Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary

Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary is located 10 km from the city of Jamshedpur in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It was inaugurated by Sanjay Gandhi in 1975.GeographyDalma Wildlife Sanctuary is situated around the Dalma Hills. Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary is a much larger area starting from Chandil to 40 km east. The sanctuary on paper is spread around in 195 km2.It is about 100 km. from the capital city Ranchi, and 15 km. from the steel city Jamshedpur. This sanctuary attracts varied strata of people right from the city dwellers, students to nature lovers. The wildlife sanctuary runs parallel to the NH-33 with majestic hills as high as 915 ft. from sea level. Dalma Sanctuary is spread over 193 sqkm. of forests of East Singhbhum and Saraikela-kharsawan districts of the state of Jharkhand. The forests of Dalma come under the category "Dry peninsular Sal" and "Northern Dry Mixed Deciduous Forest". Most part of Dalma forests shed leaves in the summer and attains its full bloom at the onset of monsoon.FloraThe forest cover is denuded up to 90% because of selective pilferage by timber mafia over many years.FaunaThe wildlife sanctuary has elephants, barking deer, sloth bear and porcupines as the main inhabitants. Famous for holding many elephants and other animals, which come downhill during the monsoons and winter and enter nearby villages and towns of Jharkhand and West Bengal. This occasionally leads to conflicts between man and elephants. The animal population has severely declined because of the sinister practice of Desua Sangar which is a carnage of wild animals in summer under some animist religious garb and also due to the severely depleted forest cover.