GUWAHATI, Feb 20 - Boosting Manas National Park�s faunal diversity, a total of 17 eastern swamp deer, translocated from Kaziranga National Park, were released in the Bansbari Range of the park this morning.
The translocated batch that covered a road distance of over 400 km comprises two males and 15 females.
Manas had a sizeable population of the eastern swamp deer before the decade-old social unrest in the region in the 1990s that drastically reduced the deer population � as it did to most other fauna. With Manas once again emerging as a vibrant biodiversity hotspot and the restoration of the coveted World Heritage Site status in 2011, the first batch of the translocated swamp deer comprising 19 animals was released in December 2014.
�The 17 deer are being kept in an enclosure for monitoring. They will later be released into the wilds,� Hiranya Kumar Sarma, Field Director, Manas Tiger Reserve, told The Assam Tribune.
The last census of the eastern swamp deer yielded a population of 83, including the 19 from the first translocated batch and another six offspring from that source population. �As we found 58 deer which were not linked to the translocated batch, it shows that the existing swamp deer population is recovering gradually,� Sarma added.
With the release of the second translocated batch, the eastern swamp deer population is now 100.
Significantly � and in yet another heartening development for conservation in Manas � a spotted deer, commonly known as chital, was recorded at Panbari Range in Manas after two decades. The animal was sighted during a camera-trapping exercise in January this year.
�It is a significant discovery, as there had been no documentary evidence of the spotted deer in Manas for the past two decades. Forest personnel in Manas and conservationists working here are elated by the development,� Sarma said.
He added that of late, several initiatives involving NGOs had been initiated in and around the Manas landscape for engaging local communities in conservation.
According to the conservation report of Manas that has been sent to the World Heritage Committee, the success of the entire translocation exercise of eastern swamp deer and their subsequent survival in the national park largely depends on the positive support of the local communities in playing a proactive role in conservation activities.
