Forest Department fills water troughs around girivalam path in Tiruvannamalai

Forest Department fills water troughs along girivalam path near Arunachaleswarar temple to prevent wild animals from straying into town.

Water troughs around arid 14 km-long girivalam path near the Arunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannamalai are being filled up by Forest Department for wild animals, especially spotted deer, due to the steady rise in day-time temperature.

The town has been witnessing harsh weather of around 37 degree Celsius for nearly a fortnight. Also, more than 30 spotted deer strayed into human habitations in the town from Annamalai Reserve Forest (RF) since January, mainly for water.

The RF remains a key habitat for around 6,000 spotted deer and a sizable population of Indian guar and peacocks. The girivalam path is located around the hills. “Providing water inside RF will prevent deer trespassing into the town. Except spotted deer, other wild species do not venture into human habitation,” G.P. Saravanan, forest range officer (Tiruvannamalai town), told The Hindu.

Tiruvannamalai forest range has seven RFs including Chippakadu, Athipakkam, Annamalai and Sorakolathur, covering 13,000 hectares. At present, Annamalai RF has 14 big water troughs in its 900 hectares. Each water trough, on an average, has a capacity that varies between 12,000 litres and 18,000 litres and will be refilled once in a week.

Fresh water is brought from private tanker operators for the purpose. Each water trough is located at the identified congregating spots of wild animals in the RF with at least 2 km away to the nearest water holes like streams and ponds. Filling of water troughs in RFs will be done till May-end before the onset of southwest monsoon.

Similar initiatives are being done in other 15 forest ranges like Polur, Arani, Cheyyar, Vandavasi, Chengam and Jamanamarathoor. A block of salt, known as salt licks, have also been kept on the floor in RFs to meet the mineral needs of animals.

According to forest officials, a significant obstacle in keeping spotted deer off the girivalam path is the dumping of garbage, particularly food waste, by pilgrims along the route. Such overflowing garbage bins attract a large number of stray dogs. Complete fencing of RF along the path would prevent animals from straying into human habitations in the temple town, they said.