Tamil Nadu notifies Cauvery South Wildlife Sanctuary as 17th sanctuary

The Tamil Nadu government has notified the Cauvery South Wildlife Sanctuary on 68,640 hectares as the state's 17th wildlife sanctuary, Chief Minister M K Stalin announced on Tuesday.

The sanctuary, covering reserve forest areas in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts, is home to 35 species of mammals, 238 species of birds, Leith's soft shelled turtles, smooth coated otters, marsh crocodile and four horned antelopes, and is a wildlife paradise.

Grizzled giant squirrel, four-horned antelope, and Lesser Fish Eagle which are exclusively dependent on the Cauvery river and its riverine forest ecosystem, are also found here. These are also red-listed and in urgent need for focused conservation and protection of their habitat.

The sanctuary was notified under Section 26-A of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, today.

It will connect Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu with the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in neighbouring Karnataka thereby forming a large, contiguous network of protected areas for wildlife.

"This area has unique ecological, faunal, and floral significance and is also an important elephant habitat in Southern India," an official release here said.

This landscape maintains further continuity to the Nilgiri Biosphere through Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, Billigiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve in Karnataka and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and Erode District. This provides sufficient area for the conservation of the varied and rich biodiversity of the region.

Efforts taken to conserve tigers in BRT Tiger Reserve and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve have created a spill-over effect and tigers have begun to occupy their traditional ranges where they had been locally extinct for a few decades. The forested areas of the new sanctuary are part of the prey base and the area can support tigers once again as it had in the past. It will also support conservation of leopards and other red-listed large carnivores.

Two important and large elephant corridors namely, the Nandimangalam-Ulibanda Corridor and the Kovaipallam-Anebiddahalla Corridor fall in this area.

Enhanced protection and restoration of habitat will help in reducing soil erosion and siltation of downstream reservoir namely the Stanley Reservoir, the release said.

Already, the government has notified Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary in Villupuram and Cuddalore districts, Nanjarayan Bird Sanctuary in Tiruppur district, Kadavur Slender Loris Sanctuary in Karur and Dindigul districts and Dugong Conservation Reserve in Palk Bay.