Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

STATUS OF THE H RTGLO DEER (CERVUS ELAPHUS HANGLU5 WAGNER) IN DACHIGARN NATIONAL PARK, KASHMIR, INDIA

G. Mustafa Shah, Ulfat Jan, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Javid A. Wani and Fayaz A. Ahanger

Abstract

Despite the declaration of Dachigam National Park in 1982 the hangul (Cervus elaphus hanglu,Wagner) has continued to decline.The Park which had about 2000 hangul in 1947 currently has only around 170. During the present study the status surveys were conducted on weekly basis in the months of January, February and March of the years 2005 and 2006. The imbalance of the sex ratio with 1 stage to 12-13 hinds was observed. Anthropogenic disturbances like grazing by domestic livestock, fuel-wood and timber extraction, grass-cutting etc. were found to impair the recovery of hangul deer. The maintenance of several government departments in the park also poses a great threat to deer.