Kashmir is home to several wild animals. However, it was the critically low numbers of hangul, a species of deer, that alarmed wildlife experts. Now, however, the state is reported to have experienced one of the healthiest rutting, or mating, seasons in recent times. Experts estimate that there will be more than 300 hangul this spring. This threshold will be crossed after three decades, thanks to the painstaking efforts by wildlife preservation staff there.
In 1988, the hangul population in Dachigam was estimated at around 1,000. It fell drastically to about 160 by 1992, as a separatist militancy raged in Jammu & Kashmir and movement of security forces and terrorists increased in the area.
Rashid Naqash, regional wildlife warden, told The Hindu newspaper, “The calls recorded by wildlife staff during the rutting season in October were healthy compared to previous years. In fact, Dachigam National Park, home to the hangul, was closed for visitors between Sep 25 and Oct 18 to allow unhindered rutting.”
The mating calls were recorded from approximately 25 nullahs at the national park in Srinagar district. During courtship, the male hangul roars and groans to attract does. This pre-mating ritual takes place for around half an hour just before sunrise and right after sunset. Officials also sighted a deer with a larger group of hind and fawn “as big as 15” in the autumn.
Dr Khursheed Ahmad, head of the Wildlife Sciences Faculty of Forestry at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, opened up about threats the hangul face in the national park. “Leopards and Asian black bear are major predators in the area,” he said. “Hangul form a major part, about 25%, of the leopard diet at Dachigam.”
Many of the nullahs in Dachigam are dry for most of the year, probably because of climate change. Glacial areas of Upper Dachigam are often bereft of snow even before summer sets in. “Non-availability of water in the vicinity might have forced the hangul, especially lactating females in summer, to move towards the disturbed habitats in and outside Dachigam,” Dr Ahmad said, referring to parts of the forest through which roads pass and human activity occurs. “This might as well be acting as one of the factors for fawn mortality.”
