Animals at tourist spots in Shivamogga district, which have changed their dietary habits because of their constant interaction with visitors, are being offered food during the lockdown by some Good Samaritans.
Over six lakh tourists visit Jog Falls every year to watch the Sharavathi plunge from a height of 830 feet. There are around 80 monkeys in the vicinity of the viewpoint. Normally, tourists offer them the food they bring from home and snacks purchased from nearby.
Shankar, a worker serving with the Jog Development Authority, told The Hindu that as these monkeys are accustomed to the food consumed by humans, they are reluctant to eat the fresh fruits available in plenty in the forest. “When the lockdown was enforced, Jog was closed for tourists and we found that the monkeys were starving,” he said. Mr. Shankar, with the help of Ramesh, another person working with the authority, collects food from households and a few shopkeepers in Jog-Kargal Town Panchayat limits to feed the monkeys twice a day.
Meanwhile, the three-km stretch of Tunga river near Chibbalagudde that hosts 27 varieties of fish has been declared a fish sanctuary by the State government. The fish here have developed a fondness for dry puffed rice, curd rice and other food offered by pilgrims who visit the Siddhi Vinayaka temple on the river bank.
Members of Samaana Manaska Geleyara Balaga, a forum of youngsters engaged in social service in Tirthahalli town, have made arrangements to ensure that the fish get this kind of food regularly. They have have donated rice and puffed rice and requested the family of the temple priest to feed the fish, said Soppugudde Raghavendra, a forum member.
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