KALPETTA,
The Hindu, February 2, 2016
The Hindu, February 2, 2016
The significance of conserving Asiatic elephants and
tigers were stressed at an international veterinary workshop on Asian
elephants and tigers that began at Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences
University (KVASU) headquarters at Pookode in the district on Monday.
The
four-day workshop, being organised by the Centre for Wildlife Studies
under KVASU in association with the Department of Forests and Wildlife,
aims at veterinary interventions such as general elephant and tiger
health, diagnosis, medical and surgical management, measures to mitigate
human-wildlife conflict and so on.
Delivering a
speech on global population status and conservation programme of Asian
elephants and tigers, Meenakshi Nagendran, scientist, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Services, said the key to conservation in India involved
setting aside personal differences, engaging stakeholders, equipping the
Forest Department staff, protecting the animals which strayed and, most
importantly, collaboration between veterinarians and biologists.
Dr.
Meenakshi said that over the past 100 years, destruction of tiger and
elephant habitat had been 90 per cent and 95 per cent respectively.
However, India appeared to have a stronghold in terms of tigers.
Ajay
Desai, an elephant ecologist, said elephants had a strongly bonded
social group and a defined home range and seasonal range. Speaking on
‘human wildlife conflict — a perspective on Asian elephants and tigers,’
he said: “They have a social dominance, hierarchies which control and
regulate space. Therefore an elephant family without a home range is
doomed.”
Need of research
Research
should be conducted in each conflict situation and mitigation measures
should be taken accordingly, Mr. Desai said, adding that bad management
by forest personnel in one area could affect the other areas.
The
role of a veterinarian involved preventing zoonotic diseases, ensuring
wildlife health, post-mortem investigation, tranquillisation and capture
of animals when necessary and supporting mitigation strategies and
research programmes, he added 
0 comments:
Post a Comment