Wild cattle: On an island in Hirakud, cattle have grown wild for 60 years

Odisha Forest and Environment Department to welcome visitors on ecotourism packages for unique cruise experiences

There’s every chance of visitors to the Hirakud reservoir in western Odisha bumping into the large numbers of cattle growing in the wild there for over 60 years. The Odisha Forest and Environment Department is all set to begin ‘Island Odyssey’ and ‘Hirakud Cruise’ ecotourism packages for tourists to islands inside the reservoir when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. ‘Cattle island’, one of three islands in the Hirakud reservoir, has been selected as a sight-seeing destination. When large numbers of people were displaced from their villages when the Hirakud dam was constructed on the Mahanadi river in 1950s, villagers could not take their cattle with them. They left their cattle behind in deserted villages.