National
Number of blackbucks up in Bardiya
Efforts to protect endangered blackbucks in a conservation area in Bardiya district have been paying off.Kamal Panthi
Efforts to protect endangered blackbucks in a conservation area in Bardiya district have been paying off.
With 65 fawns born within a month in the Khairapur-based Blackbuck Conservation Area in Gulariya-2 in the district, conservationists are upbeat about a significant rise
in number of the antelopes.
Blackbuck is listed as near threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Though 72 fawns were born, seven died of various reasons, said Assistant Conservation Officer Narayan Rupakheti.
A female blackbuck can give birth to two fawns each year.
The number of adult blackbucks in the conservation area is 239 (162 females and 72 males).
“Population of blackbucks has been on the rise, thanks to proper infrastructure, protected habitat and the care they are getting here,” said Rupakheti.
The government had officially declared Khairapur Blackbuck Conservation Area (BCA) on March 16, 2009.
The conservation area is spread over 479 hectares of land.
Water shortage and leopards are major threats to blackbuck. According to BCA, 11 blackbucks have been killed in leopard attacks in the past six months.
Conservation area guards have started night patrol, but the efforts have not been that effective.
According to the conservation officials, leopards from nearby forests kill around a dozen blackbucks each year.
They said that they were working in coordination with the concerned agency to dart the leopards and transfer them to the Bardiya National Park.