JOIN USIn a move to protect the wild animals in the reserve forest area, seven reserve forests have been merged with Nagarahole National Park as a result of which the limits of Nagarahole have been expanded. The step is said to be a significant one from the point of the protection of tigers.
The total area of Nagarahole has now become 847 square km from 647 square km, with 200 square km area from Kodagu, Piriyapattana and H D Kote reserve forests being added to the National Park, on August 15.
The reserve forests merged with Nagarahole include 70 sq km of Devamacchi and Maavukal Reserve Forest area of Titimati regional forest in Virajpet taluk, 100 sq km of Anechowkuru, Dodda Arve, Cauvery and Muddenahalli Reserve Forest in Piriyapattana taluk, 30 sq km of Sollepura Reserve Forest in H D Kote region.
Earlier, the officials from the National Tiger Conservation Authority had conducted a survey in the region, on the movement of wild animals.
With the addition of more forest land to Nagarahole, it is expected that the human-wildlife conflict will come down. Also from the administrative angle, more grants could be obtained to prevent human-wildlife conflict.
The implementation of programmes was not as easy as the merged reserve forests came under the limits of regional forests. The regional forest department could not take preventive measures but only had the right to provide compensation due to wild animal attacks. This bottleneck had delayed the projects such as elephant trenches, solar fences and railway fences.
Hunsur Wildlife Zone ACF Prasanna Kumar said with the widening of Nagarahole National Park, more projects could be implemented towards the protection of wild animals.