Media reported on a couple who raised their own rainforest
A couple in India spent 26 years to turn abandoned land in the tropical forest inhabited by rare and endangered species.
Pamela Gale Malhotra and her husband, Anil Malhotra, has created the Sai sanctuary, the only private wildlife sanctuary in India. Founded in 1991, is now the forest stretches for more than 121 hectares, It is home to more than 200 endangered species of flora and fauna, among them the Bengal tiger and Asian elephant, writes Bored Panda.
“When we first came here, most of the land that was sold to us, was abandoned, — says Pamela in an interview with the Great Big Story. Abandoned paddy fields, coffee and cardamom plantations. There was a strong deforestation. And it took a lot, a lot of attention and time and energy and years to restore the forest”.
Couple makes 300 acres of #Karnataka’s Kodagu #forest into a sanctuary https://t.co/2e5A3AUHk4 @IUCN_forests @thebetterindia pic.twitter.com/nQMLEjYA7x
— India Water Portal (@indiawater) 3 Jun 2017
Indian Kodagu district, where there is a man-made sanctuary, has experienced a sharp decline in forest cover from 86% in 1970 to 16% today. Pamela explained that it has a disastrous effect on the distribution of precipitation and water supply not only in this district but throughout South India.
Now, thanks to the efforts of the couple appeared in the forest where animals can find shelter. Thus the animals help maintain the health of the forest. “We both feel immense joy when you walk through the nature reserve,” says Pamela, who is not, what can bring greater happiness than to see such results of their labors.
“I remember we went to these places and heard nothing except the sound of his own steps. Now the forest lives, he is filled with a variety of sounds,” says Pamela.
(Video in English).
“My planet” talked about another Indian couple, who has devoted his life to the restoration of forests. Calomarde Thimmakka and her husband Sri Bekkala, Ciccia from Karnataka, southern India, was childless. Their parental love and care they gave the trees about which they cared as children. Spouse has not survived to the present day and age Calomarde exceeded a hundred. Now she carries the title of “mother of trees” and enjoys a high esteem among the locals.