RASHMI VERMA/PNS | RANCHI/DALTONGANJ
Everybody talks about tiger conservation but no-one is concerned about wolf, another endangered species whose number is declining in country’s lone wolf sanctuary at Mahuadanr block of Latehar district of Jharkhand.
Sprawling over an area of 63.25 kilometres, Mahuadanr Wolf Sanctuary is an identified habitat of wolves. The thick forest patches here are favoured by the wolves for making dens.
Despite being a perfect hotspot for wolves the sanctuary remains out of limelight. Blame it on the apathy of forest officials or State’s tourism department which never tried to uphold the honor of being the only sanctuary of its type in the country.
Sources revealed the first ever wolf census was conducted in 1979 which showed that there were only 41 wolves. The wolf population took a giant leap and reached 568 in 2004 but dipped drastically to 58 in 2009.
DS Srivastava, a wildlife activist of the region said, “There is no sanctuary management plan for Mahudanr Wolf Sanctuary. Just like Palamau Tiger Reserve it is also suffering from dearth of foresters and guards. Funds meant for conservation of wolves are also not released timely.”
After 2009 no census was conducted to ascertain the authentic figure of wolves in the sanctuary. With staff shortage as high as 90 per cent the sanctuary hardly has staff for monitoring and protection of wolves. Forest officials also make rare visits to the sanctuary.
“There are many dens of wolves here which remains occupied mostly during the breeding season that is November-January. Wolves generally come out during night hours so census is done by pug marks. However if wolf sighting is promoted the sanctuary will gain popularity. Tourists can enjoy the beautiful panorama of waterfalls,” added Srivastava.
Srivastava also said that there are 29 dens in the sanctuary and each den is occupied by a pair of wolf which implies the populace of wolf must be near 60.