Shekroo brings Maharashtra into news

Dilip Chaware / TNN / Jun 18, 2005, 22:12 IST

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MUMBAI : Shekroo (giant squirrel) population in the Bheemashankar sanctuary in Pune district has shown an impressive 10 percent increase.

MUMBAI : There is some good news and some bad. The good news is that the Shekroo (giant squirrel) population in the Bheemashankar sanctuary in Pune district has shown an impressive 10 percent increase, taking the number of this rare species to over 1100 in a year's time. Shekroo is Maharashtra's wildlife emblem.
The bad news is that the 130 sq km sanctuary, which houses about 1100 different wild species, has been recording an alarming increase in the volume of plastic refuse, dumped by the devotees who throng the Bheemashankar temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in India.
Forest conservator DR Parihar told TOI on Saturday that Shekroo, the flagship species, found in this rain forest was called ratufa indica bheemashankari and stood out from the giant squirrels found in other parts of the Western Ghats.
Nearly 60 cm long, this Shekroo has rufous brown dorsal (brown-gold) coat and a fat tail. Extremely agile, Shekroo leaps from the branches of one tree to another. "The fact that the number of Shekroos has shown an increase of over 350 in two years shows that the forest cover is intact, in fact growing, in Bheemashankar," according to range forest officer VVBapat, who was closely connected with the Shekroo census.

Despite the increasing number of giant squirrels, Maharashtra's director of publicity Pralhad Jadhav is a worried man. He took an extensive tour of the sanctuary a few weeks ago. Jadhav and his team found to their horror that plastic was dumped indiscriminately around the ancient Shiva temple. Though efforts are being done in a few pockets to collect and shift the plastic garbage away, the accumulation is so enormous that a sustained campaign would have to be undertaken to rid of it, he feels. Animals and bests could choke to death because of the plastic, he has warned.

Describing his on the spot impressions, Jadhav said the sanctuary and adjoining lands formed the catchment area for the Ghod and Bheema rivers. "If the proliferation of plastic is not prevented in time, this could harm the vegetation and finally, the rainfall. This is an impending danger which needs to be fought at the earliest," Jadhav has urged the authorities.
Along with the Shekroo census, the forest department carried out a panther census, too, in the sanctuary. Besides the departmental staff, nearly two dozen volunteers of 'Tekdi,' a Pune NGO, joined in the excercise, which was undertaken in April this year. A subsequent count was taken in May. Based on the pugmarks and the night visits of the beasts to water bodies, the findings have confirmed the residence of nine panthers.
_According to the findings, a Shekroo builds up to half a dozen nests, at the tip of very thin branches. It keeps on moving from one to another and makes a rattling noise after noticing unfamiliar presence. It feeds on fruits, flowers and leaves. "Therefore, the Shekroo mortality is almost negligible," Bapat said.

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