Census of endangered hangul in a week

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 2

While the state government has submitted a comprehensive proposal to the Centre to save hangul (Kashmir stag) from extinction, the population of the endangered sub-species of red deer is declining with each passing year.

The state government has been making tall claims about taking effective steps to preserve hangul — the state animal — but the official data shows that the number of hangul has reduced from 5,000 to just 186.

Hangul is only found in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are going to conduct a fresh census in a week. We hope that the population will have increased this time,” said Tahir Ahmad Shawl, Wildlife Warden, central Kashmir.

“For the last two years, we have taken many steps for their conservation. Disturbance in their habitat is the main cause of the reduction in their population. The pressure from grazing has significantly reduced as more grazing grounds have come up,” said Shawl, exuding confidence that the steps taken by the government in the last two years will yield encouraging results.

The last census of hangul was conducted in March 2015. After proper analysis, it was found that the estimated population of hangul was not more than 186.

“It will take nearly a week to conduct the census of hangul,” Shawl said. He said three readings would be conducted to know the exact number of the endangered species. “After three readings, a scientific analysis would be conducted to get the accurate figures of hangul,” he said.

Forest Minister Choudhary Lal Singh recently admitted in the Legislative Assembly that the status of hangul was “critical” and its population had declined to a meagre 186 from 5,000 as per the 2015 census.

The state government has already submitted a recovery plan to the Central Government for approval and funding to the tune of Rs 25.72 crores over a period of five years to save the endangered deer from extinction. The plan provides under component ex-situ conservation, completion of construction and maintenance of conservation breeding centre, veterinarians, research fellows, collection plan training and red deer breeding expertise consultancy.

Census records

Year - Population

2006          117 to 190

2008          127 to 199

2009          210 to 234

2011          202 to 218

2015          81 to 186