Work on state’s first animal rescue centre begins

Ranchi: State forest department has begun the groundwork for the construction of Jharkhand’s maiden animal rescue centre on Ormanjhi-Boriyo Road here.
Principal chief conservator of forests P K Verma said civil work for the project has commenced. “The animal (elephant) rescue centre is coming up on 41 acres of land in Barwe on Ormanjhi-Boriyo Road. We have started constructing boundary walls around the plot and have laid pipelines for water supply. Civil and landscaping work will be taken up in a phased manner,” said Verma, adding, “We aim to get the centre running within a year from now.”
Ranger officer (Ranchi) Sanjay Kumar said, “Three deep borewells have been dug to meet water requirements for the facility. Of them, two borewells will run on solar power and the other will depend on conventional electricity. Work on pavered road will begin soon,” he said, adding, “The construction work for a three-room hospital, with an operation theatre, are in the final stages besides.”
The forest department has also sent a proposal to Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to seek its formal nod to this project. Forest officials said the centre will help reduce the load on Birsa zoological park and also help in controlling the man-animal conflict in the state.
About a dozen enclosures too are proposed to come up. “A deer enclosure is ready,” Verma said, adding that the place has sufficient vegetation, including a good spread of bamboo cover to support wildlife.
In 2010-11 a night safari was proposed to come up on the site but it entered cold storage owing to shortage of funds. Verma, who took charge as chief wildlife warden about a year ago, said the forest department pushed for a rescue centre.
“Jharkhand is home to abundant wildlife, specially elephants, which keep migrating both within and outside the state. But at the same time, man-animal conflicts have also seen a rise due to various reasons. Hence, having a rescue centre will not just help us treat and rehabilitate injured animals but also tame rogue animals by capturing them from troubled zones and bring them here. After keeping them here in natural environs, they will be released back to forests,” he said.
Referring to an elephant which created havoc in Santhal Pargana last week, killing at least nine people in Jamtara, Dumka and Godda, Verma said, “We could have captured it brought it here if we had a rescue centre.”
Statistically, man-animal conflicts is proving to be a serious threat. Forest department data suggest that between 2009-10 and February, this year, about 80 elephants have died due to unnatural reasons such as electrocution, road accidents, food poisoning etc. The data also shows between 2015-16 and 2018-19, as many as 209 human casualties were recorded.