What do you think!!!

[Bibhav Behera]

I am posting an image and I want people to come up with responses in terms of what they interpret or what they think are the issues that plague the LTM and the Annamalais today along with possible solutions to the same.

The NCS has been doing its bit in helping save the LTMs. In Valparai there are two people who constantly monitor their movements and keep them at bay from being fed by humans etc. But is that all. What more can we do to save these wonderful species.

Please pour in your responses for a healthy discussion...

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

NCF has appointed 2 watchers in Puthuthottam estate (PE) and their job is to forbid tourists from feeding the LTMs. The PE as such is rich in fruit bearing trees such as Cullenia, Artocarpus, Ficus sp. which wild LTMs relish.

During road widening, the canopy was cut and this forced the LTMs to cross the roads. Wood poachers have felled numerous roosting trees of LTMs in the area forcing them to seek favourable roosting trees elsewhere.

The prime focus of NCF team over there is to re-establish the canopy by preventing road widening in the stretch. Once canopy is established, LTMs will stay arboreal and they will not cross the road jeopardizing their lives.

The houses close to the RF should be convinced to move away and the area should be made inviolate.

These measures are easier said than done. Valparai is emerging fast as a tourist destination and road widening proposals are looming large.

Though the LTMs' current status in Valparai is apparently stable, their future is miserably bleak.

Longterm conservation measure should be to establish link between pockets of rainforests which will increase their home range.