South India with its large number of National Parks and wildlife sanctuaries has a very good number of the endangered Royal Bengal Tigers roaming its forest. Now the tiger has one additional area of land reserved for its protection. The Centre has approved Karnataka’s proposal to protect Biligiri Ranganatha Temple Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve.
Tigers have been frequently spotted in this area which consists of an ancient temple dedicated to Sri Ranganatha. The temple is surrounded by wild forest and many wild animals can be seen roaming around here. Hyderabad based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology had seen about 29 tigers during their survey in 2005. Being a forested area the tiger even has a good prey base and hence the sanctuary’s potential as a tiger habitat was highly recommended. The frequent spotting of tigers thus led to the proposal to protect this area for the big striped cats.
Originally Biligiri Ranganatha Temple Sanctuary was spread over 539 sq kms. The new Tiger Reserve will consist of 580 sq km of core area where tigers are generously spotted and over all Biligiri Ranganatha Temple Tiger Reserve will be spread over 800 sq km.
Biligiri Ranganatha Temple Sanctuary is located in Chamrajanagar district of Karntaaka and once notified as a Tiger Reserve, will be Karnataka’s fifth Tiger Reserve. The other Tiger Reserves of Karnataka include Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve and Bhadra Tiger Reserve.
Biligiri Ranganatha Temple Sanctuary is named after Biligirirangan Hills and is an important link between the Eastern and Western Ghats. The sanctuary was set up in 1987. "It is a good step to ensure better conservation of not only endangered tigers but also other wildlife in the Western Ghats. The area has a rich prey-base and is habitat of important flora and fauna," said Qamar Qureshi of Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun.
Along with Biligiri Ranganatha Temple Tiger Reserve, four other new Tiger Reserves were to be formed around the country and were approved by the Centre. These include Sunabeda Tiger Reserve in Orissa, Shahyadri Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh and Ratapani Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. Proposals for all the four tiger reserves are submitted by their respective state governments, but the Union Ministry for Forest and Environment is still to confirm their eligibility for funds from Project tiger.
As per the last census there are just 1411 tigers in the country. The reservation of forest areas to protect this species contributes a long way in increasing their population through breeding.
http://www.rang7.com/news/national-park/karnataka-get-fifth-tiger-reserve-677.htm
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