NIZAMABAD: Nizamabad District Forest Officer (DFO) Dr Sunil S Hiremath has sent a proposal to the higher-ups of the Forest Department to set up a special sanctuary for blackbucks in Nandipet area of the district. If the department gives the green light to the same, Telangana would be home to the second blackbuck sanctuary in the country. The first such sanctuary is located in Gujarat, which has 2,500 black bucks.
The catchment area of Sri Ram Sagar Project is one of the natural habitats of over 6,000 blackbucks. However, due to heavy inflows lately, the animals are forced to take refuge in agricultural fields. On Monday, forest staffers near GG Nadikuda caught a few blackbucks moving on CCTV cameras and sent the visuals to the higher-ups. They are taking extra care not to disturb the habitat of these animals. In fact, officials had recently rescued a few blackbucks which were stuck in the SRSP floodwaters.
Threat of being hunted
Dr Sunil had previously said that blackbucks were under severe threat of being hunted in the region. He said NRIs from the Gulf often visit SRSP backwaters on their vacation to hunt blackbucks. They cook them and eat their meat in the forests. However, this has reduced due to increased vigil.
The DFO hopes that the Forest Department will give a positive response to the proposal, considering these animals’ safety. Further, this would help Nizamabad occupy a prominent place in India’s wildlife sanctuary map. “Local fisherman may raise objections to the establishment of a sanctuary, but all these issues will be addressed by higher officials in a responsive manner,’’ the DFO added.