Bengaluru, Oct 9 (IANS): The Indian postal department released 8 special covers to mark the 66th 'Wildlife Week', which began on October 2 and concluded on Thursday across Karnataka.

"Karnataka circle's acting chief postmaster general Sheuli Burman released 6 special covers at a function in the state forest department, marking the wildlife week here," said the department of posts in a statement.

The first special cover is on Rajiv Gandhi National Park, depicting the Indian elephant, which is an inhabitant of the sanctuary at Nagarhole in the state's Mysuru-Kodagu districts.

Second cover is on Bannerghatta National Park on the southern outskirts of Bengaluru, displaying Honey Badger in its sanctuary.

Third cover is on Kudremukh National Park in the state's Chikkamagaluru district, showing its Lion Tailed Macque, a primate, found mostly in the rich bio-diverse Western Ghats across the southern state.

Fourth cover is on Anshi National Park in the state's Uttara Kannada district with its black panther.

Fifth cover is on Bandipur National Park in the state's Chamarajanagar district, with the famous Indian tiger in its sprawling sanctuary.

Sixth cover is on the Wildlife Week, celebrated from October 2-8 every year the world over to promote and preserve flora and fauna.

Seventh and eighth special covers were released at Dharwad in the state's northwest region on Kappatagudda wildlife sanctuary in Gadag district, with its Star Buck and on Magadikere wildlife sanctuary in Kodagu district with its migratory birds' bar-headed geese.

State's forest department additional chief secretary Sandeep Dave, state's principal chief conservator of forests Sanjai Mohan, and principal chief conservator of forests for wildlife Ajai Misra were present on the occasion.

At Dharwad, about 430 km northwest of Bengaluru, Gadag superintendent of post H.B. Hasabi released the seventh and eighth covers in the presence of Dharwad circle chief conservator of forests Manjunath Chavan, Dharwad deputy commissioner M. Sundaresh Babu and deputy conservator of forests A.V. Surya Sen.

The special covers will be available for sale at philatelic bureaus of the main post offices in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mysuru and Belagavi across the southern state.

The wildlife week was celebrated across the state, with a series of programmes and events to create awareness and care for its rich flora and fauna.

"The 66th Wildlife Week was celebrated with events like cyclethon, walkathon and webnairs to commemorate wildlife conservation," Karnataka Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Shiva Raj Singh told IANS here.

Unlike in the past, the wildlife week is, however, low-key this year due to the coronavirus impact and guidelines to maintain social distancing.

Karnataka is the sixth largest state in the country with 38,720 sq.km of forest area, which covers around 20 per cent of the southern state.

Being a part of the southern peninsula in the Deccan region, Karnataka's ecosystem supports different kinds of forests, ranging from the wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats to deciduous forests of the Mysuru district to thorn scrub forests and rocky outcrops of Ramanagara and Daroji, extending to the riverine and marine ecosystems.

As the theme of this year's wildlife awareness week is "Vultures for Future", Kannada film actor and former ambassador for the state's forest life Ramesh Arvind said "as scavengers, vultures are vital contributors in maintaining the ecological balance."

The country's only vulture sanctuary is atop the Ramadevarabhatta in Ramanagara district, 55 km southwest of Bengaluru on the way to Mysuru.