Solar fences removed in Kallar corridor to facilitate elephant movement
COIMBATORE: Solar fences obstructing elephant movements have been removed based on the suggestion of the Madras High Court. The fences were put up by the Kallar farm, owned by the horticulture department, along with a private matriculation school and the Forest College and Research Institute in Mettupalayam.
Wildlife activists lauded the judicial intervention that would facilitate the free movement of wild elephants, as these government-owned campuses, along with the private school, are located in the Kallar corridor (Jaccanaire slope-Hulikal Durgam-Nellithurai-Koothamandi south). This is a notable elephant migratory corridor in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR), which includes Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. The Kallar farm has also shifted a nursery and demolished toilets constructed along the riverside, where elephant movement is observed, said the horticulture department.
Earlier, solar fences and Elephant Proof Trenches (EPT) were laid for a 1.2 km stretch along the ABC hall in the campus of the Forest College and Research Institute in Mettupalayam. Works related to levelling the EPT were carried out last month. Likewise, an international school in Kallar has also removed solar and barbed fences, based on the court's direction, that were laid a decade ago along their campus to prevent wild elephant intrusion. However, school authorities argued that they are not against animal welfare and have also set up a water trough for the wild animals.
Sources in the forest division said that the removal of the solar fence would allow wild elephants to move freely since elephants are long-ranging animals and have no boundaries in the Kallar corridor. "As per the Madras High Court direction, the Kallar farm would be accessible only to research students for study purposes, and selling various plants (saplings) will also be done for the welfare of the farmers. The farm has agreed not to allow tourists and to close the farm at 5 pm," said a senior official of the Coimbatore forest division.
Based on court orders, appointed amici curiae visited to check whether these campuses have complied with the court's direction for these animal welfare initiatives. However, the decision of shifting the Kallar farm is yet to be announced by the court. The official also said that they would conduct a joint inspection consisting of the forest department and amici curiae in the coming weeks in these campuses, and after that, the forest department would file a status report with the court.