Editor's Note:
For some reason people are tuning into EPPdF for the latest in "Tiger News".
Or at least a post I did last year is trending, so here it is again, now with new extra tiger news goodness!
Also, I would like to re-emphasize my position on tigers not being as cuddly as they look.
Do not play with tigers!
I cannot stress this enough.
They don't play well back.
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A Bengali white tiger has attacked a man in China who jumped into its zoo encloure.
Shocked witnesses watched the man dragged several metres across the ground after he climbed into the pen at the Chengdu Zoo in Sichuan.
Local media said that the man, in his twenties, had been trying to feed the tigers and was found with a backpack containing a large quantity of rice.
Another report suggested he was trying to offer his own body for the animals to eat, in order to improve their living conditions.
Witnesses said the tigers did not immediately react when the man entered the pen.
He then tried to provoke them by dancing around and shouting.
One tiger was spooked and retreated to the back wall. Another pounced on him, pulling him briefly along the floor before releasing him.
Staff then rushed in to control the tigers and accompany the man out of the pen.
Reports say he escaped unharmed.
http://news.sky.com/story/1212973/man-jumps-into-tiger-enclosure-at-china-zoo
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A tiger on the loose from India's oldest national park has killed a 10th person in six weeks after eluding a trap set by hunters.
The big cat's latest victim was a 50-year-old man collecting firewood in a forest outside Kalgarh in Uttarakhand.
The female tiger ate part of the man's leg and abdomen before being shooed by villagers waving shovels and metal rods.
http://news.sky.com/story/1209498/tiger-kills-tenth-indian-after-evading-trap
A team of hunters set out to trap the beast
Hunters had attempted to snare the animal on Saturday using a live calf as bait - but on Sunday she struck again.
"The tigress almost fell in the trap and was close to the calf," said Saket Badola, deputy director of the Jim Corbett National Park. "But she did not attack the bait and left silently."
Locals were told to avoid forested areas following the first attack on a 65-year-old man on December 29.
The tiger is thought to be prowling an area spanning 80 miles.
"The animal has started attacking humans because it is not getting its natural prey," said Rupek De, chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh.
One of the tiger's paw prints is traced"The tigress almost fell in the trap and was close to the calf," said Saket Badola, deputy director of the Jim Corbett National Park. "But she did not attack the bait and left silently."
Locals were told to avoid forested areas following the first attack on a 65-year-old man on December 29.
The tiger is thought to be prowling an area spanning 80 miles.
"The animal has started attacking humans because it is not getting its natural prey," said Rupek De, chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh.
Angry villagers seized a national forestry office on Sunday demanding protection and compensation for the families of the dead.
Mr Badola said: "The villagers do not have toilets in their homes. They go out in the open or forest areas to answer nature's call. In this scenario it is difficult to give protection to each and every villager. We have advised them to move in groups."
Poaching and a shrinking habitat has meant India's tiger population has fallen from 5,000-7,000 in the 1990s to 3,200 today.
The Jim Corbett National Park was established in 1936 to provide endangered Bengal tigers with safe territory.
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Indonesia Man Is 'Best Friends' With Tiger
http://news.sky.com/story/1197834/indonesia-man-is-best-friends-with-tigerAbdullah Sholeh sleeps, plays and fights with the 28-stone big cat after developing a close bond over several years.
10:38am UK, Monday 20 January 2014
An Indonesian man has struck up an unlikely friendship with a 28-stone Bengal tiger.
Abdullah Sholeh has become a best friend and full-time nanny to Mulan Jamilah since the animal was gifted to his Islamic school as a three-month-old cub.
Abdullah, 33, regularly sleeps, plays and fights with the huge tiger at the school in Malang in Indonesia's East Java province.
The pair are so close that Abdullah often chooses to sleep alongside the big cat in her enclosure instead of in his own bed.
Mulan now weighs 178kg (28 stone), is three metres long, including her tail, and one metre high.
For security reasons, metal bars have been installed to separate the pair when they are together in the enclosure.
Mulan is fed 6kg (13lbs) of chicken or goat meat twice a day.
Tigers are believed to have killed more humans than any of the other big cats.
The most comprehensive study carried out so far estimated that 373,000 people had been killed by tigers between 1800 and 2009.
_________________________________________________________________
Late last April, keepers at India's Nandankanan Zoo were astonished to find that a wild Bengal tiger had wandered out of the forest and let himself onto the grounds of their facility. The big cat, thought to be around 5 years old, appeared to be attracted to the zoo's captive female tiger, and was spotted roaming around her enclosure. He was looking for love, it appeared.
A twenty-person team was assembled to forcibly capture the wayward animal -- but before they moved in, zookeepers had a better idea. While the tiger was at a safe distance, they swung open the entrance to the female's enclosure, and sure enough, the amorous visitor went inside to better introduce himself.
Over the next few weeks, as zoo officials debated what to do with their new arrival, the now-captive tiger made himself at home. With a steady supply of easy food and shady spots to relax, the tiger seemed content with the zoo experience -- for a little while, at least.
Whether it was the mundane routine of eating, napping, and pacing around, or simply the desire to pursue new horizons, it didn't take long before captive life lost its luster.
Amazingly, just as easily as the wild tiger broke into the zoo, he was able to break out of it -- scaling the nearly 2-story security wall, to the disbelief of his temporary captors. A video camera was there to record the escape, though the tiger evidently severed its wiring on the way out.
“The Central Zoo Authority guidelines prescribe a 16-foot height for enclosure wall, but this enclosure wall was higher," Chief Wildlife Warden, J D Sharma, told the New Indian Express. "The tiger apparently climbed the walls using the angle irons fitted at 8 feet and 16 feet height to support the structure. There is enough evidence of it walking on top of the wall."
So far, no one has been able to track down the tiger, though locals have been advised to be on alert that it may still be in the surrounding forests.
Bengal tigers are listed as an 'endangered', numbering less than 1,500 in the whole of India. Poaching, habitat loss, and other conflicts with humans continue to threaten the species, athough there are several rehabilitation centers throughout the country to preserve them. Unfortunately, however, in many cases tigers kept captivity are later deemed unfit to be released back into the wild -- which makes this animal's brief stint behind bars, and eventual escape, a reassuring testament to the seemingly universal instinct to be free.
_________________________________________________________________
Note to self:
Do not play with tigers.
Always.
The end.
http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/sumatran-tigers-trap-5-men-tree-4-days-kills-1.html
Angered by cub's death
We often write about the impact of humans (poachers, habitat destruction, etc) on endangered animals, but this story is a bit different. Deep in the jungle of Indonesia, a group of men were looking for a rare type of wood to make incense (it's not clear what kind of wood it was or if it's a protected species, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). Problems began after they accidentally killed a tiger cub with a trap designed to catch antelopes and deer for food (that's the official story anyway -- we'll give them the benefit of the doubt again, but if they were poachers, they had their lesson); a group of adult Sumatran tigers, which are considered 'critically endangered' by the IUCN Red List, decided that the men looked like dinner and chased them, killing one and leaving the five others trapped in a tree for 4 days.
Flickr/CC BY 2.0
A team of 30 rescuers, including police and soldiers, reached the men deep in the jungle in the north of Sumatra island on Sunday – to find the ravenous tigers still circling the tree.
They did not dare approach, so called in three local animal tamers.
"The rescue team stood back while the tamers approached the animals and chanted some mantras," district police chief Dicky Sondani told AFP. "The tigers eventually just left."
They probably left because tigers are generally afraid of humans - except maybe when defending their cubs - and not because of the mantas, but in any case, the men were rescued. They were very scared and dehydrated (surviving on rainwater alone), but alive.
It is estimated that there are only 400-500 Sumatran tigers still alive in the wild, and unfortunately,
humans are encroaching more and more on their habitat, especially because of logging (legal and illegal).
________________________________________________________________________
I've been slowly making my way thru this book for the last few months:
Great book.
Short story:
Hunter ticks off tiger by stealing a deer that the tiger killed.
Tiger tracks hunter for many days, stalking him down, including but not limited to attacking the outhouse at the logging camp that hunter used.
Seriously: that's a pissed off kitty.
Eyewitnesses were there to tell the forest rangers exactly what happened.
The tiger entered the camp, following a scent to the outhouse, then tore it pieces as they watched and then circled their building and making several charges at the door over the next 48 hours.
________________________________________________________________________
Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev (1872-1930) undertook twelve major scientific expeditions between 1902 and 1930 in the Siberian Far East, and authored some sixty works from the geographical, geological, botanical, and ethnographic data he amassed. Among these, Dersu the Trapper has earned a privileged place in Russian literature. In this Russian counterpart to The Journals of Lewis and Clark and the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, Arseniev combines the precise observations of a naturalist with an exciting narrative of real-life adventure.
Arseniev describes three explorations in the Ussurian taiga along the Sea of Japan above Vladivostok, beginning with his first encounter of the solitary aboriginal hunter named Dersu, a member of the Gold tribe, who thereafter becomes his guide. Each expedition is beset with hardship and danger: through blizzard and flood and assorted deprivations, these two men forge an exceptional friendship in their mutual respect for the immense grandeur of the wilderness. But the bridges across language, race and culture also have limitations, and the incursion of civilization exacts its toll. Dersu the Trapper is at once a witnessing of Russia's last frontier and a poignant memoir of rare cross-cultural understanding. Originally published in 1941, this English translation is reprinted in its entirety now for the first time.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/horrors-at-chinese-tiger-farm-reports-undercover-us-diplomat.html
Animal Cruelty in the Name of Superstition and Money
Sometimes, there's nothing like seeing for yourself. A U.S. diplomat posed as a Korean tourist and went to south China to visit a notorious 'tiger farm' where over 1,000 tigers are kept in cages. What he witnessed there confirms what the pessimists (and they are numerous these days) believe about China's tiger conservation efforts. The endangered animals were "whipped, made to perform 'marriage processions' and reportedly sold to be used in traditional medicines [...] the tiger farm offered tiger meat in its restaurant and tiger bone wine in a shop [...] most of the animals appear tame and some were used in circus-like entertainment shows, where they were beaten." Read on for more details.
Photo: Tigers in Crisis
Outrageous Treatment of Endangered Tigers
Also, some tigers were obviously not fed properly. We can't show you the picture that accompanies the Guardian article here, but you can see it by clicking this link. Warning: It's a sad one of a poor malnourished tiger, almost only a bag of bones...
Sadly, it isn't the first time that we get reports from China about tigers being mistreated and downright starved to death (for example: Mass Grave Containing Rare Animals (Tigers, Lions, Leopards, etc) Discovered at Chinese Zoo).
The trade in tiger parts is mostly fuelled by a combination of superstition and money:
In Taiwan, a bowl of tiger penis soup (to boost virility) goes for $320, and a pair of eyes (to fight epilepsy and malaria) for $170. Powdered tiger humerus bone (for treating ulcers rheumatism and typhoid) brings up to $1,450 lb. in Seoul.
An Indonesian man has struck up an unlikely friendship with a 28-stone Bengal tiger.
Abdullah Sholeh has become a best friend and full-time nanny to Mulan Jamilah since the animal was gifted to his Islamic school as a three-month-old cub.
Abdullah, 33, regularly sleeps, plays and fights with the huge tiger at the school in Malang in Indonesia's East Java province.
The pair are so close that Abdullah often chooses to sleep alongside the big cat in her enclosure instead of in his own bed.
Mulan now weighs 178kg (28 stone), is three metres long, including her tail, and one metre high.
For security reasons, metal bars have been installed to separate the pair when they are together in the enclosure.
Mulan is fed 6kg (13lbs) of chicken or goat meat twice a day.
Tigers are believed to have killed more humans than any of the other big cats.
The most comprehensive study carried out so far estimated that 373,000 people had been killed by tigers between 1800 and 2009.
_________________________________________________________________
Tiger wanders into zoo, tries captive life, breaks out a month later
CC BY 2.0 poplinre
Late last April, keepers at India's Nandankanan Zoo were astonished to find that a wild Bengal tiger had wandered out of the forest and let himself onto the grounds of their facility. The big cat, thought to be around 5 years old, appeared to be attracted to the zoo's captive female tiger, and was spotted roaming around her enclosure. He was looking for love, it appeared.
A twenty-person team was assembled to forcibly capture the wayward animal -- but before they moved in, zookeepers had a better idea. While the tiger was at a safe distance, they swung open the entrance to the female's enclosure, and sure enough, the amorous visitor went inside to better introduce himself.
Over the next few weeks, as zoo officials debated what to do with their new arrival, the now-captive tiger made himself at home. With a steady supply of easy food and shady spots to relax, the tiger seemed content with the zoo experience -- for a little while, at least.
Whether it was the mundane routine of eating, napping, and pacing around, or simply the desire to pursue new horizons, it didn't take long before captive life lost its luster.
Amazingly, just as easily as the wild tiger broke into the zoo, he was able to break out of it -- scaling the nearly 2-story security wall, to the disbelief of his temporary captors. A video camera was there to record the escape, though the tiger evidently severed its wiring on the way out.
“The Central Zoo Authority guidelines prescribe a 16-foot height for enclosure wall, but this enclosure wall was higher," Chief Wildlife Warden, J D Sharma, told the New Indian Express. "The tiger apparently climbed the walls using the angle irons fitted at 8 feet and 16 feet height to support the structure. There is enough evidence of it walking on top of the wall."
So far, no one has been able to track down the tiger, though locals have been advised to be on alert that it may still be in the surrounding forests.
Bengal tigers are listed as an 'endangered', numbering less than 1,500 in the whole of India. Poaching, habitat loss, and other conflicts with humans continue to threaten the species, athough there are several rehabilitation centers throughout the country to preserve them. Unfortunately, however, in many cases tigers kept captivity are later deemed unfit to be released back into the wild -- which makes this animal's brief stint behind bars, and eventual escape, a reassuring testament to the seemingly universal instinct to be free.
_________________________________________________________________
Note to self:
Do not play with tigers.
Always.
The end.
http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/sumatran-tigers-trap-5-men-tree-4-days-kills-1.html
Angered by cub's death
We often write about the impact of humans (poachers, habitat destruction, etc) on endangered animals, but this story is a bit different. Deep in the jungle of Indonesia, a group of men were looking for a rare type of wood to make incense (it's not clear what kind of wood it was or if it's a protected species, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). Problems began after they accidentally killed a tiger cub with a trap designed to catch antelopes and deer for food (that's the official story anyway -- we'll give them the benefit of the doubt again, but if they were poachers, they had their lesson); a group of adult Sumatran tigers, which are considered 'critically endangered' by the IUCN Red List, decided that the men looked like dinner and chased them, killing one and leaving the five others trapped in a tree for 4 days.
Flickr/CC BY 2.0
A team of 30 rescuers, including police and soldiers, reached the men deep in the jungle in the north of Sumatra island on Sunday – to find the ravenous tigers still circling the tree.
They did not dare approach, so called in three local animal tamers.
"The rescue team stood back while the tamers approached the animals and chanted some mantras," district police chief Dicky Sondani told AFP. "The tigers eventually just left."
They probably left because tigers are generally afraid of humans - except maybe when defending their cubs - and not because of the mantas, but in any case, the men were rescued. They were very scared and dehydrated (surviving on rainwater alone), but alive.
It is estimated that there are only 400-500 Sumatran tigers still alive in the wild, and unfortunately,
humans are encroaching more and more on their habitat, especially because of logging (legal and illegal).
________________________________________________________________________
I've been slowly making my way thru this book for the last few months:
Great book.
Short story:
Hunter ticks off tiger by stealing a deer that the tiger killed.
Tiger tracks hunter for many days, stalking him down, including but not limited to attacking the outhouse at the logging camp that hunter used.
Seriously: that's a pissed off kitty.
Eyewitnesses were there to tell the forest rangers exactly what happened.
The tiger entered the camp, following a scent to the outhouse, then tore it pieces as they watched and then circled their building and making several charges at the door over the next 48 hours.
________________________________________________________________________
Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev (1872-1930) undertook twelve major scientific expeditions between 1902 and 1930 in the Siberian Far East, and authored some sixty works from the geographical, geological, botanical, and ethnographic data he amassed. Among these, Dersu the Trapper has earned a privileged place in Russian literature. In this Russian counterpart to The Journals of Lewis and Clark and the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, Arseniev combines the precise observations of a naturalist with an exciting narrative of real-life adventure.
Arseniev describes three explorations in the Ussurian taiga along the Sea of Japan above Vladivostok, beginning with his first encounter of the solitary aboriginal hunter named Dersu, a member of the Gold tribe, who thereafter becomes his guide. Each expedition is beset with hardship and danger: through blizzard and flood and assorted deprivations, these two men forge an exceptional friendship in their mutual respect for the immense grandeur of the wilderness. But the bridges across language, race and culture also have limitations, and the incursion of civilization exacts its toll. Dersu the Trapper is at once a witnessing of Russia's last frontier and a poignant memoir of rare cross-cultural understanding. Originally published in 1941, this English translation is reprinted in its entirety now for the first time.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/horrors-at-chinese-tiger-farm-reports-undercover-us-diplomat.html
Animal Cruelty in the Name of Superstition and Money
Sometimes, there's nothing like seeing for yourself. A U.S. diplomat posed as a Korean tourist and went to south China to visit a notorious 'tiger farm' where over 1,000 tigers are kept in cages. What he witnessed there confirms what the pessimists (and they are numerous these days) believe about China's tiger conservation efforts. The endangered animals were "whipped, made to perform 'marriage processions' and reportedly sold to be used in traditional medicines [...] the tiger farm offered tiger meat in its restaurant and tiger bone wine in a shop [...] most of the animals appear tame and some were used in circus-like entertainment shows, where they were beaten." Read on for more details.
Photo: Tigers in Crisis
Outrageous Treatment of Endangered Tigers
Also, some tigers were obviously not fed properly. We can't show you the picture that accompanies the Guardian article here, but you can see it by clicking this link. Warning: It's a sad one of a poor malnourished tiger, almost only a bag of bones...
Sadly, it isn't the first time that we get reports from China about tigers being mistreated and downright starved to death (for example: Mass Grave Containing Rare Animals (Tigers, Lions, Leopards, etc) Discovered at Chinese Zoo).
The trade in tiger parts is mostly fuelled by a combination of superstition and money:
In Taiwan, a bowl of tiger penis soup (to boost virility) goes for $320, and a pair of eyes (to fight epilepsy and malaria) for $170. Powdered tiger humerus bone (for treating ulcers rheumatism and typhoid) brings up to $1,450 lb. in Seoul.
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