Save The Elephants of the Kerala Rainforest
- van: Philippa P
- ontvanger: Minister for Environment and Forests , Jairam Ramesh
A 2.5 kilometer wide corridor that connects the two Indian states of Kerala and Karnataka (located in the Western Ghats mountain range) is also the last unbroken forest leading the largest population of Asian elephants from wet season to dry season feeding grounds. This incredibly environmentally-sensitive corridor has become the scene of development which threatens an entire herd. The corridor is so sensitive it has become part of an international campaign to change the location of the development so it will not have such a harsh impact on the elephants.
The area is also one of the world's ten "Hottest biodiversity hotspots" and has over 5000 species of flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species and 179 amphibian species. At least 325 globally threatened species occur in the Western Ghats.
Presently, a busy interstate highway passes through the forest with checkpoints leading from one state to another in three places. This leaves the forest corridor free for the elephants. Unfortunately, and shortsightedly, the Indian government has decided to combine the checkpoints in the centre of the elephants corridor.
This development would include all manner of infrastructure - building complexes, housing, offices, toilets and dormitories for drivers, a fuel filling station and so on, writes the nonprofit conservation group, Rainforest Information Centre. The checkpoint clearance takes hours, so there would be hundreds of lorries (trucks) parked along the road throughout the night on either side of the checkpoints within the forests preventing elephants from using the corridor.
The Rainforest Information Center tells us that work is already in progress and a trench has been dug which prevents elephants from crossing the road, cutting [the elephants] off from the river and whatever little fodder available on the river margin.
The best solution would be the relocation of the checking stations to outside the forest on the Kerala side of the corridor where suitable land for this is available, suggests Rainforest Information Centre. It is also necessary to prohibit vehicle movement during certain night-time hours for example, between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.
John Seed of Rainforest Information Centre told Monagabay.com: "we feel confident that international attention can persuade the Kerala government to move the site of its planned development out of the corridor and out of the jungle."
The Rainforest Information Centre is working with the Indian environmental organization, Wayanard Nature Protection Group, and an online activist center. They encourage concerned persons to write to the governments of the states involved hoping that international attention and pressure will cause a change in the development plans.
N. Badusha, president of the Wayanad Nature Protection group (Wayanad Prakruti Samrakshana Samithi), is so concerned about the ability of these animals to reach waterholes inside the sanctuary from dry places across the border that he is urging the government to relocate the checkpoint away from the elephant corridor.
He said if the check-post campus was on the elephant corridor, because of long queues of vehicles waiting for clearance, elephants would not be able to move around freely.
Due to fragmentation of habitat, elephants moving from Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu to Wayanad have to pass through a corridor which is only 2.5-km wide, extending from Mulehole in Karnataka west to Muthanga in Kerala.
However, even within this tiny corridor, there is an obstacle. As the inter-state highway NH212 cuts through the forest, an enclosure around Ponkuzhi has become a mecca for pilgrims and a respite for travellers. The Noolpuzha river is the only source of water for the large population of Asian elephants moving through this area for three to four months of the year.
The warden of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Sreevalsan agreed that the two check-posts functioning near Muthanga were a disturbance to the wildlife at times since a large number of vehicles had to halt there.
Please relocate the checkpoint to give the elephants right of way between their summer and winter feeding grounds.
Thank you for reading our letter.
Sincerely,
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