Wildlife Tourism – New Study, New Revelations

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Wildlife tourism has averaged 15% growth in India, mirroring many countries. This growth is reflected in the increase in visitors to many Indian protected areas. Krithi K. Karanth, Ruth DeFries, Arjun Srivathsa and Vishnupriya Sankaraman examine the attitudes and perceptions of visitors to three of India’s most popular and well known National Parks and Tiger Reserves, namely Nagarahole, Kanha and Ranthambore.

These are the highlights of their study from a forthcoming paper in the journal Oryx.

  • Wildlife tourism
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Dog Hunting Chital in Kabini, Nagarahole

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The sequence of events below happened on 3rd March 2012 in Kabini.

As I drove past the familiar backwaters of Kabini, I noticed a spotted deer motionless near the banks of the river, around 200 m from the road near the Balle watch tower. A quick look through the binoculars and I could make out that it was injured and bleeding from its legs and a part of its neck. I waited in the same place imagining that a predator … Read More

Bull Gaur Crossing Road, Nagarahole

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This image was taken on Tithimathi – Konnankatte road in the heart of Nagarahole National Park in Karnataka. The state transport bus driver was considerate and stopped the bus upon seeing the herd of gaur. The gaur were quite shy and hurried across the road. The bull in the frame was the last one to cross the road.

Highways and roads through protected areas can have a serious impact on wildlife behavior, survival and movement. This is especially true for … Read More

WCS — India Celebrates 25-years Of Tiger Conservation

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The Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) celebrated 25-years of existence and service here on Tuesday (Nov. 22, 2011) — a milestone in the history of tiger conservation in India. Their work began in 1986 with a single tiger research project led by Dr. Ullas Karanth in Nagarahole. Today, their conservation learnings and strategies are pursued across the globe.

Present on the occasion was Dr. George Schaller, world renowned wildlife biologist and emeritus scientist of Wildlife … Read More

Wild Dog (Dhole) With a Plastic Bottle, Nagarahole

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Photographer Mahesh Bhat shot this wild dog chewing on a plastic bottle near the Sunkadakatte elephant camp in Nagarahole National Park in Karnataka.

Irresponsibly discarding garbage is one of the downsides of tourism in protected areas. This bottle could have been thrown by one of the tourists who visited the elephant camp or the forest rest house in the heart of the park.… Read More

Village Dogs With Chital Kill, Nagarahole

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This image was taken in the Kabini backwaters inside Nagarahole National Park. The two dogs (one in the top left of the frame) managed to bring down a fully grown chital hind. The dogs were possibly from a neighboring village adjoining the park. In addition to posing as competition to wild carnivores, village dogs are known reservoirs of epidemic-causing infectious pathogens of many wild carnivores.

In most developing countries like India, dog populations are large, unowned, unvaccinated and often free-ranging. … Read More

Leopard Crossing, Mysore — Mananthavadi Highway, Nagarahole

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A leopard tentatively crosses the Mysore – Mananthavadi highway in Nagarahole national park and tiger reserve in Karnataka. Based on the fact that this road passes through an extremely crucial habitat for elephants and tigers and number of tragic roadkills, conservationists filed an application to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court to close the road to nighttime traffic.

The CEC on 05-05-2008 concluded that no vehicular traffic be permitted between 6pm and 6am apart from other mitigation … Read More

Lessons from Voluntary Resettlement in the Western Ghats

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K.Ullas Karanth and Krithi Karanth on the lessons learned from resettlement projects in three important protected areas in the Western Ghats — Nagarahole, Bhadra and Kudremukh.

Forests in the Western Ghats occur as fragmented strips within a larger landscape matrix of crops and tree plantations. Reserves in the Ghats cover only twelve per cent of total area and the average reserve size is 243 sq km; the fourteen legally protected areas in the Ghats cover a total of only 6400 … Read More