Gudekote Wildlife Sanctuary

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Gudekote Sloth Bear Sanctuary
Location Ballari district, Karnataka, India
Nearest city Ballari, Ballari district
Coordinates 15°14′N76°31′E / 15.233°N 76.517°E / 15.233; 76.517 Coordinates: 15°14′N76°31′E / 15.233°N 76.517°E / 15.233; 76.517
Area167.59 km2 (64.71 sq mi)
Established2013
Governing bodyKamalapura Wildlife Subdivision, Karnataka Forest Department

Gudekote Sloth Bear Sanctuary is located in Ballari district in Karnataka, India. [1] [2] [3] It is spread over 38.48 km2 (14.86 sq mi). The sanctuary was created exclusively for the preservation of the Indian sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) and is Asia's second sloth bear sanctuary, the first being Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary.

Contents

In November 2013, the Government of Karnataka, declared 3848.84 hectares of the Gudekote Forest Reserve (Block A), Gudekote Extension Forest Reserve (Block A) and Halsagara Reserve Forests as Gudekote Sloth Bear Sanctuary vide Gazette Notification FEE 72 FWL 2013, issued on 11 November 2013. [4] In the final notification GazetteNotification No. FEE 432 FWL 2014 issued on 21 September 2016, the sacntuary area was increased to 47.54 km2 (18.36 sq mi). Subsequently in 2019, through another government notification GazetteNotification No. FEE 62 FWL 2019, dated 16 May 2019, additional 120.04 km2 (46.35 sq mi) of reserved forest was declared as Gudekote Extension Sloth Bear Sanctuary, thereby increasing the total area of the sanctuary to 167.59 km2 (64.71 sq mi). [5]

This is the second wildlife sanctuary declared in Ballari district of Karnataka to protect Indian sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), with the 1st being Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary.

Flora and fauna

In addition to the flagship species i.e. Sloth Bear, the sanctuary is also home to various other animals viz. Indian Leopard, Pangolin, Porcupine, Indian Fox, Indian Jackal, Jungle cat, Indian Star Tortoise, Asian Palm Civet, Red Sand Boa, to name a few. The sanctuary is also home to a variety of avian species and is said to have around 130 different species of them. [6] [4]

Human and animal conflict

Declaration of Gudekote as a sanctuary has helped to mitigate man-animal conflicts to a great extent. This is primarily because human activities such as collection of Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) and other interventions in the wildlife sanctuary have been prevented to a great extent after the area was declared as a wildlife sanctuary. Anti poaching camps have strengthened the protection being accorded to wildlife. [7] [8]

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Satpura Range

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Bannerghatta National Park National park in Karnataka, India

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Khathiar–Gir dry deciduous forests

The Khathiar–Gir dry deciduous forests is a mostly arid ecoregion in northwestern India that stretches over 103,100 sq mi (267,000 km2) across Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The dry deciduous forests in the region are dominated by teak, and thorny trees and scrub in drier areas.

Anamalai Tiger Reserve Wildlife sanctuary and national park in Tamil Nadu, India

Anaimalai Tiger Reserve, earlier known as Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park and as Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary, is a protected area in the Anaimalai Hills of Pollachi and Valparai taluks of Coimbatore District and Udumalaipettai taluk in Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu, India. The Tamil Nadu Environment and Forests Department by a notification dated 27 June 2007, declared an extent of 958.59 km2 that encompassed the erstwhile IGWLS&NP or Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary, as Anaimalai Tiger Reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Reserve presently includes a core area of 958.59 km2 and buffer/peripheral area of 521.28 km2 forming a total area of 1479.87 km2.

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Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary Wildlife sanctuary in India

Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary is situated in the Banaskantha district formerly under Palanpur State in the Indian state of Gujarat at the Gujarat-Rajasthan border. It was declared as a sanctuary in May 1978, covering an area of about 180 square kilometres (69 sq mi), principally for protection of the sloth bear, which is now categorized as "Vulnerable A2cd+4cd;C1 ver 3.1" on the IUCN Red List. Their numbers are declining in the wild and they are threatened with extinction.

Northern dry deciduous forests

The Northern dry deciduous forests, also known as the North Deccan dry deciduous forests, is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of east-central India.

Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests

The Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion of central India. The ecoregion lies mostly in Madhya Pradesh state, but extends into portions of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh states.

Deccan thorn scrub forests

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Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests

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Wildlife of Karnataka

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Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary

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References

  1. "ESZ Notifications, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Government of India". envfor.nic.in. India: Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India . Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  2. "Karnataka's second sloth bear sanctuary to open its gates to visitors soon – Times of India". The Times of India . India. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  3. Malagi, Shivakumar G. (16 September 2018). "Gudekote pleads: We can no longer Grin and bear it". Deccan Chronicle. India: Deccan Chronicle . Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  4. 1 2 "..:: Karnataka Forest Department ::." aranya.gov.in. Government of India . Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  5. "Karnataka Forest Department". aranya.gov.in. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  6. "Gudekote Bear Sanctuary | JLR Explore" . Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  7. "Gudekote sanctuary: Keeping in mind 'bear' necessities". Deccan Herald. 15 December 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  8. "Bear in mind, don't disturb! at Gudekote Bear Sanctuary". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 25 January 2019.