The wild buffaloes, third biggest mammal on land, are facing extinction and are a step away from the point of no return if measures to protect them are not taken. The startling revelation was made during the visit by Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation and Bivash Pandav, programme leader, tiger and other big cats, WWF-International, Nepal, to Sitanadi-Udanti Tiger Reserve (SUTR) in Chattisgarh and Sunabeda-Khariar Tiger Reserve in Orissa.
“Udanti is one of the homes of last remaining wild Buffaloes in central India. We were shocked to see the situation of the animal here,” said Rithe. Bivash Pandav who is in charge of 11 countries to co-ordinate WWF International’s tiger and other big cats programme, said, “Wild buffaloes are found only in north-east region and in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra in central India. The species, listed under the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, needs to be protected at any cost as these are ancestors of all domestic buffaloes and are must to maintain century old gene pool.” The population of wild buffaloes has drastically dropped to seven from 35 in 2002. Surprisingly, there is not a single male among the seven surviving animals in wild. During the visit to SUTR, the team recorded presence of hyena and a pair of Jackals near village Sankara and chital, sambar and blue bull in the sanctuary. However there was virtually no evidence of presence of wild buffalo. The visit to Udanti WLS of SUTR was also shocking. “We visited the enclosure where a wild buffalo and a nine-month old calf have been kept. Though the field protection is good, there is no increase in the wild buffalo population,” Rithe said.
Terming the situation of wild buffalo in Udanti as very critical Pandav said, “The time seems to be running out for the animal in Udanti and just a step away from the point of no return. This is not the time to do any kind of experiment. Only clear and concerted action by all genies involved would save this mega herbivore species.” There are doubts about origin of the only female wild buffalo in an enclosure. There is an urgent need to conduct the DNA analysis to ascertain the same. Kishor Rithe opined that that captive breeding programme should be implemented under the guidance of experts in wild buffaloes to increase the population of the animal.
The wild Asian buffalo is the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo. The wild Asian buffalo has been domesticated for thousands of years and bred around the world into various, mostly smaller, breeds of less than 500 kg (1100 lb). The domesticated water buffalo is now found in most tropical and subtropical regions.
The most important threats to wild Asian buffalo are interbreeding with feral and domestic buffalo, habitat degradation, and hunting. Diseases and parasites (transmitted by domestic livestock) and competition for food and water between wild buffalo and domestic stock are also serious threats.
The wild Asian buffalo originally ranged from eastern Nepal, and India, east to Vietnam and south to Malaysia. By 1963, it had been substantially reduced numerically and eliminated from the greater part of its former range.
At that time it was thought to be restricted to three zones - the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam, the lower reaches of the Godavari River at the confluence of the borders of the states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh and the Saptkosi River, Nepal, close to the border with India. As of 1990, remnant populations were thought to occur in Assam and Orissa in India, in Nepal, and in two sanctuaries in Thailand.
