The demand for appointing at least one forest veterinarian for each of the divisions in the Forest Department in human-animal conflict zones in the State is yet to be realised.
There are three veterinarians in the Vandalur Aringar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai and only two for the rest of entire Tamil Nadu.
Veterinarians are a must for handling wild animals in distress, rescue of animals, treating animals, tranqulising and translocating the problematic animals.
Two veterinary officers — N.S. Manoharan (Coimbatore) and E. Vijayaraghavan (Mudumalai Tiger Reserve) — are from the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) and are serving the Forest Department on deputation. It is these two veterinarians who are travelling the length and breadth of the State for wildlife-related emergencies.
K. Kalidasan of Osai Environmental Trust said that the main human-animal conflict zones in the State are the Dharmapuri, Erode, Coimbatore, Dindigul and Tirunelveli Circles. Except Coimbatore Circle, that has two such veterinarians, there is no forest department veterinarian in the four other circles, he said.
Mr. Kalidasan said getting veterinarians prepared for such situations is important as the scenario of wildlife veterinary care has changed drastically from how it was a few decades ago. “Earlier, animals were only treated for injuries. Now, human-elephant conflicts and complex treatments and translocations are on the rise,” he added. Serving forest officials on conditions of anonymity endorse the views of the NGOs.
Capacity building
He said that Wildlife Trust of India and Osai planned to conduct capacity building courses for Animal Husbandry Department veterinarians on the Western Ghats with the support of the Forest Department and Animal Husbandry Department. “There is support from the Forest Department and we will be discussing it with AHD officials in Chennai in a couple of days,” he added.
While this could only be a temporary solution, wildlife activists and veterinarians feel that the department should appoint more wildlife veterinarians as treating wild animals is very different from treating domestic ones.
There are three veterinarians in Vandalur Aringar Anna Zoological Park and only two for the rest of entire Tamil Nadu
