Not wanting to kill the animal, farmers have resolved to take help of IISc project assistant to save their crops
Not wanting to kill the animal, farmers have resolved to take help of IISc project assistant to save their crops
Nannaj's large population of black bucks may be its pride, but this endangered species is become a matter of concern for the farmers of this small town located around 20 km from Solapur.
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The farmers are a patient, but a fed-up lot, as the crops are more often than not destroyed by the animals.
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They have done all that they can to stop the animalsu00a0 from raising fences to laying traps but failed and have now pinned all their hopes on this saviour from Bangalore, Chaitanya Krishna.
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| Chaitanya Krishna (Inset), project assistant at Indian Institute of Science, is trying to divert the black bucks to the other side of the sanctuary where there are no farms. |
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A project assistant at the city's Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Krishna (30), is conducting a research on how to save the crops. He joined the Centre for Ecological Sciences two years ago, and is striving to help farmers protect their only source of income.
"I spend most of the time in Nannaj trying to keep the black bucks at bay. Since the sanctuary is 6 km away from the village, the animals often stray into the farms and destroy crops such as jowar, wheat, groundnut, grapes and vegetables," said Krishna.
Though black bucks are a menace, these farmers have not opted for the easy way out simply hunting down the animals, since they are an endangered species.
"The farmers are extremely tolerant. Though their livelihood is at stake, the villagers do not want the black bucks to be killed. They want to protect the endangered species and at the same time protect the crops," said Krishna.
For the villagers, the black bucks are a part of the extended family. "We have grown up seeing these animals; we do not want them to disappear," said the farmers.
With the help of forest officials, Krishna is trying to divert the black bucks to the other side of the sanctuary where there are no farms.
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They are growing more grass at the other end so that black bucks do not find the need to stray into the farms for food. Often, villagers take help of pradhis, traditional hunters, to trap black bucks, but make sure they are released later.
50,000The number of black bucks in India
250The number of black bucks at Nannaj
Buck poachingIn April 2006, Bollywood actor Salman Khan was given a five-year jail term and was penalised Rs 25,000 for killing the endangered black buck in Jodhpur.
He was later released on bail. In another notorious incident of criminal poaching, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi also killed a black buck and then absconded as a fugitive.
He finally surrendered only when the case was transferred from the criminal court to a Special Environment court.
He spent two nights in police custody before he was given bail on the condition of furnishing a bond for Rs 50,000 and a surety in the like amount.
