The Tamil Nadu Forest Department has decided to suspend vehicle safaris along three recently opened routes cutting through key wildlife habitats in the buffer zone of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
The wildlife activists had expressed concern that the recently-opened routes – from Masinagudi to Vazhaithottam and Anaikkal, Masinagudi to Vazhaithottam, Jagalikadavu and Chemmanatham, as well as from Masinagudi to Chadapatty to Nelson Estate, Kotta Mala and Kurumbarpallam - would impinge on key habitats used by tigers, vultures, blackbuck, elephants, striped hyena as well as the four-horned antelope.
“After the activists raised concerns, the Forest department has stopped vehicles entering the crucial habitats,” said MTR field director K.K. Kaushal.
Activists had argued that the newly opened routes would lead to disturbance to the nesting sites of the critically endangered White-rumped vulture.
At least two of the newly introduced routes are said to run precariously close to one of the few sporadic nesting sites of the vultures in the Nilgiris, while another road would pass through the notified elephant corridor where illegal resorts had been closed down last year.
When contacted, Mr. Kaushal said that the concerns of wildlife activists had been taken into account when making the decision to close the routes to tourism. “Our interest is to protect the wildlife in the area, so we have decided to not allow vehicles to enter these roads,” said Mr. Kaushal, who added that the four other eco-tourism routes in the MTR buffer zone, to the Segur waterfall, Achakarai, Bandikadavu and Siriyur would continue to remain open for tourists, who will be allowed to charter vehicles from Masinagudi regulated by the Forest department.
Wildlife activists are relieved at the Forest department’s decision. “The buffer zone is a key breeding area for tigers, while Jagalikadavu was one of the few places where there was successful nesting of vultures last year,” said S. Bharathidasan, Secretary of Arulagam, a conservation NGO whose members have been working on protecting the four endangered species of vultures in the Nilgiris.
Mr. Bharathidasan praised the Forest department for listening to their concerns. “The forest department’s swift reversal of its decision points to the fact that they are very open and transparent in their functioning, with them acting with the best interests of the wildlife in the tiger reserve at heart,” he said.
