Manali to have monal breeding centre by Dec-end

Tribune News Service

Kullu, November 27

To conserve the endangered but majestic pheasant bird monal, the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) authority will set up an advanced breeding centre at Manali.

Director of the GHNP SS Kataik said today that all preparations were underway and till December-end this year, the authority would make the breeding centre at Manali operational to conserve the endangered species monal.

According to Kataik, there was a number of Himalayan monal in the GHNP but there was need to make more efforts to conserve them and with the start of this centre, it would be great help in this direction.

“To keep a constant watch on birds, cameras will be installed in cages and a stud book be maintained. Each bird will get a name and their complete case study data since birth will be prepared. Cages will be designed according to the weather conditions so that even heavy snowfall will not have any effect on them,” he said.

According to official sources, poaching for its crest, human interference with nature and increasing pressure on jungles were some of the major causes for the dwindling of monal number.

A plan to construct a monal breeding centre in Manali was floated a few years back, but it failed to get materialised due to lack of funds.

The Director stated that the centre would be the second such in western Himalayas after Sarahan in Rampur. Monal is a relatively large-sized pheasant. The bird is about 70 centimetres long. The male weighs up to 2,380 grams and the female 2,150.

The bird’s natural range extends from eastern Afghanistan through the Himalayas in Pakistan and India (J&K, HP, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh), Nepal, southern Tibet, and Bhutan. There is also a report of its occurrence in parts of Burma.

It occupies upper temperate oak-conifer forests interspersed with open grassy slopes, cliffs and alpine meadows.