Forest department officials fill the water trough in Tiruvannamei. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Water troughs around the arid 14 km long road Girivam near the Temple of Arunachaleswarar in Tiruvannamalai is filled with forest departments for wild animals, especially spotted deer, due to a constant rise in daily temperature.
The city witnessed rough weather about 37 degrees Celsius for almost fourteen days. Since January, more than 30 spotted deer has also lost human dwellings in the city of Annamalai Reserve Forest (RF), especially for water.
RF remains a key station for approximately 6,000 spotted deer and a significant population of Indian Guar and peacocks. The Girivam road is located around the hills. “Providing water inside the RF will prevent deer offense into the city. With the exception of the spotted deer, other wild species do not give up into human dwellings,” said GP Saravanan, forest reach officer (Tiruvannamalai).
The Truvannamevai forest assortment has seven RF, including chippakadu, Athipakkam, Annamalai and Sorakolathur, covering 13,000 hectares. At present, Annamalai RF has 14 large water trough in its 900 hectares. Each water trough has an average capacity of between 12,000 liters and 18,000 liters and will be supplemented once a week.
For this purpose, fresh water is brought from private tankers. Each water trough is located on identified sites of wild animals in RF with at least 2 km from the nearest water openings such as streams and ponds. The water trough filling in the RF will be carried out until May before the arrival of the southwest monsoon.
Similar initiatives are carried out in another 15 forest ranges such as polur, Arani, Cheyyar, Vandavasi, Chengam and Jamanamarathoor. The salt block, known as salty licking, was also held on the floor in RFS to suit the mineral needs of animals.
According to Forest officials, it is an important obstacle that keeps deer outside the path of Girivam, dumping garbage, especially food waste, pilgrims along the route. Such overflowing garbage baskets attract a large number of stray dogs. Complete fencing of the RF along the road would prevent animals from getting lost in human dwellings in the temple city, they said.
Published – March 30, 2025 17:50 is
