Dear Yazdy and group members, Perhaps, I used the word 'menace' a little hastily.
For me, both flora and fauna are equally important and I have never favoured one over the other and my view is to be ready to conserve if any of them is threatened or on the verge of decline because of exploitation by humans. Nature has its own way of dealing with population increase. Further, not all wild habitats witness an increasing trend in wild life population. The forests in these areas have already been encroached decades back save for a few patches here and there. The wild life has to struggle in these shrunken habitats for its food, territory, reproduction and more importantly to survive human threats - hunting, poaching and degrading the habitat (felling of trees). . With no proper awareness and full protection from the Govt. or locals, there are many forests which are shrinking.If a deer feeds on a plant it should not be of major concern as long as the plant is in some IUCN threatened red list. There are several other areas which we need to be aware off - human involvements threatening the biodiversity, forest etiquettes and manners, lack of public awareness Unplanned fast highways and railways with no consideration for wild life that cross them (during migration and otherwise) is causing a significant loss. High tech buses touch 100 kms and more in the forest highways. Tiger, deer, hyena, python, king cobra and even elephants have died in road accidents (showcased in wild life photo exhibitions, news paper reports and postings by nature photographers). Even then new highway projects are coming up in the name of reducing time to connect major cities Established gangs and merchants with official/political hierarchy support loot the forest products in day light, sometimes right before our very eyes! . Illegal mining, flattening of mountains, sand extraction inside the forest still exist. The Sandal wood trees are chopped and taken away by the tree brokers. It is unfortunate that trees like sandal wood are deprived of living out their life span. Most of the forest officials live in the cities rather than the forests. The local Govt. has made a recent rule making them to stay in forests for a few minimum years. Temporary forest workers work with meager payment without attaining permanent status. Locals burn the forest in summer to create problems for forest officials and giving them a bad name. Laws should be stringent and punishments should be severely enforced for the offenders. Overall system needs to be stream lined and there should be a healthy respect and fear for misusing of forest resources. We have a pristine wild habitat with great bio diversity here and no mindset or interests to conserve. Educated people throw plastics and other garbage everywhere they listen to loud music, shout and dance inside forests.. When do they start learning that conversations in forests had better be carried out in whispers? Noise is detested by wild animals and they move further away. MNC employees from cities come to forests and play football and cricket. (after all these are team building exercises!) From a young age, a child starts throwing stones at lizards, frogs and snakes. There is definitely a lack of fundamental learning, etiquette and manners as when city dwellers (including also the locals) come to the forests. Common people have the attitude – `Its enough and tiresome to solve we humans day to day needs and prevailing problems, why that additional burden - wild life care. (In US, I have seen rather small scrub forests deer that have been given high status and conserved nicely enough - full of instructions to create public awareness - no more than 10 vehicles at a time, no littering, not to take even a small stone out etc. People themselves are matured and follow all etiquettes and manners by themselves. ) Mass awareness and education through all means (especially for the younger generation) with regard to conservation, protection of habitat, expansion, etc may be of little hope. Nature groups should continuously bring to the notice of the Govt, Newspaper and people of the importance of wild habitats and its conservation. (Sometimes I wonder about the awareness levels and attitudes of people (with power- state and central leaders ) towards wild life and its conservation. We do not see statements encouraging the protection of our flora and fauna from our President, Prime minister, Chief ministers … or business leaders - Tatas, Ambanis, Narayanmurthys ...When will they start working, campaigning or promoting for the cause of wild life. Messages from leaders and celebrities may easily reach large audience. We definitely need revolutionary and very strong Leader(s) here! Thanks again --- On Sun, 24/5/09, Yazdy Palia <[email protected]> wrote: From: Yazdy Palia <[email protected]> Subject: [indiantreepix:12529] Re: The deer menace | ring-barking or girdling of Boswellia serrata To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Date: Sunday, 24 May, 2009, 10:28 AM Hi Ms. Purnima, The communication here makes me feel like reaching an oasis in the desert. The point is where do we start? I wish more people get involved in educating the importance of our Biodiversity. Regards Yazdy. On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 10:09 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > Quoting Yazdy Palia <[email protected]>: > > Sir, > Once again I endorse your views completly and wholly. We have been > disturbing the animal world for our benifit only - not realising that > time will come when we will begin to understand that money alone > cannot help us to survive in this world. > Trees are vanishing along with so many medicinal plants because of > timber merchants and short-sighted policy of our govt. Animals are > getting extinct because we want to grab their domain for human > population explosion. We need to protect our biodiversity and remember > that if one strand of the food-chain is broken - we are in for trouble. > > Regards, > > Purnima > > > > > > > > >> >> Dear Mr. Sibdas Ghosh, >> Parakeets have always been eating up our crops since centuries. At the >> same time, nobody speaks about the insect eating birds that have been >> playing such an important role in protecting our crops from insects. >> Again, the parakeets have taken to our crops because man has disturbed >> their food chain to such an extent that they are forced to change >> their eating habits. What we could do is educate people about the >> importance of birds and animals in protecting plants and trees. >> For example, I had made a little study of birds that prey on serious >> pests of Robusta coffee and published an article in the magazine >> Indian Coffee. The result was that a lot of people who were using >> pesticides in controling these pests got to know that if an atmosphere >> was created for birds like the speckled Peculet and birds like the >> tailor bird, the population of these pests could be kept under >> control. >> I live at the edge of a forest in Wyanad in Kerala. My coffee holding >> skirts the wyanad wild life sanctuary. We have animals coming into our >> holding and come quite close to our home. On many a morning I can see >> deers from my bathroom in the morning. On many an occasion we hear >> their alarm call. Our neighbours lay traps and on many an occasion, I >> go out and free the animals that are trapped. We have wild elephants >> coming into our holding almost every night during the jackfuit season. >> Man has encroached upon their migration corridors. Corridors that they >> have been using since centuries. Monoculture has destroyed their food >> chain. These forests were full of fruits, bamboos and plenty of other >> trees that was part of their food chain. If we only allow nature to >> play its part, we could have the forests back on track and come close >> to what it was before man's intervention. >> You are right about the predators. Man has decimated their numbers and >> the population of deers are shooting up. Leopards come close to our >> home now and then. Man in order to protect their cattle or goats, go >> to the extent of poisoning them. The result is that the population of >> deers and even monkeys go up. >> I am convinced Mr. Sidbas that if man leaves nature alone, most of >> these imbalances would be corrected. >> >> regards >> Yazdy. >> >> On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 10:56 PM, sibdas <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> It is a very interesting situation, we should discuss the matter with >>> open mind. Once Salim Ali declared that Parkeets are real menace, as >>> they destroy our crop cosiderably, sending wide spread protest. When >>> we have a natural population ,we can leave the matter to the Nature. >>> But our to-day's world is not that natural. In Sundarbans, the deer >>> population was under control as long as tiger population was normal. >>> But now with the dwindling population of the predators, deers may turn >>> to be menace. It has happened in many protected areas. In this >>> situation some thing needs to be done. Salim Ali was no less bird >>> lover than any one else. In some pockets of S. India, the elephant >>> population has grown so fast, due to protection, that the new >>> generation of the animals are no more so well developed due to >>> scarcity of fodder as their earlier generation. As we have already >>> altered the nature to such an extent, we have to think over what to do >>> to keep our endangered wild life population healthy. >>> >>> On May 23, 9:32 pm, Yazdy Palia <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> Hi Friends, >>>> Dears removing bark, Elephants knocking down trees in the forest have >>>> been happening since the centuries. It can not be termed a menace. >>>> As long as man does not interfere in nature, nature will take care of >>>> it. It can not be compared to the decimation of thousands of acres >>>> that man has committed. It can not be compared with the damage that >>>> the forest department has committed by introducing thousands of acres >>>> of teak plantation. The animals have been deprived of their natural >>>> food. It has forced the macaques from leaving the forests and seeking >>>> food in plantations and orchards. >>>> The girdling done by settlers near forests is many times more than the >>>> girdling done by deers. Politicians open up plots for settlers who are >>>> given 3 to 5 cents of land near forests commit much greater harm than >>>> the poor deers. These settlers forage for firewood in the forests and >>>> when there are no dry twigs or branches girdle small trees and when >>>> they dry up cut them down for firewood. >>>> No my friends, deers do not do a fraction of the damage done to >>>> nature by man. >>>> >>>> Regards >>>> Yazdy. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 7:37 PM, raghu ananth <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> > We saw this tree - guggala dhoopa - Boswellia serrata Var.glabra >>>> > (BURSERACEAE) with its bark removed/eaten(?) up. Locals over here say the >>>> > the sambar deer (Cervus unicolor) with its long horn rubs the >>>> bark of this >>>> > tree and eventually removes it (ring barking or girdlin) completly. The >>>> > tree with its bark stripped would die soon. We saw two such trees without >>>> > its bark. >>>> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringbarking >>>> > The bark of this tree is considered to be sweet, cooling and tonic. >>>> >>>> > Local Name (Kannada) : guggala dhoopa >>>> > Hindi Salai >>>> > Scientific Boswellia serrata Var.glabra (BURSERACEAE). >>>> > Bolpe reseved forest, Kukke, Western ghats >>>> > Photo date: 25 Mar 2009 >>>> >>>> > References:- >>>> > From wikipedia >>>> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringbarking >>>> > the process of completely removing a strip of bark (consisting >>>> of Secondary >>>> > Phloem tissue, cork cambium, and cork) around a tree's outer >>>> circumference, >>>> > causing its death. >>>> > Girdling occurs by deliberate human action (forestry and vandalism), >>>> > accidentally (as in the case of new saplings tethered to a supporting >>>> > stake), or by the feeding actions of >>>> > some herbivores (who feed on bark at their height). It is most >>>> commonly used >>>> > as a deliberate method of thinning forests and by farmers to yield larger >>>> > fruits. >>>> >>>> >http://www.liveindia..com/herbs/7.html >>>> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boswellia_serrata >>>> >http://envis.frlht.org/trade_search.php?txtpart=RESIN&lst_part=RESIN&;... >>>> >>>> > ________________________________ >>>> > Explore and discover exciting holidays and getaways with Yahoo! >>>> India Travel >>>> > Click here! >- Hide quoted text - >>>> >>>> - Show quoted text - >>> > >>> >> >> > >> > > > > > > > Cricket on your mind? Visit the ultimate cricket website. Enter http://beta.cricket.yahoo.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. 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