CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday operationalised the ‘Nilgiri Tahr project’ touted as the first-of-its-kind in the country which aims at restoring the original habitat of the state animal and stabilising its population.
With a budgetary outlay of Rs 25.14 crore, the five-year initiative will set up a dedicated team headed by a project director to deal with the conservation of the species. It will explore the possibility of undertaking captive breeding of the animal for reintroduction in forest patches where it has become locally extinct.
The government order issued on Wednesday said, the state forest department will conduct synchronised surveys across the Tahr range, including at the Nilgiri hills and the Asambu highlands. Radio-telemetry studies of a few Tahrs will be undertaken to understand movement patterns, habitat use and behaviour.
Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary of the environment, forests and climate change department, said the initiative was conceived in line with Project Tiger and Project Elephant. “Project Tiger has literally saved the tiger species from going extinct in the wild. Tamil Nadu is one of the important tiger range states with a sizable population and five tiger reserves. Likewise, at state-level, we want to do focussed conservation of Nilgiri Tahr, which finds a mention even in Sangam literature.”
According to the Worldwide Fund for Nature report published in 2015, there are 3,122 Nilgiri Tahrs in the wild. Historically, the species are known to inhabit a large portion of the Western Ghats, but they now remain restricted to scattered habitat patches in TN and Kerala.
TN state animal extinct in 14% traditional habitat
The occurrence of the Nilgiri Tahr was confirmed in a total of 123 habitat fragments ranging in area from 0.04 sq km to 161.69 sq km, totalling 798.60 sq km. In the past few decades, Nilgiri Tahr has become locally extinct in around 14% of its traditional habitat.
While the Tahr population is not on a steep decline, Sahu pointed out that its habitat is getting fragmented and the animals are confined to a smaller area, which would lead to inbreeding, lower immunity and higher infant mortality.
“We commenced removal of invasive species that have taken over shola-grasslands. A captive breeding programme would be a long-term option, but it hasn’t been tried anywhere before and the Tahr is highly sensitive to human touch.” Nilgiri Tahr Day will be celebrated on October 7 in honour of Dr ERC Davidar. Locally known as Varaiaadu, they are protected under Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1975.