High alert at national parks, sanctuaries

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) G S Prabhu on Wednesday said that the department has sounded a high alert in and around all the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the state following the out break of foot and mouth disease in some areas.

Vaccination drive is also being conducted in five-km radius in Bannerghatta in Bangalore.

The Nilgais have been quarantined because they have been affected and are not resistant, he added. High alert has been sounded in Biligiriranganathaswamy Tiger Reserve (BRT) following outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the villages on its periphery.

“It has come to notice that cattle in the villages bordering the tiger reserve are infected with the disease. We have taken steps to prevent such cattle from entering the reserve,” said S S Lingaraj, Director and Forest  Conservator of BRT.

Meanwhile, as many as 212 cattle in 58 villages of four taluks in Chamarajnagar district are infected with the disease in the past one week. Twelve cattleheads have succumbed to the disease till now.