-The Times of India DEHRADUN: Trashing speculation following the spate of recent incidents of human-leopard conflict which indicated that leopard numbers were on the rise, a study conducted by three wildlife scientists has found that the leopard population, on the contrary, has declined by a whopping 70-80 per cent over the past 100 years. The study, conducted over four years by Samrat Mondal of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Krithi...

-Down to Earth Seizures of ivory, skins and bones of wildlife species represent only those cases which come to light The Supreme Court order, which has set aside the suspension of conviction of Salman Khan in the blackbuck shooting case, once again brings into focus the high rate of wildlife crimes in India. The scale of the crimes in the country can be gauged from some of the information put out by the...

-The Telegraph Illegal hunting in Arunachal Pradesh primarily for meat on the table or for money from the market may be threatening several protected or rare wildlife species, a survey in the state's Ziro Valley has indicated. Researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India, (WII) Dehradun, have documented hunting of Leopards, marbled cats, black bears, orange-bellied squirrels, among other species, mainly for meat, skin, and commercial sales in six villages of Ziro...

-The Times of India Delhi is not close to any of the tiger belts of the country, yet it figures among the five hotspots in India connected to big cat poaching, says a report by a global wildlife trade monitoring network and WWF. Tiger seizures in the capital are predominantly of skins, although there has been no big catch since 2005. The other four hotspots identified in the global report are: Ramnagar...

-The Times of India The Chhattisgarh government fudged records, concealed facts, changed policy and altered decisions while the Union environment ministry overlooked all such illegalities to open up 1,899 hectares for mining in Hasdeo Arand, one of the best patches of forests in central India. Initially, the Centre had decided to protect Hasdeo Arand by making it a no-go zone for miners. The Chhattisgarh government too had moved to get the dense...