Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary

Last updated
Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary
Ramadevarabetta.jpg
Birds eye view of Ramdevara Temple, located inside the sanctuary
Karnataka relief map.svg
Red pog.svg
India relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location Ramanagara district, Karnataka, India
Coordinates 12°45′12″N77°18′05″E / 12.7531984°N 77.3013674°E / 12.7531984; 77.3013674 Coordinates: 12°45′12″N77°18′05″E / 12.7531984°N 77.3013674°E / 12.7531984; 77.3013674
Area3.4641 km2 (1.3 sq mi)
Established2012
Governing bodyDepartment of forests, Government of Karnataka

Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary is a bird sanctuary in Karnataka India, aimed for the protection of vultures. Established in 2012, it is the first Vulture Sanctuary in India. Of the nine vulture species found in India, three species, long-billed, Egyptian and white-backed vultures are found here. In 2018, Indian government tagged an area of 1.30 meters to 1.80 km from the boundary of the sanctuary as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ). The total area of the eco-sensitive zone is 7.08 km2 (2.7 sq mi).

Contents

Indian vulture, an endangered vulture species found in the sanctuary Indian vulture (Gyps indicus) Photograph by Shantanu Kuveskar.jpg
Indian vulture, an endangered vulture species found in the sanctuary

History

Vultures have long been found in the hills of Ramanagara. Environmentalists and bird watchers started campaigning for the area to be declared a sanctuary as the number of eagles has dropped alarmingly. [1] As a result, Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary was officially established in 2012. [1] It is the first and only Vulture Sanctuary in India. [2]

Description

Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary is a bird sanctuary located in Ramanagara, Ramanagara district, Karnataka, India. It is located within the area of proposed Sholay theme park. [1] The sanctuary covers an area of 3.4641 km2 (1.3 sq mi). [1]

Flora and fauna

Egyptian Vulture Egyptian Vulture (18208369344).jpg
Egyptian Vulture

Of the nine vulture species found in India, three species, long-billed, Egyptian and white-backed vultures are found in Ramanagara. [1] As of 2020, the Ramadevarabetta sanctuary has only five long-billed vultures and 25 Egyptian vultures. [3] The Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary is rich in biodiversity and is home to many butterfly species, bees, birds, bats, spiders and snakes. [3]

Threats and precautionary measures

The increase in the number of vultures around Ramadevarabetta was due to the increased availability of silk pupae and poultry waste in the surrounding areas. [2] Studies indicate that the number of Indian vulture (Long-billed) has decreased by 97 percent and the number of Egyptian vulture by 99 percent. [4]

The veterinary use of diclofenac has been banned in veterinary medicine as it poses a threat to birds such as vultures that feed on animal carcasses. [5] Given the alarming decline in the number of vultures since the 1990s, the Forest Department and other conservation organizations have made significant efforts to protect the existing population and allow it to thrive. [5] As the number of vultures is declining, the Forest Department has started a Vulture Breeding Center at Ramadevarabetta. [6]

In 2018, to protect from rapid industrialization and mining, Indian government tagged an area of 1.30 meters to 1.80 km from the boundary of the sanctuary as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ). [7] Consisting area from six villages (Harisandra, Madapura, Kethohalli, Basavanapura, Vaderahalli and Hallimala) and one hamlet, the total area of the eco-sensitive zone is 7.08 km2 (2.7 sq mi). [7]

Recent research has also revealed that crowds of people visiting the Ramdevara Temple inside the sanctuary, as well as by climbers and bikers, are causing disturbance to the breeding of raptors. [7]

Related Research Articles

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary Bird sanctuary in the Mandya District of Karnataka, India

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, is a bird sanctuary in the Mandya District of the state of Karnataka in India. It is the largest bird sanctuary in the state, 40 acres (16 ha) in area, and comprises six islets on the banks of the Kaveri river.

Sultanpur National Park National Park in Haryana, India

Sultanpur National Park (formerly Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary) is located at Sultanpur village on Gurugram-Jhajjar highway, 15 km from Gurugram, Haryana and 50 km from Delhi in India. This covers approximately 142.52 hectares.

Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary Mount Abu wildlife sanctuary is located in one of the oldest mountain ranges of India

Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary is located in one of the oldest mountain ranges of India, the Aravalli range. It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1980. Te Eco sensitive zone around the sanctuary was notified on 11 Nov 2020

Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary

Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary(Marathi: फणसाड वन्यजीव अभयारण्य) is a wildlife sanctuary in the Murud and Roha talukas of Raigad district, Maharashtra state, India. It was created in 1986 to preserve some of the coastal woodland ecosystem of the Western Ghats and consists of 6,979 ha of forest, grasslands and wetlands. The area was once part of the hunting reserves of the princely state of Murud-Janjira.

Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary and natural World Heritage Site of category ix and x since 2012, located in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra State, India. It lies at the southern end of the Sahyadri hills in the Western Ghats. It is notable as the first declared wildlife sanctuary in Maharashtra, notified in 1958, as "Dajipur Wildlife Sanctuary" and is popularly known as the "Bison Sanctuary". Indian bison or gaur with a population around 1091 in 2014, is the flagship species of the area. It was notified as Radhanagari wildlife sanctuary vide notification No. WLP/1085/CR/588/ V/F-5,Dt.16.9.1985.The area around the Sanctuary was declared as Eco sensitive zone by Govt. of India on 15th October 2020

Wildlife of Karnataka

The state of Karnataka in South India has a rich diversity of flora and fauna. It has a recorded forest area of 38720 km2 which constitutes 22.3467719% of the total geographical area of the state. These forests support 25% of the elephant population and 10% of the tiger population of India. Many regions of Karnataka are still unexplored and new species of flora and fauna are still found. The Western Ghats mountains in the western region of Karnataka are a biodiversity hotspot. Two sub-clusters of the Western Ghats, Talacauvery and Kudremukh in Karnataka, are in a tentative list of sites that could be designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The Bandipur and Nagarahole national parks which fall outside these subclusters were included in the Nilgiri biosphere reserve in 1986, a UNESCO designation. Biligiriranga Hills in Karnataka is a place where Eastern Ghats meets Western Ghats. The state bird and state animal of Karnataka are Indian roller and the Indian elephant respectively. The state tree and state flower are sandalwood and lotus respectively. Karnataka is home to 524 tigers.

Ramanagara district District of Karnataka in India

Ramanagara district, is one of the 31 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Ramanagara City is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district is part of Bengaluru Division.

Keetham lake, also known as the Sur Sarovar, is a scenic lake just outside Agra on the Agra - Delhi highway. Alongside the Keetham Lake is the Agra Bear Rescue Facility, which is a Sloth bear rescue facility dedicated to rehabilitating previously enslaved 'dancing bears'. The lake has been designated as a protected Ramsar site since 2020.

Okhla Sanctuary Bird sanctuary in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

Okhla Bird Sanctuary is a bird sanctuary at the Okhla barrage over Yamuna River. It is situated in Noida, Gautam Buddh Nagar district, on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh state border and known as a haven for over 300 bird species, especially waterbirds. In 1990, an area of 3.5 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi) on the river Yamuna was designated a bird sanctuary by the Government of Uttar Pradesh under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The site is located at the point where the river enters Uttar Pradesh. The most prominent feature of the sanctuary is the large lake created by damming the river, which lies between Okhla village to the west and Gautam Budh Nagar to the east. The Okhla Bird Sanctuary (OBS) is roughly 4 square kilometres in size and is situated at the entrance of NOIDA in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated at a point where river Yamuna enters in the state of Uttar Pradesh leaving the territory of Delhi. It is one among fifteen bird sanctuaries in the state.

Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, India

Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is a protected area and tiger reserve in the Eastern Ghats in the Erode District of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a tiger population of 83 individuals and a leopard population of 111 individuals according to the 2019 census.

Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary Wildlife sanctuary near Delhi, India

Asola-Bhati Wildlife Sanctuary covering 32.71 km2 area on the Southern Delhi Ridge of Aravalli hill range on Delhi-Haryana border lies in Southern Delhi as well as northern parts of Faridabad and Gurugram districts of Haryana state. Biodiversity significance of Ridge lies in its merger with Indo-Gangetic plains, as it is the part of the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor, an important wildlife corridor which starts from the Sariska National Park in Rajasthan, passes through Nuh, Faridabad and Gurugram districts of Haryana and ends at Delhi Ridge.

Thol Lake Lake in India

Thol Lake is an artificial lake near Thol village in Kadi in Mehsana District in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was constructed as an irrigation tank in 1912. It is a fresh water lake surrounded by marshes. It was declared the Thol Bird Sanctuary in 1988; it is a habitat to 150 species of birds, about 60% are waterbirds. Many migratory birds nest and breed in the lake and its periphery. The two most prominent species of birds recorded in the sanctuary are flamingoes and sarus crane. The sanctuary is also proposed to be declared an Eco-Sensitive Zone, conforming to the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, for which draft notification has been prepared.

Bir Shikargah Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in Panchkula district of Haryana state, India. It is spread over an area of 767.30 hectares. It also houses Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre, Pinjore.

Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore Critically Endangered Bird Breeding Centre in Haryana, India

The Jatayu and Sparrow Conservation Breeding Centre (JCBC), is the world's largest facility for the breeding and conservation of Indian vultures (गिध) and the house sparrow. It is located within the Bir Shikargah Wildlife Sanctuary in the town of Pinjore in the State of Haryana, India. It is run by the Haryana Forests Department and Bombay Natural History Society with the help of British nature conservation charity Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Pinjore and covers 5 acres (2.0 ha).

Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) or Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs) are areas in India notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. The purpose of declaring ESZs is to create some kind of "shock absorbers" to the protected areas by regulating and managing the activities around such areas. They also act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to areas involving lesser protection.

Kapilasa Wildlife Sanctuary or Kapilash Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in Dhenkanal district of Odisha state in India. It is spread across 125.5 km2 (48 sq mi) in the Chota Nagpur Plateau region. It is classified as an Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests ecoregion.

Mysore-Ooty Road

Mysore-Ooty Road or Mysore-Udhagamandalam Road is a tourist trail of South India starting from Mysore in Karnataka state and ending in Udhagamandalam in Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu state, India. Both routes pass through Bandipur National park in Karnataka and Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu.

Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka, India

Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected wildlife sanctuary in the southern state of Karnataka in India. It derives its name from the presiding deity "Goddess Mookambika" of the popular Kollur Mookambika Temple. The sanctuary lies in the Western Ghats in Udupi district of Karnataka. The sanctuary consists of an area of 274 km2 (106 sq mi) was notified in the year 1974, by the Government of Karnataka vide notification AFD.48.FWL.74 dated 17 June 1974.

Bird sanctuaries and conservation reserves in Karnataka

Karnataka is a state in India with rich archaeological and ecological heritage. The total geographical area of Karnataka is 1,91,976 square kilometres of which forest area is 37,550 square kilometres (19.58%).

Rangayyanadurga Four–horned antelope Wildlife Sanctuary Wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka

Rangayyanadurga Four–horned antelope Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka India, aimed for the protection of Four-horned antelopes. The four-horned antelope is classified as Vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Established in 2011, it is the only four-horned antelope sanctuary in Karnataka.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary | RAMANAGARA DISTRICT | India".
  2. 1 2 "Ramadevara Betta fails long-billed vultures". Deccan Herald. 7 September 2019.
  3. 1 2 Menon, Anasuya (28 December 2020). "Waiting for the vulture". The Hindu.
  4. "Vultures in Karnataka are disappearing, govt announces new breeding centre". The News Minute. 6 March 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Go Bird Watching At India's Only Vulture Sanctuary, Just 1 Hour Away From Bangalore". Whatshot.
  6. Jan 18, Rohith BR / TNN / Updated. "Karnataka's Ramanagara to host south India's second vulture breeding centre | Bengaluru News - Times of India". The Times of India.
  7. 1 2 3 "Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary is now an eco-sensitive zone". The New Indian Express.