Despite tall claims, the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) could not restore the population of the endangered blackbucks (Indian antelope) in the Kirthar National Park that had reduced drastically after an outbreak of a strange disease in October 2009, killing more than 60 animals.
After the disaster, the SWD officials claimed to have restored the blackbuck population; however, no practical measures have so far been taken to reinstate the population of this antelope in the protected wildlife sanctuary. In spite of availability of a large number of staff and a vast area for these animals, only 55 heads are reportedly surviving in the park while thousands of these animals have been captivated on the private farms of conservationists throughout the province, including areas of Tando Muhammad Khan, Nawabshah, Khangharah, Ghotki and New Jatoi.
In the past, the SWD also donated a few animals to the influential people, hunters and conservationists, who were able to manage the animals in captivity. The Kirthar National Park is the second largest national park after the Hingol National Park in Balochistan. The park qualifies the criteria for International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)’s protected sites and was declared a protected site under the United Nation’s list of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves in 1975; being the first national park declared in such category. Spread over a vast area including Karachi, Dadu and Jamshoro districts, the park also touches the Hub Dam with official records of SWD revealing that the park is habitat to wild goats, urial, blackbucks, chinkara, ibexes and other mammals, birds and reptiles.
Blackbucks are an antelope species which were once abundant in the Cholistan Desert of Punjab, former Khairpur state of Sindh and some parts of India but due to illegal hunting, desertification, climatic changes and droughts in the deserts areas, this magnificent antelope has almost disappeared.
Blackbucks are popular amongst wildlife lovers, hunters and conservationists alike as the male of the antelope specie with its attractive black and white coat and long curving horns presents a beautiful picture.
Official records reveal that in 1934, the then Governor of Texas, USA visited the Nawab of Khairpur, who gifted him a pair of blackbucks as a token of affection. Since then, the blackbuck population in the US has bloomed but the antelope has vanished from Sindh and Punjab. Even though the blackbucks are native to Sindh, decreasing vegetation in Nara Desert and increase in predators have completely annihilated the animal.
In the early 1980s, not a single animal was reported in Pakistan and the SWD requested the Texas state government to provide some animals. After which in 1984, RO Ranch in Texas donated a parental stock of blackbucks, comprising 14 animals. A special plane was chartered to shift these animals to the Kirthar National Park and the ranch also financed the establishment of an animal enclosure.
Afterwards, as the number of blackbucks rose in the Khirthar National Park, the donated enclosure became increasing inadequate to hold them. Then, former king of United Arab Emirates, late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, donated another huge enclosure spread over 700 acres (around 16 square kilometres), enclosing Hub Dam and mountainous terrain.
“There are only 55 blackbucks recorded at the Khar Centre. Many reasons can be attributed to the reducing population of blackbucks, including a lesser budget of the SWD due to which the broken enclosure cannot be repaired and from various areas where the fence is broken, foxes, jackals, wild dogs and other predators, enter the enclosure and kill baby blackbucks, due to which the population is not being sustained,” said former SWD provincial conservator Hussain Bux Bhaagat.
According to official records, the blackbuck population in 1995 crossed 100 but during the same year, the animals suffered a colossal loss as an anthrax infection spread through the national park and killed almost half of the blackbuck population.
If the authorities concerned do not take concrete measures for the protection of these beautiful animals, very soon they will be extinct from these areas.
