Urban wildlife - Chennai

Welcome to wild wild Chennai - The Times of India

Arun Janardhanan, TNN | Aug 8, 2011, 05.43AM IST
From jackals, rodents and squirrels to black buck, pangolin and even slender loris, residents of the urban jungle of Chennai have spotted all kinds of wild creatures in their backyards. In the last year, forest officials in the city have rescued 3,025 monkeys and 1,200 snakes from residential areas. "Forest officials across the city rescued more than 5,000 animals from April 2010 to March 2011," said wildlife warden V Karunapriya.

Originally a coastal area with thorny bushes, Chennai is the only city with a protected forest - Guindy National Park - within the corporation limits. But as the city expands, the pressure on green spaces, which are also home to several species of snake, gecko and fruit bat, intensifies and animals lose their habitat. Thickly wooded forests and scrub jungles in Guindy National Park, IIT-Madras, Nanmangalam forest, Theosophical Society and Kalakshethra colony still provide shelter to these wild creatures, but they too are coming under threat.

IIT-Madras authorities recently cut several trees to make space for buildings, the Pallikaranai marsh, which is a source of water for the city, is being used as a dumpyard. T Murugavel of the Madras Naturalists' Society says that urban wildlife still survives in the green spots and protected forest inside the city. "What's left of the green belt inside the city surprisingly sustains a wide variety of animals, though we have lost several species, including birds like the white-headed babbler, the purplerumped sunbird and red-vented bulbul," said Murugavel, who has rescued cobras and rat snakes from his neighbourhood. "Last month, I rescued a barn owl that had been injured by a kite string. We set it free after a vet treated it," he said.

Recently, a slender loris was rescued from the terrace of a house. A limited number of this endangered species still lives in the city. Jackals can be seen at the Adyar estuary,while the Indian mongoose is spotted often in busy T Nagar, Shenoy Nagar and Adyar areas. Flying foxes still swoop through the evening skies. E Seshan, a retired chief photographer of the Zoological Survey of India, said the weather also plays a role.

"During the monsoon, animals come out of their habitat. In the city, there is no space for them as everything has been covered with concrete," he said. "The IIT-Madras campus, Guindy National Park and Raj Bhavan campus are an important habitat. But the institution has decided to proceed with major construction projects, which will affect the animals," he said. S Davidraj, forest range officer of Velachery division, said that habitat loss is the main reason for the increasing man-animal conflict. "We have taken all measures to attend to cases immediately. We are monitoring about 997 spotted deer in Alandur, Adambakkam, Velachery and Kotturpuram," he said.