ATR to take up fodder plantation on 250 acres this year
Even as there is considerable joy at the increase in
tiger population at the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), a trend reflected
at the national level as well, wildlife activists are sounding a word of
caution. While the last census conducted at ATR in 2010 put the count
at 13, it is now nearly 23.
While there is a lot of
focus on conserving tigers, activists say equal importance must be paid
to conserving the prey base of the big cats.
Environment
Conservation Group president R. Mohammed Saleem, who was involved in
the recent tiger census, says the favoured natural prey for tigers is
the gaur (Indian Bison), which can sustain the big cat for nearly a
week.
Other preys include the Sambar Deer and Spotted Deer.
These
herbivores can be sustained only by healthy vegetation that are
threatened at ATR by invasive exotic alien weed species such as Lantana
Camara. “Besides degrading other vegetation, these
weeds are thorny and hence shunned by deers and gaurs. They were
introduced in Western Ghats by the British who used them as ornamental
plants. However, now they are a major threat. While the situation is
under control at ATR as of now, the tight vigil must continue,” says Mr.
Saleem.
K. Kalidasan, president of OSAI, an NGO
involved in wildlife conservation, says tigers are territorial and a cub
leaves its mother at the age of two.
Each tiger will
carve out its own territory, which must have enough prey base to
sustain it in order to avoid conflicts. Tigers were earlier confined to
Bandipore – Mudumalai stretch.
However, the
increasing population resulted in tigers spilling over to
Sathyamangalam, which was initially a reserve and later declared as a
tiger reserve.
With tiger population on an upward
trajectory, it is expected to soon spill over to the adjoining areas in
Erode and the Coimbatore Forest Division ranges of Sirumugai,
Mettupalayam and Karamadai.
The prey base in these
regions must also be maintained by controlling poaching and maintaining
an undisturbed forest. Authorities should ensure there are no human
activities in these areas so that man-animal conflict is minimised, he
adds.
The ATR has already taken steps to sustain the
herbivore population by increasing fodder availability. While crops have
been planted on around 1,000 acres till now, it would be taken up on
another 250 acres during the current year, said its field director V.T.
Kandasamy.
Further, the personnel are also trained and equipped to combat forest fires.
The
local populace have also been sensitised and eco-development committees
formed among them to elicit their cooperation in fighting forest fires. “The
tiger census also revealed a healthy increase in prey base. We would
soon step up the fodder cultivation,” Mr. Kandasamy said.
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