Hangul, the rare Kashmir deer, may soon go extinct

Srigar, May 23: The endangered hangul, also known as Kashmir deer, is in the throes of extinction, largely because of human intrusions and domestic livestock grazing at its only habitat here. Wildlife experts and activists claim they have been raising the alarm, calling for stringent measures to check human intrusions at Srigar’s famed Dachigam tiol park, the main concentration of the endangered elk species. But the authorities have allowed grazing in the sprawling tiol park, spread over 141 sq. km, for what the activists say mere “political reasons”, which has gravely endangered the existence of hangul. Once found in the high altitudes of northern India and Pakistan, the animal now only lives in the dense riverine forests of Dachigam, some 22 km from here.

According to official figures, hangul population has been declining steeply over the years since the last century when there were some 5,000 deer in the Kashmir Valley. The 1947 hangul census recorded its number at 2,000. The massive decline was mainly attributed to poaching then. The last census was done in 2011 when its population was found just over 200, according to the wildlife department figures. “For vote bank politics, the successive governments have allowed grazing in the prohibited area to keep a particular constituency in good humour,” a senior wildlife official told this reporter, requesting not to be med. The official was referring to Kashmir’s “bakarwal” community — the nomadic tribe that is mainly into goat herding and shepherding.

Without ming anybody, he said a minister in the previous government of the tiol Conference-Congress combine had an unwritten rule that bakarwal should be allowed to graze their animal wherever they want. Tassaduq Mueen, a green activist in Kashmir, explained how grazing during the summer months in the upper reaches of the park, where deer usually move around in search of food, has “wreaked havoc” to its tural habitat. “The presence of such a huge number of livestock has shrunk its tural habitat, substantially,” Mueen said, adding hangul is a shy animal and doesn’t like being disturbed. He said during the breeding season, which coincides with summer months, the intrusions in hangul’s tural habitat causes disturbances.

“The interference around pregnt hinds leads to stress which ultimately causes tural abortion of its fawn. In many other cases, fawn becomes a prey of the dogs and other wild animals like jackals and foxes accompanying grazers . With so low survival rate, the hangul population will not grow in this situation,” Mueen said.

Sami Amin, a researcher in the wildlife department, said nowhere in the world are tiol parks used for grazing. “Call it (Dachigam) anything but a tiol park,” she said, pointing out that there is a full-fledged government-run sheep breeding centre inside the park that has also contributed to the dwindling hangul population. The breeding centre causes bacterial infections that affect fetuses of hind resulting in a low birthrate of hangul, she said. “There is also a battalion of security forces, offices of fisheries, protocol, and tourism departments inside the park. Even some influential people have constructed structures outside the park in complete violation of rules. Deer population can’t grow in such a stressful environment,” Amin warned. Asked why the department had not so far been able to check grazing and stop human interference to save hangul, C. Behra, the regiol wildlife warden, said they would not allow any grazing inside the tiol park from “now on”. “We have already passed stringent orders against the grazing inside Dachigam,” he said. If that happens, it might be too late for the fragile species on the verge of vanishing. (IANS)