Local wildlife enthusiasts and forest officials fill water troughs in Vellore, Ranipet forests

Water troughs located deep inside reserve forests (RFs) in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, and Tiruvannamalai are being filled up for wild animals, especially spotted deer, due to a steady rise in day-time temperature.

The Forest Department and local wildlife enthusiasts have been seeking to to quench the thirst of wild species in many forests in these districts for more than a week. As they are familiar with the forest terrain and its wild inhabitants, forest officials identify dry areas where large temporary water bowls can be placed.

They also rope in volunteers to fill water in the existing permanent water troughs in the forests. “Wild animals, especially spotted deer and elephants, venture into human habitations during summer mainly for water. Filling water troughs in RFs regularly will help,” R. Saravana Babu, forest range officer (Ranipet), told The Hindu.

Local volunteers provide water from tanker lorries to the identified water troughs and percolation ponds. Each RF, on an average, has six to seven water troughs, covering around 3,000 hectares of forests. Every load of 7,500 litres of water will cost around ₹800 to ₹1,000. Each water trough will be refilled once in a fortnight. “I have been contributing to three such water troughs within the Vellore forest range for the past few years. Forest officials were supportive in our volunteering effort towards wildlife,” said a wildlife enthusiast Dinesh Saravanan, an IT professional from Vellore.

The initiative comes as the region has been witnessing harsh weather of around 35-40 degrees Celsius for a week. Also, residents hav alerted forest officials about the movement of spotted deer in human habitations along the fringes of the forest, mainly for water.

The Tiruvannamalai forest range has seven RFs including Chippakadu, Athipakkam, Annamalai, and Sorakolathur, covering 13,000 hectares. At present, Anamalai RF has 14 big water troughs on 900 hectares of land. Each water trough, on an average, has a capacity that varies between 12,000 litres and 18,000 litres.

Filling of water troughs in RFs will be done till May-end before the onset of southwest monsoon. Apart from providing water, a block of salt, known as salt licks, have also been kept on the floor in RFs for animals to take up minerals.

Ranipet has three forest ranges such as Arakkonam, Arcot, and Ranipet, covering around 10,000 hectares of forests. Tirupattur district comprises five forest ranges including Vaniyambadi, Ambur, Singarapettai, and Alangayam, covering 87,500 hectares of forests where filling of water troughs are also done by forest officials with the support of local volunteers.