Hangulor Kashmiri Stag needs more attention, conducive environment, population did not improve as expected: Survey

SHAKEELA ANDRABI

SRINAGAR: To find out the actual number of Hangul or Royal Stag, the Department of Wildlife Protection conducted a survey in the month of March this year along with many NGO’s in and around Dachigam National Park.
Hangul is stable, there is no considerable improvement in its population due to various concerns, the department of the Wildlife Protection, Jammu & Kashmir has said in a report. “The species is under threat based on the vulnerability of population w.r.t population viability, population structure, dwindling population, habitat vulnerability and possibility of inbreeding. The species needs considerable immediate global attention.” The present population monitoring exercise results show a marginal increase in population from the past estimates (2019: 237; 2021: 261; 2023: 289). “The basic demographic ratio of male: female and female: fawn ratios are skewed. The number of Hangul which were not distinctly identified by the participants may have also accounted for the more skewed ratios,” the report adds. Hangul was once widely distributed in the mountains of Kashmir and parts of Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh in an arc 65km in width to the north and east of Jhelum and lower Chenab rivers. Hangul is a critically endangered species as per IUCN, Red List Data, a Schedule I Species in Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972. During the recent past, the distribution range of Hangul appears to have been drastically reduced, possibly due to habitat fragmentation and associated factors. Some small or relic populations are also reported to be present in some areas in Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Pulwama and Anantnag Districts, according to the survey.
The Department of Wildlife Protection, Jammu &Kashmir in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and local research institutions, has been regularly monitoring the Hangul Population in the Dachigam landscape since 2004 through scientific methods. The report says that till date nine such annual exercises have been carried out during March of 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021. The Hangul population estimates in the past were 197 (2004), 153 (2006), 127 (2008), 175 (2009), 218 (2011), 183(2015), 214(2017), 237 (2019), 261(2021).
The survey further revealed that the population of Hangul has shown a marginal increase. However, due to Habitat fragmentation and poaching, Livestock Grazing, Ecological threat, Predation etc, there is no considerable increase in population numbers. The report notes that owing to the large scale biotic interferences in Hangul’s habitat, in the form of excessive livestock grazing in its erstwhile summer habitats, grass cutting, fuel and firewood collection, human trampling owing to men and poaching have contributed largely to the Hangul habitat degradation and hence decline of the Hangul during the recent past.
It further says that the livestock grazing in Upper Dachigam has been considered to prove harmful to Hangul in the long run. Apart from competition for food resources, chances of transmission of disease also exist as there has been confirmed evidence of transmission of John’s Disease to Hangul in Dachigam in 1978. The report says that the recent scientific studies on the current Hangul population trend have indicated that the species could go extinct if serious management and Conservation interventions are not made immediately. .
“However, these measures need to be augmented by the existing conservation efforts of successful captive breeding. There is still a dearth of vital information on basic ecological knowledge on this important species. Research is needed to understand the skewed demographic ratios and the reasons associated,” the report said.