About Disease Control
It is critical to alleviate and reduce all chances of diseases in domestic animal populations in villages that border a critical wildlife habitat that hosts all our endangered asiatic species. One of the most critical diseases that jump from domestic dogs to large carnivores is Canine Distemper Virus. Canine distemper is a contagious and serious disease caused by a virus that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of puppies and dogs.
Evolution of the virus has ensured that it spreads to species other than domestic dogs, such as big cats, causing the National Tiger Conservation Authority to issue a “Most Urgent Notification” to all tiger reserves in the country concerning the threat of CDV to tiger populations. Tiger, leopard and wild dog populations in India live in increasingly fragmented landscapes, with much of their home range adjacent to agricultural and inhabited areas. Large carnivores are also more closely related to domestic dogs and cats, as evidence of its intrusion into Indi- an lion, leopard and tiger populations shows (Balamurugan et al. 2012; Blythe et al. 1983). This makes them vulnerable to picking up the virus from domestic dog populations.
MCT has been actively involved in trying to reduce the domestic and feral dog populations in villages surrounding the Bandipur Tiger Reserve. As and when funds permitting, Animal Birth control for dogs has been carried out in villagers abutting the reserve. MCT has conducted a Rabies and Canine Distemper drive in 150 villages within a 2 kilometre radius of the Bandipur tiger reserve, vaccinating 1200 dogs. This project was supported by WWF – India. ABC programs have been carried out also by the sale and auction of my wildlife paintings. The ultimate goal is to procure a mobile veterinarian clinic that can travel into remote villages with a veterinary doctor on a full time basis who can monitor and treat all diseases within the domestic animal populations abutting to the tiger reserve.
What People
Say About Us
The Mariamma Charitable Trust has done really commendable work in protecting tigers and leopards from retaliatory killing, whilst also addressing the economic losses that the rural people face when their cattle are killed by large carnivores.
The Trust’s work in providing free health care and support for education also greatly helps to improve the lives of the poorest of the poor in the local communities
am a veterinarian with the Wildlife Trust of India and we work in close collaboration with the Forest Department of Karnataka. I first met Sunita when I was 14 years old.
She is totally dedicated to wildlife and is passionate about her work. My role is to attend to injured and dying animals and to build bridges between the local people who suffer losses and the Forest Department. Things have been so much easier with Sunita’s input. I feel she has made a great deal of change in the perceptions of the local people and has contributed greatly towards reducing human-animal conflict in this belt.
This area in the tiger reserve is a mosaic of communities, agricultural land and forests. Traditionally the villagers have tolerated the wildlife but as the human wildlife conflict has intensified, antagonism is fast replacing this tolerance.
Sunita and the Mariamma Charitable Trust are working hard to maintain the traditional tolerance through a multi-pronged approach that focuses on enhancing healthcare and compensating farmers who lose live-stock to large carnivores from the park. These steps are important precursors to achieving the larger goal – the co-existence of human communities and wildlife with both benefiting from the other; humans from the economic value that living close to wildlife can bring through tourism and for wildlife, the maintenance of their habitat, giving them optimal access to food and water. The local communities are confident in the Trust and the dynamic and committed team – your financial support will only further the cause of conservation in this outstanding environment.
