My rediscovery of the terai swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli duvauceli) in Jhilmil Jheel area of Uttarakhand

 My rediscovery of the terai swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli duvauceli) in Jhilmil Jheel area of Uttarakhand

                                                                 Dr S P Sinha

                                  Race of the swamp deer Cervus duvauceli duvauceli along with the two other sub species are listed as endangered by IUCN and are on the Red List. All are placed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.  This section is devoted to the nominate race. For the sake of convenience it is hereinafter referred to as the swamp deer. It has dwindled in number during the last century and now it remains confined to some areas that are still intact in the terai of UP, Assam and Nepal. The loss of swamp deer habitat to expanding agriculture and unfettered poaching began just after the independence of India.  The fragmentation of the original habitats, the draining and reclamation of swamps for establishing development infrastructure are among other reasons that led to the decline in the populations of this species that once occupied most of the terai swamp lands.

 Dudhwa Tiger Reserve is the stronghold of the swamp deer with an estimated population of 1250+ (2004) that includes the population in Kishanpur and Katerniaghat sanctuaries. One small population of swamp deer is reported from Hastinapur, again in Uttar Pradesh but little is known about its status. It is under the scourge of poaching, the degradation and loss of habitats due to grazing pressure, removal of grasses and encroachment. In fact, all the isolated populations of swamp deer have declined, many have vanished over the years. Uttarakhand State was carved out of UP on 9^th November 2000 has inherited the problems of managing grasslands along the floodplains of Ganges. Due to a number of anthropogenic pressures and developmental activities in the past and currently the grasslands are vanishing. In some places, they already have disappeared.

Jhilmil jheel (Tal) is a saucer-shaped wetland situated on the right bank of River Ganges in Chidiyapur forest range of Haridwar district in Uttarakhand. Around Jhilmil jheel, nine huts of Gujjars (a pastoral community) are situated along the forest belt and there is a village on the southern side. People are settled here since 1950s. Most of them are from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Garhwal. In the past, there were no authentic data on the presence of swamp deer in this area which is rich in faunal and floral diversity and notably has the presence of all the five species of deer that occur south of the Himalayas, elephant, tiger and substantial numbers of resident and migratory birds. Organic matter from the surrounding areas flows directly into the Jhilmil jheel. It has been observed that nearly half of the Jhilmil Tal has growth of the typha and other unpalatable species. Fortunately, Phragmites karka a tall grass that is an important constituent of the swamp deer habitat is present in the other half of the Tal. 

On 1st February 2005, I visited Jhilmil jheel to ascertain the habitat quality. While surveying the area on foot and on the elephant back we found hoof marks of what appeared to be those of the swamp deer and also heard the unmistakable call of a stag from within the tall grasses.  Finally, from a newly built watchtower with great excitement we observed 34 Swamp deer in an open patch of the grassland along a water channel. Nine fully grown stags along with adult does and yearlings were seen in the herd. Later some shed swamp deer antlers were also collected from the area for the record. Again we visited the area on 3rd February 2005 accompanied by Shri Vinod Rishi, Director, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehra Dun and Dr. G. S. Rawat, a senior scientist from the WII. We were able to sight 30 swamp deer on this occasion. On 6th February 2005 Hon’ble Minister of Forests, Uttarakhand, Shri. Nav Prabhat also visited the area. He was so impressed with the area mainly by the presence of the swamp deer that he announced considering this area is to be notified as Swamp Deer Conservation Reserve.    Fortunately the local villagers around Jhilmil jheel were vegetarian—not that determined non-vegetarian poachers could not occasionally come to this area—and did not consume any hard drinks because their religious beliefs. This was a plus point for conservation of the swamp deer and other species including waterfowl. Discussions with the local villagers revealed that they were all keen to move out of the area and get resettled in another area already selected by them. There was a local dialogue of some sort about this. The villagers also showed the area where they wished to get resettled. The proposal for the relocation of the villagers of Jhilmil jheel was under consideration of the Government. After the declaration of this area as swamp deer conservation reserve, the prospects of this area developing into a stronghold of swamp deer for its long-term survival in Uttarakhand could have been attained. Finally on 14th August 2005, the President of India, Prof. A. P.J. Abdul Kalam announced Jhilmil jheel for conservation of swamp deer and Asan Barrage for conservation of waterfowl to constitute Conservation Reserves in Uttarakhand. Thus these two became the first Conservation Reserves in India under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. It is hoped that with local people’s involvement these efforts will locally establish conservation of flora and fauna. A detailed long-term project proposal has been prepared for the purpose.