Three tiger skins and skeletons seized in Allahabad on 4 Dec. 2007. © WPSI
Ranthambore Range Officer in his new patrol vehicle, 12 June 2007. © WPSI
The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation provided a grant of £55,400 in 2007/08.
Founded in 1994, WPSI is one of the most respected and effective wildlife conservation organisations in India. Using a countrywide network of field investigators, WPSI works closely with the enforcement authorities to combat poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, particularly in wild tigers. The Society also hosts wildlife enforcement workshops throughout India, maintains the most comprehensive database on wildlife crime in the country (it presently holds records of more than 16,000 wildlife cases), and publishes and distributes vital resource material. The focus of WPSI’s varied conservation and community projects is human-animal conflict. Site-specific projects include assistance in Sundarban, Ranthambhore, Bandhavgarh, Tadoba, Corbett, and Satkosia Gorge Tiger Reserves. Species specific projects include the development of tiger census techniques, the protection of elephant corridors, and a campaign to save the olive ridley sea turtle off the coast of eastern India.
In 2007/08, The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation supported a number of crucial activities under WPSI’s Tiger Protection Programme. This included investigations into poaching and the illegal trade in wild tiger parts, legal assistance for the prosecution of important wildlife cases, support for the resettlement of a large Van Gujjar community in northern India, and community support and conservation awareness around Sunderban Tiger Reserve. The Foundation also gave vital infrastructure support, which included the purchase of 4WD patrol vehicles for Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve.
Visit the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) website.