ID :
79927
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 03:55
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/79927
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Experts rally to conserve deer at next month's Srinagar meet
Archana Jyoti
New Delhi, Sept 14 (PTI) Deer experts from across the
world will gather in India's northernmost state Jammu and
Kashmir next month to discuss a long-term effective management
and conservation planning for the endangered species including
Hangul, also known as 'Kashmir Stag' and its habitat.
"The experts will share their knowledge in the
management and conservation of endangered deer species in
general and Red deer and its subspecies such as Hangul in
particular," says PR Sinha, Director of the Wildlife Institute
of India (WII) which is organising the event at Srinagar.
Conservationists from deer-range countries such as
Russia, East Tibet, Middle East, Afganistan and China will
deliberate on issues threatening the existence of the species
and formulate strategies, take effective relocation and
recovery plan at the five-day meet begining October 9.
"The conference would help enhancing and updating our
scientific knowledge on globally successful species recovery,
conservation programmes and aspects of deer ecology that are
prerequisite for its effective management and long-term
conservation," Sinha adds.
That the meet is being held in Srinagar itself mirrors
the government's concern to urgently save the Hangul, one of
the four easternmost subspecies of Red deer that is endemic to
Kashmir mountains in Jammu and Kashmir.
Its population has declined from an estimated 2000
individuals in 1947 to about 170-200 individuals due to
poaching, excessive grazing of livestock, forest fires and
increase in leopard population inside Kashmir's Dachigam Park.
The current trends in the Hangul population which is
listed as endangered species in the Red Data Book of IUCN
indicate that the species could go extinct if necessary
serious interventions are not made immediately.
"Deer are important part of woodland ecosystems and
their effects are vital to the survival of plants and animals
that depend on open woodlands. Their low numbers and
restricted range is of great ecological concern amongst the
conservationists throughout the world," Sinha adds.
The Deer family Cervidae has five subfamilies
comprising seven genera with four species of mouse deer and
45 species of true deer occurring in most parts of the world
except Australia, where some species have recently been
introduced.
Some 12 species and over 40 subspecies of deer are
indigenous to Europe and North Asia. Out of these 12 species,
10 species including Red deer (Cervus elaphus) with 12
subspecies, are indigenous nowhere else in the world, except
in areas where they were introduced by man.
The Red Deer includes Hangul of North West Himalaya,
Shou or Sikim stag of East Tibet; Maral of Middle East or Asia
Minor; Bacterian deer of North Afganistan, and Russia,
MacNeill's deer from upper elevations of canyons of the Mekong
and Yangtze rivers as well as from western China; and Yarkand
deer of China. PTI AJ
DDC
New Delhi, Sept 14 (PTI) Deer experts from across the
world will gather in India's northernmost state Jammu and
Kashmir next month to discuss a long-term effective management
and conservation planning for the endangered species including
Hangul, also known as 'Kashmir Stag' and its habitat.
"The experts will share their knowledge in the
management and conservation of endangered deer species in
general and Red deer and its subspecies such as Hangul in
particular," says PR Sinha, Director of the Wildlife Institute
of India (WII) which is organising the event at Srinagar.
Conservationists from deer-range countries such as
Russia, East Tibet, Middle East, Afganistan and China will
deliberate on issues threatening the existence of the species
and formulate strategies, take effective relocation and
recovery plan at the five-day meet begining October 9.
"The conference would help enhancing and updating our
scientific knowledge on globally successful species recovery,
conservation programmes and aspects of deer ecology that are
prerequisite for its effective management and long-term
conservation," Sinha adds.
That the meet is being held in Srinagar itself mirrors
the government's concern to urgently save the Hangul, one of
the four easternmost subspecies of Red deer that is endemic to
Kashmir mountains in Jammu and Kashmir.
Its population has declined from an estimated 2000
individuals in 1947 to about 170-200 individuals due to
poaching, excessive grazing of livestock, forest fires and
increase in leopard population inside Kashmir's Dachigam Park.
The current trends in the Hangul population which is
listed as endangered species in the Red Data Book of IUCN
indicate that the species could go extinct if necessary
serious interventions are not made immediately.
"Deer are important part of woodland ecosystems and
their effects are vital to the survival of plants and animals
that depend on open woodlands. Their low numbers and
restricted range is of great ecological concern amongst the
conservationists throughout the world," Sinha adds.
The Deer family Cervidae has five subfamilies
comprising seven genera with four species of mouse deer and
45 species of true deer occurring in most parts of the world
except Australia, where some species have recently been
introduced.
Some 12 species and over 40 subspecies of deer are
indigenous to Europe and North Asia. Out of these 12 species,
10 species including Red deer (Cervus elaphus) with 12
subspecies, are indigenous nowhere else in the world, except
in areas where they were introduced by man.
The Red Deer includes Hangul of North West Himalaya,
Shou or Sikim stag of East Tibet; Maral of Middle East or Asia
Minor; Bacterian deer of North Afganistan, and Russia,
MacNeill's deer from upper elevations of canyons of the Mekong
and Yangtze rivers as well as from western China; and Yarkand
deer of China. PTI AJ
DDC
