AR-News: (SA) Kashmir sounds alert over vanishing red deer

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

March 30 2004 at 06:15AM
 

By Izhar Wani

Dachigam, India - Kashmir's majestic red deer - the last surviving of the 
Asian species - are battling extinction in the face of threats to their habitat 
from a deadly revolt in the region and government inaction, environmentalists 
say.

The deer were once the biggest attraction of the mountain-ringed forests of 
Dachigam near Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir which is reeling 
from a 15-year insurrection against Indian rule.

But now the number of the antlered deer, or hangul, has shrunk to just 195 
from 5?000 in the late 1940s, a new state wildlife census shows.

"It's shocking the hangul is on the verge of extinction," said Mubashir 
Hussain, secretary general of the non-government group Global Green Peace.




full story:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=qw1080620102645B225&set_id=1
 
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