Abstract

Based on published information and general observations in the 11 wildlife sanctuaries of Kerala, an integrated picture of their status and problems is presented. The 11 sanctuaries, including the National Parks in Silent Valley and Eravikulam, and the newly declared bird sanctuaries, Thattekkad and Peruvannamoozhi, occupy about 2300 square km. accounting for about 40 of the geographical area of Kerala. The animal diversity unique to the Western Ghats is well represented in the sanctuaries. There are more than 35 large and medium sized animals which include rare ones like rusty spotted cat, fishing cat, brown palm civet, ruddy mangoose, stripe-necked mongoose, brown mongoose, clawless otter and Nilgiri tahr and the endangered lion-tailed macaque. For framing suitable management strategies, the sanctuaries can be classified into 3 categories. The first category includes Silent Valley, Eravikulam and Thattekkad where it is advisable not to do any management or interference