Rapid Recovery of Tigers Panthera Tigris in Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Nepal

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Rapid Recovery of Tigers Panthera Tigris in Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Nepal Rapid recovery of tigers Panthera tigris in Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Nepal B ABU R AM L AMICHHANE,CHIRANJIBI P RASAD P OKHERAL,SHASHANK P OUDEL D IPENDRA A DHIKARI,SAILENDRA R AJ G IRI,SANTOSH B HATTARAI,TEK R AJ B HATTA R OB P ICKLES,RAJAN A MIN,KRISHNA P RASAD A CHARYA,MAHESHWAR D HAKAL U BA R AJ R EGMI,ASHOK K UMAR R AM and N ARESH S UBEDI Abstract Information on density and abundance of globally Chitwan–Parsa complex should be managed as a single eco- threatened species such as tigers Panthera tigris is essential logical unit for conserving the Endangered tiger and other for effective conservation as well as to evaluate the success of wide-ranging species. conservation programmes. We monitored tigers in Parsa Keywords Camera trapping, conservation success, Nepal, Widlife Reserve, Nepal, using camera traps, in , Panthera tigris, Parsa Wildlife Reserve, source–sink, tiger and . Once believed to be a sink for tigers from adjacent population Chitwan National Park, Parsa now provides a new hope for tigers. Spatially explicit capture–recapture analysis over survey years revealed an increase in tiger density from . to . individuals per km from to . The tiger abundance was estimated to be seven (–), Introduction (–) and (–) in , and , respectively. he tiger Panthera tigris, categorized as Endangered on Resettlement of communities from the core area, reduced Tthe IUCN Red List (Goodrich et al., ), remains in anthropogenic pressure, and improved security have made % of its historical range (Joshi et al., ). The remaining Parsa Wildlife Reserve a suitable habitat for tigers. Tiger habitat is not occupied at optimum density because of abundance increased considerably within a km radius of poaching of tigers, hunting of their prey species and conflict the evacuated village sites, from two in to eight in with local communities (Goodrich, ; Walston et al., and in . Population turnover has remained ). With the aim to prevent extinction and double the moderate (, % per year), with persistence of individuals tiger population by , tiger range countries signed the in multiple years. Dispersing tigers from Chitwan’s source St Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation in population accounted for a large portion (c. %) of the ti- (GTI, ), yet tiger populations continue to decline in gers detected in Parsa. Conservation efforts along with an- many countries (Goodrich et al., ). Studies show that nual monitoring should be continued in Parsa to sustain the the remaining habitat can support the global target of increase and monitor the persistence of tigers. The doubling the number of wild tigers to , by (Wikramanayake et al., ) if further degradation of habi- tat is prevented (Joshi et al., ) and core breeding source BABU RAM LAMICHHANE* (Corresponding author), CHIRANJIBI PRASAD POKHERAL, sites are protected and embedded in larger conservation SHASHANK POUDEL,SANTOSH BHATTARAI and NARESH SUBEDI National Trust for landscapes (Walston et al., ). Nature Conservation, Khumaltar, POB 3712, Lalitpur, Nepal E-mail [email protected], [email protected] Within Nepal, tigers are restricted to five protected areas and surrounding forests in the Terai Arc Landscape in the DIPENDRA ADHIKARI,SAILENDRA RAJ GIRI and TEK RAJ BHATTA Zoological Society of London Nepal Office, Lazimpat, Kathmandu, Nepal south of the country, straddling the border with India ROB PICKLES Panthera, New York, USA (Wikramanayake et al., ). Of global importance for tiger recovery, the Chitwan–Parsa–Valmiki forest complex RAJAN AMIN Zoological Society of London, Regent’s Park, London, UK of the Terai Arc Landscape was designated a Level I Tiger KRISHNA PRASAD ACHARYA Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Department of Forests, Babarmahal, Kathmandu, Nepal Conservation Unit, a region of global priority, in (Wikramanayake et al., ). It also constitutes one of the MAHESHWAR DHAKAL Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Sighadurbar, Kathmandu, Nepal global source sites of tigers (Walston et al., ). Despite UBA RAJ REGMI and ASHOK KUMAR RAM Department of National Parks and this global recognition, Parsa had made little contribution to Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu, Nepal global tiger recovery efforts until recently, with a density of *Also at: Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, only . tigers per km recorded in , in contrast to Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, neighbouring Chitwan’s . tigers per km (Dhakal Netherlands, and Evolutionary Ecology Group, Faculty of Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium et al., ). Prey density had also been low in Parsa (. Received March . Revision requested April . prey individuals per km ) compared to Chitwan (. per Accepted May . km ) (Karki et al., ) as a result of widespread hunting This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The /36768written:DDAC, permission of 534697 Cambridge 957 University 013667CC, Press must be obtained for commercial93D,, re-use. C475DDD:7.34697.7D7C8C7333473D :DDAC, 534697 957D7C :DDAC,6 9 2 Oryx, Page 1 of 9 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605317000886 2 B. R. Lamichhane et al. FIG. 1 Parsa Wildlife Reserve (with survey grid) and its buffer zone, and neighbouring Chitwan National Park, Nepal. and habitat degradation through livestock grazing, leading (Fig. ). Initially established with an area of km, Parsa to Parsa being considered the sink to Chitwan’s source. was augmented by the allocation of a km buffer zone There are records of tigers dispersing from Chitwan being in , and in a further km was gazetted as core poisoned in retaliation by local people (Smith, ), or poa- area (hereafter referred to as the extension area; Fig. ; ched for their skin and bones. Dispersal of tigers from DNPWC, ). Parsa comprises highly porous alluvial sub- high-density areas to lower density areas is a common phe- strate and is dominated by the sal forested Churia Hills run- nomenon (Harihar et al., ; Harihar & Pandav, ). ning from east to west (into Chitwan) in the north of the Tigers are territorial, and adult males are known to have Reserve. The streams running off the Churia Hills permeate large territories encompassing – females (Sunquist, the porous sediment and flow underground, reappearing ). Subadults are known to disperse away from the south of the Reserve and restricting water availability in natal area at the age of – months to colonize relatively . % of Parsa throughout the dry months. As well as tigers, unoccupied areas (Smith, ). Parsa is home to other carnivores, including the leopard In Nepal committed to doubling the size of its tiger Panthera pardus, the dhole Cuon alpinus, the striped hyaena population by , with a goal of adults (GTI, ). Hyaena hyaena and the golden jackal Canis aureus. A wide Parsa is therefore a clear target for conservation interven- range of wild prey species of tigers are found there, including tions to meet the national goal. Here we examine the change the gaur Bos gaurus, the sambar Rusa unicolor, the nilgai in Parsa’s tiger population over a -year period since signifi- Boselaphus tragocamelus, the spotted deer Axis axis, the bark- cant conservation interventions began, and assess the fac- ing deer Muntiacus muntjak and the wild boar Sus scrofa tors responsible for the change. (Thapa et al., ). Historically, Parsa received less govern- mental and NGO support for tiger conservation compared to other protected areas in the Terai Arc Landscape. However, Study area since the Government of Nepal, with technical and fi- nancial support from NGOs, has undertaken significant ef- Parsa Wildlife Reserve is the easternmost protected area of forts to improve tiger conservation in Parsa (PWR, ). the Terai Arc Landscape. It is connected directly Two settlements, Rambhori Bhata ( ha, households) to Chitwan National Park along a km boundary and is and Ramauli Pratappur ( ha, households), had been , km from Valmiki Tiger Reserve’s easternmost edge located in Parsa prior to the establishment of the Reserve Oryx, Page 2 of 9 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605317000886 /36768:DDAC, 534697 957 013667CC, 93D,,C475DDD:7.34697.7D7C8C7333473D :DDAC, 534697 957D7C :DDAC,6 9 2 Recovery of tigers in Nepal 3 (Fig. ). The local people practised subsistence agriculture, , but activities such as livestock grazing, and collection of fod- der, fuelwood, timber and other forest products resulted in May 2016 habitat degradation over a broad area (PWR, ). Conflict – between local people and wildlife also resulted in retaliatory Feb. (79) killings (CNP, ). Both communities were resettled vol- untarily during –. In addition to the village reloca- tions, Parsa’s management authorities began a programme of habitat enrichment in , maintaining nine artificial Mar. 2016 waterholes in the dry season and increasing the area of un- – gulate grazing by . ha of grasslands. Feb. (27) arison with other years. Methods . Only a partial survey was conducted in May 2016 Camera trapping We set camera traps in a grid of × km – cells (DNPWC, ), deploying a pair of camera traps in and 2016 ParsaMar. (79) Extension area Total each cell during the dry season in , and .The entire
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