Wildlife activists oppose translocation of blackbucks

Berhampur: Wildlife activists have opposed the proposed translocation of blackbucks from Ganjam district to Puri Balukhand Wildlife Sanctuary and other locations.

Amulya Upadhyaya, president of the Blackbuck Conservation Society, expressed concern about the survival of blackbucks if moved from their natural habitat in Ganjam to Puri district.”The risk to their survival in a new landscape is significant,” Upadhyaya said.

Blackbucks had been sighted in Balukhand sanctuary but became locally extinct there over the past two decades. As part of a habitat recovery programme, the wildlife organisation proposed relocating the animals from the overcrowded Ganjam district, with some already moved from Nandankanan to the sanctuary in June.

Upadhyaya emphasised the need for wildlife officials to study why blackbucks previously went extinct in Balukhand-Konark area before any further translocation.

He noted that Ganjam’s residents have a strong sentimental attachment to blackbucks and have protected them despite crop damage.

Despite natural calamities, blackbuck population in Ganjam has tripled over the past 12 years. A census by the State Forest department in January recorded 7,743 blackbucks in the district, up from 2,194 in 2011.

The population was estimated at 6,885 in 2020 and 7,352 in 2021, official sources said.Rather than relocating the blackbucks, Upadhyaya and other activists urged the government to improve their habitats and enhance tourist facilities.

Krushna Gouda, another activist, highlighted that visitors from distant places come to Bhetanai near Aska in Ganjam to see the blackbucks in their natural habitat.

The activists plan to meet with State’s Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia and senior officers to request a reconsideration of the translocation

decision.