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Asian Palm Civet, recorded in Dhanusha, Province No.-2, Nepal

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  Asian Palm Civet The Asian palm civet lives throughout the jungles of Asia and its scientific name is (Paradoxurus Hermaphroditus). It is also called a toddy cat, but it’s not a cat. The Asian palm civet prefers tropical Asian rain-forests, but these animals are extremely adaptable and can flourish near human settlements as easily as in dense forests. Adult Asian palm civets weigh around 7 pounds and are a little under 2 feet long, with a tail nearly as long as their bodies. These civets have coarse, shaggy gray hair and raccoon-like black facial markings. The sharp claws on their front and rear paws enable them to climb trees quickly and efficiently. These nocturnal creatures choose the largest, tallest trees in their habitat to rest in during the day after a night’s foraging. Palm civets are opportunistic omnivores, and although most of their diet is fruit, they also eat insects, eggs, and small reptiles. Recently, Mithila Wildlife Trust captured The Asian Palm Civet in the camera trap set up at Bhatighadi Community Forest, Dhanusha. The Asian Palm Civet is  IUCN Red Listed as Least Concern as it accommodates a broad range of habitats since 2008.  

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Turn Janakpur Green, the First campaign to introduce Miyawaki Method in Nepal

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Mithila Wildlife Trust, with support of its’ supporting organization ChoraChori, had recently launched a 10 year programme of urban reforestation. MWT is planning to make dense forest in the urban open space of Janakpurdham through Miyawaki method. Through its ten-year strategy, ChoraChori and MWT will make a meaningful response to the climate emergency through prevention of release of greenhouse gases and carbon sequestration in its Nepal projects. The approach includes through large-scale rewilding and reforestation alongside small-scale rewilding using the Miyawaki Method. The Miyawaki method of reconstitution of “indigenous forests by indigenous trees” produces a rich, dense and efficient protective pioneer forest in 20 to 30 years, where natural succession would need 200 years in temperate Japan and 300 to 500 years in the tropics. The later will be used primarily in urban environments and will have the additional benefits of being linked to an environmental education programme for schools and engagement with young people, girls and women. The programme will be conducted in phases as funds become available, with the first phase being conducted at a secure site- the department of forestry office in Janakpur, the capital of province 2 in southeast Nepal. We will achieve our Aim through a range of activities that will include major reforestation alongside small-scale deforestation using the Miyawaki method. By planting in this method it grows ten times faster- a mature forest develops in 20 years rather than in 200 year. It is 20 times more bio diverse and it absorbs thirty times the CO2 of a green field site. If we combine the reforestation with the planting of native bamboo species and fast growing Neem trees, the carbon sequestration is even greater. As part of the overall programme we will “Turn Janakpur Green”, Janakpur being the capital of province 2. There are a good number of potential reforestation sites on waste land within the surrounding area. In the first phase we will reforest the perimeter of the Division Forest Office (DFO) in Janakpur itself. This covers an area of 1,575m2 (six tennis courts equivalent) perimeter of its headquarter office site in Janakpur. The site offers the benefit of being a secure location as it lies within a compound. Also, it can act as a showcase for others who are interested in using the Miyawaki method elsewhere. The project will be implemented by MWT with the support of local labour and volunteers. The volunteers will be young people and school children, most of whom are girls. The site will require considerable excavation works (in line with the Miyawaki method) and land levelling as some of it lies below the level of the road and is prone to flooding. This will be the first initiation to implement Miyawaki method in Nepal by Mithila Wildlife Trust with the collaboration of Chora Chori and it’s aiming to give their best for the welfare of the environment.

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Breeding of Cattle egret in Janakpurdham (RRM Campus)

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  Photo Credit: MWT Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a bird of heron family, Which is cosmopolitan in distribution and found mainly in tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate zone. Compared to other egrets, the cattle egret is thick-necked and short-legged. They often accompany cattle or other large mammals, catching insect and small vertebrate prey disturbed by these animals. Some populations are migratory and others show post-breeding dispersal. Also, its yellow bill is stubby in comparison with other egrets. It is a white bird adorned with buff plumes in the breeding season, it takes on a plumage far different from the others: Buff-orange feathers adorn its back, crown, and breast, and at the peak of breeding, the bird’s bill and legs turn pink. It nests in colonies, usually near bodies of water and often with other wading birds. The nest is a platform of sticks in trees or shrubs.  Cattle egrets exploit drier and open habitats more than other heron species. Their feeding habitats include seasonally inundated grasslands, pastures, farmlands, wetlands, and rice paddies. This species maintains a special relationship with cattle, which extends to the large grazing mammals; wider human farming is believed to be a major cause of their suddenly expanded range. The cattle egret removes ticks and flies from cattle and consumes them. This benefits both species, but it has been implicated in the spread of tick-borne animal .They often accompany cattle or other large mammals, catching insect and small vertebrate prey disturbed by these animals. Some populations are migratory and others show post-breeding dispersal. Breeding colonies of Cattle egret was recorded in the RRM campus in Janakpur by Mithila Wildlife Trust.    

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Distributed relief in Golbazar, Siraha

Leave a Comment / COVID-19, News Updates, relief /

Mithila Wildlife Trust has risen to the challenge of preventing starvation of vulnerable people in Nepal during the lockdown,  a social organization, has been continuing the relief distribution work even though the people’s life is moving towards normalcy. In search of distributing relief to the affected poor families, on Sirha Golbazar Municipality ward no. 3 MWT has provided relief in the Siraha district on Thursday. Relief has been provided to 20 families of the tole in direct collaboration with the local Sunrai Youth Siraha Network to each family with 22 kg rice, 1 kg dal, 1 kg salt, 1 liter oil, 2 kg potato, 2 soaps, 3 kg flour, and one pound soybean. Chora Chori foundation had also raised their hand to help them and with their support, they distributed food to those who feed their families after working the whole day. The colleagues of the network have been conducting searches around the area who are troubled families in the villages and cooperating with the donor organizations. The relief was provided by Mithila Wildlife Trust and Children’s Foundation. After receiving the relief, 20 families expressed their happiness and gratitude to social workers.

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Vehicle as an vital role for distributing reliefs

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Mithila Wildlife Trust with financial support from Chora Chori foundation, Gandy’s Foundation and Last Night a DJ Saved My Life distributed food relief materials to above 2500 households of Dalit and untouchable communities in 15 districts of Nepal. Above 25,000 individuals were benefited with the support of a vehicle and without it, we are unable to send the kinds of stuff to each and every community.  It really plays a vital role in distributing food reliefs to the areas. Those people who are living in a backward area they are not able to come to the municipality for taking the relief so, we provided them that reliefs to their house. Without the vehicle it is impossible to distribute the reliefs to the municipality and we are very thankful to Zoological Society of London (ZSL) for providing us a vehicle and making our work more assessable. Without their support, it will be a very hard task for us to provide relief. If we thought to take a vehicle on rent then the money for taking it in rent will be wasted inspite of that we can use that money on buying relief material for the poor. CSO, Youth Club, Local volunteers, and Local Government supported us for making our work easier and to help the destitute persons of each and every area of the districts. We mostly focus on giving food relief to the poor who really wants it, those who don’t have any way of earning and suffering from a huge problem for feeding their family members.

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