Carnivores also played the vital role of being scavengers in Nilgiris ecology
Sighting of a jackel in Nilgiris jungle. (Photo: DC)
Ooty: Jackals, which were abundant in the past, is now facing the threat of extinction, according to green activists. At a meet jointly organized by the WWF-India and Tamil Nadu Green Movement (TNGM) here to sensitize mediapersons on conservation issues in Western Ghats with special reference to the Nilgiris landscape, they sought the cooperation of the media to save environment and wildlife.
D. Boominathan, landscape coordinator, WWF-India, while explaining the details of the groundwork done by WWF-India in the Nilgiris and its surroundings and the particulars that they passed on to the government on various issues concerned with environment and wildlife said that of late the WWF-India noticed that the population of jackals in the district's jungles was dwindling. It was not that easy to sight the cunning animal in the wild now. He said jackals were necessary to control peafowl population that was causing problems in farmlands. Jackals also played the vital role of a scavenger in ecology.
N. Mohanraj, adviser, WWF-India, said though the reasons for the thinning of jackal population in the Nilgiris and its nearby environs was not known, he said that in the past jackals had been sighted often even in Ooty town limits.
Expressing his concern over the dwindling population of jackals, he said only in some part of Kerala and in Coimbatore, the animal had been spotted in urban limits in recent times. Detailed studies were required to ascertain the cause for the decline in jackal population.
When mediapersons asked WWF-India officials why the organization was shying away from moving court on various eco-degradation issues, as one needed court intervention when officials failed to act, Mohanraj said that they would take this up with their headquarters. He said their legal wing had been rendering all support to those green organizations who approached the court on various issues. He also said that in the Segur valley elephant corridor issue, the WWF-India provided all technical support to prove that the valley, near Ooty, was an important elephant corridor.
Call to construct flyover for movement of animals
The Tamil Nadu Green Movement (TNGM) has suggested construction of a flyover for 600 meters on the Ooty-NH at Kallar near Mettupalayam to facilitate easy movement of wild jumbos and other animals. The Kallar jumbo corridor was an important elephant corridor for jumbos to cross from Kotagiri-Thengumarahada-Sathiyamangalam jungles to Geddai and Kerala jungles and vice-versa , S. Jayachandran, the organisation's joint secretary, said. The WWF-India and a few other green organisations had been pleading with the government to take effective measure for wild animals to safely cross the Ooty-NH to reach the jungles in the neighbouring state.
In this regard, green organisations had already suggested the construction of a flyover in the critical zone along the Ooty-NH at Kallar. Recently, officials of the forest, national highways and other departments concerned had done a survey and accepted in principle for building a flyover.
Mohanraj, adviser, WWF-India, said a flyover would help minimise man-animal conflicts in the Mettupalaym fringes as well as in the Burliar and Kallar slopes along Coonoor.
K. Bagyanathan, a senior scribe from Gudalur, while referring to the continuing man-animal conflicts in Gudalur-Pandalur taluks, wanted the green organisations to create awareness among people living in forest fringes and ensure adequate compensation to the affected families to enlist their support for conservation.
On handling and managing man-animal conflicts, Francis Xavier, Executive Committee member of Nilgiris Wildlife and Environment Association, said the forest department should be well-equipped with latest technology and animal tranquilising techniques. The government should form a special young forest-brigade to handle the conflicts, he said.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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