- First in India, Tamil Nadu is gearing up to set up Kaduvur Slender Loris Sanctuary in an area shared by Karur and Dindigul districts. The Tamil Nadu government has notified the sanctuary under Section 26 (A)(1)(b) of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
- The 11,800 hectares of Kadavur Slender Loris Sanctuary will cover Vedasandur, Dindigul East and Natham taluks in Dindigul, and Kadavur in Karur district.
- The Slender Lorises (Loris) are a genus of loris native to India and Sri Lanka.
- The genus comprises two species – the red Slender Loris found in Sri Lanka and the gray Slender Loris from Sri Lanka and India.
- They are found in tropical rainforests, scrub forests, semi-deciduous forests and swamps.
- In India, the animal is largely found in the Eastern Ghats of the Karur and Dindigul Forest Divisions.
- According to a census taken in 2016-17 by the Forest Department, the Kadavur Reserve Forest has a population of 3,500 Slender Loris, which is estimated to be around 5,000 currently.
- The Kadavur Slender Loris Sanctuary is a happy addition to the state’s efforts to protect and conserve wildlife in the state. Recently, the Tamil Nadu government has also notified India’s first Dugong Conservation Reserve in Palk Bay, an elephant reserve at Agasthyamalai (Tirunelveli), Nanjarayan Tank Birds Sanctuary in Tiruppur and Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary in Villipuram. Also, a total of 13 wetland areas were declared recently as Ramsar Sites in Tamil Nadu.
India’s first Slender Loris sanctuary notified in Tamil Nadu
