Haryana Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife) ML Rajvanshi on Saturday said that the State Wildlife and Forest Department has decided to carry out a wildlife census from May 1 to June 30.
The counting of these animals would also help the department to push its agenda of protecting bird species, animals and more forest areas. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, is the nodal agency for wildlife counting, he said, while talking to ‘The Pioneer’ over the phone.
A senior State Wildlife and Forest department officer said that a tentative time frame for Wildlife Census-2021 has been drafted. Before the counting starts, the department will impart adequate training to all the staff and those who would be part of the exercise. As per the tentative schedule, Master trainers of WII Dehradun would give basic training on ‘Wildlife Census, use of technology among others’ to Haryana Wildlife and Forest Department staff. The training programme on ‘distance sampling, sign survey and use of mobile application’ for staff will begin from 10 am to 5 pm in Panchkula on April 12. Such training programme for staff would also be held in Hisar, Rohtak and Gurugram on April 15, April 17 and April 19 respectively.
State level training programme on ‘Outreach across State regarding survey using mobile app, survey of Macaque, Nilgai, Blackbuck’ would be held between April 20 and April 27. Training programme at State level on ‘Wildlife Census Haryana-Apps on Google Play’ will be held between April 28 and April 30.
According to Forest officials, beat level survey will be done by department officials at identified beats of Shivalik and Aravali between May 5 and May 12. Camera mapping exercise by WII Dehradun team will be done in selected areas between May 1 and June 30.
Rajvanshi said Haryana is a natural habitat of many species of animals and birds and there are some indications of the decline of certain bird species and animals in this area. The entire survey would cost Rs 40 lakh and it includes expenses of installing camera traps, wild animal surveillance systems, ascertaining the availability of prey species, Proof of Performance (PoP) for tracking the pug marks of animals including leopard, leopardess and cubs, labour costs, transport charges and expenditure on hiring field biologists among others, he said. The census will take two months and the final result will be released after a thorough study of collected data.
The previous wildlife census in the State was held around six years ago in 2014. Normally, such counting is done in four years but due to the Corona pandemic in 2020, it was delayed by a year or so.
The State Chief Conservator of Forests said that the distribution, numbers and behaviour of birds and animals are changing over the period of time because of various reasons. The population of the black partridge (kala teetar), Haryana State bird, sparrow, butterfly, hog deer or pada deer, whit nape tilt, leopards among others has been decreasing over the past few years. The counting study will help to identify key areas where mitigation options are needed to minimise man-animal conflict, he added.
When contacted Sultanpur National park (wildlife) Inspector Rajesh Chahal said that many species have already disappeared and many more are following the same path. The number of individuals across species of birds and animals has declined as well in many cases due to human activity, severely affecting genetic variation, biodiversity, among other issues.
He said as of now, there are no exact figures of the population of many bird species and animals in the state. “After completion of the counting, more effective measures would be taken to conserve wildlife in the state. Chahal said that Haryana has two national parks, eight wildlife sanctuaries, two wildlife conservation areas, four animal and bird breeding centers, one deer park and three zoos, all of which are managed by the Haryana Wildlife and Forest department.