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• Defacing of rocks in Tamil Nadu despite court ban
• Baby turtles die in thousands in unseasonal rain

Defacing of rocks in Tamil Nadu despite court ban (Go to Top)

          Coimbatore: Defacing of rocks continues in many places in Tamil Nadu despite a Supreme Court ban. Environmentalists say this could lead to a major environmental problem. The current election season has further brought about defacing as most of the political parties are making their presence felt through writings and paintings on these rocks. The political parties and private institutions advertise on these rocks to lure either the traveler or the rural populace. R. Murugavelu, a lawyer and the president of Tamil Nadu Natural Resources Protection Movement, said the paints used on the rocks pollute the streams and rivers when it is washed away in rains. "Despite the ban such acts of defacing of rocks are continuing in and around the hilly areas of Konkan and Nilgiris. We the environmentalists feel that if the paints which are used on the rocks, are washed away by the rain, it will pollute the streams and rivers which will lead to tremendous environmental degradation," he said. Fossil experts further say the paints contain poisonous chemicals that sneak into the pores and create crevices in them, thus degenerating the rocks further. "If we paint the rocks with enamel paints, this will cause damage to the entire rock, that is boulder, causing them to fall down. This unhealthy habit of defacing rocks should be stopped," said ARK Arun, a fossil expert. Environmentalists warn that if such activities continue, the state that is supposed to have the oldest rocks in the country will face a major threat.
May 7, 2004

Baby turtles die in thousands in unseasonal rain (Go to Top)

          Rishikulya: Thousands of hatchlings of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles have died in Orissa as unseasonal rains washed away nests and the rest got strangulated by the compacted sand. Authorities have launched a rescue operation and volunteers are locating and digging out the little turtles from the nests. Officials estimate that only about 50,000 baby turtles have crawled out of the sandy shores of the Rishikulalya beach, one of the world's largest nesting grounds, 50 percent less than the expected number. "Due to unseasonal rain, which occurred just about when the hatching was about to take place and which has been going on in coastal Orissa since the last one week, the sand got compacted and the turtles could not dig their way out of the nest. As a result of this a lot of hatchlings are trapped inside the sand and they are dying an untimely death," Biswajit Mohanty, a turtle expert, said.

          Every year as winter rolls around, the endangered Olive Ridleys move in large groups to three major nesting sites along the Orissa coast before returning to the sea. Over a million turtles made their ritual trek to the nesting sites to dig sand pits and lay eggs last month. Last year, around 700,000 turtles came ashore. There was no mass nesting in 1997 and 1998 as the turtles skipped the beach. The turtles may be protected under India's Wildlife Protection Act, but conservationists say as many as 50,000 turtles have died at the hands of humans, either directly or indirectly over the past five years. The reptiles are mangled by fishing trawler propellers, or suffocated in fishermen's gill nets. They are also killed by pollution, and by poachers, who hunt them for their meat. The turtles are also especially vulnerable because of high mortality rates. According to studies, only one out of of every 1,000 hatchlings normally reaches adulthood.
May 2, 2004

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