The Central government has not cleared the proposal sent by J&K Government to save hangul (Kashmir stag) from extinction. The hangul population is at an all time low of 186, according to official data.
The Central government had earlier provided funds to the State Wildlife Department for the revival of hanguls in the forests of Kashmir, but their population is on the decline. The J&K government had submitted a recovery plan for hangul to the Central Government, asking funds to the tune of Rs 26 crore.
In order to send another comprehensive proposal to the Central Forest Ministry, the Wildlife Authorities are going to conduct a fresh census within the first 15 days of March 2017, a senior official told this newspaper. He said that they will conduct three readings to know the exact number of hanguls in the Dachigam forest after a scientific analysis.
According to the experts, the government has failed to start the captive breeding programme, which will really help boost the hangul population.
The government has set up a conservation breeding centre for hanguls at Shikargah Tral in South Kashmir, but the programme could not be started as the officials have failed to get fawns into this area of the project.
A senior official said that they have not been able to capture live male and female hanguls and get them into the breeding centre of Tral. He said that it was necessary for them to create a parent stock for the species’ recovery programme. “We are looking for fawns to create a parent stock as we don’t need full grown hanguls as he may struggle and die,” the official said.
In the past few years, wildlife authorities at Dachigam, which is the main sanctuary of hanguls, have taken a lot of steps so that their habitat is not disturbed. They feel that one of the main causes of the reduction in their population has been vehicular movement, footfall of tourists inside the Dachigam sanctuary and grazing of sheep.
Recently in a written reply in the State Legislative Assembly, Forest Minister Chaduary Lal Singh admitted that the status of hanguls was critical. He said that they were in the process of marking the boundaries of Dachigam National Park and adjacent conservation areas in order to protect these areas.