Facility in Munnar to track wildlife movement
In a first in the State, the Forest department will set up a landscape monitoring centre (LMC) at Munnar in Idukki to track wildlife movement and study the availability of food and water inside forest areas.
“Experts, including biologists, will be included and the centre will study the movements of wild animals as well as the availability of food and water in forest areas in the Munnar landscape. The team will map major food and water sources, including those for wild elephants inside the forests,” says High Range Circle Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Arun R.S.
Wild gaurs grazing in a grassland under the Munnar Wildlife Division.
He says SMS alerts about wild elephants venturing into human habitations in Munnar are already being issued from a temporary centre under the Munnar Wildlife Division. “The centre’s development is being planned and it will
serve the Munnar wildlife and territorial divisions,” he says.
Objectives
“With the help of the centre’s study report, the department will implement short and longterm measures to address humananimal conflict. Through the centre, we will be aware of the paths and the time wild elephants and other animals move to various areas, including habitations. Being aware of these movements will help us take mitigation activities,” says Mr. Arun.
Munnar Wildlife Warden S.V. Vinod says the division has already mapped water and food sources under it. “Now, wild animal movements in Munnar are being tracked through a primary response team under the division. The team provides timely details of wild animal presence and the department crosschecks the information and issues SMS alerts,” he says.
Mr. Vinod says an LMC in Munnar will provide accurate data about the forest and wildlife. “When we receive one or twoyear data, we can understand the condition of the forest and movement of wildlife in the landscape,” he says.
Eco-restoration
According to officials, through the data, ecorestoration programmes can be taken up inside the forest to ensure water availability for wild animals.
Meanwhile, at an allparty meeting on Tuesday, Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine announced that the government would identify hotspots inside forests and ensure food and water availability for animals.