Tamil Nadu   

Captive breeding of endangered species mooted

Coimbatore: Wildlife and zoo managers are focussing on conserving endangered species such as Nilgiris Tahr, Nilgiris Langur and Lion Tailed Macaques (LTMs), which are on the verge of becoming extinct.

Recently, the Central Zoological Authority (CZA) convened a meeting on ‘Initiating Conservation Breeding Programme for Endangered Species,’ at Udhagamandalam, hosted by the State Forest Department. It was attended by wildlife managers of the Forest department besides Directors of zoological parks of southern States and was chaired by CZA Member-Secretary B.R. Sharma. The participants expressed concern at the shrinking habitats and the resultant dwindling of Nilgiris Tahr, Nilgiris Langur and LTMs, which are in schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act and in the Endangered Species List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Recent census figures indicated that Nilgiris Tahr present in the Western Ghats, largely in Tamil Nadu and Kerala accounted for close to 3,500. It is found at Eravikulam in Kerala, Mukurti in the Nilgiris, Theni and Kanyakumari divisions of Tamil Nadu.

According to sources, the meeting deliberated on promoting captive breeding of these species. With none of the zoological parks being able to successfully show results in captive breeding, wildlife and zoo managers mooted a proposal for breeding them in pockets close to their natural habitats.

Captive breeding of Nilgiris Tahr closer to its ideal habitat at Mukurti and Eravikulam has been suggested. The Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore, R. Kannan, said that the programme for captive breeding of Nilgiris Tahr and Nilgiris Langur should be at the Nilgiris since they were the flagship species of the region and identified with the place even in their names. The CZA and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests were expected to accord sanction shortly.

As for LTMs, already a “Co-operative and Co-ordinated Breeding Programme” was on for the last four years. The project involved Aringar Anna Zoological Park, Vandalur, Thiruvananthapuram and Mysore Zoological Parks. The parks exchanged male or female LTMs as ‘breeding loan.’ The species was found in Valparai, Anaimalai and Kalakkad Mundanthurai in Tamil Nadu and Silent Valley in Kerala.

Similarly, Nilgiris Langur was present in the tri-junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. The authorities planned to promote captive breeding of these species closer to their habitat.

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