Kaziranga to translocate 50 wild buffaloes to MP’s Kanha Tiger Reserve in phases

Kaziranga, March 17: The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has cleared all formalities to translocate about 50 wild Asiatic water buffaloes from the park to the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh in a phase-wise manner.

Initially 15 such water buffaloes will be translocated, said the Divisional Forest Officer of Eastern Assam Wildlife Division (Kaziranga), Arun Vignesh.

While talking to this correspondent, Vignesh informed that even though the authority has planned to translocate 15 Asiatic water buffaloes together in the initial phase, that might not be possible.

Hence, 5 to 6 buffaloes will be sent to see the feasibility of translocating bigger numbers. On March 18 and 19, the capturing of wild buffalors of Kaziranga will begin through tranquillization.

A mock drill process has been carried out today which will continue till tomorrow, said the Kohora Central Range officer, Dr Bibhuti Ranjan Gogoi.

Vignesh further said that Kanha in Madhya Pradesh had buffaloes in earlier days.

The Madhya Pradesh authorities wanted to have water bufaloes released in their forest areas as part of a re-introduction programme. Secondly, it was necessary to translocate buffaloes to other forest areas for better conservation of the species.

A team of members from the Wild Buffalo Translocation Implementation Committee carried out the mock drill on Monday.

Currently, the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has more than 1,000 Asiatic water buffaloes.

DFO Vignesh added that that earlier, some wild buffaloes from the Manas Tiger Reserve were translocated to Chattisgargh.