Big cats from tiger reserves in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh have strayed into forests in Adilabad, strengthening the case for revival of an uninterrupted tiger corridor
The big cats seem to be making a habit of crossing over
to forests in this northern Telangana district from tiger reserves in
Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Two more of the beasts have been sighted
in Bejjur and Vemanpalli Reserve Forests, making a strong case for the
revival of the lengthy tiger corridor here. This so
that they may steer clear of these forests and proceed towards the Kawal
Tiger Reserve here, where they may have minimal interaction with
humans.
Already, one tigress has gone native in the
Sirpur forest range, having crossed over last year from the
over-populated Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra. It
has been caught in camera traps several times and also has a few cattle
kills to its credit. “Tigers are being sighted in the
vicinity of Pedda Siddapur, Lodepalli, Agarguda and Gundepalli villages
located in the Bejjur RF of Kagaznagar Forest Division. We estimate
their number to be two,” says Bejjur Forest Range Officer (FRO) M. Ram
Mohan, who has been tracking the big cats since last December. “One
of the two tigers seems to have come from the TATR while the other
which is moving in the corridor between Bejjur and Vemanpalli is likely
to have come from the Indravati Tiger Reserve (ITR) in Chhattisgarh.
The latter keeps crossing the borders often, which is why it is difficult to track its movement,” Mr. Ram Mohan adds.
The
Bejjur forest unit has put in place a team comprising officials and
trackers for monitoring the movements of the ‘new entrants.’ The
team is responsible for collecting information on the animals and
creating awareness among people on their relation with wild animals. “We
also need to control human interference by decreasing their dependence
on forests. Supply of LPG to villagers living inside forests is one way
of cutting down the dependence on firewood collected from forests,”
Sirpur in-charge FRO S. Venugopal suggests.
Walling them up
Meanwhile,
forest officials in Bejjur have planned to cultivate a 4-hectare fodder
plot inside the jungles to attract a prey base for the straying tigers. “Cattle-kills can be avoided if the prey base is stronger,” Mr. Ram Mohan points out.
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