Bhitarkanika Sanctuary: Bhitarkanika sanctuary 50th anniversary celebration with awareness program | Bhubaneswar News
Kendrapada: The country’s second largest mangrove forest, the Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary in Kendrapada district, marked its 50th anniversary on Saturday with a meeting on human-crocodile conflict mitigation awareness programme at the riverside Ostia village near Bhitarkanika.
At the camp, which was attended by villagers, police and forest officers, panchayat body members, environmentalists and others, Anup Nayak, a retired forest officer and former divisional forest officer (DFO) of Bhitarkanika, spoke about the inter-linked relationship between humans and animals and appealed to the villagers to protect wildlife for their survival.
‘“To prevent human-crocodile conflict, the state forest and wildlife department has barricaded around 130 ghats in the rivers and creeks around Bhitarkanika. We have also warned villagers from entering the ghats beyond the barricaded areas,” Sudrashan Gopinath Yadav, the current DFO of Bhitarkanika, said.
“The need for mass awareness is necessary among the riverside villagers to protect themselves from the crocodiles. Bhitarkanika is a paradise for nature lovers, conservationists and biologists, and crocodiles are the main attraction of the tourists. Thus, we should protect the mangrove forest and the crocodiles,” Manas Das, assistant conservator of forest at Bhitarkanika, said.
Spread across 672km, the sanctuary has a core area of 145km, which was declared as Bhitarkanika national park in September 1998.
“Despite facing many challenges, Bhitarkanika has witnessed success in conserving saltwater crocodiles. In 1975, the number of saltwater crocodiles in Bhitarkanika area was estimated to be 95, including 34 adults. But thanks to the conservation efforts,Bhitarkanika is now home to 1,811 saltwater crocodiles (as per the January 2024 census report),” Dr Sudhakar Kar, a herpetologist and former wildlife researcher of the forest department, said.
Yadav said the forest department will organize many programmes throughout the year to celebrate the sanctuary’s golden jubilee.
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