Volunteers clean up illegal dump yard near Kotagiri to minimise gaur deaths from plastic consumption 

Members of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust, worked alongside Forest Dept staff, to collect 3 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste

Following reports of Indian gaur in the Nilgiris dying due to inadvertent plastic consumption from illegal dumpyards, a group of volunteers from Sathyamangalam visited Kattabettu near Kotagiri and conducted a clean-up drive recently.

Around 20 members of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) in Sathyamangalam had gotten permission from the Forest Department in the Nilgiris to help clean-up a small portion of the Kattabettu Range. The volunteers, who worked alongside Forest Department staff, managed to collect around three tonnes of mostly non-biodegradable waste from a one kilometer stretch they cleaned up.

Speaking to The Hindu, R. Nandhakumar, from the BCT, said that apart from plastic waste, local residents had disposed of diapers and sanitary napkins inside the reserve forest. “We even saw wild boar at the place where the items were dumped, foraging for food inside the illegal dump yard,” said Mr. Nandhakumar. The volunteers worked throughout the day, but said that there was plenty more waste that could not be fully removed due to a lack of time and manpower.

The clean-up drive was conducted after a number of Indian gaur found dead in the Nilgiris forest division, were found to have consumed plastic and illegally dumped waste. The findings were recorded when the stomach cavities of the Indian gaur were opened up during postmortem examinations.

The volunteers from BCT also spoke to residents who lived close to the place where the garbage was dumped, and advised them on means to properly dispose of their waste. The villagers were told about how illegal dumping of waste posed a threat to wildlife.

Last year, volunteers from BCT also cleaned up more than 1.5 tonnes of plastic and glass bottles from the Catherine Falls in Kotagiri.