The increased sightings of the Himalayan Tahr in some areas near the Indo-Tibet border in Chamoli district have buoyed the spirits of wildlife researchers and forest department staff. In spite of the continued poaching of this ungulate by locals, researchers and department staff have sighted up to two dozen of these animals near the Malari village in Chamoli after a gap of five years.
The Himalayan Tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus) is one of three species of Tahr found in Asia; the other two being the Nilgiri Tahr and the Arabian Tahr. It is a type of mountain goat that is found in mountain pastures in the upper reaches of the Himalayas. Uttarakhand used to sustain a good population of Tahrs in the past. It was also considered a prized trophy animal by hunters in the 19th century due to which the British had translocated a few Tahrs to New Zealand to breed and release for recreational hunting.
According to wildlife researcher Vipul Maurya who has been studying human-wildlife conflict in Garhwal, “I have been visiting the Malari village at an altitude of about 10,000 feet for the past five years, but in the past I did not see Tahr herds.
