With the scorching summer has dried-up almost all the water bodies and the deep borewells within the Vallanaadu Blackbuck Sanctuary, the Department of Forest has started filling-up the ponds and the concrete tanks within this park regularly to stop the animals straying into the nearby villages in search of food and water.

The Vallanaadu Blackbuck Sanctuary, established in 1987 on 2,054.85 hectares on the Palayamkottai – Thoothukudi 4-lane national highway, is a home for blackbucks, sambar deer, spotted deer, jackal, fox, anteater, rabbits, hedgehogs, different birds including peafowls, a range of reptiles including cobra, krait, Russel’s viper etc., butterflies, inspects and moths.

To save this delicate ecosystem and quench the thirst of the birds and animals, the Department Forest has sunk deep borewells at a few places within the sanctuary, where solar-powered pumps have been fitted with automatic controllers. The pump will get switched on automatically once the water level touches the optimum level.

Moreover, small check-dams have been built and ponds dug at vantage points within the sanctuary to store the water whenever it rains.

As the sweltering summer has dried-up almost all these water sources, including the deep borewells, the Forest Department has started filling-up the concrete tanks inside the sanctuary with water so that the animals would not go out of the sanctuary boundary in search of food and water, where a range of threats are in store.

“If the animals, especially the blackbucks, sambar deer or the spotted deer, come out of the sanctuary for water, it may be hunted down by the stray dogs or even the poachers. Hence, we are filling-up regularly the tanks built within the sanctuary with water. We’ve designated personnel to monitor everyday the availability of water in the ground-level tanks and the ponds,” said M. Ilaiyaraja, District Forest Officer.