edited 420 words kannaudhagamandalam in these times of drought distress animal lovers in the nilgiris are proving to be good samaritans for the tribals in the regionin a bid to save the starving cattle in the tribal villages animal lovers in the nilgiris are rendering a helping hand by getting fodder from najangud in karnataka and distributing it to those who rear cattle due to the long dry spell grazing areas in bokkapuram kurumbapadi and vazhaithottam where the tribals live in the nilgiris have gone dry with no fodder for cattlenagina reddy who lives in bokkapuram felt she had to do something when she learned that cattle in the area was dying due to starvation i visited a few tribal villages close to where i live i saw cattle looking very weak nagina an animal lover said she then went on social media and discussed the situation with likeminded people people instantly came forward and donated money this helped us supply fodder to the surrounding villages she saidwhile the first two truckloads of fodder was bought at the cost of rs15000 from paddy fields in nanjangud the subsequent two loads were managed at the cost of rs10000 each it is an ongoing process till date we have supplied fodder to four villages in the past twenty days nagina said she urged businessmen and animal lovers in ooty to come forward and help this cause so that more villages could benefit the vegetable waste that collects in the ooty market daily goes to waste if that could be transported to bokkapuram by the government it would be of great help she saida truck load of fodder was supplied at least to 4050 tribals in vazhaithottam on wednesday we are fortunate to get help from the locals in keeping our livestock healthy these good samaritans have helped save our cattle said masi a kurumba tribal from kurumbapadi villagedr rangasamy joint director animal husbandry told toi considering the drought situation in the hills we have opened a fodder sales depot at masinagudi tender has been floated for procuring fodder from the plains sales would start from monday cattle owners can buy fodder at rs2 per kgtribal villages located in bokkapauram and masinagudi areas fall under mtr buffer zone srinivas r reddy field director mudumalai tiger reserve mtr told toi the mtr does not have any direct responsibility for the cattle owned by the tribals their cattle are free to graze in the forest areaaccording to the official as per the forest act sheep and cattle are free to graze in the grass lands within the forest area but goats are not allowed as they are browsing animalscontent statewritingin use byreportersanil mathewlast modified0102 2154 kanna annamalairequested size actual size 93 lin 84014pcategorycontextual use normaldescriptioncorrectionall usages