Telangana looking to curb wildlife deaths

The Telangana Forest Department has escalated its endeavors to prevent wildlife fatalities, particularly in the former Adilabad district.

Hyderabad: The Telangana Forest department has intensified its efforts to curb wildlife deaths, especially in the erstwhile Adilabad district. Under this initiative, the department has written to its Maharashtra counterpart asking for a joint meeting to discuss a few aspects, including better monitoring, coordination and an information sharing system. This apart, more camera traps have also been installed in Kaghaznagar, following the deaths of two tigers in Darigaon village.

“It is a regular coordination meeting between two States forest departments. We have written to the Maharashtra department and are waiting for their reply. Hopefully, the meeting would be conducted in 10 days,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RM Dobriyal said.

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Tigers tend to migrate from Tadoba, Maharashtra into Telangana passing through different villages.

Tiger sightings are becoming a regular feature in the forest ranges of Charigaon, Narlapur, Nandiguda, Darigaon, Vanjiri, Malini, Sheelapalli and many other forest fringe villages in Kaghaznagar, Jogapur and Sirpur (T) on the State border.

On January 12, images of a tiger were captured from a particular place in Maharashtra limits. The images of the same tiger were also captured by camera traps on January 14 in Telangana limits about 50 km away. In such cases, monitoring and vigilance becomes a challenge, an official said.These aspects would be discussed during the inter-State coordination meetings. Focus would be on better coordination, information sharing system, curbing illegal movement of people etc.

Apart from the meeting with the Maharashtra Forest officials, TS officials have installed more camera traps in Darigaon area to track the tiger movement. There used to be about 20 to 30 camera traps and they have now been increased to about 100 traps to keep a close watch on the five kilometre radius from the place where the tiger was found dead recently, the official said.

The department is also conducting a meeting in Kaghaznagar on Tuesday to distribute cattle compensation amounts and create awareness among people.