New Hope for Tamil Nadu's Blackbucks

Blackbucks

Forest officials in Tamil Nadu's Kancheepuram district have proposed to declare three reserve forests as blackbuck sanctuaries to protect the endangered antelopes. In Kancheepuram district, they are found in three reserve forests in the Chengalpattu forest division where their numbers are close to 300. The three reserve forest areas are Thirukazhukkundram, Salur, and Thaiyur. The first two adjoining ones are spread over 1,310 hectares of wooded area, while the third one is spread over 600 hectares and located on the western side of the Rajiv Gandhi Expressway. The Thaiyur Reserve Forest also has a dense blackbuck population, compared to Salur and Thirukazhukkundram. More than 200 animals were observed there a few years ago by a Chennai-based biodiversity research organization called the Care Earth Trust. The local people living near the forests stated that the animals are at risk of getting injured by glass pieces because drunks haunt the area and leave liquor bottles behind. One forest officer indicated that a proposal had been brought up earlier by the central government to establish an institute of higher learning in the Thaiyur Reserve Forest, which would be destructive to the blackbucks' survival.

Blackbuck in Guindy National Park; also in Tamil Nadu

It is necessary that these three reserve forests be declared sanctuaries for blackbucks. The first step in protecting such endangered animals is to notify the public by declaring areas where the animals have been observed as sanctuaries. This should be then followed by developing rules and regulations that everyone has to abide by. For example, it is crucial to report any suspicious activity in the vicinity of these forests related to not just poaching but also regular acts of hooliganism such as drunkenness and disturbing of peace. Furthermore, the central government should reconsider its proposal of setting an institute of higher learning. This would be detrimental to the survival of the blackbucks, as was the case of animals in the vicinity of IIT Madras. The idea is to have both people and animals live side-by-side one another in peace. The way to achieve that goal is to come up with and conduct measurements that do not have a negative impact on both people and animals.

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