This summer, water woes will hit our wildlife too

Ooty: The summer season, the popular tourist season in the Nilgiris, has dawned this year with a 'dry and hot' weather profile, much to the shock of hill residents. The lack of rains for months together now, is making life miserable for wild animals also in the hills.

Generally, pre-summer showers in March turns everything green and brings about a change in the weather pattern from the first week of April.  This has not happened this year.

With totally no rains, especially in the central and western parts of the Nilgiris, the situation in the jungle environs has turned miserable, and foresters are wondering how to manage the situation. The Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) which usually welcomes summer tourists with greenery and colours, still wears a dry look that has restricted the movement of wild animals in the tourist zone.

The flow in the Moyar river which traverses the MTR, has come down in recent days, indicating that foresters need to plan other strategies to find water for wild animals. Though they are making arrangements to provide tanker water to wild animals in select zones, the situation will turn grim if rains fail in the coming days. The dry weather also poses a greater danger by way of wild fires in the jungles.

Such forest fires cause huge loss to timber and other fruit, leaf bearing trees and creepers of the forest, besides destroying wildlife and their habitat. This invariably upsets the ecological balance, and takes a long time to heal and replace.