Census is carried out in tiger reserves and sanctuaries twice a year

Nearly 1,000 persons including forest personnel, nature enthusiasts, environmentalists and members of Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) continued with the wildlife census in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) for the second day on Friday. The five-day census to enumerate the wildlife population in the 958 sq km area of ATR spread over six ranges of Pollachi, Ulandy, Manomboly, Valparai, Udumalpet and Amaravathy began with a training on Wednesday. The field level census commenced on Thursday.

Nearly 100 people to be involved in the exercise

The five-day census to enumerate the wildlife population is all set to begin in the 958 sq km area spread over six ranges of Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) from Wednesday. Talking to The Hindu , Field Director of ATR Rajiv K. Srivasatava said that nearly 100 people including Forest Department staff, NGO volunteers, nature enthusiasts and environmentalists will be involved in the exercise. The staff and other volunteers will be divided into teams of three or four and will be involved in carrying out the census in Amaravathy, Udumalpet, Pollachi, Valparai, Manomboly and Valparai ranges.

Heavy influx of elephants; more than 150 sighted in 16 places

With human-animal conflict heightening in Valparai due to the influx of a number of elephants, Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) officials have stepped up conflict mitigation efforts by deploying more forest personnel to monitor herd movement and alert people. The officials embarked on a mapping exercise to bring in conflict mitigation mechanisms in Valparai town and surrounding areas, said Rajiv K. Srivastava, Field Director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve.

The Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala and the adjacent Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu were reopened for tourists on Tuesday after a gap of four months.

Wildlife biologists are looking into incidents of animals being run over on forest routes and its impacts on wildlife in Kerala.

The study, pioneered by P.S. Easa of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, will focus on the road between forest check-posts at Vazhachal and Malakapara and the stretch between the check-posts of Chinnar and Meladi. A good number of wild animals, including hare, amphibians, and reptiles, are killed by vehicles every year. However, these roadkill go unrecorded as focus has always been on large animals, said Mr. Easa.

The Deputy Director of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve K. Vijayanandan in a statement here on Friday has said that a joint perambulation of officials of Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu and Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Kerala was held on Thursday to discuss various inter state protection issues.

During the joint border patrolling, the Field Director and Staffs of Anamalai Tiger Reserve and the Deputy Director and staffs of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve inspected the border areas sharing of Anamalai – Parambikulam Tiger Reserve like Keerappady, Koochumudi, Bagapallam and Veetiyar.

A meeting of the officials of the four tiger reserves – Parambikulam in Kerala and Anamalai, Muthumalai and Kalakkadu in Tamil Nadu – have decided to reopen them for tourism next week after implementing the new guidelines issued by the Supreme Court on using 20 per cent of the area for eco-tourism.

In the meeting of the officials from the two States held at Parambikulam on Thursday, the Kerala side was led by Wildlife Warden of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, K. Vijayanandan, and Tamil Nadu side by Chief Conservator of Forest, Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Rajeev K. Sreevastava.

Certain section of population seeks relaxation of ban on tourism; specialists are against any dilution of the scheme

The Tamil Nadu Government’s latest notifications on demarcation of core and buffer zones of three tiger reserves in the State may still require a fine-tuning to strike a balance among ecology protection, tribal welfare and tourism promotion, feel conservationists and wildlife experts. As the demand for relaxation of the ban on tourism becomes shriller in the reserve areas, the specialists are against any dilution of the scheme spelt out in the notifications.

Certain section of population seeks relaxation of ban on tourism; specialists are against any dilution of the scheme

The government’s latest notifications on the demarcation of core and buffer zones of three tiger reserves in the State may still require a fine-tuning to strike a balance among ecology protection, tribal welfare and tourism promotion, feel conservationists and wildlife experts. As the demand for relaxation of the ban on tourism becomes shriller from certain section of the local population in the reserve areas, the specialists are against any dilution of the scheme spelt out in the notifications.

“Protect tigers but protect us too.” This is the appeal of several sections of society in Valparai, a hilly town located in the midst of lush green plantations and about 105 km from here.

Contending that the Supreme Court’s recent decision to ban tourism in core zones has the scope for several adverse implications, sections of the local population, especially the plantation sector and the trading community, argue that the local society has never been against regulated tourism and it is acutely conscious of the need for tiger conservation.