With population of Sambars and India’s national bird thriving in the lush green landscapes of Chandigarh, the UT Forest and Wildlife department has decided to conduct a wildlife census during this year.
Having failed to carry out the census exercise in the past three years after conducting the maiden census in 2010, the department has now planned to carry out the census exercise to get tentative estimates of thriving population of Sambars, peacock and other species in the forest areas of the city.
Earlier, the department was to conduct wildlife census last year but the process was postponed and instead, a two-year survey of avian species in Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary was initiated. In 2010 wildlife census, Sambars had registered the highest population of 1,031 followed by the population of Indian peafowl (peacock/peahen) which was estimated at 920 in the forest area.
Forest officials said after three years of census exercise, the population of Indian peafowl is likely to have crossed 1,500, while the population of Sambars is estimated to be close to 1,400 now. Mesmerising the city residents, the Indian peafowl has now become a common sight in several areas of the city.
On the other hand, the increasing population of Sambars in the forest area is likely to spell trouble for the city. In the absence of permanent predators in the Sanctuary, the population of large herbivore — Sambar is increasing rapidly. Given the high count of Sambars in the forest area, the cases of their intrusion into human settlements here have increased in the recent past. Sambars from the lake reserve forest have entered the city several times causing panic in the residential area.
The 2010 census report had stated, “As per the average, the group size of Sambar in Sanctuary was reported between 3.39 to 10.07, which is higher than any other protected area in the country.” The census report had stated that the group size of Sambar encountered during the census was large and thereby population estimate of Sambar is high in the area.
“There are concerns over the increasing population of Sambars in city’s forests. And, the department has planned to conduct a wildlife census to get tentative estimates of population of Sambars and other animals. The population of peacock is also thriving, which is a good sign,” said Kuldeep Sharma, UT deputy Conservator of Forests while talking to The Pioneer. “In the absence of permanent predators in the Sanctuary, the population of large herbivore — Sambar is increasing rapidly,” he said.
He added, “This year, the wildlife census is on our priority list. The wildlife census is likely to be held in summer this year as last time, the census exercise was carried out in winter season. But if not conducted in summer, the census would be conducted in winter season then.”
In the absence of big carnivores in the Sanctuary and lake reserve forest, there is a concern over maintaining balance in the environment and food chain in the forest areas here. The only big predators in the forest are leopards, who are frequent visitors to the Sanctuary from the adjoining forest areas in Haryana. Others are feral dogs in the nearby villages of the forest area that sometimes hunt fawns.
As per the wildlife studies, the large population of big herbivore in a small Sanctuary sans predators can possibly have adverse impact on the forest ecosystem. large predators help in maintaining native plant communities by keeping large herbivore population density in check thus, allowing trees to grow and survive. During the first-ever wildlife census in Sanctuary in December 2010, the survey teams had encountered nine species of mammals and 63 species of birds in the forest area.