Sanctuary Asia — May 2017

SANCTUARY ASIA, 2017 MAY 13

More space for GIBs

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIE

F

Dear

Cub

Kids,

Did you know that many astronauts come back home from outer space with a powerful desire to protect the Earth? When they see our little blue planet, all alone in the vastness of the universe, they say it makes them realise how fragile she is, how beautiful, and how alive. This feeling of love and awe that astronauts feel has a name – it’s called the ‘overview effect’. Some people have similar feelings right here on Earth too when they’re up in the airy mountains, diving deep in watery depths or just watching the abundance of life in the middle of a rainforest. I guess you could say, it’s a feeling of being ‘one with everything’, and I imagine this is the feeling that starts off brave environmental activists in their fight to save the planet and its creatures.

From what I hear, humans aren’t the only ones who have feelings of awe towards nature. Primatologists (scientists who study primates such as apes and monkeys) have seen chimpanzees in a ‘trance-like’ state around spectacular natural sights like booming, cascading waterfalls! The chimps sway, stamp, chatter, ‘dance’ and even just gaze in amazement. Could it be that they feel in ‘awe’ of what they see? That they ‘marvel’ at the great works of nature? We will probably never know for sure. But what we do know, is that scientifically speaking, chimps are more like us than unlike us. So, it’s not that far-fetched a possibility! In this issue, we bring you a woman in love with snow leopards (page 4), a man in love with the ocean (page 22) and children – in the words of William Wordsworth – whose ‘hearts leap

up’ when they see wild tigers (eight of them to be precise!) (page 8).“My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;And I could wish my days to beBound each to each by natural piety.” Happy reading!Your friend,

The Gujarat state government has allocated 3,700 hectares of land to the Forest Department in the interest of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) conservation. The state is home to fewer than 30 of the critically endangered bird. The land directly adjoins the Kutch Bustard Sanctuary and comprises grasslands that provide prime breeding habitat for them. Though the land was already used by bustards, they were vulnerable to disturbance from humans and livestock. This On March 20, 2017, in yet another effort to stall the horrific levels of pollution in the Ganga and Yamuna rivers, the Uttarakhand High Court declared them to be ‘living entities’. This order has granted the rivers the same legal rights as a person, and allows for complaints to be filed in the names of the rivers. In their order, Judges Rajeev Sharma and Alok Singh declared the rivers and their tributaries “legal and living entities having the status of a legal person with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities.” They also appointed officials to act as the legal custodians of the rivers. The High Court also directed the central government to establish boards to clean up the heavily-polluted waterbodies.

Twenty three critically endangered red-crowned roofed turtles were saved in Agra during an operation conducted by the U.P. Special Task Force and the state Forest Department.

Two wildlife smugglers

were also arrested. It is believed that the animals were to be sold as pets abroad. Instead, they will now be released in their

Rivers are ‘living entities’

Turtles saved from smugglers

This remarkable move of granting human rights to non-living entities was begun by New Zealand, which granted full legal rights to the Whanganui river just a week before the Uttarakhand order.

VIVEK SINHA BERRY J/PUBLIC DOMAIN

problem will be solved by its notification as a sanctuary, which will allow more protection for the birds and better regulation of human activity in the area.

natural habitat by the Forest Department. Red-crowned roofed turtles are only found in the Indian subcontinent in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. They are protected under Schedule I of India’s Wild Life Protection Act

(1972),

which gives them the same importance as the tiger.

Though information on

turtle smuggling has been shared before, these are the

first turtles to have been saved in five years! The pet trade is a threat to many wild species and must be strongly opposed by one and all.

THOMAS HARDWICKE/ ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN ZOOLOGY