HYDERABAD: Forest officials have rescued several wild animals which were stranded in floodwaters in the Nirmal forest area. The Gulab cyclone and the incessant rains it brought along had briefly affected wildlife in the forest.
According to officials, roughly five distress calls were received of animals being stranded in the surging waters. While four spotted deer were rescued from within the forest as waters surged into an underpass, a group of three blackbucks that entered the village after water levels rose in the grasslands beside the Sri Ram Sagar Project were also rescued.
“Nirmal usually does not see such heavy rains as we saw in the past two months. Due to this, and the fact that two major rivers — Godavari and Kadam — and many small streams flow by the forest, some flooding was observed and we received calls of these animals being stranded,” informed Vikas Meena, IFS, District Forest Officer, Nirmal and Deputy Director, Kawal Tiger Reserve.
The Forest Department has set up around 16 base camps around Nirmal, which mostly deploy local tribals who inform them about animals in distress. Officials further note that some prior planning helped avert a major inundation of water in the area. “In the last few years, we have made around 91,450 soil moisture control structures, which absorb rainwater and even harvest them. Owing to this, a lot of inundation was also prevented,” added the officer.