THE SURVIVALS

A THREATENED SURVIVAL

Below the foot of the country, along the Gulf of Mannar, the dugongs currently count not more than 500 as the big sea cows are hunted for their meat, oil, bones, teeth and, yes, even tears. Up in the sky and down in the wetlands, the Sarus crane is getting consistently decimated in India-its current population is estimated at not more than 10,000. Speak of blackbucks, and the image that flashes in your mind is more of the 'star hunters' than the kind of antelope native only to the subcontinent.

Given the grim picture, is there any scope for these species to live securely? Not all is lost-at least when it comes to the black bucks-ones you find in eastern Orissa. The villagers of Bhetnoi, Balidapur may not be famous like Rajasthan's Bishnois, but these residents of Ganjam district too protect the blackbuck. In fact, some decades ago they took a task a member of a local royal family-his head was shaved before he was paraded in public-for hunting the blackbucks. The animal now totals around 2,000-not a safe number, yet promising: it was 1,672 three years ago and only 484 in 2004. Also, their distribution has spread over a larger area.

Today you see blackbucks roaming near this villages. They feed from the crop fields, but noone objects. For the villagers adore the “krishnasaramriga”. For, a century ago, the region was really under a drought. The blackbucks arrived and in came the rains. Ever since, they have been the harbingers of good times. There is even a code of reward for protection: 1,000 rupees for information on poachers and 50 rupees for reporting newborns or injury to the antelopes.

It all began early last decade with mobilisation of local support groups for awareness. Soon, the Forest Department moulded an umbrella district level body: the Blackbuck Management Committee. It members went to local school, organised competition and rallies. These days, during enumeration by Forest Department, the local college students are asked to volunteer. The committee's work was recognised by the Orissa Government which honoured it with the 2005 Biju Patnaic Award for Wildlife Conservation, the state's highest award in the field.

“Earlier”, says Amulya Upadhyaya of the 2002 founded Krushnasar Mriga Parichalana Committee, “the antelopes were confined to a few villages of Bhetnoi and Balipadar and locals did everything in their capacity to protect the blackbucks. But we needed to take the efforts further because their number was growing and so was the habitat.”

The State Forest and Environment Department has accorded community reserve status to the habitat of the blackbucks abutting about 10 villages under Buguda and Aska tehsils of Ganjam.

As for the six-foot Sarus, it is the world's tallest flying bird and India's only resident crane. A symbol of everlasting love in many cultures, they used to be a common sight in marshes, flood plains and rice paddies. They would call out in unison and do a little dance involving jumps, spreading of wings and circling each other. Both parents incubate their eggs; the chicks staywith their parents for upto three months. That said, that Sarus is a “Threatened Species”, courtesy a decline in the loss of wetlands and the use of chemical pesticides that has affected their food chain. Conservation groups in India are working with support from the International Crane Foundation.

The dugongs in India are found-very rarely-besides along the Palk Bay, in the Gulf of Kutch and the Andaman islands. This 10 foot-long-mammal, the only marine herbivore known to humans, looks like it is swimming towards extinction. Dugongs give birth to a single calf; which is nursed by its mother for upto 18 months. The calf only leaves its mother when it has matured. Being marine animals, dugongs need to surface for air every 5-7 minutes and this is when they are most prone to attacks.

These massive herbivores feed on sea grass, which is normally found in abundance along the shallow coastlines. Effluents channeled into the sea from agricultural and industrial sectors have all but destroyed this fragile ecosystem. Another threat to dugongs is the modern gill nets made of nylon.