Kendrapara: After a three-month ban, the Bhitarkanika National Park (BNP) will open Thursday. The Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) Forest Division had imposed a three- month ban from May 1 to July 31 on visitors at BNP to ensure safety as crocodile-human conflicts generally occur during the breeding season and to provide a congenial atmosphere for the estuarine crocodiles during nesting, Bimal Prasanna Acharya, DFO of Rajnagar Mangrove (Forest) and Wildlife Division, said.
The BNP authorities spotted 103 nests of estuarine crocodiles in Kanika, Gahirmatha, Mahakalapada and Rajnagar Wildlife Forest Range Divisions. This year two more estuarine crocodile nests were found than last year’s, DFO Acharya said.
Acharya said forest personnel spotted 91 nests of crocodiles in Kanika Forest and Wildlife Range, nine nests in Rajnagar Range and two nests in Mahakalpara Range and one in Gahirmatha Range.
As the tourist season is going to start Thursday at BNP, the park authority has made it mandatory for all visitors to bring ID proof. It is also mandatory for tourists to wear life jackets if they are coming to BNP through the water route, official sources said.
Forest personnel have also strictly implemented the ban on tourists carrying liquor, polythene and plastic bags inside the BNP, sources said.
Forest personnel collected 101 croc eggs that were lying vulnerable at some places. They collected 42 eggs from a wild nest at Kalibhanjadiha and 59 eggs from the nest of a 10-ft long female estuarine crocodile that was set up in the bamboo bush of one Susanta Mohapatra of Arada village in Mahakalapada Range to hatch it artificially at the hatchery at Dangamal Crocodile Breeding and Research Centre, said Subrat Kumar Patra, the ACF–cum-Ranger of Kanika Forest Range.
PNN
