Karnataka: Indian grey wolf spotted in Cauvery Sanctuary

MYSURU: In a rare finding, an Indian grey wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) was documented for the first time in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in Chamarajanagara district. The wild animal was documented by Sanjay Gubbi of Nature Conservation Foundation, and his team, while camera trapping for studying leopards.
The wolf, which is a male, was camera trapped in Kothnur Range of CWS, in the early morning of April 7. This is possibly the first-ever photographic evidence of the prescence of a wolf in Chamarajanagara district. This record also documents the southern-most limit of wolf presence in Karnataka.
Sanjay Gubbi told TOI that in Karnataka, the wolf was sighted in isolated pockets in the drier areas, including Haveri, Koppal, Tumakuru, Raichur, Ballari and other districts. “With this, all the four large canid species found in Southern India, like dholes, Indian wolves, jackals and Bengal foxes have been documented in Chamarajanagara district. We are surprised by the sighting,” he said
The Indian gray wolf mostly survives in grasslands, scrub forests, and rarely in dry deciduous forests. Though the species is distributed widely, it is threatened largely due to habitat loss and retaliatory killing. Indian wolf numbers are suspected to be less than that of tigers. They are protected under Schedule - I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Previous studies in Chamarajanagara districts in Cauvery and MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuaries, BRT Tiger Reserve, and Bandipur Tiger Reserves have also not documented the Indian grey wolf.
This study on leopards has yielded very valuable information about other species. For the first time in Karnataka, the study documented the presence of honey badger in 2014. In 2015 the study also recorded a new population of chinkara in Tumakuru district which was later notified as Bukkapatna Chinakara Wildlife Sanctuary. In 2018 this study documented the easternmost limit of brown mongoose in BRT Tiger Reserve. In Karnataka brown mongoose was never recorded outside Virajpet taluk, before this study by Sanjay Gubbi documented it in BRT Tiger Reserve.
The study team consists of Sandesh Appu Naik, Girish M N, Gnanendra, Poornesha H C and others.