The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) authorities are planning to approach the Kerala High Court to grant permission to extract Senna spectabilis, an invasive plant which poses a major threat to the wildlife habitat in the Nilgiri biosphere, to eradicate the species from the sanctuary.
Since the existing norms would not allow cutting down trees from a protected area or a wildlife sanctuary, extraction of trees is not possible, sanctuary sources said. But the Mudumalai and Sathyamangalam tiger reserves (STR) in Tamil Nadu had obtained a favourable order from the Chennai High Court after convincing the Court about the gravity of the situation. The Court ordered the removal of over 60 hectares in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and 645 hectares in STR.
The Forest department collaborated with Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL) to remove the trees, for which it was asked to pay a conservation charge of ₹4,200 a tonne. The money would be utilised for eco-restoration of habitats. The TNPL uses the culled senna tree to make pulpwood in its paper mills there.
