HPF factory in Udhagamandalam now hosts wildlife

Unit premises is home to a variety of species, some of them rare

In almost a decade since operations ceased at the Hindustan Photo Films (HPF) factory in Udhagamandalam town, the surrounding forests have slowly made inroads into the factory premises and brought in a variety of endangered wildlife that have made the factory their home. Local residents say Asiatic wild dogs (commonly known as dhole), leopards, sloth bears, Indian gaur, sambar deer and barking deer, and rare species of birds are sighted regularly on the 200-acre premises. Nilgiris-based conservationist N. Mohanraj says the land on which the factory was built was an extension of the Wenlock Downs grassland-Shola forest mosaic, and is contiguous with the Sandynallah reserve forest and Thalakundah.