The blackbuck, the most elegant species of the antelope family, is on the list of endangered animals but in Odisha’s Ganjam district its number has almost doubled in the last six years.

There has not been a single case of blackbuck poaching for the past few years and the credit goes to the locals at Balipadara-Bhetnani area near Aska who have been protecting them, said Dilip Kumar Rout, the divisional forest officer of Ghumsar South in Ganjam district.