All is not lost for the Jammu & Kashmir’s prized Hangul deer, the only red deer species found in India.
Giving a ray of hope for its conservation, a survey conducted in the Kashmir Valley has found that apart from the Dachigam National Park near Srinagar, which is presently the only declared habitat for Hanguls, there has been sighting of Hanguls in the other region spread over 935.46 square km in the Valley.
Presently, the species (Cervus hanglu) is restricted to the confines of the 141 square km of the Dachigam park, with just about 200 Hanguls.
To explore their habitats beyond the national park, wildlife experts from the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Department of Wildlife Protection, Jammu & Kashmir Government had conducted extensive surveys in 2008-12 across the Valley.
Presence of the red deer was confirmed year-round in the distinct areas of Wanhghat Narang and Chandaji.
The observation holds importance given the decreasing population of Hangul. The IUCN Red list has classified it as critically endangered species.
“The analysis of the survey indicated that Hangul exhibits high global marginality (1.24) and low global tolerance (0.28). Habitat suitability modelling predicted 610.75 sq km area of conifer and temperate broadleaved forests as highly (61-100 per cent) suitable and 980.25 sq km as moderately (31-60 Per cent) suitable, primarily in two distinct areas of Wanghat Naranag and Chandaji (292 sq km, which also showed presence of the Hangul year-round.
This suggest their high potential to increase further, given adequate conservation attention and legal protection, especially in lower altitude areas which serve as important wintering and fawning grounds,” said wildlife experts.
Of the five catchments, Overa-Aru is the only catchment recognised earlier to harbour small Hangul sub-populations besides Dachigam. The current survey not only re-affirms this, but also shows a year-round presence of the species in this area, they added.
The remaining two catchments, RajparianDaksum, and Thajwas-Baltal, did not reveal any evidence of Hangul presence, although local accounts still provide some indication of their existence here, albeit as seasonal vagrants.
The results also indicate a substantial amount of optimal vegetative connectivity between these catchments and Dachigam, which is the primary source of dispersing individuals. Thus, the population in Dachigam, along with the relict populations in these identified catchments could constitute a meta-population needing to be preserved in its entirety, suggested the conservationists.
Future conservation efforts for the Hangul therefore are required to be multifaceted and implemented at a landscape level considering the surviving relict populations identified in this study.
While Hangul population in the Overa-Aru and Tajhwas-Baltal catchments may increase as a direct consequence of population increase in Dachigam, the population in Wanghat-Naranag and Chandaji requires assisted population augmentation over time to develop them as alternate source populations, said the study.
Categorised as a sub-species of the European red deer, red deer is the State animal of Jammu & Kashmir and is considered equally significant to the State as the tiger is to the entire India.