Wildlife study to find focus spots
Jayashree Nandi
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New Delhi
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Plan To Conserve Vulnerable Aravali Fauna
A study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will soon point out “potential“ wildlife areas in the Aravalis in Haryana that require special conservation measures and protection from urbanisation. The Haryana forest department had commissioned WII to carry out a survey to identify vulnerable areas that needed government intervention.The Aravali range ends in Haryana and is, therefore, an ecologically fragile region that is threatened by modernity . Unlike in Rajasthan, which has a number of protected areas, including the Sariska National Park, the wildlife-rich areas of Haryana had never been identified. “The forest department wants to have a document at hand to be able to resist any pressure to change land use,“ said Bilal Habib of the animal ecology and conservation biology department at WII.
The WII team comprising project biologists Anchal Bhasin and Paridhi Jain, along with local villagers, have finished scouting a 30-km area around Damdama lake, Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary and parts of Mewat in the past month or so.They found ample evidence of wildlife, particularly around Damdama lake, including a 2.5-km-long trail of leopard pugmarks. They also noticed hyena pugmarks and some unidentified pugmarks that could be of the Indian fox.
The two field biologists and the villagers are currently conducting carnivore surveys based on pugmarks, scat and direct sightings as well as an ungulate survey based on the lie-transect method. Bhasin and Jain and their associates, such as Sunil Harsana, a wildlife activist and resident of Roz Ka Gujjar, comb the forest areas of Haryana every day from 6 am to 7 pm.
“We knew that there was rich wildlife in these regions,“ said Harsana. “The WII study will officially put this on record.“ Apart from large carnivores like leopards and hyenas, the surveyors have seen jack als, jungle cats, honey badgers and pugmarks of animals that are yet to be identified.
Despite the presence of tigers in the Rajasthan Aravalis, the WII team isn't quite hopeful of finding the big cats on the Haryana side because the habitat is quite degraded. “There is too much human presence and disturbance for tigers to be living here. Tigers also don't prefer undulating terrain as habitats,“ explained Bhasin.She said that if it could be confirmed that the Indian fox could indeed be found here, it would be an important discovery .Indicators of leopard presence are, of course, the most important discovery because it means there are many other smal ler animals living there on which the spotted cats prey .
The team will submit its initial report in a couple of months after which camera trappings will begin to corroborate the findings.
Local activists are looking forward to the WII report because there is immense pressure from the real estate sector to start constructions close to Damdama. “ Around 5,000 acres of the lake's catchment area are already privatized. There will soon be pressure to allow building of residential apartments,“ worries Colonel SS Oberoi, a resident of the area. He is hopeful, however, that the WII survey will thwart such designs.
The WII team comprising project biologists Anchal Bhasin and Paridhi Jain, along with local villagers, have finished scouting a 30-km area around Damdama lake, Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary and parts of Mewat in the past month or so.They found ample evidence of wildlife, particularly around Damdama lake, including a 2.5-km-long trail of leopard pugmarks. They also noticed hyena pugmarks and some unidentified pugmarks that could be of the Indian fox.
The two field biologists and the villagers are currently conducting carnivore surveys based on pugmarks, scat and direct sightings as well as an ungulate survey based on the lie-transect method. Bhasin and Jain and their associates, such as Sunil Harsana, a wildlife activist and resident of Roz Ka Gujjar, comb the forest areas of Haryana every day from 6 am to 7 pm.
“We knew that there was rich wildlife in these regions,“ said Harsana. “The WII study will officially put this on record.“ Apart from large carnivores like leopards and hyenas, the surveyors have seen jack als, jungle cats, honey badgers and pugmarks of animals that are yet to be identified.
Despite the presence of tigers in the Rajasthan Aravalis, the WII team isn't quite hopeful of finding the big cats on the Haryana side because the habitat is quite degraded. “There is too much human presence and disturbance for tigers to be living here. Tigers also don't prefer undulating terrain as habitats,“ explained Bhasin.She said that if it could be confirmed that the Indian fox could indeed be found here, it would be an important discovery .Indicators of leopard presence are, of course, the most important discovery because it means there are many other smal ler animals living there on which the spotted cats prey .
The team will submit its initial report in a couple of months after which camera trappings will begin to corroborate the findings.
Local activists are looking forward to the WII report because there is immense pressure from the real estate sector to start constructions close to Damdama. “ Around 5,000 acres of the lake's catchment area are already privatized. There will soon be pressure to allow building of residential apartments,“ worries Colonel SS Oberoi, a resident of the area. He is hopeful, however, that the WII survey will thwart such designs.
Source: Times of India, 5-02-2016
