The Wildlife Department had got a team of officials from Dehradun to rescue a ‘trapped hangul’ from the Chenab in Kishtwar district, but it turned out to be a sambar — an exceptionally good swimmer.
Since Thursday afternoon, Wildlife officials along with the police were busy tracking the deer in the water to rescue it. They even requested experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, to help in the rescue operation.
However, being a good swimmer, the sambar managed to swim across the river on Friday evening.
“We identified it from a distance of three metres. It was not hangul but another deer called sambar, which is found in abundance in the area,” said Khursheed Ahmad Shah of the Centre for Mountain Wildlife Sciences, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Kashmir.
Shah and officials of the WII were requested to reach the spot to help in the rescue operation of the hangul, which was to be tranquillised before being caught.
“Sambar is an exceptionally good swimmer,” Shah said, adding that there was no need to rescue the deer.
Official sources said Chief Wildlife Warden Deepak Khanna had issued an SOS that a hangul was trapped in the Chenab.
On Khanna’s request, two senior scientists Parag Nigam of the WII and Khursheed Ahmad Shah of SKUAST-Kashmir were asked to reach the spot immediately to help in the rescue operation.
“We thought it would be a big discovery because hangul has never been found in this area,” Shah said. “Had hangul been a good swimmer, it would have been found across J&K. But, because of the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers in J&K, its habitat is confined to the Zanskar and Pir Panjal ranges,” Shah added.
Eyewitnesses said a huge crowd of villagers, wildlife officials and police had gathered at the spot. Amid heavy rain, they were maintaining a cordon since Thursday afternoon to ensure the animal was caught safely.
Sources said the department may initiate an inquiry against the Chief Wildlife Warden for giving wrong information and wasting the money spent on the visit of the scientists.
Sambar is one of the eight species of deer found commonly in most parts of Jammu division, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. However, hangul can be seen in Dachigam National Park in Kashmir.
Wildlife team goes all out to rescue hangul, finds sambar
