The wildlife department wing in the Forest Department is fighting to conserve animals in the Papikondalu natural forest area, where carnivores and herbivores coming into contact with human habitats are being killed often on the borders of East and West Godavari districts.
Water and food are very crucial for the survival of the wildlife and water has become the focal point for the survival of both herbivores and carnivores. To tackle these two things at a time, the Forest Department has taken up water harvesting schemes in a big way at the micro level to conserve wildlife in the Papikondalu National Park (PNP) which is spread over 1,200 sq.km. in both East and West Godavari districts.
In the PNP, there are only few perennial water sources like Pamuleru, Jalatharu and Pedavagu and herbivores come out of their original habitats to quench their thirst and have to reach out to human habitats, particularly in the summer season.
Base camps to protect animals
Carnivores, which cannot survive without prey animals, are also straying into human habitats but get killed by people sometimes. The Forest Department, including wildlife and territorial departments, have set up base camps at crucial places in the forest to protect wildlife.
“We have taken cue from local tribals who dig only half a meter to fetch water and started digging water holes all over the PNP,” says Chief Conservator of Forests M. Ravikumar.
Normally, animals wander in the summer for water alongside rivulets even though they have dried up. Now, water holes are being dug alongside rivulets and streams to attract the attention of the animals.
To get the feedback as well as to keep an eye on the wildlife, the Forest Department has set up about 150 camera traps in the park. And the experiment is yielding very good results and animals are coming to small water holes and quenching their thirst. Images of cameras have revealed that more animals, including some unidentified species, are coming to the water holes. These species had not been seen in the park earlier. According to Forest Department authorities, species like stripe necked mongoose, honey badger, striped hyena, four kinds of deer, including sambar, mouse, spotted and barking deer, were identified.
Two tigers have also been noticed. A large number of leopards, 18-foot king cobras, bamboo pit vipers, 92 kinds of boars, Indian bison and bears have been filmed.
