Building bridges for animals!

Most of the times, we see absolute callous behavior of human beings towards animals and then, like a small shaft of sun shine through thick, dark clouds, we come across this news – bridges are actually being built for animals to ensure that they do not get killed on the forest roads.

Yes, the Kerala govt has undertaken a project to build skybridges – these are wooden bridges erected over the roads, tied from tree-to-tree. Currently a sky bridge has come across the NH for Turfed Gray Langur in the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary in Idukki district.  Five sky bridges will come up from Karimutty to the border of the sanctuary with Tamil Nadu. The Pampa is the perennial water source for the largest number of mammal and reptile populations in the sanctuary. Most of the roadkills were reported during night-time and the Forest Department recently had erected road barriers.

The idea is that once these langurs take to the bridges, other smaller animals will also follow. This skybridge coms on the back of the success it had with making bridged for the Grizzled Giant Squirrel, the smallest of the giant squirrels in the Indian subcontinent. Squirrels had to cross the highway for food and mate, which made them vulnerable to predators and vehicle hits.

The forest officials at Munnar erected a bamboo canopy bridge for the squirrels, facilitating a free passage through the canopy across the road. The 10-metre bridge was fastened to tall trees on both sides of the Alampetty stream. This worked very well in protecting the squirrels and now hopefully, the langurs will also be saved from the most dangerous animal on earth – homo sapiens.