COIMBATORE: Two decades after going nearly extinct, the population of Indian fox is gradually reviving on the outskirts of the city, conservationists associated with NGOs said.
Many of them with whom TNIE spoke to said that the elusive animal, which was once hunted by nomadic tribes, was frequently sighted, even as they refused to mention the locations to keep the crucial information from poachers.
Stating that the State forest department is carrying out censuses just for prominent animals, such as tigers and elephants, the conservationists urged the government to extend their ambit to include threatened species such as Indian fox and jackal.
K Kalidass of Osai, an NGO which is closely working for forest and wildlife conservation, said, "We are planning to conduct a statewide survey engaging school students to ascertain the number of foxes and jackals across the State with the help of NSS coordinators."
Blaming the real estate boom for the decline in their population, Kalidass said, "The forest department should engage experts to identify alternative places for the animals to thrive. We have been continuously monitoring the population of foxes near Coimbatore and it is slowly picking up." Conservator of Forests (Thanjavur circle) S Ramasubramaniam said, "Every year, we issue a circular during Pongal festival to stop the villagers near Attur to avoid capturing foxes for religious sacrifice. Due to such superstitions, the animal population has drastically fallen most parts of the State."
According to Ramasubramaniam, Indian Fox can survive among human beings as to some extent they need to feed on kitchen waste and eggs available in habitations for their survival.
"The animal would regularly prey on eggs and hatchlings of peacock and keep their population under check. The reason for the population explosion of peacocks could be the local extinction of foxes across the districts in Tamilnadu. In nature, every life is finely linked with the other and even a slight imbalance could lead to unimaginable repercussions. We are learning the hard way only when it affects us lethally like the novel Coronavirus," he said.