CHHATTISGARH: ANIMAL INSTINCT
Successful cloning raises the state’s hopes of saving the endangered wild buffalo
It’s a homecoming of sorts. The world’s first clone of the critically endangered Asiatic wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee) has been brought to Chhattisgarh, where it will be part of a species recovery programme. Cloned from a wild buffalo in the Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, Deepasha was born at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal (Haryana) in 2015. She has now been given a new home at the conservation-breeding centre in Naya Raipur’s Jungle Safari.
Designated Chhattisgarh’s state animal, the wild buffalo has all but disappeared from the state’s forests. The last count of the species undertaken at the Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary showed that a mere 12 remained in the wild.
Wildlife authorities in the state are excited about the prospects of crossing the female clone with the few remaining male buffaloes at Udanti-Sitanadi as well as in Assam, the only other Indian habitat with a surviving wild buffalo population. “To begin with, we are planning to move a male buffalo, in captivity at Sitanadi, to the breeding centre in Raipur,” said chief wildlife warden R.K. Singh.
Rajendra Mishra, regional head of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), says the plan to also source a male from Assam is to bring genetic variation in the progeny. “We took the support of science. The challenge now is to ensure the clone yields calves,” he said.
Chhattisgarh is the only landscape in central India that has wild buffalo. Direly close to extinction in 2006, three of the then five surviving animals in Udanti-Sitanadi—two females and a male—were bred in captivity. Three calves born at the breeding centre have since been released into the forest.
State wildlife officials say there are small populations of wild buffaloes in Bijapur’s Indravati National Park and the Pamed Wildlife Sanctuary too. But large parts of these reserves are not accessible, owing to the presence of Maoists. Officials, however, concede that the total wild buffalo count in the state is not more than 50.
As part of the species recovery programme, wildlife authorities have vaccinated 3,500 domestic cattle in the area where the wild buffalo is found. This is to prevent the spread of diseases from domestic buffaloes. To ensure there is no inter-breeding, the state forest department has bought dozens of domestic buffaloes from villagers in the vicinity of the forest frequented by the wild buffalo.