Previous announcement "Elephant"

Previous announcements
December 2005Goals and objectives: The goal of this project is to evaluate serologic techniques ((Rapid Test (now known as Elephant TB STAT-PAK®), MAPIA, ELISA, Immunoblot)) as screening tools that will accurately and quickly identify tuberculosis-infected elephants. The specific objective is to compare results of culture (the technique currently recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture) with the four experimental serological assays.
One-fourth of the estimated 60,000 Asian elephants remaining on earth are captive. The vast majority of these 15,000 elephants live in Asia where they are used for work, ceremonies, and eco-tourism. To date, captive elephants in Asian range countries have not been systematically evaluated for TB. The close proximity to humans; the high prevalence of TB among humans in range countries; and the intermingling of captive and free-ranging elephants in some areas make TB a serious threat to this endangered species.
Since 1994, 12 percent of Asian elephants within the U.S. have been diagnosed with TB. In Nepal, researchers will sample over 100 elephants. The elephant handlers will also be tested.
Serological tests would reduce the time to diagnosis, decrease animal and human exposure, and provide a cost effective means to increase surveillance of TB. These improvements will lead to fewer deaths from TB (by decreased environmental contamination and exposure of the susceptible population). Importantly, these technologies have potential application to a broad range of endangered species susceptible to TB for which suitable diagnostic techniques are currently lacking.
Elephant Care International is supporting this project financially and with personnel. Dr. Susan Mikota, our co-founder and the Director of Veterinary Programs & Research, will spend the month of January in Nepal, giving oversight and assistance to veterinary students from Nepal and the U.S. in sample collection. Update: Drs. Mikota (ECI) and Miller (Disney's Animal Kingdom) have been awarded a $4,500 grant to partially fund this Nepal TB Project.

Kokhana Festival (August)

Kokhana Festival (August)

Later types
Dear Sirs,
I would like to express our my deep concern about extreme cases of animal cruelty being conducted within the Republic of Nepal.
One such is on the occasion of the Khokana Festival, held after Gaijatra (August), during which a terrified goat is thrown in the Deu-pond close to the Rudrayani temple, after which it is torn apart whilst still alive by a group of young men, fighting for the dubious and cowardly honour of becoming a 'hero'.
Another is the Gadimai Festival in Bara District which is 'celebrated' by sacrificing around 200,000 animals (including 6,000 young male buffaloes). Here innocent creatures are killed en masse in a very unorganised manner by drunk devotees who enter the temple area with knives to cut off the heads of frightened buffaloes.
A third similarly touching event is the Sasarimaiko Mela in Mahottari which is held every twelve years and witnesses the killing of 10,000 animals. Both Terai festivals have been ‘transferred’ from India, possibly during the 11th century, and therefore are not indigenous celebrations of Nepalese culture.
A fourth event we want to highlight is the annual sacrifice taking place during Chaite and Kalratri Dasain. With the support of your government and army hundreds of innocent animals are beheaded in public.
No one can adequately explain why these practices are carried out year after year and why the Government financially supports some of them – except to say they are ‘traditional’. This however is not a valuable argument to commence these practices; Nepal, realising the adverse effects, has abolished a number of ‘traditions’ in the past, including human sacrifice and widow burning.
We feel the time has come to abolish the above practices for the following reasons:
1. Nepal is concerned about the welfare of its precious flora and fauna, and has signed a number of international Wildlife Treaties followed by the introduction of the Meat Act, which introduces humane killing of livestock and poultry. The cruelty displayed in these so-called traditions completely contradicts the spirit and gestures of these treaties and acts.
2. As tourists are abhorred by such practices, the festivals will have an adverse effect on tourism, an industry which provides the country with much-needed financial returns. Those foreigners who experience or come to know the extent of sacrifice in this country leave Nepal confused and with a heavy heart, rather than uplifted by its paradoxical beauty and friendliness.
3. Cruelty against animals harms society as a whole; it signals and normalises insensitivity in children who can become numb to the suffering of living beings, it is also known to influence certain people to commit violence on other humans.
4. Sacrifices often strengthen the vested interest of those who benefit from superstition-based beliefs and rituals. As Nepal is moving ahead to become a more fully democratic, egalitarian society, it is crucial to challenge age-old beliefs which are not beneficial and drain the resources of the poor and needy.
We urge you to end the violent practices and help Nepal move towards a truly peaceful country, and in keeping with its international image. This can be done by introducing and enforcing a much-needed Animal Welfare Act to curb animal cruelty and by promoting genuine animal welfare activities across the country.
We trust that you will support these measures (which are becoming more popular by the day, around the globe and thus promote non-violent cultural practices in the Republic.
Sincerely,

Tiger Institute to greatly endangered and race speciaes

About T.I.G.E.R.S.The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species
The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species is a wildlife education organization, dedicated to promoting global conservation with informative, educational and entertaining interactive programs. Our animal ambassadors are important living examples of current worldwide environmental issues, helping us teach people about the importance of conservation and global biodiversity. T.I.G.E.R.S. also works closely with international wildlife conservation projects in Africa and Thailand. In addition to providing much needed funds for these programs, our personnel have been involved in field research as well. Our TIGERS Preservation Stations help make all of this possible as we entertain and educate the public about the importance of wildlife and our environment. Through our appearances on the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and NBC's Tonight Show we are able to reach hundreds of millions of people with our educational message of the importance of wild animal conservation.
Welcome to the world of T.I.G.E.R.S. (The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species). Home to some of the world’s most famous animal actors, stars of stage and screen. Here we have one of the most exciting animal adventures ever. This is a new kind of zoo that gives a fresh new look at wild animals living with man. It's a zoo that comes to you.
T.I.G.E.R.S. was founded by Dr. Bhagavan Antle. He is one of the World’s foremost trainers of big cats and other exotic animals. Doc Antle’s animal actors have appeared in over 500 films, television shows, commercials and advertisements worldwide.You have seen some of these animals in great films such as Ace Ventura, Forrest Gump, Dr. Dolittle, Mighty Joe Young and many others.
Our animal actors include the worlds largest variety of rare and exotic cats as well as many other animal actors. Some of these animals are the rare Golden Tabby Tigers, Siberian & Bengal, Tigers, Panthers, Leopards, Royal White Tigers, Lions and Jaguars.We even have one of the most unusual animals in the world, the Liger. This Gentle Giant is over 11 foot tall and 900 lbs. and is a cross between a male lion and female tiger. Our famous Rafiki Baboons Co-Star in Ace Ventura with Jim Carrey and in Mr. Magoo with Leslie Nelson as well as Jungle Book. Bubbles the elephant starred in Dr. Dolittle and Ace Ventura when Nature Calls.
Close Personal Contact with the Animal Actors, years of film and TV Experience, Thousands of Live Performances and On Screen and a collection of the WORLD’S RAREST SPECIES makes T.I.G.E.R.S. the foremost provider of exotic animal actors for all media. We can offer rare and exotic species for all occasions from anteater to zebras, baboons to yaks. The animals have been hand raised by Doc Antle and his trainers since they where young. The animals all live, work and play together with Doc and other trainers in a specially designed facility combining the latest in human and animal related technologies.
All of the animal actors can be seen up close and uncaged in close personal contact with their trainers. The trusted relationship they have with their handlers can be seen and felt by the audience. This makes them perfect for live shows or personal appearance. Because Dr. Antle and his trainers have hand raised these animals they are cooperative and safe which saves valuable production time and money. People often think it is dangerous to get so close to wild animals like these, but the handlers here at T.I.G.E.R.S. have been with these animals since they were cubs and have developed a special friendship based on love and respect. In fact, Dr. Antle and his partner Kheira have actually delivered many of the cubs in the enclosure with the mothers because of their special relationships. T.I.G.E.R.S. has a proven method of training these animals: Never treat them as pets, lots of tender loving care, and thousands of hours of one-on-one handling; we even live with the animals 24 hours a day.
During our one of a kind shows, you see the animals interacting with their handlers who have developed a very special rapport with the animals.It is a bond of lifelong companionship starting from the moment the animals are born. This is a very special kind of Wildlife presentation with the world's rarest big cats. With T.I.G.E.R.S you will observe and learn about many rare and unique animals, in a new and completely different way. You will not see our animals sleeping or pacing in cages, as you may find in "traditional" zoos. Instead you will have a look at some of the most magnificent creatures on Earth up close and uncaged you can see and photograph the animals climbing and jumping and doing all the natural activities they would normally do in the wild.Why go to such great lengths? Because at T.I.G.E.R.S. we feel that if people can get an up-close and educational view of these glorious beasts, they will be eager to learn of the plight of endangered species.
We hope that by creating this website the public will gain a new understanding and awareness of these and other endangered species. And hopefully help save them and the wild places that they live before they are lost to this world forever. We would like to leave you with this quote by naturalist William Beebe,
"When the last individual of a race of living beings breaths no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again."

"BengalTiger"

Tiger
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DESCRIPTION: Males weigh in at 396 to 569 pounds and measure 8-feet-11-inches to 10-feet-2-inches long. Females weigh 220 to 352 pounds and range from 7-feet-10-inches to 8-feet-9-inches long. The underside of the Bengal is clean white; its black stripes on an orange background color are widely spaced. The stripes are like fingerprints: no two patterns are alike.
A mutation of the Bengal subspecies — white tigers — have dark brown or reddish brown stripes on a white background color, and some are wholly white. Black tigers have tawny, yellow or white stripes on a black background color. The skin of a black tiger, recovered from smugglers, measured 8-feet-6-inches and was displayed at the National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi. The existence of black tigers without stripes has been reported but not substantiated.
STATUS: Endangered. The Cat Specialist Group of IUCN reported in 1995 that approximately 3,250 to 4,700 Bengal tigers were living wild in remnant populations scattered mainly throughout India, but also in Bangladesh, Bhutan, southern China, western Myanmar and Nepal.
"We don't know how many tigers there are in India," says John Seidensticker, chairman of Save the Tiger Fund Council. "The real firebrands in India will tell you it's just horrible; that things are bad. Others will say that where we've done it right, we still have tigers."
India probably lays claim to about two-thirds of the world's wild tigers, according to the Cat Specialist Group. But Indian censuses of wild tigers have relied on the individual identification of footprints (known as pug marks), a method widely criticized for its inaccuracy.
An area of special interest lies in northeast India where 11 protected areas are found in the Terai Arc, comprising dry forest foothills and dune valleys at the base of the Himalayas. "The whole idea," says Seidensticker, "is to maintain the connection between them, to create a necklace (of habitat) along the Nepal-India border, involving 1,000 miles from the Royal Chitwan National Park to Cobett National Park."
Once a royal hunting reserve, Chitwan became a national park in 1973. New economic incentives give villagers a direct stake in this renowned tourist attraction, with more than a third of revenues from park entrance fees being returned to the 300,000 people living in 36 villages in the surrounding buffer zone. As a result, locals are now creating and managing tiger habitat and consider themselves guardians of their tigers.
Rivaling Chitwan for the title of the world's best tiger habitat is the Western Ghats forest complex in southwestern India, an area of 14,400 square miles stretching across several protected areas. The challenge here, as throughout most of Asia, is that people literally live on top of the wildlife. The Save the Tiger Fund Council estimates that 7,500 landless people live illegally inside the boundaries of the 386-square-mile Nagaahole National Park in southwestern India. A voluntary if controversial resettlement is underway with the aid of the Karnataka Tiger Conservation Project led by Ullas Karanth of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Nepal, with a maximum of 200 tigers split into three isolated and vulnerable sub-populations, reports stability after a serious decline.
To the east of Nepal, in Bhutan, scientists in this small Buddhist kingdom have evidence of a richer tiger population than previously estimated. Camera traps snapped photos of a wild tiger high in the Himalayas, at the surprising elevation of 13,000 feet. This offers new possibilities for suitable tiger habitat.
ZOO POPULATION: Indian zoos have bred tigers since 1880, the first time at the Alipore Zoo in Calcutta. There are more than 300 tigers in captivity, mostly in India.
Africa Safari

Legwork For Land Reforms Policy

Legwork For Land Reforms Policy:-
Modernisation of the agriculture sector is a major feature of the upcoming land reforms policy, said Haribol Ghimire,chairman of the high level land reform commission (HLRC) in an interaction or ganised here today. The government formed the commission on December 10 last year to end all forms of disputes in land ownership and utility of land.
"We are focusing on increasing agricultural producing through modernization," Said Gajurel. Disteibuting land to the poor will not be sustainable without increasing productivity, he adds. According to the 2001 date of the central bureau of statistics(CBS),66 per cent of Nepalis depend on agriculture.
Land reforms is a high priority of the present government. The prosocialist government has decided to end discrimination based on land ownership and use.Around I million Nepali families comprising 800,000 in villages and 200,000 in town are landless.
HLRC is consulting experts, activists and political parties to set the framework if land reforms."we are planning to land suggest some points which could make the country self-sustained in food," Said Gajurel .He points out that four major points----application of scientific land celling measures, promotion if agro based in dustries ought to be included in the new policy.
Acording to Gajurel, HLRC is planning to suggest punishment for those who leave land barren. However, the commission is still not clear what kind of land ownership it should suggest to the government. "HLRC is collecting data and opinion from people. We will come to a conclusion within three months," he said." perhaps, there will be three kinds of ownership---government, cooperation and private. We are in dilemma whether to opt or cooperation or commune ownership."
Nepal communist party (UML) leader keshav Badal favoured full ownership of the people. Acording to Badal, production cannot be increased without guaranteeing ownership of the people. "If the state cannot give a guarantee of land ownership, we will face the same situation that Vietnam did in the 1970s,"he said. Over 75 percent Vietnamese were in absolute poverty before 1986.
Vietnam adoped a 'doi moi' policy in 1986 to modernize its agriculture. Now it is the world's second largest rice exporter. People below poverty line have dramatically decereased to 10 per cent and per capital has reached $1027 from$120 in22 years. The Community country is slowly distributing land ownership rights to citizens.
Deputy speaker of the constituent assembly purna subedi said land reforms policy should be based on the needs of the people. "we have unique geo-physical and ethnic diversity, and so our needs are different than those of others, "she said. Nepali congress leader Laxman Ghimire stressed that the new land reforms policy should benefit the lower classes people and especially labour groups

Fact On Pokhara

Facts on Pokhara City
These facts are based on Data from HMG Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, and Websites of Municipalities. Last update on May 9 2006
Population
About 170,000 thousand. It is believed that Pokhara was the city of Mallas, the rulers of Nepal about 250 years ago. The Newar community of Kathmandu Valley migrated to Pokhara, built houses like those of Mallas, and started developing settlements which lead to the development of this city. Today, Pokhara is developed by tourism, import and export business of both domestic as well as foreign products to various towns and villages in Kaski and other districts of Nepal
Land Area
47.5 square miles (about 123 sq kilometers), About half of the area is the Sub-Metropolitan City area.
Location
Longitude : 83 58' 30"E to 80 02' 30" E Latitude : 28 10' N to 28 16' N
Altitude
2900 feet (about 884 meter)
Pokhara Experiences -
Browse these websites and photo album and feel like you are experiencing it yourself. Have you been to Pokhara recently ? We would love to hear from you. Please share your experience in our blog or forum, links are at the bottom of this page.
Picasaweb : Pokhara - Tosunilstha - a Nepali shows his trip to Pokhara through photos
Mountain Music Project : Sarangi - a traveler talks about the place and nepali sarangi
People - Umass - Pokhara- group of students from Bangladesh going to Pokhara
Forgetmenotchildrens - Nepal Visit - daily blog on their visit to Nepal and beyond
Flickr - Pokhara - Sdhawan - author's pokhara photos
Support
The most joy of doing anything on this site, is being able to help. If you have any questions, please ask freely at the forum. Thank you and have a blessed day.

Hotel Pokhara

Hotels in Pokhara
Base Camp Resort - 30 rooms, Lake Side, Pokhara-6, Nepal, Tel: 977 61 521226 Email: info@basecampresort.com
Hotel Barahi - Pokhara, Tel : Phone : 977 1 4429820
Hotel Kantipur - 50 rooms, Lake-Side Pokhara, Nepal, Tel: 977-61-520886 Email : kantipurpkr@cnet.wlink.com.np
Hotel Lake Palace - Lakeside, Baidam, Tel: 977-61-521027 Email: hlpalace@fewanet.com.np
Hotel View Point - Lakeside, Baidam, Tel: Phone: 977-61-541671
Hotel Shikhar - Lakeside, Pokhara, Tel: 977-61-525033 Email: shikhar@fewanet.com.np
New Pokhara Lodge - Lakeside Pokhara Tel: 977-61-524990
How to get to Pokhara?
Mountain flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara is the best option. View Himalayas including the Annapurna range which lies right next to flight path. So sit back, turn your head to the right, and enjoy the flight. Be careful though, this will blow your mind away, don't hurt your neck, do not push the passenger on the right out through the window!!
Riding a public bus or a taxi to Pokhara is also a good option. Public buses run daily from Kathmandu. It takes about 5 to 6 hours by bus. Buses are crowded, but thats' how Nepalese travel all life long, so what the heck, go ahead experience it, for you, it's only for a day! Remember, public buses do not have A/C, Heaters and have frequent stops on the way. Bus will stop at Mugling for Lunch or Dinner. Have some Nepail food there, if you can digest spicy foods, or you can pick restaurants which specifically cater to foreigners. Taxis are expensive, probably will cost you as much as the Air-fare. When you ride by land, you get to see more places, you get to enjoy the scenery that you would not be able to see from the air.
About buying the tickets :
How to get Cheap Ticket to Pokhara ? Buy them directly from the Airlines located in Kathmandu. Visit their website and make online reservations. Upon your arrival in Kathmandu, buy tickets from their Sales Office. If needed, ask your Hotel's travel desk to help you find the airlines office.
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