by- Shruti Prabhala
In collaboration with Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and Archaeological Survey of India, Wildlife SOS has launched a wildlife research project to study and translocate 30-35 wild jackals from Akbar’s Tomb in Sikandra, Agra to a safe natural habitat. They feel this initiative is essential as several young Black Buck fawn residents are killed frequently by jackals due to unnatural proximity between these two species created by accidental confinement inside Akbar Tomb premises. Accidently they got trapped inside the 40 acre premises when the monument was ordered to
Such unnatural confinement brought forth upon the jackals to start increasing their numbers periodically. Since there is no natural predator for the jackals inside the premises, there was no natural check on the jackal population which resulted in the jackals preying on the young delicate fawns. The Jackal Translocation Project would create an advantage that would help save almost 100 blackbucks.
After a detailed discussion, the U.P Forest Department, Archaeological Survey of India and Wildlife SOS reached the conclusion that it would be wise to survey the nearby reserve forest in Baipur and if found ideal, the jackals will be translocated there to make them feel secured in a natural habitat.
Baiju Raj CV, Wildlife biologist from Wildlife SOS and in-charge of the Agra Bear Rescue Facility said, “We will be deploying a combination of indigenous and scientific techniques to translocate the jackals. The entire project is designed in a way to ensure safe and successful translocation of the jackals to a safe and alternative habitat.”
Kartick Satyanarayan, Co founder Wildlife SOS said “Jackals play an important ecological role and are valuable for the health of a habitat. The translocation process will involve conditioning of the jackals using feed source to a safe enclosure after which they will be contained using smart traps scientifically designed with automatic triggers that will not hurt the animals.”
The project duration is estimated to be three to six months. Wildlife SOS is working since 1998 for the protection and conservation of Wildlife and also established the Agra Bear Rescue Facility in collaboration with the U.P Forest Department.