BOMA CAPTURING TECHNIQUE

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 21, Mar 2022

Why in  News?

An uncommon experiment with Africa’s Boma technique undertaken at Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district for capturing and translocating spotted deer is set to improve the prey base in Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve, situated 450 km away.

About:

• The move will lead to herbivores populating the forests ahead of the proposed shifting of two tigers to Mukundara.
• The Boma capturing technique, which is popular in Africa, involves luring of animals into an enclosure by chasing them through a funnel-like fencing.
• The funnel tapers into an animal selection-cum-loading chute, supported with grass mats and green net to make it opaque for animals, which are then herded into a large vehicle for transport to another location.
• This old technique was earlier utilised to capture wild elephants for training and service.
• Following its adoption in Madhya Pradesh in recent years, Boma has been put to practice for the first time in Rajasthan for sending the ungulates to the prey-deficient Mukundara reserve as the kills for tigers and leopards.

Do you know?

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) technical committee has approved a proposal to shift two tigers from Ranthambhore National Park to Mukundara, which lost two tigers and two cubs in 2020 and is now left with an eight-year-old tigress.
• The reserve, spread across 759 sq. km area, was created with the portions of Darrah, Chambal and Jawahar Sagar wildlife sanctuaries in south-eastern Rajasthan.

Facts for Prelims :

About:

CYCLONE ASANI

People living in coastal areas of Andaman and Nicobar Islands were evacuated to safety as the archipelago experienced heavy rain and strong winds due to Cyclone Asani on Sunday

• The depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal intensified first into a deep depression and later into a cyclonic storm.
• Shipping services between the islands and those connecting Chennai and Visakhapatnam have been stopped and fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea as the year’s first cyclonic storm neared the archipelago.
• A total of 68 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel have been deployed in Port Blair, and 25 each in Diglipur, Rangat and Hutbay areas.
• The system is expected to move towards the Bangladesh-Myanmar coasts.