Ghariyal population gets a major boost at Katarniya
BAHRAICH: Ghariyals may be on the verge of extinction but are thriving in river Gerua flowing through the Katarniyaghat wildlife sanctuary along the Indo-Nepal border here.
“With hatching season on, over 700 new born have hatched successfully in June and 200 more likely to be hatched in the coming days,” said Ramesh Kumar, field director, Dudhwa National Park.
“The feat could be achieved due to the efforts of officials and employees of the sanctuary,” said Kumar, while claiming that Chambal and Gerua are two famous rivers where natural breeding of Ghariyal’s takes place in a focused way. “While in 2005 only 5 nests of Ghariyals were noticed by the forest employees, sincere efforts and strict monitoring have raised the number up to 24 nests,” said Kumar.
Ghariyal is a particular Indian species of crocodiles whose mortality rate was very high. Around 20 nests of Ghariyals were found in Katarniyaghat, out of which 14 and a half nests had been hatched so far.
The clutch size is varying from 25 to 55 eggs per nest.
Divisional forest officer, Katarniya, Gyan Prakash Singh said about 700 new born have hatched successfully from 18 nests so far and 6 more nests are yet to be hatched. A few young Ghariyals were also released in Geruwa from Lucknow two months back.
The DFO said there was only one island in the sanctuary where Ghariyals made their nest pits. He said guards had been deployed on the spot to protect the eggs from crow and other threats. The reptile has been declared as one of the most critically endangered species in the world and declared 20 times more endangered than tiger in the Red-Data book published recently by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).