IMPHAL, NOVEMBER 25: India’s wildlife expert Dr MK Ranjitsinh, who drafted the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, on Thursday pointed to ‘immediate requirement’ of a second or alternative home for the Eld’s deer, locally known as Sangai, in Manipur.
The legislation remains one of Indian wildlife’s Saving Grace.
Dr MK Ranjitsinh had an exclusive interaction with this correspondent on the sidelines of the second-day technical session of the 3 day International workshop on Eld’s deer conservation here on Thursday. India’s first director of Wildlife Preservation said that there was a chance that the wonderful animal would vanish in the wild if said initiative was not taken up. The former conservation advisor to the United Nations Environment Programme Dr MK Ranjitsinh and his team found just 14 Sangai at Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP) during their first Sangai census conducted in 1977. He expressed happiness at the increase of the species in the recent times.
“I think the reason is because of conservation activities taken up by the authorities in association with the local population,” says the scion of the erstwhile royal family of Wankaner in Gujarat’s Saurashtra. Dr MK Ranjitsinh also formulated the world’s most successful conservation project Project Tiger.
Dr Ranjitsinh was here to make a presentation on ‘Conservation prospects of Sangai’ at the ongoing International workshop. Experts from Myanmar, Thailand, Veitnam, USA and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and others are sharing about their wildlife conservation practices.
Sharing a similar sentiment, WII Scientist Dr SA Hussain of Landcape-level Planning and Management department gave insights into the evolution of Ed’s deer. He suggested establishment of a genetically-sound second population; it should be the first priority. “If we lose (Sangai) we’ll lose the original stock of Eld’s deer along with our cultural identity,” he said.
“A second site (for Sangai) needs to be expedited,” agreed Sangeeta Angom, another scientist.
Also, Manipur’s Deputy Conservator of Forest (Park and Sanctuary) Arun RS said that the major challenges in conserving Sangai at the KLNP include pollution of water, delineation of park boundary, wildfire, and the socio-economy of 40 surrounding villages; flood and poaching.
