The wildlife division of Baleswar is exhibiting the presence of fauna in the Kuldiha sanctuary through slide shows to the visitors.
It has installed 25 trap cameras inside the sanctuary to keep a tab on the wildlife inhabitants as well as poachers.
The captured wildlife included mongoose, civet, porcupine, baking deer, spotted deer, mouse deer, Sambar, langur, macaqua, peacock, wild pig, jungle fowl, besides elephants.
Baleswar DFO Harshbardhan Udgata said, “25 trap cameras at a cost of about Rs 6 lakh have been installed in the sanctuary. In every15 days, the position of the cameras is being changed whereas the recoding of the images is downloaded in every week by the guards.”“The image of most of wildlife is captured. We are exhibiting those pictures to the visiting tourists through slide shows,” he said, adding the sanctuary has 89 elephants and 10 leopards.
In the meantime, the division is developing a meadow in order to provide adequate food to the deer population.
A grass land is being developed in a patch of land of around 100 acres in Chemchata under Jharnaghati range of Kuldiha sanctuary bordering on Mayurbhanj district.
The district has nearly 300 deer population including spotted and barking deer. For the first time while the initiative has been taken by the department, around Rs 30 lakh would be spent on the head. The meadow patch would have water bodies as well as salt licks.
Besides removing weeds and shrubs from the patch of land, indigenous grass would be cultivated and in the border there would be fodder culture.
“For the first time the meadow development project of Rs 30 lakh has been undertaken in Kuldiha sanctuary. The objective is to provide adequate food and water for the deer .With increase of prey population the predators’ number would get a boost,” said DFO Udgata.
“Water bodies and salt licks too would be made while a watch tower is already erected on the land,” he said, adding elephant proof trench to a length of around 3 km on the border of Mayurbhanj, mainly to prevent entry of jumbo through the end, has proved successful in the current year.
There had been annual migration of jumbos to Nilgiri and Kuldiha from Bengal end through Mayurbhanj by second week of November coinciding the paddy harvesting period.
They, besides eating paddy, damage field and dwelling house at times causing human causalities. But in the current year, the migratory jumbos have not entered into the district so far.