Palamu Tiger Reserve to ensure vaccination of nearly two lakh cattle in adjacent villages
RANCHI: Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) in association with the district administration shall ensure vaccination of nearly 2 lakh cattle in more than 180 villages located adjacent to the reserve area.
The initiative is aimed at protecting wild animals from multiple diseases.
According to PTR officials, there is always a possibility that the cattle freed by the villagers for grazing in the reserve area might carry diseases that can be spread to wild animals in the reserve.
The infection might get transmitted through water bodies or any other medium.
Therefore, cattle vaccination has been started, especially in the high cattle pressure areas adjacent to Betla National Forest and Palamu Tiger Reserve.
The cattle are being primarily vaccinated against the foot and mouth disease along with a few other diseases.
“Palamu Tiger Reserve is trying to create a protective shield so that the wild animals like tiger, leopard, elephant, bison, deer, cheetal in PTR do not suffer from diseases,” said PTR Deputy Director Prajesh Kant Jena.
"PTR management is also creating awareness among the local cattle owners in this regard and they have been asked to join the vaccination campaign", he added.
According to Jena, the vaccination will initially be conducted in the high cattle pressure areas near Betla National Forest and will gradually be extended to all 180 villages in the PTR area.
“The campaign will also help in creating a database of the cattle holders living adjacent to the PTR. It may be used in the future for tracking tigers or even for launching schemes,” the Deputy Director added.
Vaccination has already been completed in at least 19-12 villages adjacent to Batle National Forest, he added.
Meanwhile, the presence of a tigress has been confirmed by Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) making a total count of big cats in PTR to five.
Scat of the suspected tigress was sent to CCMP for examination which has confirmed the presence of the tigress in PTR prompting the officials to issue a high alert in the reserve.
Meanwhile, the PTR is also ensuring a prey base for the big cats by setting up Soft Release Centers (SRC) to ensure enough food for tigers.
In these centres, animals are placed in pre-release cages placed close to the location from where they will be released.
Each soft release centres at Baresadh, Lukaiya, Mundu and Dhardharia are spread over 10 hectares. They shall provide an amicable atmosphere for the breeding of cheetals, which the tigers prey on.
As of now, 360 Cheetals and Sambhars have been shifted to Betla National Park in Palamu and Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park (Birsa Zoo) in Ranchi.
According to the report on the status of tigers in India, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019, there were no tigers in PTR.
Spread over an area of about 1,230 sq km, it was made a tiger reserve in 1973 and had a good number then, it came down to three in the 2014 census and zero in the latest report.