Florida outsources snake catching jobs - hires two snake hunters of Tamil Nadu for $68,888

India is known for snake charmers and their ability to catch snakes is also being appreciated by Florida because the Florida wildlife officials have outsourced the job of catching Burmese pythons to people of the Irula tribe of Tamil Nadu.
Two Indian snake hunters have been hired by Florida wildlife officials and their job is to get rid of the pythons, which are wiping out small mammal populations and driving some of them to near extinction in a tropical wetland in the US state.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 27 January 2017.

The two snake catchers, both in their 50s, were inducted along with two translators. They have to work with detection dogs to track down and capture the giant snakes. The commission says it paid USD 68,888 to hire the Irula men and their translators and fly them to South Florida from their home in southern India and they will stay in Florida through February.
It seems their success rate has surprised the officals of Florida Fish and Wildlfe Conservation Commission (FWC) - in just eight days, they bagged as many as 13 pythons. One of the catch was a 16-foot-long female. Four of these were on their first visit to Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge on North Key Largo in partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.


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Tamil Nadu traders will not sell foreign brand of soft drinks from 1 March

Tamil Nadu traders are taking a derision of not selling foreign brand of soft drinks from 1 March but switch over to Indian brands. Towards this end, they will devote the whole of February to educating traders and consumers about the shortcomings of these foreign brands.
The foreign brands do more harm than good to the body. Recently, one of the brands admitted that it was not suitable for children and that it contained certain harmful chemicals.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 25 January 2017.

During the recent protest by students demanding conduct of jallikattu, many of the youngsters sought a ban on these soft drinks because these draw our groundwater and take the profits outside the country. Hence, this campaign to ban foreign branded soft drinks. Restaurants will also be approached to refrain from selling these brands.
Moreover, a particular brand of milk manufactured by an MNC is also under the scanner - a hotelier has indicated that he would shift over to Indian brands.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Cumbum cow temple in Tamil Nadu where cows and bulls are worshipped

Farmers in Cumbum in Tamil Nadu believe that calves that are born on the second of Thai (Tamil month) are gods to the people of several villages in the valley. These animals are not used for commercial or domestic purpose but, treated as their family deities and are offered to Sri Thambiran Maatu Thozhu, the cow temple, in Cumbum.
These people strongly believe that male or female calf born on Thai 2 has a divinity.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 16 January 2017.

The temple now has more than 200 cows and bulls and no one collects milk from cows or use the bulls for any work. The unique Okkaliga Gouder community people have been maintaining this temple and feeding the cattle throughout the year and Pongal celebration is the major festival of this temple.
Even after death, these animals are treated as heavenly creatures and are buried royally in a separate yard within the temple complex.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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More than 100 species of butterflies exist in Pachamalai hills

The picturesque and scenic Pachamalai hills in Tiruchi district has a whole lot of valleys, ridges, waterfalls and thick forest areas and is home to multiple species of butterflies found both in the reserve forest and open areas. In the course of a two-day exploratory preliminary survey carried out by the Tamil Nadu Butterfly Society (TNBS) with cooperation from the State Forest Department, it has been revealed that there are a total number of 105 species of butterflies in the Pachamalai hills. This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 20 September 2016.

The survey was conducted by the team from the TNBS with assistance from field level forest officials in forest areas, open spaces and fringes of the forests on September 10 and 11. Some of the common species which were usually thought to be predominantly or exclusively present in Western Ghats were also present in Pachamalai that falls under the Eastern Ghats. A few rare species like Dark Pierrot, Peacock Royal, Redspot and Plumbeous Silverline were sighted in the scenic hills and, while the reserve forest areas had rare species, the open areas were dominated by common species. Incidentally, a few species which were usually thought to be exclusively in Western Ghats were found in Pachamalai that is under the Eastern Ghats.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Rampant poaching of parakeets in Tamil Nadu

An operation conducted by the by the state forest department of Tamil Nadu has revealed that there was an active network of poachers and smugglers of parakeets and feel that there is a need to protect smaller species of birds similar to the stringent measures that have been taken to prevent bigger wildlife like tigers and elephants.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 17 September 2016.

Forest officials have arrested four people in Karur who found to be in possession of rose ringed parakeets and munias during the raid.They have also warned the public to surrender parakeets if they have any in their houses. As per existing laws, holding or rearing or caging or keeping of parakeets as pets is an offense under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
The drive was launched based on information from Coimbatore division officials and the raids were conducted at 22 locations across nine forest divisions.
While carrying out the raid, the officials found that the birds were subjected to torture like clipping of wings, tail feather, beaks and claws and were kept in a very cruel manner in small cages, cramped to such an extent that they were found suffocating. In fact, there were some dead birds in the cages. Moreover, some of the birds were used as bait to trap more and the ones used as bait were found with their primary flight wings clipped completely. As per information obtained from the poaches, the smuggling of the birds in large numbers we because of demands from the neighboring state.


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