No wildlife casualty in Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu floods

The incessant rain, accompanied by the flash floods and the landslides, has wreaked a havoc across Kodagu and Chikkmagaluru districts, causing grave hardships for the people in the region.

But no wildlife casualties were reported in the rains and landslides that hit the hilly districts in the last two weeks.

According to forest officials, there were no elephant sightings since August, when the showers started. The officials said that had the people read the signals given by the elephants, many lives could have been saved. Chief Wildlife Warden, C Jayaram, said that he was in constant touch with the officials on the ground in both the districts. He said that there has been no death of wildlife, and the forest patches have also remained unaffected. He added, there have been no damages to the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, also.

“Elephants are more sensitive than humans. They give signals. They started to withdraw from most of the estates and areas. They started withdrawing towards the forests when the skies opened up. Since August first week, there have been no sightings of elephants,” said a forest official from Kodagu.

The forest officials from Chikkamagalur said that there were landscape damages where the humans had raised structures and not the forest patches. He added that there were no sightings of elephants and other animals as they had moved to the interiors of the forest. “The animals could have been inconvenienced because of the continuous rainfall, but there have been no deaths. The animals are more equipped to mitigate disasters,” he said.

However, the department is waiting for the rain to stop and water to recede before starting the final assessment of the forest patches and the wildlife.