Recent incidents of gaur straying into human habitations in Coimbatore are seen as a result of various factors. Some say that this might be due to increase in the population of gaur in forest forcing them to stray out of forest borders in search of water and fodder.
On Thursday, an adult male gaur was spotted at a residential area near Teachers Colony, Mettupalayam.
The gaur, which strayed at least six km from forest was driven back by forest staff. On Monday, a male gaur was found dead in Karamdai, reportedly after attacked by another gaur.
There has been incidents when a gaur from Sathyamangalam forests strayed up to Tirupur and another gaur from Anamalai Tiger Reserve went up to Pollachi. “This could be a sign of increase in their population in forests. As tiger is the only predator that preys on gaur in our forests, leopard in very rare cases, their population must have increased tremendously. We need exclusive studies to be conducted on gaur population in forests,” said K. Kalidasan of Osai, a Non-Governmental Organisation.
S. Ramasubramanian, Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, said that various reasons could have contributed to gaur presence in human habitations.
He added that the straying could have happened while moving to another forest location.