Minister reviews situation with senior officials

The ban on entry of tourists into the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) will in no way affect the normal life of the local population living in and around Valparai and there is no need for any apprehension, Minister for Forests K.T. Pachamal said recently. A delegation of people from Valparai representing various organisations led by Valparai MLA M. Arumugam along with Agriculture Minister S. Damodaran met the Forest Minister at Chennai representing the inconveniences that they have been put to because of the ban on tourism.

A delegation of nearly 15 persons, including office-bearers of the Valparai Merchants Federation and various other associations, on Wednesday left for Chennai to urge officials to exclude Valparai from the core and buffer areas of Anamalai Tiger Reserve.

A. Jebaraj, president of the federation, said that traditionally Valparai had been a land of plantations providing livelihood to thousands of workers from backward and suppressed communities. It houses a number of reservoirs and hydrel power stations. In addition, there are a number of places of worship frequented by devotees for hundreds of years.

Invasive species, pollution levels in Moyar need to be monitored

Even as biodiversity decline is reported in the national parks worldwide, Mudumalai and Anamalai tiger reserves in Tamil Nadu have shown positive trends in sustaining its rich variety of flora and fauna. The positive trend was the outcome of a study taken up in 60 reserves from various parts of the world by a team of biodiversity researchers numbering more than 200.

Following the Supreme Court order, State wildlife authorities on Wednesday, banned tourism in the three tiger reserves of Mudumalai in Udhagamandalam, Anamalai near Pollachi, and Kalakkad – Mundanthurai in Tirunelveli district.

Officials in the forest headquarters said the field directors of the three tiger reserves have been asked to instruct the district forest officers concerned to stop allowing tourists till the apex court passes further judgement. Incidentally, the core tiger habitat in Mudumalai, which includes Theppakadu elephant camp, and Anamalai, where Top Slip is, are the core tourist spots thronged by several thousands of tourists every year.

With the monsoon continuing to play truant, water sources inside the Mudumalai and Anamalai Tiger Reserves may dry up

With the frequent appearance of elephants in some parts of the Nilgiris like Pandalur near Gudalur and Nonsuch below Coonoor becoming a cause for worry due to water shortage in the jungles stated to be among the contributory factors, speculation over the situation in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) near here has, of late, become rife in various parts of the Nilgiris.

Minister for Forests and Environment inaugurates camp for kumki elephants

State Government will initiate measures to end man-animal conflict and Rs. 44 crore will be spent for the purpose over the next four years, said K.T. Pachamal, Minister for Forests and Environment on Wednesday. He was inaugurating a camp for two kumki elephants at Chadivayal at the foot hills of Siruvani.

Officials on Wednesday discussed measures to curb man-animal conflicts in human habitations adjoining the forests in Coimbatore and Anamalai Tiger Reserve areas.

The meeting, presided over by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Rakesh Vashisht, was attended by District Collector M. Karunagaran, Field Director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve P. Varatharaj, Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, V.T. Kandasamy and District Forest Officers - V. Thirunavukkarasu (Coimbatore) and Rajkumar (Tirupur).

Coimbatore: To stress the need for conservation of the tiger and its habitat, a three-day residential workshop for media students on

Union Minister for Environment & Forests Jairam Ramesh will declare the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala as Parambikulam Tiger Reserve on Friday. According to Kerala Forest Department estimates, Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, contiguous to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu, is home to about 30 tigers.