Habitat Destruction Pushing Blackbucks Out
MAIDENHALLI: According to Ameen Ahmed, wildlife biologist, the main reason for the drastic fall in blackbuck numbers in the Jayamangali Conservation reserve, is the increasing destruction of habitat and the changing land and cropping patterns. In fact, the grassland ecosystem is being gradually replaced by vineyards. “The poor farmers have sold out to big agro companies who have changed the cropping pattern of this region from groundnut to grapes, dug borewells and with the grasslands being treated as wastelands even by the government, it has sounded the death knell for these animals,” laments Ahmed.
Other reasons for decline is: tourists and photographers from Bangalore have not only been disturbing the ecosystem by driving their vehicles on the grasslands, by dumping food thereby attracting feral dogs that prey upon the blackbucks.