Munnar panchayat dump yard posing threat to wild elephants

 

THE HINDU BUREAU, 

IDUKKI, october 23, 2025

The Munnar panchayat-operated dumping yard at Kallar is posing a threat to wild elephants in the hill station, with wild elephants, especially an elephant locally called Ottakompan, entering the yard to consume plastic-laden vegetable waste.

Vimal Raj, a wildlife photographer tracking the movements of wild elephants in Munnar, says he has found the tusker consuming plastic-filled waste from the yard.

Ready availability

“I have taken pictures of the elephant consuming plastic mixed with vegetable waste from the yard. Due to the ready availability of food, the animal is camping at the yard. Regular consumption of plastic-filled vegetable waste may pose a threat to the life of the elephant,” says Mr. Raj.

For the past two years, wild elephants are regularly seen at the yard in Kallar. Forest officials say the yard is posing a threat to local wildlife. “Wild elephants, wild gaurs, and other animals are regularly seen at the yard,” says an official.

Greens air concerns

R. Mohan, president of the Munnar Environment and Wildlife Society (MEWS), says the yard in Kallar has emerged as a major threat to wild elephants. “Munnar’s popular tusker Padayappa is a regular visitor to the area. For the past two years, the MEWS has repeatedly approached the authorities to find a solution to the issue but to no avail,” he says.

Munnar Range officer S. Biju says the Forest department has directed the Munnar panchayat to fix a solar fence around the plant.

Solar fence demand

“The department has also requested the panchayat to provide a pump-action gun to the department to chase away wild animals from the plant. The panchayat has also been directed to install a real-time camera at the plant to monitor the movements of wild elephants. At a recent meeting called by the Forest Minister in Idukki, the Munnar panchayat secretary agreed to install solar fence soon,” he says.

Munnar panchayat secretary G.P. Udayakumar says the panchayat had allotted ₹8 lakh for setting up a solar fence at the yard. “The works have begun and are expected to be completed soon,” he says.

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Survey adds 24 species to Munnar fauna

 

THE HINDU BUREAU, 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, January 19, 2025

A faunal survey in the Munnar Wildlife Division has led to the addition of 24 new species of birds, butterflies, and odonates to its checklist.

The exercise, undertaken by the Forest department in association with the Travancore Nature History Society, simultaneously surveyed the Mathikettan Shola National Park (MSNP), Pambadum Shola National Park (PSNP), Anamudi Shola National Park (ANP), Kurinjimala Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS), Eravikulam National Park (ENP), and Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (CWLS) from January 8 to 12. The area, lying between 500 and 2,800 metres in elevation, was surveyed by 21 teams comprising 78 delegates.

A total of 217 species of birds were documented, including 11 new species, thereby increasing the bird population in the Munnar Wildlife Division to 258. The additions include the Brown Hawk Owl, Barred Buttonquail, Spotted Owlet, Mottled Wood Owl, Baya Weaver, Red Munia (Red Avadavat), Richard’s Pipit, Jerdon’s Bushlark, Golden-Headed Cisticola, Large Grey Babbler, and Chestnut-Bellied Nuthatch.

Other notable species spotted included the Nilgiri Wood Pigeon, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Great Eared Nightjar, Steppe Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle, Montagu’s Harrier, Eurasian Sparrow Hawk, Lesser Fish Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Indian Eagle Owl, Spot-bellied Eagle Owl, Indian Grey Hornbill, and Blue-eared Kingfisher.

The MSNP recorded 84 species, PSNP recorded 72, ANP 53, KWLS 68, ENP 115, and CWLS 173 species.

Munnar continues to be home to several species of butterflies with 166 species recorded, including eight new records, bringing the checklist to 246 species. The highest number of butterflies was recorded at Chinnar with 148 species, followed by Eravikulam (79 species), and Mathikettan Shola (57 species).

Endemic butterflies such as the Red-disc Bushbrown, Palni Bush-Brown, Palni Fritillary, Palni four-ring, Nilgiri four-ring, Nilgiri Clouded Yellow, and Nilgiri Tiger were observed. Grass Jewel, the smallest butterfly in the State, was abundant at Chinnar. The largest Indian butterfly, the Southern Birdwing, was also recorded in most of the camps.

As many as 33 species were observed, despite the cold weather prevailing in the region. With an addition of five new records, the total number of odonates in Munnar has increased to 58 species.

Five relatively common odonates of lower elevations, which were previously unrecorded in Munnar, were also reported in this survey. These include Cratilla lineata calverti (Forster, 1903), Macrodiplax cora (Kaup in Brauer, 1867), Palpopleura sexmaculata (Fabricius, 1787), Tholymis tillarga (Fabricius, 1798), and Lestes elatus Hagen in Selys, 1862.

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Bat survey in Kerala discovers seven new species

Giji K. Raman, Idukki
The Hindu, May 10 2019

A bat survey conducted in the Munnar Wildlife Division has found seven new species for the first time.
The survey, conducted in two phases in the protected area in April, could spot 20 species belonging to six families including 11 species in general categories. These include 17 insectivorous bats and three fruit bats.
Hipposideros galeritus (Cantor's Leaf-nosed bat), Hipposideros pomona (Anderson's Leaf-nosed bat), Myotis peytoni (Peyton's Whiskered Myotis) and Harpiocephalus harpia (Lesser Hairy-winged bat) were some of the rare bats identified during the survey.
The survey was conducted using advanced bat monitoring and detecting devices, besides traditional methods. Insectivorous bats were identified based on their unique echolocation calls. The devices were installed in various locations inside the Eravikulam, Mathikettan Shola, Anamudi Shola, Pampadum Shola national parks and Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary.
The survey also highlighted the need for long-term monitoring of bats to understand the impact of climate and vegetation changes on bats and other wildlife in Munnar landscape, said Munnar Wildlife Warden R. Lakshmi. This was the first bat survey in Munnar and it underscored the need for protection of the biodiversity, she said.
M.K. Sameer, P.M. Prabhu and S. Sandeep, the assistant wildlife wardens of the Shola, Chinnar and Eravikulam National Parks respectively, supported the survey.
According to Sreehari Raman, who headed the survey team, climate change has been named one of the greatest long-term threats to most species globally. To understand the current status of species that have a restricted distributional range in the mid-high elevation areas of the Western Ghats, regions such as Munnar have to be studied for the long-term conservation of bats and other wild fauna, he said.
Salish Menachery, Rajan Pilakandi, Rajeeve Balakrishnan and Swetha also participated in the survey.

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Fire ravages Kurinji sanctuary, Pampadum Shola

Giji K Raman, Idukki

The Hindu, April 2 2019

The wildfires that started at Anchunadu and Vattavada four days ago reached the proposed Kurinji sanctuary and Pampadum Shola National Park on Tuesday, causing large-scale destruction.
Sources in the Forest Department said large plantations of grantis and eucalyptus were destroyed in the fires and if an emergency intervention was not made, it would engulf the entire Pampadum Shola National Park and the proposed Kurinji sanctuary.
According to an official of the Munnar forest division, a team of over 250 members comprising local people and staff of the Forest Department were working hard to douse the fire.

In all directions

He said the fires were spreading at different directions, making the counter-measures ineffective. They created a firewall by felling trees, but that too proved ineffective as the fires spread to large areas in different directions, he said.
Though official estimates said that only 100 acres of land was destroyed in the fires, unofficial estimates said that over 500 acres of forestland was destroyed.
The wildfire engulfed the areas of Kadavari and 65th block (Kurinji Sanctuary), Pampadum Shola and Vattavada on Tuesday.
A Forest Department official said that the fires were man-made and were done in the Kurinji sanctuary with ulterior motives. Last year also, wildfires were reported inside the sanctuary prior to the blossoming of neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana).
It was done by the land mafia so as to avoid the inclusion of the area in the proposed Kurinji sanctuary, he said adding the fires would destroy neelakurinji seeds.

Heritage site

The Pampadum Shola is a protected biodiversity spot and is known for its unique flora and fauna.
The Western Ghats Anamalai sub-cluster, including the park, is under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for selection as world heritage site.
Unless an immediate intervention was made, there was a threat of the fire destroying the flora and fauna of the Pampadum Shola.
The shola had completely dried-up areas of grasslands, the official added.

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Cold spell worries for Eravikulam park

Giji K. Raman, Idukki
The Hindu, January, 13, 2019 

The cold wave that began on January 1 has not only affected tea plantations in Munnar but also the grasslands of the Eravikulam National Park (ENP), the natural habitat of the Nilgiri tahr.
The upper reaches of Munnar have been experiencing temperatures below 00 C since the start of the month, which is unusual, and mercury dropped to -40 C after a decade in the region. Munnar Wildlife Warden Lakshmi R. told The Hindu on Saturday that vast areas of grasslands in the ENP had dried up.
She said it was a matter of concern as the area would turn fire-prone well before the drought season. She said Pampadumchola was experiencing sub-zero temperature continuously and mercury dropped to -40 C there.

Widespread damage

“Normally, temperature will rise after one or two days and the damage to the flora will be limited. However, this time the damage is widespread,” she said adding a field study would be conducted to analyse the effect of climate change in the region. Rajamala, one of the main areas where neelakurinji blossomed last year after 12 years, was inside the ENP. The August floods had damaged buds and flowers and its effect would also be studied, she added.
The germination period of neelakurinji had just started and it was being analysed to learn the effect of the floods on the flora. The changes in climate conditions were clearly evident in the Western Ghats as its eastern side formed part of rain shadow areas.
Ms. Lakshmi said controlled burning had already been done on 600 hectares of grasslands and new tender grass appeared with the winter season. It might not immediately cause any shortage of fodder for the fauna, including the Nilgiri tahr, she said. However, a drought situation much before the advent of the summer season raised concerns of wildfires. If the situation continued, fodder could be in short supply too, she added.
The changes in the climatic conditions and its effect on the flora and fauna would be studied and recorded for management purposes, she added.

 

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Eco-friendly boating at Mattupetty

Giji K. Raman,  IDUKKI,  
The Hindu, March 21, 2016

Boating in Mattupetty lake in Munnar will soon be eco-friendly, with wildlife being least disturbed.

As part of its efforts to develop responsible tourism in Munnar, the Hydel Tourism Centre has purchased a solar-powered boat, which will be a marked change from kerosene-powered boats and petrol speed boats.

Kerosene-run boats

Kerosene-powered boats have been the reason behind the pollution of the water body, even leading to occasional fish-kills, not to mention the ecological and environmental threats they pose. In addition, wild animals seldom used to drink water from the lake during summer seasons, thanks to contamination.

Moreover, the noise produced by petrol speed boats used to disturb wild animals.

The twin objectives of the solar-powered boat are ending noise pollution and reducing cost of operation.

Meanwhile, an official of the Hydel Tourism Centre said solar-powered boats are aimed at ensuring eco-friendly travel for tourists in the lake at the lowest cost possible.

The boat that can be operated for up to four hours once the solar panel is charged, can accommodate 10 passengers.

Wild animals

Once, green boats are fully operational, wild animals will come to the dam area for water and more sightings of them will be possible, officials hope.

 

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