Wild buffaloes from Northeast to be translocated to Chhattisgarh

The second largest animal on land after elephants, the wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is an endangered species now in India. Hence, with an aim to protect the endangered species from extinction, the Chattisgarh government has come to an understanding with the Government of Assam to translocate female wild buffaloes from Assam to central India.

New Delhi: With an aim to protect the endangered wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee) from extinction, the Chattisgarh government has come to an understanding with the Government of Assam to translocate female wild buffalo to central India.

The translocation is likely to take place in the next few days.
"Both Assam and Chhattisgarh Government have come to the understanding according to which female wild buffalo from Assam will be translocated in Chattisgarh," said Samir Kr Sinha, deputy director and division head, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) on Wednesday in an exclusive interview to ETV Bharat.He said that the government of India has also given go-ahead for the initiative. The development assumed much significance following the fact that the wild buffalo population in central India is gravely threatened.Following an agreement with the Chhattisgarh government, the WTI had started protecting the of wild buffaloes way back in 2005-06.

Photo Courtesy: Wildlife Trust of India

"At that time there was only one female wild buffalo with 12 other male buffalo in the Udantika forest of Chattisgarh. There were buffalos in the Indiravati Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra which was of course out of reach due to logistical reasons...we also need to stop the unnatural mortality of buffalos so we decided to translocate female wild buffalo from Northeastern states of India to Chattisgarh and other states," said Sinha.

In the northeast, the number of wild buffaloes would be around 3500 which constitutes the largest population aggregate within the Indian landscape.

"Through CCMB, we did the genetic test of wild buffaloes of Northeast and Chattisgarh to ascertain the similarities," said Sinha.

Sinha said that the wild buffaloes also face the threat from poachers, conflicts and habitat degeneration among others. "We had set up a biodiversity monitoring committee besides creating awareness among villagers," said Sinha.

The wild buffaloes are listed in schedule I of the Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The wild species is also classified as endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Sinha also emphasised on the political awareness for the protection of wild buffalo.

"Political awareness in Chattisgarh over wild buffalo is very encouraging," said Sinha.

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