JOIN USState's only vulture sanctuary is now an eco-sensitive zone
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified an area of 7.08 sq km as the eco-sensitive zone for South India’s only vulture habitat at Ramadevara Betta in Ramanagaram district.
Because of the vulture’s vulnerability to the medicine Diclofenac, the ministry has prohibited the veterinary use of the drug in the ESZ, reaffirming an existing rule.
Nearly 50 km southwest of Bengaluru, the sanctuary, spread over 346 hectares, is the only place in South India where Indian White Backed Vulture (Gyps Bengalensis) and Long Billed Vulture (Gyps Indicus) are found naturally breeding.
A part of the Mysore Elephant Reserve, the protected forest also has sloth bears in large numbers, making it an important area to conserve the two species.
The ministry issued the draft notification in June 2016 and took more than a year to finalise the contours of the ESZ on September 11.
The final notification bans a range of commercial and development activities inside the ESZ, which includes six villages and a hamlet.
While the state government will now have the responsibility of protecting the ESZ from exploitation, an 11-member monitoring panel, headed by the regional commissioner, Bengaluru, has been set up to ensure that ESZ rules are not violated.
Conservationists, in 2007, had demanded developing Ramadevara Betta into a vulture sanctuary. The process was completed in 2012 when it became India’s second vulture sanctuary. But in the absence of a demarcated ESZ, the Forest Department had little option to tackle the trespassing.
The ministry has also begun the process of creating an ESZ around Adichunchanagiri Peacock Sanctuary in Nagamangala taluk, Mandya district.
Rich in the bird population, the sanctuary houses 99 recorded species of birds, of which 25 species are peculiar to the inland hills of Karnataka. About 15 resident water birds also have been recorded.
In a draft notification issued on September 6, the ministry sought comments from the public within 60 days before finalising the 4.55-sq km ESZ for the protected park that received support from religious leaders of the Adichunchanagiri Mutt.
Interestingly, the ministry took 18 long years to notify the peacock sanctuary after receiving the proposal in 1981.
The sanctuary has seven villages around its boundary and is surrounded by agricultural lands and coconut plantations owned by local farmers. Cattle grazing on the fringes of the sanctuary is common. About 50,000 to 75,000 pilgrims are known to attend prayer meetings a the Adichunchanagiri Mutt on festive occasions.