So, did Tiger Man enjoy “Tiger King?”
“I was turned off by it,” said Antoine Yates, who became known as New York City’s Tiger Man long before the wild popularity of Netflix’s documentary mini-series. “It just shows how ignorant these so-called exotic animal lovers can be.”
Mr. Yates also got momentarily famous for keeping a full-grown tiger, this one named Ming. But rather than the more rural settings favored by Joe Exotic and the show’s other big-cat enthusiasts, he kept Ming in his Harlem apartment, for more than two years.
In 2001, Mr. Yates, then a 31-year-old construction worker, brought the 8-week-old cub to his sprawling home in a Harlem housing project.
Ming quickly went from bottle feeding to consuming 20 pounds of chicken thighs a day, which Mr. Yates would heft home each morning from a local supermarket. And in less than three years, the Siberian-Bengal mix grew into a 425-pound behemoth.
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Recently, a camera trap has captured a Royal Bengal Tiger at an elevation of 2,497 meters in the densely forested mountains of Dadeldhura in far-western Nepal. It is the country's highest-ever recorded tiger sighting. Although Bengal tigers have been reported at higher elevations in India (3,602 meters) and Bhutan (4,038 meters), Nepal's national record reminds us of the value of the high-altitude forested Himalayan mountains as a habitat for these endangered big cats. To understand the significance of this sighting and its role in shaping future tiger conservation strategies, World Atlas spoke to Dr. Ghana S. Gurung, country representative of World Wildlife Fund-Nepal (WWF-N).
"Tigers are highly adaptive species with their range spanning from sea levels to mountainous regions, so it isn’t surprising that they’ve been recorded at 2,497metres. The significance is huge for a small country like Nepal. With this finding, the tiger range in Nepal extends to the Mahabharata range, and beyond the boundaries of Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) - the only landscape in Nepal with known tiger distribution to date. This finding will, therefore, form the basis for shaping the conservation of tigers in Nepal beyond the Terai Arc Landscape" - WWF-N.
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After a spate of unconfirmed sightings and false reports in the Tricity of leopards roving deep into human-dominated landscapes, this time around the pugmarks were authentic. Lured by the odour of buffalo meat under slaughter at an export house plant, a leopard made a bold appearance at 3.30 pm on Monday and then repeated the foray on Monday/Tuesday night. Not only was the leopard spotted by the factory watchman but the big cat left behind a trail of unmistakable pugmarks in dry and wet soil. The big cat even entered the closed factory as its pugmarks were found inside later by the wildlife department's guard, Narendra Kumar.
Having confirmed the intrusion was indeed of a leopard at the Mirha Exports’ meat/slaughter plant on Rani Majra road, Jaula Khurd village, Derabassi, the Punjab forest and wildlife preservation department placed a trap cage on Tuesday afternoon to reassure factory staff and nearby residents. “Leopards have come into the Derabassi area in past years also as it lies in the foothills and is contiguous with such areas as Berwala.
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Camera traps in eastern Thailand’s Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai (DPKY) forest complex have yielded photos of tiger cubs, providing long-awaited evidence that the big cat is breeding in this part of Southeast Asia.
Conservationists conducted the camera-trap survey in the Thap Lan-Pang Sida Tiger Conservation Landscape (TCL) of DPKY, where recent reports suggest a small, but vital, population of tigers (Panthera tigris) occurs. (There’s currently debate about whether Indochinese tigers constitute their own subspecies, P. t. corbetti, or are simply a population of mainland Asian tigers, P. t. tigris, that also include the larger Bengal and Siberian tigers.)
“Efforts to improve anti-poaching patrols and law enforcement efforts are critical to providing a safe area for tigers to breed,” said Supagit Vinitpornsawan, the former head of the DPKY Wildlife Research Station. “Recent results of our monitoring indicate these efforts may be paying off.”
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The San Mateo Police Department warned residents to be aware of a mountain lion sighting early Monday morning.
Officers spotted the mountain lion around 1:15 a.m. in the area of West Poplar Avenue and North El Camino Real while responding to an unrelated call.
The mountain lion ran west but officers were unable to locate it after a thorough search of the area. The big cat was about 5 feet 6 inches long and 150 pounds with brown fur.
The San Mateo Police Department advised residents to avoid approaching a mountain lion or running away from one if spotted. While most mountain lions will try to avoid confrontation, residents should make noise and an effort to make themselves look bigger by waving their arms to ward off the big cat.
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Sisters out walking near RAF Brize Norton today think they have captured footage of the fabled 'Beast of Burford'.
April Millin, who shared the video with the Oxford Mail, said she and her sister Hannah were walking in Carterton near the perimeter of the Oxfordshire air base when her dog stopped to sniff.
She said: "I just so happened to look up through the trees and I saw what I thought was a black Labrador dog."
Ms Millin added she initially thought it was strange she couldn't see its owner but then realised it was no canine.
She explained the creature had a 'long tail' and the pair could see it's shoulder blades as it walked.
She added: "It stopped and looked at us before walking away through some bushes.
"I have a pet black cat but this was different. It was huge.
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A leopard
entered the premises of Haridwar’s Mela Hospital, which has been earmarked for Covid-19 patients, on Saturday morning According to hospital staff present on the spot, the big cat caught hold of a monkey and devoured it.
Staff members alleged that leopards have been spotted in the area with increasing frequency. “Barely a month ago, a dog was taken away and devoured by a leopard. We have repeatedly urged the forest department to take action but nothing concrete has been done so far. Fortunately, all staffers were indoors when the leopard was strolling on the terrace,” said Rajendra Kumar, whose daughter first spotted the leopard at around 6:50 am.
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