Dr. Riyaz Ahmad Peerzada
Jammu and Kashmir is situated at the confluence of three bio-geographical realms and thus is an important bio-diverse area. Jammu and Kashmir possesses three distinct bio-geographic zones viz., Trans Himalaya (1A), North-west Himalaya (2A) and Semi-arid Plains (4A). It has three distinct regions comprising of Kashmir valley, Jammu division and Ladakh. The region has significant ecological value due to its diverse habitats, which harbour rich and diverse flora and fauna. Most of these species of flora and fauna are, however, threatened by variety of threats.
Many of the wild animals in Jammu and Kashmir are threatened by hunting and poaching activities besides competition with livestock, habitat fragmentation and unwise development. The conservation of endangered species such as markhor, a wild species of mountain goat and hangul, a sub-species of red deer endemic to India, is possible only when these threats are addressed. However, there are no simple solutions and we often require multi-pronged approaches and strategies to address such problems.
Markhor is a wild goat supposed to be the ancestor of our domestic goats and is the major prey for snow leopard and common leopard. Today it is threatened with extinction due to poaching/hunting, habitat fragmentation, overgrazing by livestock. In India, it is found only in Jammu and Kashmir. Hangul is our state animal and is a sub-species of red deer. It is threatened with extinction due to poaching, livestock grazing, habitat degradation and fragmentation.
Mating season is one of the critical periods for markhor (ending November to mid-January) and hangul (15th Sept-October). This is the time when they are most vulnerable to hunting as the males engage themselves to a ritual called rutting and are the soft target. Moreover, hunting of such animals is high during autumn, when fat deposits in their bodies are relatively higher than other seasons. This is due to feeding on the high quality for age in the preceding summer season.
It was November last year, only few days away from markhor rutting season, I was getting restless to visit the rutting sites to observe markhor. At the same time I was preparing to discuss with my staff, wildlife officials and field staff, for making extra efforts to make the possible hunters feel our presence, I witnessed a significant development. To my pleasant surprise, I found that the guns have been deposited by the locals due to implementation of code of conduct for elections. This was a big relief, although temporarily.
I started wondering if such steps like depositing the guns (issued by the district authorizes to some people) of people around the markhor and hangul habitats during the critical periods, are taken; it could potentially protect our endangered species to a fair extent from local extinction. I think the time has come to make such strategies a reality and to begin with we should initiate with markhor and hangul, the two rare species of the state. As per the Act, the owners of license holding weapons around a PA have to register their weapons with the Chief Wildlife Warden. This also needs to be implemented with perhaps an involvement of the police.
Similarly, people who use resources in a PA should not be allowed to take guns inside the PA or in any wildlife potential area, particularly graziers and herders, both locals and migratory who use PAs to graze their livestock. The rutting of Hangul has already begun and fortunately the Dachigam NP is closed to avoid any disturbance. The next step could be to deposit the licensed guns around Dachigam and the adjacent Conservation Reserves particularly Khrew and Khunmoh. We are currently celebrating wildlife week, so what better time to take this step.
The wildlife act bans killing of wild animals but this act needs to be implemented effectively especially in the areas outside the Protected Area Network, where Wildlife Department has no presence. In such areas involvement of Forest Department, Police and other relevant agencies is necessary to implement the act more stringently.
The credit of conserving the rich and unique wildlife of Jammu and Kashmir to a large extent goes to Maharaja. If we want to keep this rich natural heritage intact, we need to keep the above mentioned steps in mind and also revisit the ideas promoted by the Maharaja of Kashmir. I hope the new Government would consider this positively and support the conservation of unique natural heritage of Jammu and Kashmir at all costs.
The author can be mailed at riyaz.cf@gmail.com
