Activists pitch for wildlife sanctuary status for Pakkamalai- Gangavaram hills region

Conservationists in Villupuram district and many from neighbouring Puducherry, have sought better protection for the Pakkamalai and Gangavaram hills, a biodiversity-rich area near Gingee in the district, and reiterated the demand to declare the area encompassing over 7,000 hectares into a wildlife sanctuary.

“Pakkamalai and Gangavaram should be notified as a wildlife sanctuary not because it has large mammals including leopards and sloth bears but because of its strategic location. It is an ecologically important area in the eastern ghats. Declarating it as a wildlife sanctuary will certainly help protect the endangered flora and fauna in the long run apart from initiating conservation activities,” said S. Vimalraj, a naturalist of Puducherry-based Indigenous Biodiversity Foundation (IBF).

The spider belonging to the genus Poecilotheria Metallica commonly known as the Peacock Parachute Spider or Gooty Tarantula was sighted by a team of researchers of Puducherry based Indigenous Biodiversity Foundation (IBF) in the Pakkamalai Reserve Forests. (Source: P. ARAVIND AATHI)