Guwahati: In news that might cheer wildlife lovers and conservationists, the number of Eastern Swamp Deer is on the rise in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park.
A recent counting of the species carried out by the park authorities in association with some wildlife NGOs have found a total of 1,148 in the park, indicating an increase of 19 individuals from the last year’s estimation.
Expressing happiness over the increasing in number of the deer, park authorities said that low flood levels in the park in last two years have reduced the mortality rate and resulted in the gradual increase of the population.
“The 1,148 includes 284 adult males, 605 adult females, 83 yearlings and 176 fawns,” park officials said.
The Kaziranga National Park is believed to harbour the last viable population of the Eastern Swamp Deer and monitoring the sub-species’ population status is considered crucial in forming conservation and management strategies.
Records of swamp deer population estimation date since 1966 when statistics of their sighting were collected during estimation of other animals such as rhinoceros and elephants. Such records are available for 1966, 1972, 1978, 1984 and 1993. However, a dedicated swamp deer estimation was conducted by the forest department in Kaziranga for the first time in 1998 and subsequently in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. (IANS)
