[acx_slideshow name=”Mudahalli 25122017″]

Mudahalli, Karnataka, December 25, 2017: Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), working in partnership with the Karnataka Forest Department, World Land Trust and the Swami Vivekananda Seva Trust, recently organised a health camp for the villages of Mudahalli and Goramadu Doddi, located near the Chamrajanagar-Talamalai at Mudahalli Elephant Corridor. The camp, held on December 22, was conducted as a part of a series of community support activities planned under WTI’s Mudahalli Elephant Link project, which seeks to secure right of passage for elephants and other wildlife through this vital corridor.

The Chamrajanagar District Hospital supported the camp by providing three doctors specialising in General Medicine, ENT and Gynaecology. Nearly 150 persons, including villagers, school students and teachers attended the camp. Apart from medical advice, free basic medicines were provided as needed. The camp was appreciated by the local villagers as well as the attending physicians. The doctors said that new diabetic patients had been identified in both villages, and that their condition needed to be monitored by conducting a follow-up camp in three months.

The area is a critical link for wild animal movement between the BRT and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserves and is essential for the long-term conservation of wildlife in the landscape.

Securing right of passage for elephants through elephant corridors in the larger Brahmagiri – Nilgiris – Eastern Ghats landscape, of which the corridor at Mudahalli is a part, has the potential to provide unhindered habitat connectivity for one of the largest Asian elephant populations in the world. The area is a critical link for wild animal movement between the BRT and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserves and is essential for the long-term conservation of wildlife in the landscape. The Mudahalli Corridor specifically links the Talavadi Range of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and the Punjur Range of BRT Tiger Reserve. It is about 1.5 km long and ranges in width from 200 to 300 metres, which is not sufficient for the free movement of elephants. The corridor’s importance is underscored by the fact that the other elephant corridor between these Protected Areas, Punjur, is almost completely blocked leaving Mudahalli as the last connection. WTI had, in collaboration with the Karnataka Forest Department and World Land Trust, last year initiated plans to secure this vital habitat.

The Mudahalli Elephant Link project is part of WTI’s umbrella Right of Passage project, under which it is seeking secure the unhindered movement of elephants through 101 identified elephant corridors across India in the long-term.