Int’l Wolves Day: Wolves endangered, but no focused efforts for conservation

Aksheev Thakur

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 13

According to estimates by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), only 3,100 wolves are left in the country.

The study said though the population of wolves is close to tigers who are also endangered, yet focused efforts for their conservation is lacking.

“This ancient wolf lineage is threatened by habitat loss to development, hybridisation with dogs, fast-traffic roads, diseases and severe persecution by pastoralists. Their status is as precarious as that of tigers, yet focused conservation efforts are lacking. Breeding habitat patches within each landscape identified in the study should be made safe from human persecution and free of feral dogs so as to permit packs to breed and successfully recruit individuals to ensure wolf persistence in the larger landscape for the long term,” says the WII study.

In a study conducted by the Nature Conservation Foundation, it was pointed out that the Indian grey wolf occupies a top predator niche in arid and semi-arid open plains and grasslands of India.

“It faces a series of threats including loss of grasslands to agriculture and industrial expansion, modification of habitats, depletion of its natural prey, retaliatory killing and disease spread through feral dogs,” the study said.

“In forests, wolves control large herbivore populations like deer, preventing overgrazing and preserving plant diversity. Healthy wolf population is crucial for biodiversity. Since they are mostly found in grasslands and as grasslands are dwindling, their population is also decreasing,” a senior forest official told The Tribune.

The study by WII said that wolf sightings were recently recorded in several areas from where they had been exterminated or were not known to exist in the past such as Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand, Bangladesh-Indian Sundarbans, Valmiki Tiger Reserve and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.

“However, their population has dwindled in their previous strongholds in Kutch and parts of Rajasthan,” it added.

Mahuadanr Wolf Sanctuary, India’s only protected area for wolves, faces a threat due to bauxite mining. The mining in Jharkhand’s village, Orsa, started in 1986 but in 2017, the lease was extended till 2036. Estimates say that there are 90 wolves in the sanctuary.