Many thanks to those who have contacted WildTiger in the last few months in what has been a difficult time. Covid-19 has meant many changes and at the moment we’re doing our best with ‘Living with Big Cats’ coexistence strategies and also #AntiSnare which because of a serious poaching spike is our main focus. Updates will continue explaining the way forward with site due to be in back in menu format possibly later in September if the situation is more stable. The circumstances have meant new approaches being adopted and we look forward to bring you these as we continue our work and plan for the remainder of 2020 and what looks to be another challenging year in 2021.
As part of #AntiSnare WildTiger is increasing its capacity in case follow up in which we work alongside appropriate authorities and agencies. A current high priority is the case involving the recent arrest of accused wildlife trader Kunjok Lama who is allegedly linked to the deaths of 100s of big cats. We’ll have a comprehensive update on this case as well as others shortly and you can get an overview of the challenges in this article by Nepali journalist Tufan Neupane HERE.
Seizure of tiger pelts and bones in Kailali in 2018 with those accused. Six of the eight arrested were Indian, and released on bail by a district court. They immediately escaped to India. More HERE.
#AntiSnare Video Teaser. More about our counter poaching/trafficking platform later in September 2020. For now get an update on the current situation regarding #AntiSnare from WildTiger coordinator Jack Kinross HERE.
Welcome to WildTiger. Our mandate is to restore balance between humans and wildlife in our shared habitat spaces
We work on the ground developing and implementing strategies
Our projects are Living with Big Cats and #AntiSnare
Update 17 June 2020
The image above is of a leopard which died as a result of snare trap injuries in Dadeldhura District, far west Nepal in early June 2020. Since the outbreak of the pandemic covid-19 there has been a serious poaching spike in South Asia with the use of snare traps prevalent. WildTiger is currently focused on #AntiSnare in response to this situation. We’ll bring an update on #AntiSnare later in September 2020. Please read the previous update below as we undergo our work during the pandemic.
Our goal, each and every day, is to foster coexistence between humans and big cats. We work on the ground and interact globally developing, modelling and implementing strategies in an evolving set of challenges. With the current situation regarding the pandemic (virus COVID-19), WildTiger is intensifying its focus regarding working with authorities for protection of wildlife and people in our COEXISTENCE model area encompassing Bardia and Banke national parks in western Nepal as well as the Kata corridor linking to the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in India. This website will consist of this single page (as from 19/03/20) during this time and updates can be seen at the blog site of WildTiger Coordinator Jack Kinross HERE.
WildTiger is working closely with the National Trust for Nature Conservation – Bardia Conservation Project (NTNC – BCP) regarding the monitoring of big cat activity particularly in areas close to human settlements. This parallels with the development and functioning of the Leopard Refuge Station (and currently developing for tiger refuge) so that conflict big cats can be managed always with a view to release if possible. Due to the current situation this development is high priority.
The Living with Big Cats Team will continue to communicate guidelines to key areas where conflict between humans and big cats (leopards and tigers) occurs. These guidelines are available in Nepali and English languages with Tharu and Hindi equivalents in development.
Living with Big Cats – Coexistence Guidelines in Nepali
An integral part of our work is the use of our technical system LeopardEye (real time communications) as part of Early Warning Systems (EWS) as well as in #AntiSnare. LeopardEye is best described as an interface for human and wildlife activity and technology. Protection of forest areas in conjunction with local organizations and authorities is a WildTiger priority. As part of that in the current situation we are coordinating and working closely with Community Based Anti-Poaching Unit (CBAPU) Rapid Response Teams (RRT) in key corridors and buffer zone/community forest areas .
Another evolving project which has attracted a lot of attention is the Living with Big Cats wildlife kid’s classes which are spread across several villages in our coexistence developing model area in the vicinity of Bardia National Park, west Nepal. Currently due to lockdown and the situation in general regarding the pandemic covid-19, the in situ classes are on hold. We are developing a remote teaching strategy that can be used to enable learning during this time as well as able to be implemented in more isolated areas which are human – big cat conflict highly affected. The classes fall very much in line with our philosophy of community engagement. We’ll update our progress as strategies develop during the pandemic.
We thank those who support our work at this critical time. To assist or to inquire please email projects@wildtiger.org in the first instance. The full website will be republished once the situation stabilizes but our work on the ground has been streamlined and intensified in response to the situation. Social media updates are available mainly at the Twitter site @WildTigerNews and sporadically at the Facebook site Living with Big Cats.
WildTiger is a private sector organization currently registered in Australia (ABN 13817104075)