VIJAYAWADA: Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society, an organisation working with the Forest Department, has undertaken a survey in roads across Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam in order to ascertain the number of species that are declining due to increasing roadkills. In the document prepared after the survey, it has listed a number of species which are currently endangered.
Indian Pangolin which is the most trafficked mammal for its scales and meat, Scarce Bridal Snake, a highly rare species of non-poisonous snake found only in the Indian subcontinent, Montane Trinket Snake, rare snake first sighted in North-Eastern region of Andhra Pradesh, Rusty-Spotted Cat, smallest cat in the world- exclusive to India, Indian Leopard, an adaptable big cat with a decreasing population, Fishing Cat and a medium-sized wild cat found in wetlands, are the species on the decline due to roadkills on National Highway-16, roads leading to temples like Simhachalam and Annavaram and roads leading to villages such as Kambalakonda.
“A number of roadkills have been reported on the Chennai-Srikakulam National Highway and the roads across Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. We are going to send our document to the Forest Department and chalk out a strategy to tackle the menace against the animals,” said Murthy Kantimahanti, founder of Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society and co-founder of Snake Saviour Society in the US.
The Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society has recommended collecting more data on the number of species going extinct and curb the problem of roadkills, baseline-level data collection across the State.
“We want the Forest Department to either conduct a broader study across the State to get solid data or we can conduct it if we are provided the required resources,” said Murthy Kantimahanti.