Extinction is for real and forever. In the past decade, the earth has lost the last of Sumatran Rhinoceros, the Yangtze River Dolphin, the Mohrr Gazelle, the Pinta Island Tortoise, the Navassa Rhinoceros Iguana, blue bucks, Jamaican Money and many more. About a total of 160 species have gone extinct according to the International Union of Conservation of Nature
(IUCN). While we do understand that extinction is also a way of the survival of the fittest, we didn’t consider the human factor. It has been largely human activities that have exponentially increased the rate of species extinction and responsible for breaking the “mosaic of life”. Extinction is happening today at a much faster pace. For India itself, it’s a list of 132 species of plants and animal who cry out for immediate attention and protection. And among them is the wild buffalo sub-population in Central India.

The Wild Buffalo of Central India

Among the largest bovines that roamed all across the Indian subcontinent not very long ago, the wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is on the course of being wiped out, population by population. The current population of Wild Buffaloes – once occupying the parts of present Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Telangana states in the Central India – is now restricted to only three small pockets in Indravati Tiger Reserve and Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve (USTR) in Chhattisgarh and a few animals in the Kopela-Kolamarka Conservation Reserve in Maharashtra. Back in the 1990’s, large herds roamed the forests of Udanti-Sitanadi but in less than a decade, they were reduced to a couple of solitary animals, fighting hard for survival. While a scientific estimation of it’s population is yet to be conducted in Indravati TR due to prevalent left wing extremism, the total number of animals in Central India is believed to be not more than 50.

Spearheaded by the Chhattisgarh Forest Department and with support from Wildlife Trust of India, the wild buffalo recovery program at USTR has been running for 14 years now, with the prime aim of preventing further decline in its population and to increase their numbers.  USTR currently hosts 9 animals, and a single surviving female, on which the hopes of an entire sub-population rest.

There have been a lot of factors at play for reduced numbers of the wild buffalo in Central India and each of these factors have been triggered by human activities. While hunting of wild buffaloes is no more of a prevalent issue today, the animal continually searches for viable grazing grounds. Villages are sprouting up inside the once lush wilderness have led to a loss of grazing grounds. With easily available resources – food and mate, they enter their erstwhile homes, now farmlands and come into direct conflict and retaliation with humans. Thankfully, with timely intervention by the Chhattisgarh Government, there are no more unnatural deaths today. Retaliation has given way to ex-gratia support and other conservation incentives by the forest department. People don’t kill anymore but neither do they seem to care if the wild buffaloes lives on. Chhattisgarh had declared the Wild Buffalo as its State Animal in 2001 but the crisis is still serious. It is the need of the hour to give back the wild buffaloes, their rightly deserved home and honor.

Pinned by numbers and a gift from Assam

Stabilizing the remaining population and individual animal protection has been the crux of the project, running in the USTR landscape. However, with just one female remaining, it seems near impossible to see a future wherein wild buffaloes reclaim their lands. This is exactly where the Barnawapara Conservation Breeding Center comes into play. As confirmed by the genetic tests, the wild buffaloes of Central India have been genetically found similar to their counterparts in the North-Eastern Part of India (which has been a stronghold of the species), thus giving hopes of a breeding program with the NE Indian buffaloes. After years of planning and studies, the Chhattisgarh Government has come into an agreement with their counterparts in Assam for the translocation of few animals and establish a founder stock for breeding and replenishing the population in Chhattisgarh and gradually, the whole of Central India. It surely is going to take a lot of time for a viable population to be established, but this certainly is a good start in the right direction.

The first phase of translocation was successfully completed on the 18^th of April 2020. A 17-member team comprising of forest guards, veterinarians, animal caretakers and drivers completed 1900 kilometers of journey from Manas National Park in Assam to the newly developed conservation breeding center at Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh, bringing with them two buffaloes in the hope of reviving the entire central Indian subpopulation. This was a stupendous feat in animal translocation with India under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Barnawapara received two animals, a male and a female, each about 2 years old, in good health and definitely curios about their new lodgings! It will still be a couple of years until these buffaloes will be able to sire one of the own and the battle for the population revival will be even longer. We dream of the day when herds of wild buffaloes will roam fearlessly amidst the wilderness of Central India but given the current scenario, it will take decades to turn back time and balance out the destruction that has been done.

Hopes for the future

In the month of January 2020, representatives and decision makers from specific Central Indian States gathered together in the PCCF Office in Naya Raipur Chhattisgarh to discuss the future of the species in the central Indian landscape. Taking cue from the Chhattisgarh Forest Department and WTI’s wild buffalo recovery project running in the state and mixing into it contemporary conservation measures, strategies were laid out as to how other states including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Telangana would see buffaloes roaming within their boundaries. However, it will take a lot more than this to ensure that the wild buffaloes get back their home. Translocation is just one of the several steps that needed to be taken.

It’s not enough to have the numbers but also a habitat that favors the animal. Fragmentation of forest land has been one of the main reasons for the wild buffaloes dying out. WTI, in collaboration with the Chhattisgarh Forest Department has been working hard to lower the anthropogenic pressure on the forest. Ranging from community interventions like alternative livelihood programs to common forest management practices like de-weeding a multipronged approach is being undertaken to restore the sanctity of forests.

Since 2016, with support from Oracle India, the fight has been not just about increasing numbers but to re-inspire the sense of pride for the unique natural heritage we have. Inspite of being the State Animal, the Wild Buffalo hasn’t been able to match the popularity or the charisma of the rhinoceros, tiger, elephant or similar mega-fauna. WTI’s Central India Wild Buffalo Recovery Project has been campaigning at all levels to change this perception, starting from schools to the state ministry to raise awareness about the criticality of the situation. We have been working with villagers living around wild buffalo habitats to come with alternative livelihood schemes and other socio-economic activities, all aimed at reducing the anthropogenic pressure on the forests. It’s time we recognize our intrusions in its habitat. It’s time we go back to the classroom and see them wild buffaloes as graceful as they are meant to be. It’s time we try and undo the wrongs that have been done. It’s time we keep the wild, forever wild!

About the Author: An avid blogger, a travel enthusiast and a photographer, Madhumay Mallik has been associated with WTI since 2013 and currently works as Field Officer, Campaigns in the Central India Wild Buffalo Recovery Project.