed over to a big cat rescue centre in Slovakia.
Their parents had been used in circuses across the Eastern European province.

Read more...

ARTICLE: Tracking the Elusive Snow Leopard in India

Squinting into a battered old telescope, I scan the craggy ridgeline for a flicker of feline movement. It is wintertime in Ladakh’s remote Ulley Valley, a sparsely populated desert region high in the Indian Himalayas, and somewhere up there amid the frozen cliffs, the extraordinary snow leopard is lying in wait. I pan from left to right, right to left, searching for some sign of the endangered cat—perhaps a flash of pale-green eyes or a blur of spotted fur. Alas, I see nothing.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Zookeeper-governor candidate feuds with PETA over tigers

A roadside animal park and its colorful zookeeper, Joe Exotic, are entrenched in a new battle with animal welfare activists over the fate of 19 tigers from a troubled Florida zoo.
Greater Wynnewood Animal Park zookeeper and Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Joe “Exotic” Maldonado says the animals now legally belong to him. The nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wants the Florida tigers to go to a wildlife refuge in Colorado.

Maldonado has claimed to have as many as 200 tigers, lions and hybrid big cats at Greater Wynnewood Animal Park, but federal inspection records from 2016 put the number of cats at the park closer to 100. The zoo has already built new cages to house the Florida tigers, Maldonado said.
“The tigers are here to stay,” Maldonado said. “They are comfortable and they are home.”


Read more...

NEWSLINK: Two pumas rescued from Argentina zoo find sanctuary in U.S

In 2015, a zoo in Rawson, Argentina closed due to lack of funding and public pressure. Many animals were kept behind metal bars in barren cages. In recent years, several zoos in Argentina have closed down for similar reasons. IFAW does not currently actively participate in zoo closures, however IFAW and partners committed to this rescue more than two years ago and felt it was important to honor that commitment.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Forest department to set up camera trap to keep tabs on leopards

The forest department will setup camera trap to keep tabs on a leap of leopards spotted near Munnar.


On Wednesday a leap of five leopards was spotted in the human settlement of Puthukudi Kavala under Kundala estate division at Munnar. According to Shekar, a plantation worker at Kundala estate division, he saw the big cats near some bush adjacent to the water tank at Puthukudy Kavala. He then informed his son, a photographer, who clicked the picture of one of the leopards.


Read more...

NEWSLINK: Rare Sumatran tigers return to Sydney as Taronga Zoo welcomes four of the big cats

Four critically endangered Sumatran tigers have returned to Sydney's Taronga Zoo after renovations on their exhibit to make it feel a little more like home.

Clarence, a six-year-old adult male, Jumilah, a 14-year-old adult female born and her cubs Kembali, a male and Kartika, a female, will now occupy the exhibit which was recreated to resemble the Kambas National Park, in Indonesia.

Read more...

ARTICLE: Why Ranthambhore is losing its big cats

Little over a decade has passed since Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district of Rajasthan lost all its tigers to poaching. The horrific times for wildlife conservation are still etched in the memories of wildlife lovers. Major accomplishments have been achieved in the field of wildlife conservation since then, but now Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve seems to be facing a similar threat.

Read more...

SIGHTING, UK: Does this amazing footage finally prove Fife has a big cat?

A shocked Rosyth woman has posted what appears to be the best evidence yet that big cats do indeed prowl the wilds of Fife.


Sabrina Mahmood posted three videos of a mysterious creature making its way across fields on the outskirts of Rosyth.


The videos show a black or dark-coloured animal with cat-like movement. Sabrina says the animal has been confirmed as a big cat.

Read more...

ARTICLE: Captive big cats show stress in different ways

Observing wild animals in zoos is a refreshing break from everyday monotony for most of us. For the zoo animals, on the other hand, it’s a stressful life. Animals in zoos show certain specific behaviours not seen in their wild counterparts: elephants sway their heads from side to side, chimps rock back and forth, bears bite their feet, giraffes lick walls, and leopards pace in their cages, to name a few. Known as ‘stereotypy’, these behaviours are coping responses commonly observed in captive wild animals.

Read more...

VIDEO: Could the legendary Durham puma be the star of a new film?

A filmmaker has released the first footage from a new project inspired by sightings of the Durham puma.

There have been numerous sightings of the legendary big cat in County Durham dating back to the 1980s.

But it is now going to take a starring role in a new film created by Durham writer Paul Stainthorpe.

The designer and blogger, from Newton Hall, has been working on a story for around a year after being inspired by a story from a friend who claims to have seen the beast.

Read more...

VIDEO: Fearless cows chase off lions in Indian village

Security cameras were rolling in a village in India when a showdown between lions and a herd of cows ended with an unexpected victory for the bovines.


The footage from the Aug. 13 incident in the village of Rampar, in the Amreli area, shows a pride of lions wandering the streets of the village in search of food.


A fearless cow faces down one of the big cats just before a herd of reinforcements appears and chases the lions down the road.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Administration for big cats national park inaugurated

The administration for the much-anticipated tiger and leopard national park was officially inaugurated in Changchun, capital of northeast China’s Jilin Province.


Launch of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration is a big step forward in protection of the endangered animals, said Zhang Jianlong, head of the State Forestry Administration.


Read more...

NEWSLINK: Fife big cat expert dismisses Rosyth sighting

A Fife big cat expert has dismissed claims that a fearsome feline is stalking the region.


George Redpath claims that video footage shot from a Rosyth flat at the weekend shows a large domestic cat, after speculation mounted that the mysterious dark creature may have been an animal such as a puma or jaguar.


The footage was shot by local woman Sabrina Mahmood, and has since created a huge buzz online.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Tiger count goes up in Nallamala forest

Thanks to the conservation efforts by forest officials in the State by roping in the Chenchu tribals, the number of big cats in the Nallamala tracts had gone up to 45, including 31 tigresses, Markapur Division Forest Officer B. Jayachandra Reddy said here on Saturday.


The local community was fully involved in thwarting any misadventure by poachers, Mr. Reddy said.

Read more...

ARTICLE: Beauty and terror in the jungle

“GRRR....kerr...eooowww“ “Grrr....kerr...eooowww" The men in the Gurkha patrol stop dead in their tracks. No one dared to move even a muscle. They begin to wonder whether what they‘re hearing is an enemy signal warning them of an imminent ambush. Thankfully, their fear proves to be unfounded when the sounds persist. No communist terrorist would keep on calling out like that as it would be a dead giveaway!


Choosing to remain vigilant and constantly pepared for a communist attack, the captain signals to his best tracker to check out the source of the commotion while the rest of the troops seek cover behind a clump of tall trees. They‘d be ready to provide backup to their comrade should things start to go south.


Read more...

NEWSLINK: Celebrity launches a new fund to save the lions

Lions are in trouble – there are just 20,000 today, down from 200,000 around 100 years ago. But everyone’s favorite eco-warrior, Leonardo DiCaprio, isn’t going to sit by while big cat populations plummet. His foundation has teamed up with the Wildlife Conservation Network to launch the Lion Recovery Fund (LRF), a nonprofit that seeks to double the amount of lions by 2050.

Read more...

ARTICLE: When a Rare Jaguar Attack Becomes a Conservation Opportunity

Outside his outpost, a Colombian Navy guardsman wakes from a quick nap to see a jaguar inches from his face. A scrap ensues. The cat bites the guardsman’s thigh, but the man defends himself with the butt of his rifle. In seconds, the jaguar disappears into the night. The man lives to tell the tale.


His story mentions how the big cat tried to eat him. But an expert called in to review the case, which took place at the end of 2012 on the Uraba Coast, where the Colombia jungle gives way to a gnarled mass of saltwater mangroves, isn’t so sure about that.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: What Pilibhit Tiger Reserve can learn from its Bengal counterpart

Disquiet has given way to clamour in the fields around Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Uttar Pradesh. At the heart of this clamour is an unfolding tragedy, as one or more tigers continue to claim human lives. Fifteen people have lost their lives since last November. Villagers have blocked highways and traded charges with forest managers. But the solutions considered thus far to mitigate the human-animal conflict in Pilibhit have been mostly poorly thought out.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: National tiger conservation authority asks state to tame jungle traffic

Karnataka’s popular tiger safaris will now operate under stricter guidelines aimed at creating minimum disturbance and human interference while watching the big cats in the wild. National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the apex body on tiger conservation in India, has directed the chief wildlife wardens of all states to crack down on unruly traffic and chaos inside the forest during safaris.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Limpopo lions being killed for muti that gives ‘power in business’

Chests were cut open and organs, such as the heart and adrenal glands were removed.

Four lions were killed in Limpopo over the weekend, driving speculation that body parts of the big cats are being used to make muti that reportedly gives users greater power in business and over people.


Police in Limpopo reported yesterday that two lions were killed in the Kwaggadans lion enclosure in Vaalwater, near Lephalale, on Friday night. Another pair was killed near Bushfellows Game Lodge in the Marble Hall area on Saturday.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Tiger revival programme in Satkosia soon

In a bid to revive the large cat population in Satkosia, tiger supplementation in the habitat is proposed to be carried out soon, the State Government informed the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).


Well-placed sources said the Forest Department is planning the first release of tigers in the ratio of 1:2 (male:female) in the first quarter of next year. A second release will be conducted later in the year with a pair of male and female.


Read more...

NEWSLINK: Odisha Plans To Release Tigers In Forest To Raise Big Cat Population

The Odisha government is planning to release adult Royal Bengal Tigers in low-tiger density forests in a bid to raise the population of the big cats. "We are planning to release a pair of tigers at Satkosia tiger reserve in Angul district on a pilot basis. If the scheme is successful, the government may undertake similar efforts in other forests," Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Sandeep Tripathy said today.

Read more...

VIDEO: Rare white lion cubs pose for the cameras at Crimean safari park

Four rare and adorable white lion cubs have been born in a safari park in Crimea, the region of Ukraine annexed by Vladimir Putin.


The quadruplets made their public debut at the park after conveniently being born on August 10 - World Lion Day.


Oleg Zubkov, a 'lion whisperer' and owner of Taigan Safari Park, which has remained open despite Russia retaking control of Crimea, hailed their birth as a 'great event'.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Bir Talab Deer Park finally gets three leopards

After a wait of three years, three leopards have been brought at the mini zoo-cum-deer park situated at Bir Talab in Bathinda. Sharing information on the development Monday, forest range officer Harbhjan Singh stated that two male and one female leopard have been brought here from the Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park Chhatbir. He added that the public can catch a glimpse of the leopards from September onwards.

Read more...

VIDEO: Pregnant lioness rescued from war-torn Aleppo zoo gives birth to healthy cub

Life can't get much sadder for a lion trapped in a tiny cage smack bang in the middle of a war zone, but at least there's some good news for Dana the lioness.


The big cat, rescued from a bomb-ravaged zoo on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, has given birth to a healthy baby cub.


Born on Sunday, the tiny cub has been a source of joy for volunteers from the Four Paws organisation that coordinated the evacuation of the abandoned zoo.

Read more...

SIGHTING, UK: ‘Big cat’ spotted crossing road in St Albans

At about 5.30am on July 27, the motorist, who would prefer not to be named, was driving his car to work through Jersey Farm - when a large brown or sandy coloured feline crossed his path.
Dash-cam footage of the journey was unfortunately too blurred to show the cat in action.
He contacted his ex-wife, who told the Herts Ad: “He said it definitely wasn’t domestic. The tail was massive, very big, he had never seen anything like it.

Read more...

ARTICLE: What it's like to walk with lions in Zimbabwe

We were out on Zimbabwe’s open savannah, my eyes swimming in the heat, and the lion was right in front of me. So I stretched out my hand to stroke it...


But it was the lion, not I, who was the endangered species here. And the walk is part of a programme to protect them.


The number of African lions has halved in the past 25 years, so charities are breeding them in captivity, introducing the cubs to stalking and hunting, before they are released into an enclosed reserve to hunt and fend for themselves. And it is only the cubs they give birth to here, who have had no human contact, that can go wild.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Mountain lion killed in south-central Idaho

Officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game say they have shot and killed a mountain lion in south-central Idaho.


The agency announced Monday the female big cat was one of two mountain lions that had killed several domestic cats and a dog in the past week near Oakley.


Fish and Game officers have set up live traps to capture the second mountain lion.
In Idaho, mountain lions posing an immediate threat to a person or property can be killed without a proper license tag.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Human-wildlife conflict in India: 1 human killed every day

A deadly conflict is underway between India's growing masses and its wildlife, confined to ever-shrinking forests and grasslands, with data showing that about one person has been killed every day for the past three years by roaming tigers or rampaging elephants.

Statistics released this week by India's Environment Ministry count a total of 1,144 people killed between April 2014 and May of this year.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: French police search for 'big cat' spotted near area popular with British tourists

French police have called off a search for a “big cat” spotted in the Normandy countryside after failing to find the feline despite “credible” reports of sightings.


A police officer was one of two people who reported seeing an animal resembling a lioness or a lynx near the A84 motorway, outside the village of La Colombe, in an area popular with British holidaymakers.

Read more...

PHOTOS: Super rare tigers photographed in the wild

WWF photographer, Emmanuel Rondeau takes pictures of rare tigers in a remote area of Bhutan

See photos...

NEWSLINK: Kenyan lions kill 1 person grazing livestock in city park

Two lions attacked and killed one person among a group of men grazing cattle in Kenya's Nairobi National Park at night, police said, highlighting the increasing conflict between wildlife and human communities as the capital city expands.


The group of herders was attacked around 2 a.m. and wardens were able to rescue seven people, said Kenya Wildlife Service ranger Martin Omondi. However, an 18-year-old man was killed by the lions and most of his body was eaten, the report said.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Palamu reserve brings captive sambars to increase tiger prey base

The Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) authority has brought 16 sambars from Ranchi’s Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, popularly known as Birsa Zoo, to increase the prey base for the big cats in Jharkhand’s lone tiger den.


However, food, public distribution and consumer affairs minister Saryu Rai has raised objection over shifting of the animals from zoo to wild and termed it as gross of violation of wildlife norms.


The number of tigers in PTR has dropped to three, which has become cause for concern for authorities. They assign dwindling population of sambar the reason behind fall in numbers of big cats.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Mountain lion P-55 crosses 101 and 118 freeways with all nine lives intact

That old adage about curiosity and the fate of felines didn’t hold true for one Southern California mountain lion recently.


National Park Service researchers say a male mountain lion named P-55 was documented successfully crossing the 101 Freeway — a rare event for the region’s big cats.


P-55, described as a “subadult male,” represents only the fourth case of a successful crossing since the NPS began its mountain lion study in 2002.


The puma also made it across Highway 23 and the 118 Freeway and is currently roaming the Santa Susana Mountains, according to the NPS.


Read more...

SIGHTING, UK: Big cat 'the size of a labrador' spotted in Cambridgeshire

A man is "100 per cent convinced" he is the latest person to spot the fabled "Fen Tiger" of Cambridgeshire.


Steve Lawrence, 60, said he saw a "panther" running across a rural road at 8.20 am on Monday (July 31).
He described witnessing a Labrador-sized dark-brown feline emerge from a bush, dart past his car and cross two lanes of a motorway bypass in three bounds.


The construction site manager, from Over, said he fears the mystery big cat could attack children and pets.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Did the mountain lion spotted outside Stater Bros. in Tustin kill a pet cat?

At dawn two weeks back, Adam Dupre walked outside his Tustin home to find a devastating sight.
Family cat Shadow lay mortally injured, the victim of an animal attack.


“My husband was crying when he told me, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen him cry,” said Alisen Dupre.


At first, the couple, who live in a town home complex off Red Hill Avenue, assumed a coyote was to blame — even though coyotes have become a rarity in the area, she said. Still, the deep puncture wounds on Shadow’s body seemed odd.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Bengal tigers get bigger sanctuary

Bangladesh has more than doubled the size of the wildlife sanctuary in the world's largest mangrove forest to try to protect endangered Bengal tigers whose numbers have fallen sharply, officials said Tuesday.


More than half or 52 percent of the 6,017 square kilometre (2,325 square mile) Sundarbans – one of the largest habitats of the tigers – has been declared a sanctuary this week, said the government's chief forest conservator Shafiul Alam.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Paphos Zoo tiger goes wild to boost population

Paphos zoo is celebrating as one of their hand-reared Siberian tiger cubs is about to be released into a protected forest in Russia to help increase the dwindling numbers of the animals in the wild.


Ioulious Christoforou told the Cyprus Mail that he was ecstatic when he heard the news, as he hand-reared the female tiger cub named Aphrodite for the first part of her life. The female cub was born to Siberian tiger, Bonnie and Clyde in April 2015 at Paphos Zoo, but her mother was unable to produce enough milk, so Christoforou stepped in to help.

Read more...

NEWSLINK: Mumbai’s Film City shut down after five leopard attacks

The Maharashtra forest department has asked Film City in Goregaon to stop shooting at outdoor sites for the next eight days till a leopard suspected of attacking five children in the area is trapped.


Officials from the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari confirmed that eight locations where films or television series are shot have been closed for at least eight days. Film City is located on the boundary of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), which has a leopard population of over 20, and the Aarey Milk Colony, where the cats are known to enter in search of prey.

Read more...