BENGALURU: Siruguppa in Ballari district is likely to be demarcated for conservation of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), which is almost on the verge of extinction in India. For this, the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) is targeting an area of 1,200 acres in this region, which is home to a breeding group of 10-12 birds. As part of compensatory afforestation (CA) programme, a Ballari-based steel company, to which forest land was provided for industrial projects, has already acquired 250 acres in Siruguppa. They are also in the process of acquiring another 500-600 acres here, which will form a contiguous area for GIB protection.
However, an active GIB group in Ballari has appealed to the forest department not to make this area a sanctuary, but provide protection in the area from predators and hunters, as sanctuary experiments for GIBs have failed in the country. Meanwhile, the GIBs are being regularly sighted and documented in and around Siruguppa by two bird groups. Presently, the numbers of breeding individuals are 10-12 or even more in this region.
Santosh Martin, wildlife conservationist, said, “We have been sighting them regularly, sometimes one or two here and there, albeit in a small geographical area around Siruguppa. The numbers are comfortable, they have not dwindled and they are breeding individuals. “With vanishing grasslands, they have adapted to farm lands. However, their typical local migration behaviour make their exact numbers difficult to obtain. The notification of several bustard grasslands as sanctuaries seems to have worked against conservation of the species, as the birds simply vanished from these areas. Hopefully, the state government will desist from notifying Siruguppa as a sanctuary, or else the birds will disappear from these areas, finding other places to breed and forage.”
Forest officials hope more companies will come forward to provide CA land for the state’s first GIB conservation project. A senior forest official said, “ We need 1,200 acres so that they can safely breed and survive in these grasslands.”
Only 250 left in India