BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government’s blackbuck reintroduction plan in Puri’s Balukhand-Konark wildlife sanctuary faced opposition on Monday with a group of local conservationists in Bhetnoi, the landscape in Ganjam district that holds the single largest population of the majestic species, asking the Forest department to immediately scrap the project and threatening to launch a protest, if their demand was not met.
Members of Krushnasara Mruga Sanraksyana Samiti, Bhetnoi claimed that the site where blackbucks are being reintroduced is not suitable for the survival of the schedule-I species.
Samiti president Amulya Kumar Upadhyay said the habitat to which blackbucks are being reintroduced in Puri is not as conducive as the Bhetnoi landscape of Ghumusar south division in Ganjam for their survival.
“Blackbuck population has thrived in the area over the years due to availability of adequate fodder and a secure habitat, while in Balukhand the species got locality extinct because of the adverse climatic condition and hostile landscape,” Upadhyay said.
While the Forest department had released 10 of these Indian antelopes from Nandankanan in Balukhand-Konark wildlife sanctuary last month, it plans to reintroduce another 15 blackbucks from the zoo along with eight blackbucks from Bhetnoi landscape to the sanctuary, where the species once thrived but became locally extinct due to various factors.
Ganjam’s Bhetnoi landscape is the only place in Odisha that now holds the single population of the majestic species. Till 2023, Ganjam district had a blackbuck population of 7,743. The risk associated with such single population, that could collapse under pressure, is another reason the reintroduction programme has been taken up, department sources said.
The Samiti members, however, alleged that the decision taken abruptly to shift blackbucks from Bhetnoi to Balukhand will endanger their lives in the new landscape prone to natural disasters.
“We will launch protests if the project is not stalled,” they added. Forest officials couldn’t be reached for their comment.