16-06-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
WII stresses on resettlement programmes, flags low ungulate population in Bhadra
BENGALURU: A healthy prey base is essential to reduce man-animal conflict. While a balance has been noted in most of the tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries in the Western Ghats landscape, a concern has been raised incase of Bhadra Tiger Reserve by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
In the recently released report- Status of Ungulates in the Tiger Habitats of India- by WII, the team of scientists and experts flagged the low Sambar Deer population in north of Bhadra reservoir, pointing to the need for an investigation pertaining to the connectivity of the population.
The report also pointed to the abundant population of Wild Pigs in southern part of Kali Tiger Reserve, adding that the management should encourage voluntary resettlement of villages inside the reserve forest followed by habitat restoration to make more inviolate space for the ungulate population of the area. They said this will be held increase pre-predator population.
The report stated that the ungulate population is in abundance along with the western part of the Western Ghats. It also noted to the high density of Spotted Deer (Chital) inside and outside tiger reserves. Chital density has found to be the highest in the Bandipur, Mudumalai, Sathyamangalam cluster and its surrounding areas. Its noted to be decreasing in density in the southern areas.
The Sambar Deer density is moderate in most part of Western Ghats. Its density is the highest in the Periyar- Satyamangala Tiger Reserve cluster, forest areas between Mudumalai and Silent valley national park and from Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary to BRT Tiger Reserve. The forests of Annamalai and Kali have the least density of Sambar Deer.
