What is in news : The menace of tourists feeding wild animals has resurfaced at Bandipur tiger reserve

Details :

• Photograph of the journalist feeding a spotted deer went viral on social media
• Tiger reserve is bisected by two national highways

Concern :

• Practices of feeding wild animals are a danger for animals because they tend to lose their fear of human beings
• Such animals become more susceptible to be trapped and poached
• Animals can also venture into human landscape and could trailed by carnivores. It could also escalate human-animal conflict
• If animals become habituated to being fed by humans, their habit of forage for fodder in the wild and survive through tough times could be lost in long term

BANDIPUR TIGER RESERVE

• Established in 1973 under Project Tiger. In 1985, by including adjacent areas from Venugopala Wildlife Park, it was enlarged and named as Bandipur National Park.
• Situated in two contiguous districts (Mysore and Chamarajanagar) of Karnataka and is located at the tri-junction area of the States Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It forms a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
• The park is located between the Kabini river in the north and the Moyar river in the south. The Nugu river runs through the park. The highest point in the park is on a hill called Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta.
• The Bandipur along with Nagarahole, Mudumalai, Sathyamangalam & Wayanad constitutes the single largest Wild population of Tigers in the world.
• This Landscape is also home to the single largest Asian Elephant population in the world and is part of the Mysore Elephant Reserve (MER).