Cement bowls filled with water placed at Sittanavasal for monkeys and peacocks amid rising mercury level

Rising mercury levels has prompted the authorities to place cement bowls and fill them with water to quench the thirst of monkeys, peacocks, and other birds at Sittanavasal, a prominent tourist spot in Pudukottai district

Rising mercury levels has prompted the authorities to place cement bowls and fill them with water to quench the thirst of monkeys, peacocks, and other birds at Sittanavasal, a prominent tourist spot in Pudukottai district.

Ten such cement bowls have been placed at different spots in Sittanavasal where troops of monkeys reside. The exercise of filling water in the bowls commenced on Saturday on the instruction of the District Collector. The Forest Department, District Rural Development Agency and the Tourism Department are jointly involved in this exercise.

Amid rise in mercury level, it was felt that monkeys, which are in good numbers at Sittanavasal besides peacocks and other birds, require water to quench their thirst. Hence, cement bowls have been placed at identified spots and were replenished with water regularly, said a field-level official.

The Forest department is filling water regularly in the trough it had created inside the sprawling Narthamalai reserve forest in the district to cater to the drinking water requirements of animals and birds during summer. The water trough is a big structure which can store about 8,000 litres of water, the official added. The Narthamalai reserve forest, whose area is about 700 hectares, has some check dams and percolation ponds inside.