Sloth Bear Conservation Threats

The Sloth Bears' woes did not end when capturing bears for street shows was banned. Now India's sloth bears face new threats from multiple fronts. Comic from my column with The Hindu. Also read Aathira Pernichery's article in Mongabay on sloth bear conservation in India for a more detailed insight. 

South China Sea Conflict and Marine Life

On the impacts of the South China Sea conflict on marine life, from my column with Sunday Mid-Day.

Elephant Death in Kerala

Cartoons on the recent death of an elephant in Kerala by ingesting a fruit stuffed with a cracker caused massive outrage across India.

Jharkhand Elephant Rescue

A quick one to celebrate the efforts of Jharkhand's forest department to rescue an elephant stuck in a well, by using the Archimedes' principle of buoyancy. The well was filled with water using motor pumps and a ramp was dug for the elephant to push itself out. While this elephant survived, many wild animals lose their lives drowning in uncovered wells in the night, specially in areas where habitat encroachment is pushing wildlife to the edges of human settlements, and the covering of open wells is an urgent step that needs implementation. 

Congratulations to the Jharkhand Forest Department and the DFO of Gumla, under whose supervision the operation was carried out.

A Royal Tiger Hunt

Sunday Mid-Day brings out a special segment on Yavatmal's 'problem tigress' Avni's management by the Forest Ministry and Maharashtra Forest Department, and the deeply flawed and dubious involvement of Shafath Ali Khan in the operation. Here is my take for this special edition of the paper today.

Tiger-Farmer Conflict in Dudhwa

(Click on the image for a larger view)

Last year in summer, I accompanied scientist and friend Rekha Warrier to the sugarcane fields around Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh, where she is studying and working to resolve the conflict between tigers and cane farmers. Tigers often use the safety of the tall cane crop for sheltering their cubs, and this brings them in contact with farmers and their families, increasing the chances of casualties. The poster, written and illustrated in Hindi with inputs from Rekha, the Field Director, and the Wildlife Warden, enlists some precautions that the farmers can take to avoid conflict with the carnivore.

Thanks to Rekha, and my friend Rohit Jha (who has been studying the critically endangered Bengal Florican in Dudhwa) for showing me around (and also for giving me my first Bengal Florican, Gharial and Fishing Cat sightings), and to Rekha again for commissioning the poster through the WWF and a Rufford grant.

Nagzira Navegaon Tiger Reserve- An Illustrated Map

(Click on the images for a larger view)

Last year when the Wildlife Trust of India commissioned me to illustrate a map of Nagzira Navegaon Tiger Reserve, things came around full circle for me, as it was this very place that inspired me to start drawing cartoons on wildlife! Situated in the Gondia district of Maharashtra, and a little over 150 km from my hometown, Nagpur, Nagzira-Navegaon, not only boasts of some of the country's most sought-after fauna, but is also regarded as one of the most scenic landscapes is Central India. The map was drawn with a focus on endangered and threatened fauna, as well as the lifestyle of the Gondi tribal people, who inhabit the areas around the reserve and whose lives revolve intricately around the region's wildlife.

Here are a few close-ups from the various sections of the map-

Intended for rural awareness, the map has also been translated to Marathi and is being displayed at various sites within the reserve for tourists as well as locals.

(The Marathi version of the map)

An additional poster on the fauna of Nagzira was also created from the illustrated elements in the map-

A big thanks to the WTI and IFAW for commissioning this assignment!

Tiger numbers rise- Say Yay!

One from my column with The Hindu's BLink today.

Leopards in stress

One on the recent situations cause by human-leopard conflict that the media often misquotes as 'leopard attacks'. More often than not, it is the stress caused to wild animals by crowds and poor and untimely management of people rather than the animal that lead to a crisis. 

The cartoon appears on my column with The Hindu BLink today.

Mines and elephants

The result of a clash between two giants is always the defeat of one. This holds true for coal and elephants too, particularly in the state of Chhattisgarh, which has one of the largest open cast mines, and not surprisingly, also the most alarming rates of man-animal conflict. 

Here's one from my weekend column with BLink.

Being a Man-eater

A tiger's eye view of what it must be like to be a man-eater and face its repercussions. This one;s from my column in the Hindu's BLink. 

Conservation threats for the Indian Elephant

Bholu the Elephant is the mascot for the Indian Railways. Ironically, Bholu and the species he represents, are being massacred by the dozen, frequently along East India's railway tracks. This illustration was published in Saevus magazine's November issue along with the others-

(click to enlarge)

In yet another train accident in Jalpaiguri seven of our National Heritage Animals were left dead. Each time such accidents happen, there's a blame game played between the forest department and the railway authorities, and very little substantial action results. A strict check on the speed limit of trains crossing elephant habitat and better coordination between the respective departments are the need of the hour.

Badgers and Bovine Tuberculosis

Reports claim that the culling of badgers for controlling the spread of bovine tuberculosis in the UK is a non-scientific and wasteful method. Several alternatives have been suggested including vaccines for both badgers and cattle and it remains to be seen how successfully these are implemented. Badgergate (http://www.badgergate.org/) is campaigning against the issue. You can read more about the issue on their website (which also has this cartoon :-)) and on http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/badgers-and-bovineTB and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger_culling_in_the_United_Kingdom

More cartoons done for the campaign.

Blood on the tracks

Bholu the Elephant is the mascot for the Indian Railways. Ironically, the very creature that is endorsing this mode of transport is getting violated by it frequently. Train tracks criss-cross prime elephant habitats across India and extremely gory deaths from train collisions are getting frequent. This is definitely not the way the National Heritage Animal deserves to be treated.

Here's a cartoon I did for The Elephant Family's campaign to protect the Indian Elephant from speeding trains, called 'Blood on the Tracks'. Read more about the campaign here- http://www.elephantfamily.org/what-we-do/conservation-news/13-elephants-killed-by-trains-within-a-fortnight/

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Tiger beaten to death in Bangladesh

Man-animal conflict is on the rise and areas around fragile ecosystems such as the Sunderbans are extremely prone to such grim incidents. Aid from the forest departments takestime to reach the problem-struck areas and facilities are often mismanaged. More than two-thirds of the Sunderbans is in Bangladesh, hosting an estimated 270 tigers.

Read the news here- http://dunyanews.tv/index.php/en/WeirdNews/141719--Villagers-beat-Bengal-tiger-to-death

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Flamin-gone?

A road construction proposal that is being considered across Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary (Gujarat, India) could destroy Asia's only breeding ground for flamingos. The number of these beautiful birds is already dwindling and this project is sure to spell doom for the birds if it gets a go-ahead. Read Cara Tejpal's extensive coverage on this issue, aptly titled 'A Road Through El Dorado', on  http://www.tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ws271012Conservation.asp

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Arcticitis!

The Arctic is in pain. Shell is all set to drill the extremely fragile polar biosphere for oil, with its ridiculous claims of 'exploiting climate change for mankind's benefit'!  Join Greenpeace's war against the Arctic Oil Rush now if you still haven't- http://www.savethearctic.org/

PS- Turtles do not live in the Arctic. I have used what I call a 'cartoonist's license' to a small extent :-)

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Narcon-doom!

Narcondam Island, a tiny island in the Andaman & Nicobar Island group is a notified wildlife sanctuary sheltering 300 Narcondam Hornbills, an endangered species of hornbill found nowhere else in the world. A proposal from the Indian Coast Guard to build a radar installation and diesel power generation station on the island will prove to be a major peril for the island and its residents, owing to the large scale destruction that would follow it inevitably. The campaign initiated by conservationists to save Narcondam is gaining momentum. Visit http://www.conservationindia.org/front-page-featured/narcondam to add your voice.

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Cat Campaign

What would happen if the big cats were to do a campaign such as this? Habitat destruction, poaching, mining, hunting, dams, pollution, plastics, industrial waste, man-animal conflict, unsustainable tourism, over-grazing, loss of habitat to agriculture- the list just doesn't end.

Well, well...

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Shoulda been more specific, Cowboy!

Wolves in the USA are still considered pests, and in some states, are permitted to be shot unchecked. Indiscriminate shooting of the Northern Rockies wolf following its removal from the endangered species' list is decimating the populations of this North-American sub-species.

Save America's wolves- Sign the petition here- http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=3&campaign=IdahoWolves

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.