Maharashtra sees rise in buffalo population

Underlining the importance of involving local communities in wildlife conservation, a reserve located in a region affected by intense Maoist violence has shown a marked turnaround in numbers of the endangered Asiatic wild buffaloes (Bubalusarnee).

Four years after the Maharashtra government launched a project to monitor and protect wild buffaloes at the Kolamarka Conservation Reserve at Sironcha in Gadchiroli and develop their habitat using locals, the numbers have shown a gradual rise. Now, the state government is considering a proposal to upgrade Kolamarka to a wildlife sanctuary or a tiger reserve for a higher degree of protection.

This was discussed at the meeting of the Maharashtra state wildlife board which met under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday. Experts said once the numbers were increased to a comfortable level, captive breeding at the proposed Gorewada international zoo could also be considered. These buffaloes could also be used to improve the quality of domestic breeds as buffaloes form a major share of milk production in India.

P.Kalyankumar, chief conservator of forests, Gadchiroli, said that the numbers of these wild buffaloes had risen from around 16 in 2015-16 to 22 now. The 180.72 sq km area was declared as a conservation reserve in 2013.

The global population of wild buffaloes is estimated to be 3,800 of which 3,500 are in India. Of this, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh account for 200 individuals, including Gadchiroli and the Indravati tiger reserve located across the state’s boundary with Chhattisgarh.

“This is one of the core areas affected by Naxal violence. Even then, we managed to turn things around with the involvement of the local community,” noted Kalyankumar, adding they had managed to convince people by pointing to how the animal was unique to the area and the tourism and employment generation potential in the future. The people were involved in developing water resources and the habitat and hunting was prevented.

“This is a unique initiative involving community participation,” said Kishor Rithe, president, Satpuda Foundation, noting this conservation model involving people as stakeholders differed from the management of tiger habitats where these big cats could not co-exist with humans. He pointed to how the conservation effort in the wild had yielded better results than a captive breeding project in Chhattisgarh.

Rithe, who is a member of the wildlife board, and was involved in the effort, said based on policies for eco-development committees around protected areas and joint forest management committees, they started by involving four villages in water conservation and protection. This was expanded to around 12 settlements on the periphery. The community hunting of these animals was also stopped.

“The major focus was on water conservation as lakes had silted. This benefited both domestic cattle and wild buffaloes,” he added, stating that experts would be involved for the cultivation of grass eaten by these bovines.

“We started village development works which brought people closer to the department… Since going to Naxal areas for population monitoring is a challenge for our staff, we involved local youth in an enumeration,” said Kalyankumar, adding that volunteers were paid an honorarium for collecting information from deep forests and inaccessible areas.

The locals were involved in plantations and harvesting timber and bamboo. “These are genetically pure breeds… available in very limited pockets,” said Kalyankumar, adding that the presence of these animals in Indravati helped maintain genetic diversity.

Shree Bhagwan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF-Wildlife) who is the state's wildlife warden, said they would examine the sanctuary proposal.

Kalyankumar noted that these breeds could come handy for preserving genetic diversity and cattle breeding and improvement programs considering its ability to survive in the high temperatures in the Vidarbha terrain.