The first state-wide wildlife census in Haryana, which started in April, was postponed indefinitely amid Covid-19 crisis, said the officials on Thursday.
ML Rajvanshi, chief conservator of Forests (wildlife), said, “We have indefinitely postponed the state-wide wildlife estimation process, which started last month, amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. Several states have reported animals being infected with the coronavirus. We do not want to take risk, so we have halted the estimation process for now.”
Over 25 forest officials have tested positive in Haryana, making it riskier to continue the census, said a senior forest department official.
The wildlife census, which is conducted in collaboration with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, had started in the second week of April this year. The forest department, with the WII, was scheduled to set up camera traps for a survey of large mammals between May 1 and June 30.
With the help of the survey, the forest department officials wanted to assess the abundance and distribution of the major mammalian carnivore population, and prey population inside the protected areas. The census also focuses on assessing abundance and distribution of nilgai and rhesus macaque in a human-dominating landscape outside these areas. As part of the census, 59 beats of Shivalik forest and 38 beats of Aravalli forests will be surveyed.
The forest department, however, was able to conduct the monkey survey in urban areas from April 28-30 through the ‘Wildlife Census Haryana’ mobile application, wherein residents noted the presence of monkeys in their respective areas.
The data recorded on the mobile application will be used to devise strategies to reduce man-monkey conflicts, rampant in cities like Faridabad and Gurugram, the senior forest official added.
“Amid the rise in such cases, we had asked the residents not to venture out, and report the presence of monkeys in their areas — either through their balconies or terraces. We have received a good response for this survey, despite the high number of cases, with around 600 participants recording their sightings on the application, with over 6,000 monkeys being present across Haryana,” said Rajvanshi.