Kendrapara: With the day temperature soaring with each passing day, the forest department has made necessary arrangements to protect wildlife from the scorching heat and humidity, officials said.
Animals get irritated when temperature is high and therefore, arrangements have been made to ensure that adequate drinking water is available to animals so that they do not dehydrate or enter human habitations, they said.
The department has excavated two new ponds – one at Patia under Bhitarkanika reserve forest and another at Ranabhanjadiha under Mahisamada reserve forest. Besides, three fresh water ponds –Suajora, Kalibhanjadiha and Padmapokhari – under Kanika range have been renovated. Special care has been taken to protect penned estuarine crocodiles, including the albino Gori.
Forest officials have cleared weeds from ponds, said DFO of Rajnagar mangrove (forest) and wildlife division Bimal Prasanna Acharya.
To mitigate water woes of spotted deer and wild boars, forest officials have renovated about dozen of ditches, said Kanika ranger Akhaya Kumar Nayak.
“We have taken steps to endure the summer heat does not cause any casualty this year too,” Nayak said.
Moreover, forest personnel are going to cover the artificial hatchery at Dangamala Crocodile Research Centre with coconut and mangrove branches to provide a better environment to nearly a hundred crocodile hatchlings that are more susceptible to heat, said Nayak.
As every year during summer fire breaks out in the park, the department has formed a fire fighting team, said the DFO. PNN
