JAMMU: Stepping in to save Kashmir's endangered red deer - hanguls - from extinction, the Jammu and Kashmir government has launched Rs 8.80 crore project under which carnivore proof enclosures will be set up for captive breeding of fawns.
With most of the stags falling prey to leopards, wild dogs, jackals and wolfs leading to a decline in population of hanguls, the wildlife department has decided to set up carnivore proof insito enclosures (CPIES) for them.
"We have launched a major initiative to save hanguls in Kashmir Valley from extinction under the Rs 8.80 crore Save Hangul project. In this direction, hanguls would soon have CPIES homes where they would be bred in captivity," Jammu and Kashmir Chief Wildlife Warden A K Shrivastava told PTI here.
Fine tuned by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the project involves captive breeding, insito enclosure upbringing, census, radio active collars, anti-poaching, anti-grazing measures and habitat improvement to save and conserve hanguls and also increase their population.
Jammu and Kashmir's state animal, hangul, is an endangered species of the red deer family.
The department has started construction of carnivore proof enclosures on a war footing at Shikargah Wildlife Sanctuary (Tral), Dachigam National Park (Srinagar). The breeding centres would also be gradually set up at Gurez, Bandipora, Ajas, Mangat and Khanmoh.
