1. "Kunal Patel’s Rusty Spotted Cat Project, India" - sponsored by a grant from the Rufford Small Grants Foundation with promotional and public relations support by True Luxury Tours.

The Rusty-spotted Cat is an endemic small cat of South Asia found in India and Sri Lanka. In its listed distribution range it is extremely rare today, and almost never sighted. Due to its rarity and present unknown status it is included in the Schedule I of the wildlife protection Act (1972), India and “Vulnerable” as per the IUCN Red Data List (2007). Recent studies (Patel, K; IUCN Cat News No. 45, 2006 and Patel, K and Jackson, P; Cat new No.42, 2005), its most sizable population is in the Reserve Forests of North-East Gujarat, India. A detailed long-term study to estimate its population is needed throughout this region to ascertain the various threats to its survival. What is known is the Rusty-spotted cat population and habitat is threatened due to over urbanization and increased road networks throughout this region. Kunal Patel’s present research and conservation program is focusing on the Rusty spotted cat in this region and other parts of Western India. His study aims at locating sights where the Rusty-spotted cat survives and its habitat requirement in this region, which could act as an important source population for future conservation prospectus. His study will identify threats to the habitat; Rusty-spotted cat itself and recommendations to be made for the protection of this cat. Importance will also be given to build up a community-animal relationship throughout his study. The conclusions to this study will provide an initial database for long term monitoring and conservation of the Rusty-spotted Cat in its preferred habitat.

2. "Dr. Sumit Dookia's Gazelle Conservation Project, India" - supported by the local community with promotional and public relations support by True Luxury Tours.

Dr. Sumit Dookia’s Indian Gazelle Project, under the banner of the organization he founded in 1999, The Ecology and Rural Development Society,  is working on the near threatened Indian Gazelle and endangered fauna found in the Thar Desert region of Western Rajasthan, India.

Dr. Dookia’s Masters in Zoology and doctorate work (Ph. D. awarded in 2002) and thesis (unpublished) was on the Ecology of the Indian Gazelle/Chinkara (Gazella bennetti) from J. N. V. University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India where he received a University Research Scholarship.

Dr. Dookia’s research and conservation work on Avian and Mammalian diversity for the Desert Regional Station, Zoological Survey of India at Jodhpur, put him in touch closely to the local communities where people and threatened animals co-exist with each other. With the help of local communities and two grants in 2006 and 2008 from The Ruffords Small Grant Foundation his passion for organizing communities to participate (volunteers participate in an undercover network from different communities to control localized poaching and habitat monitoring) in the conservation of threatened animals has led these local communities to benefit and live harmoniously with the wildlife found among them.

Dr. Dookia has also worked in the Satpura-Maikal landscape of Central India, particularly in the jungle regions of Kanha, Pench and Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh in collaboration with Project Tiger Directorate, New Delhi, and the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.  Dr. Dookia worked as well with the Bombay Natural History Society for Bird-Hazard studies for the Indian Air Force.

Currently Dr. Dookia is working as a Secretor of the Ecology and Rural Development Society with a theme of “Conservation through Community Participation” and as the chief consultant to The Jalore Wildlife Sanctuary’s projects of documenting and implementing conservation and studies on the habitat and threatened species found within the sanctuary.

To participate or learn more about Dr. Sumit Dookia’s projects and vision please write to; info@trueluxurytours.com or sdookia_gazelle@rediffmail.com

3. Conservation and Wildlife Studies at the Jalore Wildlife Sanctuary

The ever decreasing population of wild animals in Thar Desert and semi-arid regions of Rajasthan needs a better conservation plan for securing their survival. A conservation plan for endangered animals is a prerequisite for today’s world where so many species are now under threat. In these remote areas many species need conservation that ensures their protection and gives them the ability to re-produce and live in a secure environment.

The Jalore wildlife Sanctuary (JWS) is home to various rare and endangered mammals, listed in IUCN’s Red Data book. The Leopard (Panthera pardus) population of the sanctuary is an extension of the western most distribution limit in Rajasthan, whereas the largest stronghold of the Asian Steppe Wildcat or Desert Cat (Felis silvestris ornata) is Western Rajasthan the sanctuary is the perfect habitat to know more about its ecology and behaviour. In, 2005 we estimated less than 13 were surviving in the sanctuary area and through our conservation program its population has increased to an estimated plus 50 in just four years. The problem of hybridization between Domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) and Asian Steppe Wildcat (Desert cat) is severe and one of the main threats to its survival throughout the few remaining pockets where pure wild cats still exist, the JWS holds some of the purest gene. The behaviour of the Asian Steppe Wildcat (Desert cat) is very shy and elusive with a thin lithe body, soft cream and white coloured coat with black spots that is quite distinct from its domesticated cousin. The exceedingly rare Desert Fox (Vulpus v. pusilla), a sub species of Red Fox (Vulpus vulpus) hunts field rodents and insects safely on the sand dunes and savannah grasslands while Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) lives under the boulders and comes out in the dark for roaming in the periphery of the sanctuary. The Jungle Cat sub-species found in Western Rajasthan (Felis chaus kutus), a more bold small cat that is less shy then the Asian Steppe Wildcat also shares the same habitat with the sanctuary’s other small carnivoures. The state animal of Rajasthan, the Indian Gazelle or Chinkara (Gazella bennettii) is having one of its safe habitats in the semi-arid landscape of the sanctuary’s savannah area, where it can freely stoat and roam without poaching threats. The sanctuary savannah area is also home to Blue-bull or Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), Asia’s largest antelope. A ‘sound’ (family of wild boar) boar family also has a safe home inside the sanctuary. More the seven troop of Hanuman Langur (Semnpithecus entellus) also live in the north-eastern mountain range of the sanctuary, and the special Zird, a small creature similar to a Gerbil makes its home in the uncultivated hard soil found in the sanctuary savannah and is one of the main prey species for the sanctuary’s cats, and predatory birds.

The JWS is also rich in birdlife, (more then 120 species of birds found here year round) including the rare Tawny Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, Shikra, Common Peafowl, Egyptian Vulture, Eurasian Griffon Vulture, 3 species of Parakeet and the Eurasian Eagle Owl.

We at the JWS have implemented conservation projects to understand the habitat selection and resource utilization between the two small cats, the Asian Steppe Wildcat (Desert Cat) and its status in and around the sanctuary, the Jungle Cat and its status in and around the sanctuary, food habit of the Leopard, human-animal conflict, a complete check list of avi-fauna, bird community studies and other specifically targeted conservation aspects on all the endangered animals of the sanctuary and its periphery. The out come of all our studies leads us to better understand the uniqueness and importance of this sanctuary and the habits and habitat of the rare and endangered wildlife found here and in the Thar Desert and semi-arid regions of Rajasthan, India so we can help find processes necessary to ensure their survival. 

For more information on our conservation efforts or if you want to help and be involved please write to Shanane Davis at info@trueluxurytours.com   

4. Conservation Needed for Small Wild Cats

Fifteen species of cats are found in India in a variety of habitat. Most conservation and study attention has been paid towards research and conservation of larger cats while the smaller cats have lacked any comprehensive studies being conducted.

As separate research in ecology and conservation for small cats is still lacking in India, although these cats are listed in the Indian Wildlife (protection) Act, 1972, as amendment (2002), the very few small programs that are in existence for their conservation are conducted by concerned independent researchers and individuals. In contrast to larger cats that usually need relatively larger undisturbed areas and wildlife reserves, small cats can and potentially persevere in landscapes such as agricultural fields and pasture lands. Consequently, relatively larger populations of small cats exist outside federal wildlife reserves, and therefore a conservation mandate approach is needed that looks beyond these federal wildlife reserves. In the past few decades with the introduction of large scale irrigated agriculture and development of the rural sector, Western India has undergone rapid land-use change. The effect of this habitat modification on the population of small wild cats is at its infancy although many unconfirmed and confirmed reports of the decline of small cat species, due to loss of habitat, is widespread. Small cats require a conservation approach that complements and amends the present essential conservationists programs for large cats’ conservation; generating ecological information and understanding of the impacts of land use change on small cats, it is essential for their survival."