ERODE : Forest officials said the current summer rain at the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) will help reduce human-animal conflict. In addition, it will also prevent forest fires and lead to re-greening of forest areas. Some areas of STR also received heavy rains on Monday.
Forest department officials said, “Erode was experiencing extreme heat which led to severe drought in areas surrounding STR. This was severely affecting the animals living in the forest. However, now there is a slight relief in Thalavadi, Hasanur, Thalaimalai, Panahalli, Jeerahalli, Neithalapuram, and other areas as they have been receiving continuous rain every evening since last Friday.”
Officials added, “Earlier, due to the intense heat, the forest area lost its greenery and the water bodies had dried up. Even if we fill the tanks with water in the forest areas, not all animals go there to drink. Leading to incidents where wild animals entered villages adjacent to the forest in search of water. Apart from this, forest fires also occurring in the forest areas in STR. For example, there have been four recent forest fire incidents in the Thalavadi forest range alone. There are a total of 10 forest ranges in STR.”
“Now, with the summer rain, small pits have been filled with water and it will surely quench the thirst of wild animals, which will prevent them from leaving the forest. This will reduce human-animal conflicts. Though last year the summer rains came at the end of March, this year it started at the end of April,” officials further said.
K Sudhakar, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Hasanur said, “This summer rain will prevent forest fires. It will surely bring prosperity to the forest. This rain should continue.”
Meanwhile, on Monday evening too some areas of STR including Thalavadi received heavy rain. Traffic between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka was affected for a while as bamboo trees fell on Coimbatore - Mysore NH due to strong winds and heavy rain near Karapallam in Hasanur.