Weekly Feline News

Here go the cat-related news for this past week..

The first and perhaps most shocking news of this week comes from an unlikely place. La Reunion island in the Indian Ocean. A French island of roughly a thousand square miles in size, La Reunion is located a couple of hundred miles off the eastern coast of Africa. And it is here that a horrible act is being practiced by amateur fishermen - use of cats and dogs as live bait for sharks! The poor animals have hooks passed through their snout or body and then tossed into the sea where their struggle attracts sharks, that are subsequently hunted by the fishing party. A gruesome and immoral practice, this has been outlawed by the French law, and yet goes on in this island. The issue has apparently been going on for the past several years. Now the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a global marine wildlife conservation group, is offering a reward of one thousand Euros for the policeman who arrests and brings to conviction the first fisherman involved in this horrendous practice. Rewards of two hundred Euros have been announced for each subsequent conviction. Let's hope that this move helps in bringing an end to this cruelty. You can learn more about this by going to the Sea Shepherd website here. To read a National Geographic article from 2005 that highlights this practice, click here.


To tigers now. Some good news first. Paw prints of a tigress and cub have been spotted in Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in Goa, India. This is the first time evidence of a tiger family has been found in this forest that has been devoid of the striped cats in recent past. So very encouraging news, and let's hope that the reserve gets repopulated by the endangered bengal tigers in the coming years. Full report here.

And in other good news, the government of Uttar Pradesh in India has approved the allocation of one hundred and fifty square kilometers of area around Dudhwa National Park to a buffer zone around the park. This will allow greater freedom of movement to the big cats and the prey that inhabitate the reserve, and lessen the incidence of conflict between people living around the periphery of the park and the straying tigers. More here.

And, as if to emphasize the point above, a straying tiger in Uttar Pradesh killed an elderly woman and mauled several others this past week. The tragic incidents occurred when a tiger strayed out of Katarniyaghat forest reserve in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, Sunday night and attacked the people of a neighboring village. A total of nine people have been injured to date and authorities are trying to drive the tiger out of the village. More on this here.

The sad news above comes on the backdrop of an announcement by an official in Bangladesh that thirty six people have been killed by tigers in past four months in Sunderban forest in the country. Sunderban, the world's largest mangrove forest, is home to nearly five hundred tigers that frequently come in contact with poor fishermen and honey collectors who venture deep into the jungle for their livelihood. This results in conflict between man and beast, with adverse consequences for both the species. More on this issue here.

And in India government has ordered the transfer of directors of three main tiger reserves in the Madhya Pradesh state. Long known as the 'tiger state' Madhya Pradesh has been suffering from the effects of poaching and habitat loss that have been resulting in decline of tiger populations all across the country. This move is aimed to perhaps bring a fresh approach and impetus towards the conservation of tigers in this critical state. Full account here.


To Cheetahs now. And here the involvement of new technology is set to benefit the conservation efforts for protection of these felines. An advanced DNA laboratory has been set up at the headquarters of the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, with collaboration of Applied Biosystems, a segment of Life Technologies Corporation. Owing to evolution from a limited number of ancestors, cheetahs suffer from limited diversity in their genetic makeup. This makes them particularly vulnerable to diseases. This new laboratory will aid in the study of genetics and population numbers of cheetahs, and thus aid in proposition of future steps for the protection of these beautiful cats. More on this here.


Now Leopards. And they have been involved in two separate incidents of attacks on people in Gir Forest in India. One on a young man and another on a child. Fortunately none of the attacks were fatal. More on the above here and here.

And leopards have been in limelight again for the wrong reason, this time for trespassing the property of the prime minister of Pakistan! Pakistani premier, who is already under threat from Taliban fighters in the northwest of the country, now has to contend with a leopard that has sneaked into his official residence. According to details, the panther apparently scaled the walls of the tightly guarded compound last week and has been evading its trappers ever since. Hopefully it will be tranquilized soon, before orders are given for it to be shot. More here.

That's all for this week. I'll be back on Sunday. Have a great week, and don't forget to enjoy this video of a 'provocative kitty'...



Images © William Dow - Billdowphotography.com