BENGALURU: After taking a heavy toll on human life, the Corona virus has infected Asiatic lions, whose deaths have been reported by the Central Government. The Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change on Friday issued an advisory ordering all sanctuaries, national parks and other protected areas to be shut with immediate effect and till further orders.
Karnataka Forest Department officials said that they had already closed all protected areas for 15 days since the State Government announced Corona Curfew. Taking it forward, an advisory will be sent to all divisions to completely stop people from venturing into forests to stop any transmission of the virus to wildlife as rural areas in the state too have been witnessing a rise in cases, they added.
Sanjay Mohan, PCCF and Head of Forest Force, told The New Indian Express, “In Karnataka, already all safari and tourism activities in protected areas, including Bandipur, Nagarhole, Bhadra, BRT and others, had been stopped when the weekend curfew was announced. We were continuing with these activities during weekdays, but those too were stopped after Corona Curfew was announced.
We had received a similar Covid advisory last year, and it will be put in place again with more measures.” He said, “We have already directed the field staff to be extra vigilant, observe animals for any weakness and take strict anti-poaching measures as during last year’s lockdown, poaching and hunting activities had increased on the Karnataka- Tamil Nadu border.
People in the vicinity of protected areas will be stopped from going into forests as they may spread the virus to wildlife. Last week, we took up the vaccination drive for our staff in coordination with district officials. Only the frontline staff are on the field, while all other non-essential employees are working from home.”
Centre’s advisory
The Centre’s advisory on Friday stated that there are reports of transmission from both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients to wildlife, and officials should be Covid negative when deputed on field duties and should maintain Covid-appropriate behavior. Rakesh Kumar Jagenia, DIGF (Wildlife), MoEF&CC, stressed, “There was a need to take immediate preventive measures to stop the transmission of the virus and also reduce the human-wildlife interface. All states have to constitute a Task Force or Rapid Action Force with field managers, vets and field staff to manage the situation quickly and also set up essential services for emergency treatment of animals and their safe release back into the wild.”
Another tiger death
A young male tiger was found dead in the Tanigebail range of Bhadra Tiger Reserve on Friday. The carcass was found near the old Maharaja Guesthouse Road in shola forests of Kemmangundi section. After its postmortem, forest officials said that it was a young animal and had died after a territorial fight with another tiger.