Ranchi/Jamshedpur: With summer temperatures set to rise further in the coming days, wildlife reserve authorities have begun preparing a summer action plan to keep animals within forest areas.During summer, wild animals often stray into human settlements in search of water, increasing the risk of human-animal conflict.With deaths due to elephant-human conflicts being reported frequently in recent times, authorities at both the Dalma Elephant Sanctuary and the Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) said on Monday that several initiatives are being planned to ensure the availability of water and food within the reserves.PTR’s divisional forest officer (south), Kumar Ashish, said that recent rainfall has helped natural water bodies within the 1,130 sq km reserve retain some water. However, he expressed concern that a crisis may emerge in the coming weeks as summer intensifies.“We have set up around 100 artificial troughs across PTR, which will be filled daily using tankers,” he said.In Dalma, authorities are also preparing to ensure sufficient water availability.
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Divisional forest officer Saba Alam said that 50 new ponds and 20 check dams have been constructed across the hilly forest terrain, primarily to prevent elephants from straying into villages during peak summer.Additionally, several ponds were desilted in Feb and March, while desilting work is ongoing at other locations.Dalma currently has around 60 artificial ponds, an official said.