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| Efforts for Hangul protection face another setback | | Lobbying again hinders shifting of Sheep farm from Dachigam | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Dec 14: The endangered Hangul or royal stag is at the verge of extinction as the government is yet again "dilly-dallying" the shifting of Sheep Breeding Farm from the eco-fragile Dachigam National Park here.
Even as the government had recently started the process for the much-needed shifting of the sheep farm, the process was left midway. Sources said lobby in Kashmir is trying to sabotage the process for "personal interests."
Experts who have studied the problem told Early Times that a particular lobby has started giving a wrong notion that there was no harm in keeping the farm as it is.
"The perception is being given that sheep and wildlife can coexist and that sheep breeding farm cannot be relocated for it has contributed in terms of economy. But can these forces reply one simple question that how Hangul a wild animal, and the sheep a domestic animal, should share a common habitat? This goes even against the commonsense than to talk of expert opinion," the experts who have approached the government, said.
Experts said it was in the era of Dogra rule that Maharajas created historic laws for conservation of the habitat of the Hangul. "Dachigam was classical example of gene pool conservation when Maharajas framed requisite Gene Pool conservation norms," the experts said. "This national park was the repository of gene pool where one expects minimum disturbance; where nature prevails with less management and more protection," the experts said.
They said Hangul is "critically endangered species." "Till now it was an endangered species but government apathy towards its protection over the years has converted it into critically endangered species, which is found nowhere else in the world."
A top official in the Wildlife department said a mere 180 odd Hanguls have been left in the national park adding that presence of sheep breeding farm has only hindered the proper conservation of the stag.
Established in 1961, the Sheep Breeding and Research Farm spreads over 1500 kanals in the park. The shifting of the farm has been a bone of contention between Wildlife and Sheep Husbandry departments for past few decades.
The Wildlife department claims that interference of sheep in habitat of endangered Hangul or Kashmir stag is responsible for its declining population.
Even though in 2005 the state cabinet had approved shifting of the farm, it continued to operate as successive regimes failed find alternative place for its relocation. While last month the government had started the process to relocate the farm, the process was left midway.
When contacted officials in the Wildlife department admitted that "some forces" were trying to sabotage the relocation of the sheep breeding farm."
But the officials added that the relocation would soon be completed "in accordance with the standing legislation in place."
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