Two pairs
of the western tragopan, fitted with high-frequency radio collars, will be
released at Daranghati wildlife sanctuary from the nearby pheasantry in
Sarahan, 160 km from Shimla, by the year-end.
CHANDIGARH Updated:
Jul 13, 2019 10:09 IST
Twelve
years after launching a conservation programme to breed the western tragopan,
Himachal Pradesh’s state bird, the wildlife wing has met success and will be
releasing four pheasants from captivity into their natural habitat.
Two pairs
of the western tragopan, fitted with high-frequency radio collars, will be
released at Daranghati wildlife sanctuary from the nearby pheasantry in
Sarahan, 160 km from Shimla, by the year-end.
This was
decided at a recent wing of the state forest department’s wildlife wing.
The radio
collars will help conservationists study and monitor the birds after their
release from the lone breeding centre for the western tragopan, which is found
in the northwest Himalayas, including Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand besides
Himachal Pradesh. The species inhabits the high-altitude temperate forests at
elevations between 2,400 and 3,200 metres.
“This is
for the first time that the western tragopan bred successfully in the wildlife
department’s pheasantry will be released into the wild,” says Savita, the
principal chief conservator of the forest wildlife department.
Wildlife
experts attribute the fall in numbers of tragopans to habitat degradation,
hunting and extensive grazing of the forest by livestock.
“Himachal
Pradesh is an important range-state for western tragopans, where it is distributed
in sizeable populations in all three catchment areas of the Beas, Sutlej and
Ravi,” says chief conservator, wildlife (south), Sushil Kapta.
The bird,
locally known as Jujurana, is also the national bird of Nepal. The Himachal
Pradesh government declared it the state bird in 2007.
Western
tragopan belongs to the family phasianidae, which includes peafowl and red
jungle fowl.
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