Selfie deaths are not unusual in India any more. While they are tragic, they are also stupid and avoidable. Take the case of a 38-year-old driver (yes, an adult male human) from Rajasthan who, according to news reports, got the bright idea of clicking a selfie with a lion in Tirupati zoo! It’s hard to say what he was expecting. Maybe he was drunk, as police claimed. Or maybe he thought they could sing ‘Hakuna...
An estimated 5.5 billion wild animals—yes, that’s right—are being kept in cruel conditions on commercial wildlife farms, according to British charity World Animal Protection. Published on March 4, the charity’s Bred for Profit: The Truth About Global Wildlife Farming Report reveals the scale of this exploitative industry in which billions of wild animals are bred to be traded as pets, used for entertainment or tourist attractions, and turned into ornaments, luxury food, fashion products, or ‘traditional...
It was supposed to be a simple animal exchange for a zoo, but alas! It turned into a circus. The names Akbar and Sita were assigned to a lion and lioness, respectively. That was enough for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an organization claiming to speak for Hindus worldwide, to take offence and approach the court seeking justice. Yes, you read that right. They moved the circuit bench of the Calcutta High Court in Jalpaiguri...
In a landmark decision to help conserve lions, tigers, leopards, etc, the Union cabinet has given the green signal for the formation of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), a worldwide network to help big cats flourish. The IBCA will have its headquarters in India. It will be a multi-country, multi-agency coalition of 96 big cat range countries to provide a one-stop platform on conservation. Interestingly, India’s natural habitat is home to five out of...
