Veerappan-on-the-run leads to an increase in green cover

NEW DELHI, JULY 7: The name evokes images of dead elephants, chopped trees and bloodied guns. But, bizarre as it may sound, a recent scie...

NEW DELHI, JULY 7: The name evokes images of dead elephants, chopped trees and bloodied guns. But, bizarre as it may sound, a recent scientific study has shown that the forest cover has actually increased in areas where forest brigand Veerappan has been active!

The study attributes this upward trend due to the increased presence of security forces in the “Veerappan-infested forest area” resulting in better protection. So there might actually be some benefits of having Veerappan slink around in the forests.

Analysing remote-sensing images and maps, scientists from Bangalore’s Forest Survey of India have found that forest cover had gone up by an overall 14 per cent between 1989 to 1995 in areas where Veerappan has been active: Coimbatore, Nilgiri, Periyar, Salem, Dharmapuri and South Arcot.

However, in the same time period, forest cover decreased by about 22 per cent in areas where Veerappan doesn’t prowl: Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Chennai, Madurai, Thanjavur, Chengalpattu, Ramandu and North Arcot.

Scientists B Shivaraj and Shashidhar who conducted this study say that these patterns which are actually “contrary to expectations” can’t be attributed “merely to chance” for statistical analysis bears it out that “Veerappan-infested areas are actually regenerating better.”

Their finds are reported in the latest issue of the Indian journal Current Science. Veerappan is estimated to have killed over 5,000 elephants and smuggled thousands of kilos of sandalwood. He has been on the run since 1991. A Special Task Force was set up to arrest him.

Scientists say the presence of security forces may has resulted in better protection because of the strict restrictions placed by the Special Task Force on the entry of locals into the forests.

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In the study, scientists have not estimated the animal population and hence one may have forests bouncing back but devoid of large mammals, which continuously fall prey to poachers.

The researchers offer a word of caution saying that that their results should not in any way be interpreted as “implying that poaching has a positive impact.” What one is seeing is actually a “locale-specific” upswing simply because of the elimination of the much larger human pressure, directly attributable to the increased presence of police in the area.