24 gharials released into Beas

Amritsar, December 5

The Department of Punjab Forest and Wildlife Preservation, in collaboration with the World-Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) recently released another lot of 24 gharials into the Beas under the Phase-III of a project.

It was an extension of the state’s programme, conceptualised in 2005, to reintroduce, preserve and breed these critically endangered species of crocodile in Punjab streams. The long-snouted gharials (Gavialis gangeticus) were brought here from Morena, Madhya Pradesh.

Gursharan Singh, DFO, Wildlife, Hoshiarpur, said under the Phase-III of the project, the latest batch of gharials had been released near the Kulla Fatta forests in the Beas Conservation Reserve in the presence of Forest Minister Sangat Singh Gilzia and RK Mishra, Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab.

“These gharials are around three-year-old and three-ft long. Special marking has been done to distinguish between the male and the female reptiles,” he said.

Earlier, in the Phase-I of this project, 47 juvenile gharials were reintroduced into the Beas Conservation Reserve in batches between 2017-2018 in Amritsar and Tarn Taran.

Under the Phase-II of the project, 23 gharials were released in the river near Saleempur and Tahli Forest in Hoshiarpur in February.

Gitanjali Kanwar, coordinator, WWF-India, said joint field surveys were being conducted by the Punjab Department of Forest and Wildlife Preservation and the WWF.

“A total of 94 gharials had dispersed both upstream and downstream of the release sites into the reserve. Around 40 to 50% of these gharials were sighted during the field survey. They are healthy and have adapted the reserve as home,” she said.

The surveys focus on understanding dispersal, habitat preference, population ecology and general wellbeing of the gharials. — TNS

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