Three weeks of India wildlife news, distilled: a landmark trafficking bust rescuing 440+ animals, cheetahs getting a third home at Nauradehi, a Great Indian Bustard chick surviving 40 days in Kutch, the Gir lion structural crisis, wild water buffalo returning to Kanha after a century, and early AITE 2026 tiger census results.
Maharashtra’s GR No. SAVVI-2025/PR.KR.11/VANE-11, issued on 7 May 2026, explicitly prohibits tree planting in grasslands and wetlands — the first time a government resolution has put this in writing at scale. The same order that launched a 300-crore plantation drive also protects the ecosystems most at risk from it.
A viral video of an elephant scavenging through plastic waste in Karnataka’s MM Hills is not an isolated incident — it’s part of a documented pattern that has already killed at least one elephant this year, and the same habituation behind it carries a slower, less visible risk to people too.
Northern Karnataka’s Bagalkote district is not a name that usually appears in wildlife headlines. No tiger reserve, no national park, no flagship species drawing safaris and camera crews.
In the Thar Desert of western Rajasthan, blackbuck graze at the edge of villages the way cattle do elsewhere. They do not run. They have learned, over five centuries, that they do not need to.
On 14 June 2026, forest officials in North Sikkim filmed a herd of eight Mishmi takins — the first video evidence of the species in the state, and one of the most significant confirmed records in over two decades.
Regional Indian films about wildlife carry a specificity that mainstream Bollywood struggles to match. From Tamil Nadu’s forest rangers to Kerala’s contested buffer zones and the streaming era’s new ambitions.
Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve has recorded zero rhino and tiger poaching for three consecutive years, according to Assam’s Chief Minister. Officials attributed the result to intensified anti-poaching operations, increased deployment of forest personnel, modern surveillance technologies, intelligence-led enforcement, and active community participation.
This figure comes from an announcement by the Chief Minister’s office via social media and has not been independently verified.
Sources: Deccan Chronicle, Republic World, Northeast Today · 16–17 June 2026
This post is an aggregated summary. India Wildlife News directs readers to the original sources above and does not independently report or verify the figures cited.
India’s Western Ghats draw thousands of photographers each monsoon season in search of pit vipers, cobras and endemic frogs. A King Cobra trafficking arrest in Kodagu and a peer-reviewed study documenting the disappearance of galaxy frogs from a research site suggest the cost to the animals is real and rising.
Delhi’s first comprehensive Bird Atlas records 471 bird species in the capital — including endangered and threatened birds — placing it second only to Nairobi among world capitals for avian diversity.