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(February 26, 2020) Susan Lieberman, Vice President, International Policy, Wildlife Conservation Society, spoke about the highlights of the CMS CoP 13 that was held in Gandhinagar from February 15-22, 2020. Edited excerpts:Ishan Kukreti: What, for you, have been the highlights of this CoP so far?Susan Lieberman: It has been a great CoP thus far. The outcomes have been very positive. WCS is very pleased with the consensus to list the jaguar in Appendices I and II, Asian elephant in Appendix I, and Great Indian ...

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(February 25, 2020) Dedicatedly, with powerful strokes, a man tries to hack a tree trunk for inside it hides a scaly treasure, a pangolin. Traumatized and scared, the pangolin refuses to come out of its safe abode. Seeing that his attempts are slowly turning futile, the man changes his strategy and fogs the tree trunk with smoke from a freshly lit wooden log. Suffocated and drowsy, the helpless pangolin falls out of the trunk and curves itself into a defensive ball. This defense is useless however, as it makes it e...

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(February 15, 2020) On the occasion of World Pangolin Day (February 15), Mridula Vijairaghavan, Legal Advisor with WCS-India, writes about a heart-wrenching incident with a pangolin in distress. She says that despite having the highest level of legal protection for pangolins in India, they continue to be rampantly traded. In fact, they are said to be the highest trafficked species globally. Time to make a change and save the pangolin, she says, in this blog.Picture for representation purpose only. Photo Courtesy: W...

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(February 14, 2020) A study of the biodiversity of the Godavari delta offers a glimpse into the conservation status of the wetland dependant fishing cat that lives in the mangroves and swamps of this coastal region of Andhra Pradesh.The mangroves of Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, in Andhra Pradesh, provide a safe and resource-rich haven for the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus). The elusive feline is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Photo courtesy: Anjani KumarIn a primary school cl...

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(February 11, 2020) Every year, during October and November, thousands of Amur falcons converge in the Wokha district of Nagaland, as they wing along their migration route from Siberia through the Himalayas all the way to South Africa. However, on this great sweeping voyage, an estimated 120,000 – 140,000 Amur falcons were being slaughtered in a remote part of north-eastern India for economic gain and consumption, resulting in a huge decline in their population. Bano Haralu, a journalist-turned-conservationis...

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(February 06, 2020) Even as China struggles to battle the spread of Coronavirus, India will do well to ruthlessly crack the whip on illegal wildlife markets, lest they give rise to India’s very own zoonotic disease. Experts say that increasing interaction or contact between humans and wildlife are one of the key drivers of disease outbreak.Hunting of wild animals for meat (Picture for representation purpose only). Photo courtesy: Raghuram RAs China grapples with the outbreak of the ‘novel Coronavirus 20...

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(February 03, 2020) February 2 was World Wetlands Day, as also the day on which the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. Incidentally, India, too, is a signatory. Wetlands are hugely beneficial as they control floods, recharge groundwater and purify water, besides offering other advantages. Hence, the need to conserve them. Recently, Ramsar declared 10 more wetland sites in India as sites of international importance, an encouraging step. Here’s an interview with scientist T. Ganesh on t...

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(January 28, 2020) More than a lakh of turtles and tortoises were poached in a span of a decade. Experts throw light on the illegal trade, where most of the poaching takes place, what is done after they are rescued and how their numbers can increase.Star Tortoise spotted in Bandipur. Photo courtesy: HarshaIn October 2019, wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC released a report which claimed that over the past decade since September 2009, at least more than 1 lakh freshwater turtles and tortoises were poached i...

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(January 24, 2020) To save and conserve turtles, people need to get involved and raise awareness about them. One is not too young to help safeguard the endangered species from extinction. This is exactly what Turtle Survival Alliance does, by conducting outreach programs and spreading the word among school and college students.Students of Tezpur University attend an outreach program conducted by Turtle Survival Alliance at their Nature Discovery Centre in Biswanath Ghat, Assam. Photo courtesy: TSA IndiaTurtles are...

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(January 21, 2020) The 21st of January each year is observed worldwide as Squirrel Appreciation Day. On this occasion,  Sumashini P. S., a research fellow with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, pens down some of her memorable encounters with flying squirrels in various parts of India. Read her blog to know more about the superheroes of the squirrel world.It was sometime in late January 2018. We seized a weekend to make a quick visit to Chakrata, from Dehra...

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