Ooty: The Ooty municipality garbage dump-yard in the Theetukal area, popularly known here as the kuppai-kuzhi, en-route to the Parson's Valley reserve forest near here is perceived to be a serious threat to the health of the highland tiger population.
N.Sadiq Ali, founder of the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust, said that the garbage dump-yard in Theetukal in recent times has become a hub for a variety of wild animals, including wild boar and deer, to search for food. They are found to be feeding on vegetable wastes dumped there.
“The putrefying and decaying materials in the garbage are the source of disease causing micro-organisms and germs. If these germs enter the body of herbivores such as the sambar deer and wild boar, they will enter the physiological system of tigers through the food chain. This will ultimately affect tiger health. In the recent incident of a tiger's death in the Parson's valley area, a blade was attributed as the cause of its death. It is suspected that the piece of blade could have entered the prey base from this dump-yard and finally landed in the body of the tiger,” he noted.
The need of the hour is to take steps to close down this garbage dump-yard, keeping in view the health of wild animals.
Until then a good protective shield should be erected around the garbage dump-yard to prevent wild animals sneaking in, he advocated.
