Shivpuri Sanctuary – located in Madhya Pradesh and is an asylum for tigers

It is located in Madhya Pradesh and is an asylum for tigers.

Annamalai Sanctuary

This sanctuary was established in 1972 in the southern part of Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu. It has an area of 958 sq. kms and supports rich fauna of animals like elephant, gaur, sambhar, and spotted deer, barking deer, nilgai, Nilgiri langur, Nilgiri tahr, lion-tailed macaque, tiger, panther, sloth bear, porcupine and pangolin.

These are some of the major sanctuaries in India. There are several smaller sanctuaries and national parks that house some of the important species. A sanctuary or a national park may be large or small, but planning should be based on a scientific background. To provide the basic needs for the wild life the following steps may be taken as far as possible for conservational purposes.

1. The forest inside the sanctuary park should be left unexploited as far as possible. It should be an ideal environment for the wild life to get the fullest measure of protection, and in such preserved conditions of life they can multiply freely.

2. If total unexploitation is not possible, the cutting operations of the forest should be in small units, well distributed over the forest. Frequent light cuts are generally better for wild life than infrequent heavy cuts.

3. The forest should not be planted with or allowed to grow only a single species of plant. Further, fruit-bearing shrubs and trees should be encouraged where ever possible and the natural openings of the forests should be preserved.

4. Poaching needs to be ruthlessly prohibited in the sanctuaries in particular and generally in other areas outside them, where wildlife still exists. Mobile armed units should be attached to all sanctuaries to petrol regularly the entire sanctuary to stop illegal activities.

5. The water holes and stream sides should be managed and guarded carefully for the benefit of wildlife. Such critical areas may be of small size, but their importance is disproportionately great because they supply important elements in wildlife ecology for largest areas during hot months of the year.

6. Annual burning of the grassland in most of our sanctuaries has become an intergral part of management, since not burning these might bring about a lack of suitable fodder during the hotter months. Controlled burning has been found to increase forage and to preserve organic material in the soil. Such burning may be done in blocks with unbumed areas in between, so that areas are burnt in rotation. The burning is to be confined to definite blocks by means of five-breaks. Burning at night is favoured unless it is likely to extend the fire beyond the desired limits.

7. Provision for dust bath for animals should also be made by leaving some exposed soil for their dusting. These spots may be prepared in the form of small mounds elevated a few inches from the forest floor to allow for drainage and to dry quickly in wet months.

8. Some artificial salt-licks are also so be provided in the sanctuaries since the wildlife need them at regular intervals for their normal health. Such salt-licks are necessary for animals especially in areas where natural salted clay is scanty.

9. Concentrated grazing by domestic live-stock is to be prevented as wildlife can never compete with domestic stock under ordinary circumstances and domestic animals may be responsible for transmitting diseases like foot and mouth disease, rinderpest, surra (sleeping sickness), haemorrhagic sepicaemia, arthrax etc.

10. Cultivation near the sanctuary should be avoided as rule as it may have an indirect effect on the wildlife. The chemical control of certain pests is often desirable for better yield in agriculture, but these pesticides can present ecological hazards for wildlife.

11. Scientific studies of the sanctuary wildlife particularly of threatened species, by qualified persons, should be encouraged in order to improve the status of the animals even by breeding them in captivity to rehabilitate them in suitable habitats.

Most wildlife could be saved by sufficiently rigid protection of their natural habitat, combined with controlled exploitation of species which are of economic importance.

Some wildlife may be driven away from their natural habitats so that their requirements are not in conflict with human interests. The only possible course for maintaining their viable number is in national parks, sanctuaries, game reserves, where they could thrive unharmed.

In the case of the most endangered species which have reached a points of extinction in their favourable habitat, their survival may be ensured through the maintenance of breeding stock in zoological parks in suitable parts of the country.

Man, an Endangered Species

“Man is part of the vast web of life and cannot escape the natural consequences of his actions. The sheer power of the population and technological revolutions may make man himself and endangered species in many parts of the world”.

– Stewart Udall

The present day present Man as the most successful species in the world. The ability to think, a sixth sense, is what places the species of Homo sapiens at the top of the ladder. It is this ability that has assisted Man to become the most dominant form of life on earth. In the game of survival, Man has come out in flying colours, this being possible only by his dependence on the environment around him. Initially, this progress of Man was very slow, but with time it has increased to a dizzying pace, this being made possible by the explosion of scientific knowledge and its application to every phase of modem life.

Man’s dream for the future is machine oriented civilization. This copied with his greed is definitely going to have an adverse effect on his natural environment, soul and spirit.

An endangered species is one whose population is decreasing. In man’s case it is the ever increasing population that is making him an endangered, species. There is a general belief-more people move technology-which if followed blindly, as is being done, is to flirt with ultimate disaster.

The result of progress and technological advancement is the pollution of water, land, air, removal of forests and other natural resources beyond redemption. All these activities tilt the ecological balance on which all life depends.

Each species is a part of a food chain and man is no exemption. Thus preservation of wildlife forms a major decision in the fate of man Man’s attitude towards nature only suggests that he is not ready to believe this fact. Unless this attitude changes, all one can decipher is that man is paving roads leading of extinction.

President Johnson of the United States of America in an address to the Congress in 1968 observed that- “Conservation’s concern now is not only for Man’s enjoyment but for Man’s survival”. Modem Man, if he is to survive has to improve his relationship with nature. If he succeeds-he must, he will-all wildlife too will have a better chance.

The Future

The future of our wildlife looks very bleak. If wildlife is not preserved then this world would be a paradise lost, to put it in better terms, a paradise destroyed. As Man’s life becomes more and more urbanized, mechanised and machinised, the habitat for wildlife is being devoured and wild animals are losing their place on our globe. Preservation of habitat is the most important criteria in conservation of wildlife.

With the ever increasing human population, the idea of conservation can be scarcely brought about. It is a habit for nature of eliminates anything that exceeds a limit and Man, the most powerful and highly developed of living creatures, fails to recognize the needs for his own existence in future.

Nature and wildlife are of definite economic value and components of an environment of which Man is a part and on which he is directly or indirectly dependent. Man enjoys music, poetry and paintings, all he has to realize is that the flora and fauna are the music; poetry and paintings created by nature. Even more, they form a part of the food chain which is a guarantee for the continuity of life on earth.

Very few individuals is this world have time of recreation, leisure or intellectual interests. The rest of them think wildlife conservation is a luxury. Each of them is too busy trying his own problems for him to even consider the idea of conservation. Starving illiterates have time to think only of ways to earn their next meal and not about conservation, which for them is nonfunctional luxury.

Human overpopulation and illiteracy are two of the major problems that bring about the tragic destruction of environment and animal exterminations in the world. For every extinct or endangered species or subspecies of animals, two of the major factors have been the destruction of habitats and excessive cropping by man. Connected with this depletion is the lack of knowledge about the essential needs of a species for survival, its needs for habitat, and its reproductive capacity.

Several organizations is painstakingly trying to bring about a successful turn-about regarding the concept of conservation. They educate and advise on the need for conservation of ourdepleting natural resources. All these organization are run by men who are devoted and work their hearts out for saving habitats from destruction and species from extinction throughout the world. They fight against social, economic, political and religious problems in different parts of the world.

It all looks like a hopeful sign that the future of the world’s wildlife is of growing concern to more and more human beings. But this is a race against time. Will people and governments be aware of the before too much is lost?