BALLARI: The Zoo Authority of Karnataka has an idea to ‘manage and conserve’ the wolf population in the state. It is planning to release its captivity-bred wolves into the wilderness. As a preliminary step in this direction, it has called a meeting of experts and public at Kamalapur near Daroji in Ballari district to elicit their opinion.
The Jungle Lodges and Resorts in Ballari’s Kamalapur near Hampi is gearing up for a meeting on the matter, which can be considered as the first of its kind in the country. The topic of discussion is “Release of captivity-bred wolves into the wilderness”.
He said the meeting will witness participation of experts from various parts of the country. “They will discuss whether there is a possibility to release wolves into the wilderness. They will be pondering over whether it is a feasible option” a highly placed source in the department told Express. Interestingly, the idea came to the Zoo Authority of Karnataka with the increasing population of wolves in Mysuru Zoo.
Experts not convinced
Wildlife conservationists and experts in one voice say the idea is not feasible. Habib Bilal, a leading wildlife biologist of Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun, said: “It is not a right move. First we should know the status of wolves. We do not have a status study of wolves in India. The wolf population is on the decline. The next is we do not know how the captivity-bred animals are going to behave when they are released into wilderness.”
Wildlife biologist K Ullas Karanth said: “If you are releasing a captivity-bred animal into wild, you should radio-collar it and track its movement. What happened to all those chitals which were released into Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary a couple of decades ago? They all died.”